Encountering Israel (24 images)

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Part memoir and part spiritual journey, "Encountering Israel" asks, "Who am I, and What does Israel mean to me?" But for most, my photos spark one burning question: "In what ways can we understand Israel today?" So many challenges; so many conflicts. So much progress; so much pain. The spirit of Israel has touched me, and these photographs are my witness. (From a portfolio and book project with essays and more than 100 photographs.)
  • 1. "Encountering Israel": portfolio and proposed book cover. Made at Nimrod Fortress, the largest Crusader-era fortification in Israel, Golan Heights. <br /> <br /> Built during the Middle Ages, high above the Hermon Valley to protect the road linking the Galilee to Damascus, its control changed hands during the 12th - 13th centuries from the Crusaders to the Muslims, who carved impressive Arabic inscriptions into its massive stones.<br /> <br /> When I made this image, I was looking through an embrasure, an opening designed for defense: to watch for enemies, launch crossbows, and hurl stones. As I looked from the darkness toward the light, I thought mightily about Israel's ongoing conflicts. I would soon plant the "Tree of Life" to honor my recently deceased parents, but on my first day in Israel, I was brooding about ancient battles and what the future might bring.

  • 2. "Jaffa is more than Oranges": beach towels and inflatable toys in a shopfront display, Tel Aviv.<br /> <br /> When I first made this image in Tel Aviv, what struck me hard was the Semitic face emblazoned on a bath towel. Flanked by the Israeli flag and Jewish stars of David, this storefront seemed to trumpet pride in a quintessentially Jewish nation-state; yet the exaggerated classic Semitic face could represent an Arab or Jew.<br /> <br /> Tel Aviv was founded in 1909 on the outskirts of the ancient port of Jaffa by Jewish immigrants, many of whom bought orange groves from Jaffa's Arab residents and developed a thriving agricultural trade. But in 1921, this "harmonious co-existence" erupted into riots between Arabs and Jews, who then moved en masse to Tel Aviv. Today, Tel Aviv is the 2nd largest city in Israel (after Jerusalem) and, according to the Global Financial Centres Index, is the 25th most important financial center in the world. So now I wonder, what do these towels signify?

  • 3. "Druze Children Embrace": Nimrod Fortress, Golan Heights.<br /> <br /> Expectations of Israel are often built on sensational news headlines, biblical or other religious texts, and competing historical/political narratives. These sources can foster deeply-held myths and misinformation. The fact is, Jews and Arabs aren't always enemies, we don't all hold the same views, and the Christian values of "love thy neighbor" are practiced by all faiths in the region.<br /> <br /> The Druze who embrace here are but one example. It was heartwarming to watch these youths hug each other with such unfettered affection. Like kids most places, they seemed happy and carefree.<br /> <br /> The Druze are an Arab minority in Israel. They self-identify as Unitarian rather than Muslim, and as a result have been persecuted by other Arabs for their beliefs. But in Israel, Jews and Druze get along well. Druze voluntarily serve in Israel's defense force, and as far back as the 12th century, the Jewish traveler Benjamin of Tudela is reputed to have said "they loved the Jews."

  • 4. "Abandoned tank from 1948 War of Independence": next to cafe rest stop off main highway, Jordan Valley.<br /> <br /> Military presence is evident everywhere in Israel. One finds archaeological fragments at venerated sites, artifacts and detritus like this tank from more recent battles, and soldiers are omnipresent on the streets.<br /> <br /> This tank, ensconced on a concrete slab just outside a cafe off a main highway in the Jordan Valley, at first struck me as incongruous. Palm trees waved in the breeze overhead, and the tank (sans treads) had become a permanent, surreal fixture. On one side of it, someone had scrawled the word "Berlin," as if to put Israel's 1948 War of Independence into that chilling context.<br /> <br /> Historian Marc Rosenstein challenges us to consider Israel's "struggle to survive as a state" and asks, will it "live forever by the sword?" I'm reminded of what Moshe Dayan, who was commander of the Jerusalem front in 1948, then had to say: "...without the steel helmet and the gun's muzzle we will not be able to plant a tree...." I was here to plant a tree! How did this apply to me?

