Great pics! Thanks for all you are sharing with us.

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"Philosophy is a walk on a slippery rock
Religion is a smile on a dog."

I was on pilgrimage to the Holy Land (Specifically around Haifa) some years ago and was wondering how you personally got along with the Israeli Arabs.

- Art

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"it benefits us to be thoughtful, not of the glory of our minds, but rather, above all else, of the glory of God."
- Johannes Kepler

the majority of my experience w/ Arabs here have been mostly w/ the Druze who come to help out on Kibbutz. Most of them are older men who served in the IDF during the '48 and '67 wars. We have a few who work also in the area where we make the feed for the animals and we get along relatively well.

my only negative experience, personally, thus far in Israel has been in Jerusalem. i have to admit to a bit of personal fear when it comes to this area, whether or not it's founded in reason at all. You couldn't pay me money to go into the Muslim quarter of the Old City, let alone any part of East Jerusalem. I've had rocks thrown at me and my friend's dog. Tho the ones doing the throwing were mostly kids but what struck me is that no adult made any move to reprehend or admonish the children...there could be a number of explanations for that, and you can take it how you want to.

so my experience has been relatively varied...i find that the further away from the border i am the friendlier most arabs tend to be. And i think there is also a divide in the attitudes of Arab Muslims verses Arab Christians, Druze, and bhedoins (sp).

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i mean, the biggest and most obvious difference is the Jewish identity of Israel as compared to the somewhat Christian identity of America. I grew up in Virginia, which for those who don't know is home to CBN and the late Jerry Falwell. It's been interesting not having the presense of evangelical christianity over me like it was before. We do, however, have conflicts within Judaism and they come out to the surface especially in Israel. Judaism in Israel, while for the most part associating itself w/ the Orthodox movement, runs the gamit in a way that doesn't compare to anywhere else in the world IMPO.

Also, because Israel is a nation of immigrants, you have multiple cultures converging in one place at the same time. I was standing outside our synagogue on shabbat morning w/ several friends and i realized that not one of us came from the same country yet all chose to come to Israel. there was me from the US, one from England, one from France, one from Morocco, one from Australia, and one from Yemen. And so you have different cultures being brought into Israel and all of them are clashing w/ each other and the native "Sabra", or native born Israeli. And people wonder why we had like 30 political parties running in the last election.

Israel's just so in your face and it, to a large extent, encourages "Chuzpa". You have to have Chuzpa to live in Israel, even the flies have Chuzpa. You have to put yourself out there, head up high, and don't take crap from anyone. This has alot of its origins in how people wanted to "reinvent" the jewish man w/ the creation of a jewish state. They wanted to get away from the quiet and polite ghetto jew who did as he was told by the Goyim, and instead create "The Sabra", named for a particular kind of fruit that grows here that is hard and prickly on the outside but soft on the inside. This has had it's positive effects and negative effects on the population at large.

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You have talent for writing and it looks to me like you have a great book to write. I want the first signed copy.

What is the weather like on a year round basis in Israel?

What is the economy like?

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InterfaithForums.com-Where your ideas and beliefs count.

weather can be summed up as such:
From Passover until Sukkot (fall-time) it NEVER rains.
From Sukkot until Passover it rains, sometimes more sometimes less (recently it's been less rain fall, which isn't good)

and...yeah that's pretty much it. hot and dry in the summer, cold and wet in the winter...no snow unless you're in the north and then it's real sparing, ya know.

the economy of israel is crap, to be frank. You would think jews who are stereotypically supposed to be good with money would have a strong economy. But it's not SO bad. We have a good high-tech industry and of course Tourism is big and so are pharmeceuticals. You'd be surprised how much we have today comes from Israel. Alot of advances in Cellular Phone technology comes from Israel.

so my advice...come to israel, show your support by buying crappy trinkets

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Tell me are there some interesting archeological sites or historical places around where you are living?

- Art

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"it benefits us to be thoughtful, not of the glory of our minds, but rather, above all else, of the glory of God."
- Johannes Kepler

I recently listened to a CD series on The Mystical Kabbalah by Rabbi David A. Cooper. I'm into mysticism, so I thoroughly enjoyed it. It seems the mystics of most religions come to similar conclusions.

What are your thoughts on mysticism and the Kabbalah?

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InterfaithForums.com-Where your ideas and beliefs count.

it's israel Art, EVERYTHING is an archeological or historical place lol.
On my kibbutz we have an old water tower which once was the kibbutz's water source when it was in the south near the Egyptian border. In 1948 there was a battle for the Kibbutz in which the Egyptian airforce decimated everything and only the water tower survived. Now it sits in the center of the kibbutz as a memorial for the old kibbutz.

this entire area saw heavy bombing during the early years of Israel until 1967 when israel pushed it's control all the way to Jericho.

We're about 20 minutes from Tel Aviv where you can see the first Jewish city in 2000 years and Independence Hall where Ben Gurion took the radio to declare the State of Israel independent. also Yafo, the Arab port city which is now part of Tel Aviv, has a beautiful Old City and open market.

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Real Kabbalah, not the touchy feely stuff or California Kabbalah that Madonna does, is something i'm not touching w/ a 30 foot pole. It's heavy heavy stuff that can only be studied by those who have YEARS of learning under their belt and are in their older years.

it's fascinating stuff...but not something to be taken lightly.

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