Well, Mom, Dad, Brother and Daughter go into our rental car and headed towards Jerusalem. We arrived , found our hotel, The King David, at about sundown. The City is large divided between West Jewish and East populated by Arab and in the center is the Old City, lit up surrounded by stone walls and divided into four quarters, The Christian quarter, The Arab Quarter, the Jewish quarter and the Armenian quarter, covering from, early biblical days to the present. Mind boggling! It was Christmas combined with Hanukkah and a Muslim holiday as well. The Walls were aflame with light, Hanukkah was being celebrated and from the minarets, Muslim holy men were calling their devotees to prayer. All of this could be seen from the immense grounds of the King David Hotel. Spent several days exploring the City and the Old City. Walked the fourteen stations of Christ on the Via Delaroso, lit a candle in the Church of the holy Sepulcher where Christ was crucified, visited the Rock of the Dome where Mohammed ascended to Heaven and of course the Western Wall where observant Jews were praying. All of it almost too much to bear. Bought several mementos at the Arab market/bazaar and was just totally overwhelmed from the experience. As it turns out, the Holy City is around 5,000 feet above sea level with a very pleasant atmosphere. What blew my mind was that it contained people living, dressing and some on donkeys living the same as the days of the bible up to modern dress and some in Israeli military gear. Just mind boggling. What is interesting is Maxine at the time was a travel agent, and though she had little basic knowledge of the country, at home in Newport Beach, she sent several Orange County Christian Church groups to the Holy Land but very few Jewish people traveled to Israel, the same as us. What a loss, as even though I have visited Europe on several occasions with very good memories, the mind-enlarging experience of the Holy Land stands out above all, to me. Anyway visited the old City with great memories.
Julia had moved to a Kibbutz in the Negev area called Nir Oz where she worked the fields, airport-hanger-sized chicken coops and did other duties, and we left Jerusalem to the kibbutz traveling trough Bethlehem, Hebron, a city holy to Jews and Muslims, and the city where Abraham was buried, and on to Bersheevah, a small town, and from there to Nir Oz, on the border of the Gaza strip.
On arrival, we met Julia’s local “kibbutz family,” Natan and Naomi, her foster parents, and their kids, Ziv, Renana, Hamutal, Orit and Ron. We were warmly welcomed, and Julie was lucky to get such an amazing family, with whom she still has contact after all of these years. Had coffee and cake and were escorted to our cottage, which I thought was primitive, and so I threatened to go back to Bersheeva, but was talked out of it, went to sleep, greatly rested and woke to birds singing in the morning.
So, Julie was drafted and assigned to a combat infantry division, did basic training, learned to disassemble and reassemble weapons, like an M16 and an Uzi, and did her two year stint stationed in the middle of the West Bank surrounded by hostile Arabs. I could have kidnapped her and brought her home! I would, but couldn’t. Julia spent about ten years in Israel, but returned for college at Parsons School of Design and earned a degree in art and also earned a teaching credential and is presently head of the visual arts department at a high school in the peninsula, south of San Francisco, where she also teaches 11th grade English. She also adopted two wonderful girls from China, who are today both honors students. Lila, the oldest, is in the honors program at Cal Poly SLO, and Eden, who is in her sophomore year in high school, is very athletic, and earning straight A’s. It’s nice having them close by, and we are very close to them.
That’s enough or now.
Marshall
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