During Shabbat, from around sunset, Friday, to sunset, Saturday, the mostly Jewish West Jerusalem is remarkably quiet. Nearly all stores are closed, the traffic on the streets is light, and many residents are in their homes and communities (or in those of friends and family) observing the holy day. Nevertheless, there is still plenty for tourists, most of whom are not Shabbat-observant, to do on days like this, especially in the Jerusalem's crown jewel -- the Old City. And, so, the Old City of Jerusalem was the primary destination for Saturday.
Prior to the 19th century, the Old City of Jerusalem, surrounded by walls, was the entire city of Jerusalem. Since then, high-rise hotels, shops, entire neighborhoods, highways -- almost anything one would find in a modern city -- have been built outside its walls. Meanwhile, the one square kilometer encompassed by the Old City has maintained most of its historical and religious charm that attracts visitors from around the world.
By 10am, most of the MISTI-Israel students were standing outside Jaffa Gate, named so because it points westward, toward the port city of Jaffa. All the gates to the Old City were constructed in front of sharp, 90-degree turns in order to thwart outside attacks. Apparently, they have been very effective; despite the fact that Jerusalem has been attacked dozens of times over the centuries, the Old City still remains.
The Jaffa Gate puts one by a main road (and by road, I really mean narrow, crowded, and slippery alley) that divides the Christian and Armenian Quarters. It also points visitors directly to what is a common sight in the Old City -- shops, where one must bargain for
everything (even a pack of batteries). But first, we took a B-turn into the Armenian Quarter. One of the Armenian Quarter's hallmarks is its quality tile shops. Said our tour guide, lower prices, means lower quality; go for the real deal if you want your souvenir stand the test of time (duly noted). Now, you may be wondering why an
Armenian Quarter exists. There's the Jewish Quarter, the Muslim Quarter, the Christian Quarter, but... the Armenian Quarter??? Most Armenians in the quarter are Christian, but, unlike most residents of the Christian Quarter, they are not Arab. Essentially, they
are distinct.
Just east of the Armenian Quarter is the Jewish Quarter. Many of the buildings in the Jewish Quarter are newer than those in the other segments, primarily because much of it was rebuilt after the 1967 Six-Day War. Synagogues and homes for the quarter's approximately two thousand residents make up a significant portion of the quarter. Even when it's not Shabbat, the quarter is not overflowing with the shops one frequently finds in the Arab Christian and Muslim Quarters. The quarter's main draw, though, is the Western Wall, which served as a retained wall for the Second Temple of Jerusalem. The site, along with the Temple Mount adjacent to it, is considered the holiest place in Judaism. The wall is sometimes called the "Wailing Wall" for the fact that Jews at the site mourn the destruction of the Holy Temple. At any time of the day (and especially on Jewish holidays), one can see Jews (and even some non-Jews) praying, inserting messages to God in the cracks of the wall, and, in summary, taking in the gravity of the wall, and the two other holy sites (the Dome of the Rock and al-Aqsa Mosque) that are visible behind it. In front of the wall is a large plaza, located on the site of the former Moroccan Quarter (don't ask how there could be five
quarters), which now handles the large number of people that frequently assembles around the site, especially on Jewish holidays.
[Unfortunately, we couldn't get a closer picture, in front of the Western Wall, because photographs are prohibited in the plaza on Shabbat.]
Next was the Muslim Quarter, which is undeniably the largest, most crowded, and most chaotic of the quarters. As I briefly mentioned before, the Dome of the Rock and al-Aqsa Mosque, which together form the third-holiest site in Islam, are located on top of the Temple Mount. The explanation of its holiness in Islam is a bit more esoteric, so I'll just say that if you're interested, you should look it up. Unfortunately, non-Muslims are currently not permitted to visit the Temple Mount on Saturdays (or enter the Dome of the Rock or al-Aqsa Mosque at all), so only one of the MISTI participants got the opportunity to visit the Mount. As previously mentioned, though, in the Muslim Quarter, one fines a plethora of shops in narrow alleys. The merchandise seemed so tempting (even if at times repetitive), but we needed to make it to the final quarter -- the Christian Quarter -- before lunch.
There are (no surprise here) many churches dotted throughout the Christian Quarter, but the quarter's main attraction is the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, where Christians believe Jesus was crucified. I had visited the church on my own during a trip to Jerusalem a few weeks prior, but, for some reason, the church was dozens of times more crowded this time. One can easily lose track of time in the church, which is very dark and noted for its high ceilings. Within the church is what's known as the Edicule (Tomb) of the Holy Sepulchre, which sits under a large rotunda. As the name suggests, this is believed to be Jesus' resting place.
From here, we all dispersed. Several of us (including me) decided to eat and shop in the Old City, rather than go back to the hotel. I tried my hand at bargaining, although I consider the practice more painful than exciting (I also feel cheated in the end), and got some ceramics for family back home. My first visit to Jerusalem a month earlier established the Old City as my favorite site I've visited, and this visit reconfirmed that. Despite the conflict that surrounds the city and the region, there
seems to be some level of harmony in the Old City.
