Riding Rabbi

All my bags are packed, I'm ready to go...

2009-05-05T13:58:00.000-07:00

Well... so far so good. The bag got packed, the bike packed, and got to Tel Aviv. I hope that it doesn't count as bearing false witness by saying that my bag was with me the entire time. I just felt that it wouldn't seem okay if I said that my bike was out of my sight from 12-16 hours a day, and were watched over by a crew headed by two Muslim students from the Arava Institute named Souliman and Osama, with a Vietnamese mechanic named Geo. Then the bike was transported by a mysterious Israeli company headed by a faceless "Itzkik" whom I have never met. Then my bike mysteriously arrived in a plain white van at a pre-appointed time and gate delivered by a man whose name I never knew. As the old saying goes, "What they don't know, can't hurt them."

Today I will have taken every mode of public transportation available in Israel except for bus and boat: cab, domestic flight, train, international flight. I had a few hours before my flight and got to walk around my friend Lesley's lovely Tel Aviv neighborhood and live real life in the neighborhood for an hour or so. Then, I took the train with my friend Uri Zeira to have dinner with his family.

Now I am sitting in Ben Gurion airport, mysteriously waved through all of security without even having my bike or bag x-rayed, and getting a few extra minutes at the ever expanding duty free shops. I feel like my mind is still spinning like my wheels coasting down the hill to Eilat.

FROM SEA TO SHINING SEA!

2009-05-04T07:18:00.001-07:00

After an early morning davening we left Kibbutz Ketura. We had a nice ride for about 18 miles or so, and then for another four miles we had the most ferocious winds you can imagine, that were developing into a sandstorm. Our speed was about 3-4 miles per hour. Our guide told us that this region gets about 5-10 of these a year, and it so happened that this was one of those time. So, we took some rudimentary shelter at a bus stop. Then, one of the vans schlepped up back to a rest stop that we left four miles earlier which had a small oasis of palm trees for cover. Our bikes were loaded onto the back of the bike truck, and we waited a the rest stop for all the groups to arrive. Then, we all piled into the bus where we bussed to the top of Mt. Hezekiah. From there, we were able to see four countries: Israel, Egypt, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia. We were literally on the border with Egypt, and were less that 100 meters from the Egyptian guard tower. Apparently the Egyptian army sends these poor guys there on 2 week stints alone, and tourists on the Israeli side sometimes throw over cartons of cigarettes for them. The funniest was seeing a bunch of these bikers lined up relieving themselves by the barbed wire after drinking multiple liters of water to prepare for a ride in the desert that turned into a bus ride. Still too windy, we rode on the bus until the next mountain top. By that location the wind had died down a lot, and we rode the last 5 miles or so down the mountain, to Eilat, through the town and to the sea. The ride down was scary for me as we get no downhills of like that in Dallas. Uphills hurt, but downhills make your hair stand on end. I was riding my brake so hard I could smell it, and I was still hitting over 30 mph -- I can only imagine what the speed demons in the group were were doing.

When we reached the hotel, they had beer and munchies for us and we were all able to relax by the sea. The water was still cool, but some got in to swim. All in all... AMAZING. My mind is tired from the ride and the over stimulation, but hopefully in the next hours and days, I will be able to post some reflection on the experience.

Final Time at Kibbutz Ketura & The Arava Institute

2009-05-04T06:15:00.000-07:00

Last night we had a tour of the Arava Institute, which is one of the two charitable beneficiaries of the ride. It is a really amazing institute. It is focused on environmental studies, and through its research also works toward coexistence amongst Jews and Arabs in the Middle East. A third of students are Israeli Jews, a third are Arabs who are either Israeli Arab, Palestinian, Jordanian or Egyptian, and a third are from abroad (Europe and U.S.). We toured their facility, and then met with many students in an informal way in the grassy courtyard by their dormitories In my small group, we met with Tamar, a Jewish girl from Jerusalem doing a year of study before undergraduate; Yussel, a Palestinan Arab from Nabulus doing graduate research on renewable resources; and Elliot from Buffalo, NY (and a Camp Ramah Canada alum!) who is getting an MA with Arava and Ben Gurion Univ. in water management. The students spoke openly with us about the tremendous skills they are gaining in their professional fields, and at the same time having a very honest interactions with others unlike themselves during a tumultuous time in the Middle East. They spoke of the fragmentation that occurred on campus during the Gaza war, as well as times of mutual support and cooperation throughout their studies. As these students make their way in the world, they are being trained to be regional environmental leaders. With such scarce resources in every area of the Mid-east, places like the Arava have the chance to be a beacon to countries like the U.S. who are just now beginning to make gestures of "going green," when in the middle of the Negev they have been "green" for decades out of necessity. Without question, the Arava institute is a small but bright light in an area of the world that usually has bad news make headlines. Though good news rarely makes news, they did have some nice coverage a couple of years ago on CNN. Click here to see the clip.