  • 5. "Hasid (ultra-orthodox Jew) on Cell Phone": outside walls of the Old City, Jerusalem.<br /> <br /> At last we arrived in Jerusalem: the holiest city in the Holy Land. A Hasidic ultra-orthodox family was walking past the Old City's stone walls; father (the patriarch) on a cell phone, wife and sons at his side.<br /> <br /> According to Marc Rosenstein, an Israeli historian who is currently writing about my photographs, "The dissonance between the 'heavenly' and the 'earthly' Jerusalem" is perhaps the most pervasive of the oppositions that characterize Israel today. The issue, as Marc (and I) see it, is that there is an undeniable contradiction between what Jewish liturgy calls "the first flowering of our redemption," and "the presence of urban blight, pollution, corruption -- or even just of people going about their normal, quotidian, unmessianic lives...." This "compels attention," writes Marc. And I agree, having come to Israel on a spiritual quest to honor my parents, and now encountering so much more.

  • 6. "King Bibi": defaced poster depicting Prime Minister Netanyahu, near Tiberias, Galilee.<br /> <br /> In a coffee shop festooned with political posters, this crude portrait of Prime Minister Netanyahu caught my eye. Someone had scrawled horns and "Hail Satan" on an image meant to vilify him by activists campaigning for social justice. The silkscreened Hebrew says "good luck to us all in the class warfare" followed by "hashtag Bibi the King," made more menacing by the devilish drawing. <br /> <br /> To the right, a bumper sticker depicts a map of the Golan with an ominous black hole in its center. The text says "For this stain there is no price; stop drilling oil in the Golan!" The message is sponsored by The Green Objective, an environmental action group, and artificial pomegranates hang brightly above it on the wall. One can just make out slogans on the other posters in the background. In English, they call for "global change."

  • 7. "Protestor with Israeli flag": agitating for more government protection against terrorism, Eilat.<br /> <br /> When I encountered this woman waving the Israeli flag next to a shopping mall, I spoke with her at length. She explained that she felt the government wasn't doing enough to protect Israeli citizens. That morning, a terrorist attack in Jerusalem had killed police and bystanders alike.<br /> <br /> Eilat is located at the southernmost tip of Israel, where Israel's border meets those of Jordan and Egypt. Ironically, although Eilat saw no combat in Israel's 1948 War of Independence, this is the site where, much like our historic flag-raising at Iwo Jima, Israel's flag was then raised in victory.

  • 8. "Checkpoint": entrance to Jerusalem.<br /> <br /> While we stop momentarily at this security checkpoint, a young male soldier strides past our vehicle. He looks toward us, but pays us no mind. As visiting Americans, we'll be waved through without further ado. Not so for the many others who must often navigate this passage.

  • 9. "Grace After Meals": placards at a roadside cafe, paired with painted portrait of Israel Abuhaseira, a sephardic rabbi thought to work miracles, Jordan Valley.<br /> <br /> Inside a cafe next to abandoned military tanks I found this surreal conjunction of imagery. A painted portrait, eyes reflected in the stainless steel counter, was the prominent fixture. Printed handouts were displayed next to it, labeled "Birkat HaMazon," which in Hebrew means "Grace After Meals."<br /> <br /> At the time, I had no idea who the turbaned man was in the imposing portrait. I thought he must be an Arab by the way he was dressed. And to add to my confusion, a dark-skinned waiter in the cafe was wearing a T-shirt that said "It Wasn't Me!" What was I to think? Nothing was as it seemed. Turns out the portrait is of a Moroccan Sephardic Rabbi named Israel Abuhaseira (1889-1984). Called "Baba Sali," this holy man and kabbalist was renowned for his alleged ability to work miracles.

  • 10. "Charity for the Orphans and Widows": alms box with abandoned tank outside cafe, Jordan Valley.<br /> <br /> Maintained by the Charities of Naomi, this alms box is designed for weekly collection of non-perishable foodstuffs for orphans and widows. Yet it tilts crazily as if it's been hit by the abandoned tank behind it. I was struck by the incongruity of "chesed" or "loving kindness," paired with the violent legacy of the tank. Moreover, the picture of the plump roasted chicken with candles is accompanied by these words: "Mother, you promised us a chicken for the Sabbath." If the children are orphaned and the mother widowed, this is indeed a grim reminder of the casualties of war.

  • 11. "Cofizz: Follow your Idol". A young religious Jew walks by shuttered coffee shop and "Follow Your Idol" graffiti in a pedestrian walkway, West Jerusalem.<br /> <br /> It is the sabbath, and most businesses are closed. This young man's "keepah" (skullcap) signifies he is a practicing Jew. Cofizz is a company that prides itself on brewing a rich and reasonably priced cup of coffee. "Follow your Idol" almost sounds like a play on the Joseph Campbell "Follow your bliss" injunction, but in this context, it has more of a biblical ring to it, as in the Golden Calf. Perhaps idolatry can take many forms. I like the ring of "Cofizz." It has the edgy buzz, the constant vibration, I feel everywhere in Israel.