On that note, fast-forward to the evening. As part of the weekend's agenda, we were visited by two people representing
The Parents Circle, a group of Israeli and Palestinian parents who have lost sons and daughters in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The two people invited to speak to us were an Israeli mother who had lost her daughter in an attack on a bus and a Palestinian father whose son was killed in a car driven by an Israeli settler in the West Bank. They each spoke about their feelings after their respective tragedies and how they have been able to cope. Several students (understandably so) were in sobbing or in tears during each parent's talk, which was followed by a brief discussion.
The following day, the group departed east from the city of the Jerusalem, and then south to Ein Gedi, a national park located close to the Dead Sea (the lowest point on Earth).
After a quick hike and a two-minute drive, we were at the Dead Sea, which is located 420 m (1,080 ft) below sea level. Compare that to Jerusalem, which is located at an altitude of 760 m (2,500 ft). Because of the low location, the air is rich with oxygen and the sun feels extra-hot. The water is refreshing -- unless you have an open wound, that is. The Dead Sea is so salty (over 30%) that one can float in it without effort (and as I implied, will cause the smallest cuts to generate great pain and discomfort).
From there, we continued south along the coast of the Dead Sea to the Dead Sea Works, a company the operates out of the southern half of the Dead Sea. (If you look at a current satellite photo of the Dead Sea, you'll see the northern half, which actually looks like a lake, and a southern half, which is divided into several evaporation pools). Their work isn't in my field, so I can't speak much about what exactly they do and how they do it, but I gathered that they make this product, known as potash, that is frequently used as fertilizer. On our minibus, the guide pointed out some of the features of the factory and evaporation pools, and noted that there was a similar (unaffiliated) enterprise on the Jordanian side of the Dead Sea.
And with that, the weekend was over. The bus took the scenic route back to Haifa, dropping off students in Beer Sheva, Rehovot, and Tel Aviv along the way.
The first four weeks of my internship are now history, so now would be a great opportunity to tell you what's been happening all this time.
This summer, I am in Haifa working at the Technion’s Ran Naor Road Safety Research Center, a part of the Faculty of Civil Engineering. Specifically, I'm working with Roby Carmel, who, until this past winter, was a practicing traffic engineer. The project Roby and several others are working on relates to pedestrian safety in Israel. Despite being a developed country, Israel has an abnormally high number of traffic accidents involving pedestrians, with the risk to those on foot being significantly greater here than in Western Europe and North America. This information is made even more surprising by the fact that jaywalking is extremely uncommon and right turns on red are prohibited.
So far, I have been looking over reports regarding safety in developed and developing countries around the world to see what measures work for them and how they could be applied in Israel. Afterward, I used information acquired from (if I'm correct) the Central Bureau of Statistics to determine which cities in Israel are more accident-prone. Because Haifa is located in the northern part of the country, we focused on northern cities. Because we didn't have a suitable GIS (Geographic Information Systems) program to facilitate mapping the data, Roby created printouts of specific streets in the relevant cities. From there, I locate the address or intersection where an accident occurred (using Israel's version of Google Maps,
Mapa; notice how it's all in Hebrew) and then mark the appropriate map. This provided me the perfect opportunity to sharpen my Hebrew-reading (not necessarily Hebrew-
understanding) and Hebrew-writing skills.
During some downtime, Roby has showed me some of the construction projects in Haifa. Haifa's downtown areas hug the coastline which, from a map of the city, one sees follows an 'S'-like curve. For awhile, there have been dreams of building a tunnel through Mount Carmel (on which much of the city resides) to bypass the busy city center. A couple years ago, a private company undertook the project and, in a few years, we shall see its fruits.
North of the city, work is being done on a highway that will help bring through traffic between Haifa and its suburbs (and beyond). Because Roby knew the foreman of the project (having done work for it himself), he was able to convince him to give us a tour of the incomplete highway.
This past week, Roby brought me to the municipality building, which sits right across the street from City Hall. He had a couple meetings to attend, but he showed me around the office (at which he used to work), pointing out the various models of the city's construction projects related to transportation.
All in all, things are going well. Signing out.
On Friday, June 27, the fourteen MISTI-Israel participants convened in Haifa for the first of only two times this summer. As far as I know, this weekend rendezvous was the brainchild of Mish. Part of the rationale behind the convention was to promote Hibur -- a group that connects students from the Technion and MIT. Of course, the side effect of the gathering was that we all got to see each other in person. Like at the alumni dinner on Tuesday, June 3, it felt strange for me to see all of these MIT people together in a foreign country. (We had all seen each other a week or two before the end of the academic year, I had taken this flight to Israel on my own, and now I'm here and it's... wait, what are these people doing here??? How did they get here?!)