This morning I got up for a 5:15 prayer service under the palm trees on Kibbutz Keturah, and then got back in the saddle again (yeah!) for a final day of riding.

A Disappointing Day

2009-05-03T07:45:00.000-07:00

Today was a disappointing day. Over Shabbat, I came down with a fever, and couldn't ride today. This sometimes happens when I get worn down, but I actually think that it was due to dehydration. I slept a lot both Friday night and Saturday during the day, and hence did not continue drinking (difficult to do when you are asleep!). One of the doctors on the trip recommended that I take a day to rest, take Tylenol and continue to hydrate. I did that today, hung out with the crew and am feeling much better after some rest and water. We are now on Kibbutz Ketura which is a kibbutz founded by a group of Young Judeans in 1973. I went on a tour of the kibbutz to see the various agricultural projects, and soon we will be touring the Arava institute which is housed on this kibbutz.

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Only 35 miles today -- but all uphill!

2009-05-01T07:17:00.000-07:00

Albert Einstein is said to have explained the theory of relatively as follows: "When a pretty girl is sitting on your lap, an hour feels like a minute; when you are sitting on top of a hot stove, a minute feels like an hour."

When you are biking along the Mediterranean coast with the wind at your back, a mile seems like a foot. When you are climbing a hill that never seems to end, a foot feels like a mile. I was concerned about the ride today because of the climb (we climbed over 2400 feet over two days of riding), but I got some great advice from Joel Roffman back home and a man named John Drill here that proved invaluable.

We stopped to see the grave of David Ben Gurion, Israel's first Prime Minister. At the end of his life, he came to live and work at a kibbutz on the Negev desert.

We are now spending Shabbat in the small desert town of Mitzpeh Ramon, which is at the top of the Ramon Crater (not really a crater, you can read about that here.

Today was the one day when I joined the lower group, "Shomrim." The difference in our routes was that we did not go on an off-road mountain biking optional excursion. I declined this opportunity for three reasons (1) My overseas health insurance doesn't cover extreme sports -- including (but not limited to) mountain biking; (2) I have a history of falling from bikes (Mountain bikes in particular, and in the Negev desert specifically!); and (3) I want to enjoy this ride and not spend the last two days cut up.

Wishing everybody a Shabbat Shalom.

A Woman of Valor...

2009-05-01T05:08:00.001-07:00

Even though Annie does not allow us to sing "Eishet Hayil" -- "Woman of Valor" at our Shabbat table, there truly could not be words that describe her better. It was her total generosity of time, money and most of all spirit that allowed me to do this important, meaningful and fun adventure. She has not only sacrificed during the times when I went out riding or to the JCC, but to be at home with 3 kids including 12 week old Dani -- well, there are no words. Every person who finds out that I have a 12 week old at home has the same remark: "And you're here!???!! You're wife let you come!!???" So either I am insensitive and selfish, or she is a saint. While some of the former may be true, all of the latter is. I think of Annie often while I am here, remembering when we met and started dating during our junior year abroad at Hebrew University, and also when we came here as a married couple six years later.

Where I've Been & Where I am Going

2009-04-30T09:08:00.000-07:00

This map was created with Google Maps by Hazon.org for our ride. It is very cool and interactive. Click on any place name to see where it is, and then you can use Google or Wikipedia to find out more about each place.

View Larger Map

A Personal Milestone...

2009-04-30T08:44:00.000-07:00

Today we cycled from Ashkelon to a kibbutz in the Western Negev. The ride was 72 miles long -- by far the longest bike-ride that I have ever taken in my life! A personal milestone. My chain fell off and during the ride I had flats in both tires (at different times). When you get a flat, you just call one of the staff members on your cell phone (or one sees you on their bike or van), and they use their cell-phone walkie-talkie to call the repair person. Then, within minutes, like superheroes, they swoop in and change your tire. What would have taken me close to an hour they do in less than 5 minutes, and you are back on the bike catching up with the group.

