Sunshine at Last

I went to Israel this past weekend to visit Andrew and had a great time. I saw a lot of places, took a lot of pictures, ate a lot of good food. As the starting place of the 3 major religions (Islam, Christianity, and Judaism) as well as the home of the Baha’i Gardens and Akko, 2 major sites for the Baha’i religion, there was a lot to see. I saw Tel Aviv, Haifa, Jerusalem, the Dead Sea, and more. If I had to decide on my favorite place/thing I did this weekend I’d be torn between 3 things:





The Baha’i Gardens in Haifa











The Kotel (Wailing Wall) Tunnel tour in Jerusalem









Exploring Yaffo (Jaffa – the old Muslim port of Tel Aviv)





I also did a lot of thinking this weekend. Thinking about Israel; thinking about Turkey; thinking about the Unites States.

One thing I noticed, in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, wherever, is that the past and history simply doesn't matter. There are some places and subjects that one hears about and thinks they sound interesting, but then any research you take involves the words "The definitive study of _____ is still waiting to be written." Israel is not one of those places. Any further historiography is just going to be written for one side to show why they are Right, and the other side is just going to ignore it as propaganda, right?

The actual factual history of when Jews lived in the area, the actual prominence of King David's empire/kingdom/bunch of hovels isn't relevant to any current problems. The ultra-revolutionaries aren't going to lay down their Molotov cocktails when they hear that yeah, the First Temple Period is absolute, incontrovertible, fact. And the ultra-reactionaries aren't going to decide to give up the ghost if they learn that there never even was a First Temple Period. The current conflicts are beyond history. They're beyond analysis. Any sort of hope for that place is going to rely on folks looking towards a future, not back into their own half-forgotten shared memory of a distant past.

So why this bit on the hopelessness of history? Because it isn’t like that everywhere. Here in Turkey, history breaks very sharply in 1923. And historical problems with nationalism and what defines a nationality is still grappled with just about every day, mostly in newspapers and in questionable-defined scrapes in the Southeast. People still make up their own “national histories” to explain why they deserve autonomous land in the Balkans and in the Caucasus. History is used to explain why I belong here and you don’t. History is used to destroy bridges, sometimes figuratively, sometimes literally.

The reason the United States is so great (in my opinion) is that we are, for the most part, totally okay with other people being around. We really do embrace diversity in the States, even if we’re not always comfortable brushing shoulders with each other. And really each other, not just some Pan-Turkic or Pan-Aryan ideal of who each other should be.

Yes, we’ve made some mistakes and some really tragic mistakes. But there’s a reason why people are trying really hard to get into our country. And in a lot of ways, Turkey or Israel is a lot like America because of this; there are a lot of people trying to get in, because they know that they have a shot there. Sure, the people trying to get in are a lot more mono-ethnic in both of those examples, but still, there’s hope in Israel or Turkey that there isn’t in places like Ethiopia or Turkmenistan. And hope, if you weren’t aware, is a good thing. And a good thing never dies.

If you're curious about this entry's title, let me fill you in. The weather here in Istanbul has been cold and rainy for quite some time, so it was a wonderful thing to get to Israel where it was sunny and upwards of 75 F all weekend. While I was glad to get back to Istanbul last night, to a place where I (sort of) speak the language and the places are (somewhat) familiar, I was sad to leave behind the lovely weather that I know I won't see again until at least April.

Pictures from this weekend soon to come, I promise.