In this week before Purim, we find ourselves perhaps, among the tights and pink tutus in San Francisco….? Maybe we are in Mexico with the Caballeros…

…and with Dia de Los Muertos celebrants?

No, we are in Tel Aviv on the promenade with all the other party go-ers like the astronauts and police officers with kipot. Only in Israel, and only in this very young and arty, big beach city.

Incredible shopping for hip designer fashions (Ayala Ball necklace)…

…stylized, modern and bauhaus architecture…

…and quirky sculpture around every corner. Keep your eyes peeled, high and low!

We stayed near Old Jaffa, the Arab port and flea market, which provided the famous “Dr. Shakshuka” restaurant, shopping, music and great people watching. We needed the many, soothing, chaise lounge “islands” we found in shaded bicycle/pedestrian strips in the City Center. They invite you to grab an expresso and a gelato, and stretch out for a nap…Ahhhhh.

The green public bikes are affordable, available at stops all around the City, and are even electric powered so you don’t have to work too hard. The only drawback is motorcyclists and bikers ride fast on narrow sidewalks among pedestrians, and park on the sidewalks blocking the way. We happily block their way on the sidewalk when we stop to enjoy local musicians jamming with shofars and drums.

We love Tel Aviv’s juxtaposition and richness of diverse cultures; Israel is a very young country, only 67 years old and its population is also young and tech saavy. There are more Start-ups in Israel than in the entire United States. Although the conflicts with the residents of the occupied territories is very real, and the threats to Israelis on public transportation, in malls, and on the street is real (separate attacks by Palestinians on Israeli citizens and soldiers occurred every week we were in Israel, and if you Google “Sderot” a town 1 miles from the Gaza Strip, most of the images are of rocket caches and launches from within the Gaza Strip targeting Israeli civilians in Sderot), yet the Israelis have adopted a fatalistic philosophy, because they say the violence is always possible and there is no way to predict or control it.

Israelis minimize the sense of risk and tell us that always knowing where a bomb shelter is within 40 seconds of a rocket siren, is just built in to their consciousness. We don’t buy it; it is a stressful awareness. Every resident serves for three years in the National Armed Services. Even when they go home for the weekend, they must carry their uzis. Even when they complete service they must return for reserve training. Our airbnb.com host grew up in Sderot, served 10 years in the National Defense and is now in medical school, yet reports weekly for reserve training. The entire country is always prepared to fight for the survival of the State of Israel. So, why be surprised that the drivers are angry and aggressive, the service providers are sullen and have no concept of guest relations/customer service. Israelis laugh at this and say such rudeness is not because we are tourists, that they are treated with disdain by merchants as well because, well, “Israelis are just brusque”. With real estate and services quite expensive, and very low salaries (although not much unemployment), Israelis, Jewish and Arab alike, are stressed. Both communities feel that they cannot personally make a difference. What will be, will be….

Everyone we talked with wants Peace….but feels that war is inevitable. 3 weeks, 3 months, 3 years, it will come. Everyone states the need for a Two State solution. Most people do not believe it will occur in their lifetimes. However, after winning his fifth term, Netanyahu announced an intent to create a two state solution this term! He knows how serious it could be for Israel to lose U.S support.

The biggest challenge for Israel is remaining a Democracy, meaning one person=one vote. The Israeli Arab population is growing faster than the Israeli Jewish population. Making it easy for Jews to make aliyah will not make enough Jewish citizens in the long run. There must be a safe haven for Jews in this anti-Semitic world and as Netanyahu made clear in his address to the U.S. Congress, Israel will survive with, or without U.S. support. We are confident that the tiny State of Israel (the size of New Jersey) will survive as it is the only country that guarantees Jewish immigration. We wonder however, whether a Democratic State of Israel can survive in the years to come as Muslims become numerically the dominant population. Stressful indeed.

When my son visits Israel this coming Winter Break as a Birthright participant, he can wear his  patriotic underwear while he engages in his and Israel’s favorite activity, arguing about politics.