The purpose of the ride is to raise awareness of environmental and geo-political issues within an environmental bent. So, we rode to the top of this (steep) hill to see a reservoir built by JNF (one of over 200) that treats waste water to be used for agriculture. Israel leads the world in this, cleaning, purifying and utilizing 75% of its waste water. We also rode by the world's largest desalination plant that creates drinking water from sea water. We could see Gaza from this reservoir and rode nearby Sderot -- the town besieged by Hamas in the last war. In past years, Hazon actually donated bikes to the children of Sderot.

There are times when I am riding through farms or rocky fields and think "This could be riding from Dallas to Waxahachie", but then I remember -- I am on the road from Gerar to Be'er Sheva where Abraham and Isaac lived.

Day One of Riding -- What a Yom HaAtzmaut!

2009-04-29T11:13:00.000-07:00

Thanks to the training I had with Richard Wharton at the Dallas Cycling Center at the Aaron Family JCC, it was not so bad. I am a little bit concerned about tomorrow's length (68 miles) and the hills (mountains) on Friday.

We rode through Tel Aviv, Yafo, by Rishon L'tzion and through farms, moshavim (settlements) and regular Israeli neighborhoods. By mid-afternoon, we got to the beach in Ashkelon. Ashkelon is a racially diverse, working class city and its beach reflected that -- rather than the buffed and polished Tel Aviv beaches. And there was beauty in being off of a tour bus and interacting with Israeli life.

We saw families having Yom HaAtzmaut barbecues in honor of Israel's independence, with parks packed shoulder to shoulder with families of all races and backgrounds grilling meat, playing music, and having fun with one another. Often times when we would ride by, people would shout out "Chag Sameach! Chag Sameach!". One woman who I spoke with in Hebrew at a red light couldn't believe what we were doing, saying to us over and over "Kol HaKavod" (loosely -- "More power to you!", and elbowing her husband so he could hear what we were doing.

One rider on the trip had been in a cab coming to the hotel, and in his broken Hebrew and the driver's broken English they managed to communicate the purpose of this bicycle trip from Tel Aviv to Eilat. The driver reached into his glove compartment and gave the man a miniature book of Psalms in Hebrew to keep on his key chain for protection.

There was something truly sacred about spending Yom HaAtzmaut in Tel Aviv at the place where Israel declared itself a state, on that Jewish date.

A Most Authentic MEMORIAL day and INDEPENDENCE day

2009-04-28T14:14:00.000-07:00

I have preached before about the unique role of Memorial Day in Israeli society. Truly remembering, solemnizing and being grateful for the ultimate sacrifice is something that has faded in the United States and still holds strong in Israel. I was in downtown Tel Aviv, next to Rabin Square (where Prime Minister Itzhak Rabin was assassinated). I witnessed a scene very similar to this one.

Also independence day -- a true celebration. I went out with two dear friends from College -- Lesley Benedikt and Josh Mitnick -- who made aliyah nine years ago, and they took me out for an authentic Tel Aviv Celebration. Day before the ride though -- so I nursed half a beer until 11 and then went back to the hotel before the masses even began to come out.

It is past midnight here, and I can hear music spilling out of the night clubs as revelers continue to dance the night away. As for me.... off to bed for the first big day of riding.

A Safe Arrival in Israel!

2009-04-28T04:04:00.000-07:00

There should be a special "bracha" (blessing) for arriving in Israel. Being in Israel is to truly experience a modern miracle. Israel is more beautiful than ever. I arrived late last night. I awoke to look out at the beautiful Mediterranean. This morning I registered for the Israel Ride which is sponsored by Hazon. Many friends and family members have contributed to this cause, you can see my personal webpage here.

A young man named "Geo" who was born in Vietnam, moved to France and came to settle in Israel 11 years ago helped me reassemble my bicycle. This group is multi-ethnic, multi-religious, and multi-Jewish (Reform, Conservative, Secular, Orthodox, etc, etc.)

After assembling the bike, I went on a short 5 mile ride to test it out on the boardwalk and in HaYarkon Park which has a beautiful multi-use trail.