  • 12. "Peace Sign": abandoned or stashed in alley, Tel Aviv.<br /> <br /> With a megaphone in its mouth, the dove of peace on the protest sign cries out "Peace and Social Justice: One struggle!" The activist organization is Peace Now. But why the sign is in the alley is a mystery. Perhaps its owner wants it ready at a moment's notice, or free for like-minded others to carry on?

  • 13. "Settler": an impassioned woman tells us about Nofei Prat, a settlement in the Benjamin Regional Council, West Bank.<br /> <br /> In the West Bank, near Jerusalem in the Judean Desert, we visited the settlement "Nofel Prat." The settlements are, of course, one of the most contentious and heatedly debated issues within and without Israel. Yet to be here, as a witness on the inside, the reality was more complex.<br /> <br /> We met with this woman and a Canadian medical student, equally impassioned and holding his baby son. They talked about their bonds with family and friends; the community, the beauty of the desert with a spring at the foot of the hills stretching below. Truly, the place seemed like an oasis. Was all this built on stolen land? Was it all a pack of lies? What to believe? It's not a simple story.

  • 14. "Roundabout": median and highway, Nofei Prat, West Bank.<br /> <br /> The bright blue "roundabout" sign seems like a metaphor for the ongoing land disputes in the West Bank. Many settlers use the biblical terms, "Judea and Samaria," to refer to the area in place of "West Bank." Does this help justify their presence and their actions? On the left one can see the settlers' homes; on the right the Judean Desert hills and another settlement in the distance. And in the middle, the blue sign and a heavy rock are firmly planted, as if to say, "We're not going anywhere!"

  • 15. "Workman repairs walls of Masada": Judean Desert.<br /> <br /> The notion of repairing, like returning, is central to Jewish thought. These concepts are reiterated each Rosh Hashanah (New Year), for example. So for me, the eloquent gesture of golden sand streaming through this workman's hands as he repairs Masada, a place Jews return to because it resonates with resistance and freedom, seems especially apt.<br /> <br /> Masada is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Located on an austere desert bluff high above the Dead Sea, it was the dramatic setting for a pitched battle between Romans and Jews that in 73 CE ended with the Jews choosing suicide over slavery. As a result, Masada has become one of the Jewish People's greatest symbols -- if not of freedom, then certainly of zealous resistance to coercion.<br /> <br /> When I visited Masada, I climbed to the top on the more than two-thousand year old rocky path like my ancestors. While walking around the fort's remains, I filled my lungs with thin air, saw bright light and a vast space that felt almost cosmic. I met this workman applying earth, like a plaster, to the crumbling walls. The earth was ochre and looked precious, like gold. Spontaneously, the man reached down and scooped up the sand with his hands: "This is Eretz Y'Israel, the land of Israel," he seemed to say. As the sand streamed through his fingers, he smiled at me.

  • 16. "Female Soldier at Training Camp": military installation in the Golan Heights.<br /> <br /> I made many photographs at this military site in the Golan: soldiers practicing how to take control of a Syrian bunker (based on an actual battle from the Six Day War); soldiers lounging with their compatriots during a pause in the action; tanks, flags, and shields of the "Lightning Brigade." But this lone female soldier, toting her gun just as easily as her purse, seemed singular to me. Lost in thought, looking young and innocent, she walks into the shadows of other soldiers as the Golan stretches behind her on this calm, autumn day.

  • 17. "Kamikaze": tower relic from former amusement park, Eilat.<br /> <br /> In the resort town of Eilat, this iconic structure labeled "Kamikaze" literally towers over the beautiful expanse of the mountains and Red Sea. I am on a bridge that affords me a panoramic view, but there is no indication of why this tower, apparently a relic from a former amusement park, remains. I feel like a cultural anthropologist who, after visiting ancient sites like Masada, is surprised to learn that in the modern world, "Kamikaze" can have a whole new meaning. Instead of Japanese fighter pilots who committed suicide for their cause during World War II, the "Kamikaze" became a hair-raising amusement ride, developed by the Italians after World War II. It's a pendulum device that swings two gondolas faster and faster, while passengers are bolted in with shoulder harnesses. It's a popular ride in Israel, as well as in the United States. But this ride in Eilat no longer functions. Now it's become a curiosity, albeit symbolic, in this seaside resort.