In the ‘Cradle of Civilization’ we expected to see well researched antiquities from the Canaanites, through Hellenistic and Roman Periods, through the Crusades to the Fall of the Ottoman Empire. What really surprised us though is the frequent NEW findings by amateur archeologists, even in the midst of our visit to Haifa. Local spelunkers just found coins from Alexander the Great in a local Israeli cave, and amateur scuba divers unearthed a huge cache of coins just offshore from the Caesaria ruins (above, halfway between Haifa and Tel Aviv).

A wonderful museum, with displays that put these artifacts into context is the Archeological Museum at the University of Haifa. We lucked out and got our friends’ son JJ, a diver and reclamation/preservation specialist to give us a tour of his labs there, and the Museum. A Phoenician sailing ship crashed on the reef near Caesaria, and lay there protected by salt water and sand for over 2000 years. JJ and his colleagues had to bring it up without exposing it to air as it disintegrates if not immersed in polyglycolethalene solutions, until all the sea water is slowly replaced with the absorption of this waxy solution. Unfortunately, the team is stymied with recovered rope; it just doesn’t respond the same way, so the lab has tiny shreds of rope in experimental solutions for the time being.

The Phoenicians (Canaanites from 1200 BCE) were the ultimate maritime trade specialists. They were known to the Greeks and Romans as, “The Traders in Purple”; they hauled cargo in large and small loops all around the Mediterranean basin, but called western Lebanon their home, and Tyre their capital. Because archeologists recovered an intact keel, and the lower planking and cross beams, the bottom third of the original sailing ship above is on view. Not only did they painstakingly preserve an unusually designed anchor (below, exhibit photo), they made models and repeatedly dropped them in water…..to find that they always landed right side down for anchoring!

JJ’s instruction really expanded our appreciation of Caesaria and Akko, the two archeological sites we visited. We enjoyed being students again at the edge of the Sea, observing the march of civilizations before us in touchable form. I am sure I would have enjoyed that History of Western Civ class at Stanford a lot more if I could have listened to lectures in the Hippodrome and the Coral Palace at Caesaria, and the Ramparts at Akko with the ocean lapping at the ruins.

Israel not only offers the “Old and Older”, but the caves throughout the country, especially on the slopes of Mt. Carmel near Haifa, also offer hikes to caves with prehistoric remains. The Tabun Cave (above) was our favorite;  turn north across the wadi to view the largest intact fully exposed fossilized reef in the world, and turn south to view limestone bell caves and a collapsed karstic cave revealing a perfect wall of civilization (above). Here, evidence was gathered that confirmed that Neanderthal and Homo Sapien Sapien coexisted in this area and controlled fire earlier than expected.

Notice I did not say “peacefully coexisted” because DNA and other evidence from other caves in Israel and a 2.5 Million year old jaw found recently in Ethiopia suggest that Homo Sapien replaced Neanderthals due to several factors: 1) Neanderthals were driven out by Homo Sapiens; 2) Homo Neanderthal females mating with Homo Sapien males produced sterile offspring so Homo Sapien is not a Neanderthal evolutionary descendant; 3) both of these forms of early human descended from the same source of DNA;  4) Neanderthals required far more calories to survive than Homo Sapien putting them at risk; 5) Neanderthals did not adjust to cooling temperatures turning the forests into grasslands, requiring new “planned” hunting techniques the collapsed chimney in the cave above was used by Homo Sapien to drive herd animals in to their death and butchering inside the cave; and 6) Neanderthals never developed sufficient tool use from rock and bone to allow them to evolve to smaller teeth in favor of tool use,  and therefore derive nutrition from a greater source of nutrients.

As Steven turns 60 in two months, he feels he can’t possibly be that “old”. As his elders, we know,”being old” is just a matter of perspective. After 2.5 million years of adaptation, we learn from our predecessors, “Adapt or die”. Since Steven is the most adaptive man we’ve all ever met, we know he will “Live Long and Prosper” (R.I.P. Leonard Nimoy), and quickly learn the most important lesson of wisdom and age….GETTING OLD IS FUN IF YOU DO IT WITH THE RIGHT PEOPLE….that would be me!… and our friends and family!

Fortunately, he already knows, that a nap with a big dog in your lap extends your life more than any super vitamin package and anti-oxidant elixirs!