  • 18. "Woman on Cell Phone": with baby in tow, walking past Russian diamond advert, Eilat.<br /> <br /> A blue-green industrial looking pipe makes a strange contrast to the contrived elegance of the blonde Russian woman bedecked with jewelry in the diamond ad. So too does the woman on the cell phone contrast, pushing her baby in the stroller through this shopping district in Eilat. Although she wears a red dress baring her chest and shoulders like the model, she is scarcely as seductive as the blonde. In fact, she seems quite matronly, absorbed in her own self, and paying no attention to me or her child.<br /> <br /> There are many Russian immigrants and visitors who frequent Israel. They flock to Eilat as well as the Dead Sea, as evidenced in this and next photograph.

  • 19. "Russian woman on the beach by the Spa": Dead Sea.<br /> <br /> In her shawl and tiger-patterned skirt, this Russian woman seems out of place by the Dead Sea. Her shawl reminds me of a burqa, although the resemblance is purely coincidental. Heavy-set bathers sit with plenty of exposed flesh in the few occupied chairs, contrasting with this covered woman's slim figure. And she appears distant, lost in thought, and solitary rather than "on vacation." What is her story? Just as clouds obscure the sky and the distant hills, I will never know.

  • 20. "African at juice bar": Tel Aviv.<br /> <br /> Many thousands of Ethiopian Jews, as well as other African refugees and asylum seekers, have immigrated to Israel. Yet ongoing discrimination has kept many of them on the periphery of Israeli society. However, this young man seems to have avoided such difficulties, at least on the surface. He is working at a juice bar in Tel Aviv, and looks relaxed and well off with his sporty watch, earing, golden necklace and beatific expression.

  • 21. "Kibbutz Neot Semadar; the Arts and a Spirit of Cooperation": Negev Desert.<br /> <br /> Kibbutz Neot Semadar was founded in 1989 to investigate the question: "How can we live and work together in true cooperation?" Often called "The Artist's Kibbutz," in addition to the arts and crafts, the residents have created a flourishing oasis with olive trees, vineyards, and sustainable environmental technology. Pictured here is a cooling tower that is powered by water. All the design motifs and structures were devised and built by the residents.

  • 22. "Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial": Jerusalem.<br /> <br /> Of all Holocaust memorials, this one reaches both apex and depth of meaning for me. The architecture brilliantly merges form with content, so much so that when I emerged from the claustrophobic darkness into the light and saw Jerusalem outstretched below, I felt a relief and release that was unimaginable.<br /> <br /> Yad Vashem was established in 1953 as the Jewish People's living memorial. Designed by Moshe Safdie, the History Museum pictured here was inaugurated in 2005. The Museum interior is oppressive: dark, narrow, and in the shape of a spike. One enters a horrific past and exits changed, transformed. In this image, the perspective draws the viewer, inexorably, into a frightening black hole. I did make other images that show a way out and into the light.<br /> <br /> I am a 2nd-generation American. My parents were both born in the US, but their parents were born in Hungary and Russia. Because of anti-semitism, my immediate family left Eastern Europe at the turn of the 20th century. Those that remained were killed by the Nazis. I have just one cousin, Vera, who survived and bears the numbers tattooed on her arm. The rest perished. This is my memorial.

  • 23. "Timna, the 'Copper Kingdom,' with ancient vessels, an "X" and tiny figures in the distance": Negev Desert.<br /> <br /> Timna is one of Israel's more than 60 national parks and nature reserves, an amazing number of sites for a country no bigger than New Jersey!<br /> <br /> At Timna, copper was mined more than 6,000 years ago, and continued to be mined periodically through the early Middle Ages.<br /> <br /> But for me, what's special about this image is the pairing of past and present. From the modern architecture of the visitor center, we see a desert without end, marked by an "X" from contrails that create the illusion that planes have been flying on a crash collision course (just as Arabs and Jews may seem to be today). Broken clay vessels are chained to the concrete, and the tiny figures of the park's visitors traverse the ancient sands.

  • 24. "Polarities at Ben Gurion Airport": a Hasid ultra-orthodox Jew paired with secularized travelers who walk by an advert for polarized sunglasses, near Tel Aviv.<br /> <br /> As I prepare to return home after honoring my parents by planting a tree, I see this apocryphal scene at the airport. A Hasid is walking one way wearing traditional religious garb, while travelers dressed in more modern, secular clothing walk in the opposite direction. In the background, a spotlit ad features a fashionable young man wearing polarized sunglasses. <br /> <br /> Surely, this image highlights Israel's polarities! Looking at it, I wonder what values will ultimately triumph in this complex land. Will superficial, destructive desires outweigh kindness and understanding? Will we ever make peace and find common ground?<br /> <br /> And will I go back to Israel to see what transpires? I haven't decided. But I hope Israel will be there, despite its thorns and brambles, should I choose to return.

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