The schedule for the weekend was quite light, in part because taking care of just the logistics for the meals took Mish a huge amount of time and in part because the Shabbat-observant students (five MIT students, I believe) couldn't do much anyway.
I was in Nazareth earlier in the day when Mish called to inform me that all of the MISTI participants had arrived and that they were hanging out in one of the dorm rooms. Of course, I couldn't come at that precise point. However, I wanted to get back as soon as I could (you know, once I finished my time in Nazareth).
So, I was dropped off by the Port of Haifa (not where I was expecting) at 5:00pm. The city had ground to a halt as businesses and even the buses had shut down for the imminent start of Shabbat. I asked a man in one lonely open convenience store on the side of the road the best way for me to get to The Technion. He suggested taking a taxi, which I knew would cost me at least NIS 30 ($9), or even more due to the extra fees taxis sometimes charge on or around Shabbat. I didn't want to do that. I asked whether the sheruts -- shared taxis -- still were running, and he said no.
I wasn't particularly happy about that. I had the impression the sheruts still ran on Shabbat (or at least longer prior to Shabbat). Unwilling to hail a taxi, I began walking in the direction of the Technion. I remember there was a sherut stand in the busy Hadar neighborhood of Haifa. I tried to recall the path I took during a tour of Haifa on June 4 (a tour that ended at the aforementioned sherut stand). At one point, I was standing in front of another tall building and a city map across the street from it. Finding my location on the map was like finding a needle in a haystack (cliché, I know). All the roads were in Hebrew (which wasn't much of a problem) and the map showed the
whole city, not just the vicinity (
that was the problem). Thankfully, I noticed there was a Carmelit (mini-subway) station across the street. The Carmelit was clearly marked on the map, and indeed I found my whereabouts.
Following a sherut that coincidentally came around the corner, a went a block away to find several out-of-town sheruts and then a couple blocks farther to find local sheruts, including one to the Technion. The sherut was only NIS 7 ($2). Much, much better, and it brought me right to the dorm.
Back at the Technion, I saw three of the MISTI-Israel participants -- Tamara '09, Stephen '09, and Jesse '11 leaving the Canada Dorms. The shindig that Mish had mentioned earlier had concluded, and, given it was 6:00pm, there were less than two hours before sunset. Shabbat dinner was scheduled to begin at 8:30pm.
On the weekends, the Technion campus is nearly silent. Many students, presumably, go home to their families -- if they don't live with their families during the rest of the week. That's what's great (or, terrible, depending on your perspective) about small countries; everything -- and everybody -- is so close. So, when I approached the location of the dinner (which I didn't know perfectly), I knew I had arrived when I saw other humanoid objects. The religious Jews who went to services didn't arrive for almost another half hour. The food took awhile to arrive as well, in part because it had to be carried on foot (or else, some said, it wouldn't be kosher).
Unfortunately, acquiring pictures of the event was quite difficult, in part because we decided to eat outside (in the poor light) and in part because many of Shabbat rules made photographing uncomfortable for those who observed them (as well as uncomfortable for some others who were aware of the Shabbat restrictions). However, I eventually got Risha, Ellann, and one of the Technion students, Danny, to smile for the camera:
Too bad this doesn't encapsulate the exciting evening we had. It was relatively relaxed, with everyone talking about their internships, their accommodations, and their travels. As I mentioned, this was one of only two times all the MISTI students would convene in one location.
We sat outside instead of inside because the air conditioning wasn't working. However, at the end of the meal, the lights inside still needed to be turned off. Mish couldn't technically
ask me to turn them off. So, instead she just stood by the door and the light switches and abruptly took the trays of food I was holding. (I then turned off the lights, as she noted to the others around her who looked puzzled that she didn't
ask me to do anything.)
Shortly after 11pm, we all dispersed back to our dorms or off-campus accommodations (several Technion Hiburniks offered their places -- on-campus or off- -- to the visiting MISTI students).
The following day, the only thing planned was lunch in the same location. Those who kept kosher were limited to the (by now) cold food that had sat in a refrigerator all night. Those who weren't kosher got warm food that was driven in by one of the Technion Hibur students, Omer. Setting up the food, we needed to put paper towels under the food trays to contain their leaking. Mish rolled out paper towels, but, again, she couldn't actually
rip the towels herself (or ask me to do so). So she just stood there, expecting me to take some sort of action to complete the task.
We ate outside again due to the problems with the air-conditioning. As usual, the weather in Haifa was perfect. It hasn't rained since I arrive May 26, and it should rain until I leave around August 21.
Meanwhile, in the background a couple of the stray cats that seem to permanently reside in The Technion were chasing each other around, hissing at each other, and, all in all, acting like mini-lions.
And that was all. Half of the MISTI people went off to the beach, while the other half took the rest of the afternoon off. I did the latter.
As we say in Course 6:
Hello, World! I'm Mish Madsen, the
other
MISTI reporter who will be covering Israel this summer, traveling around to get
the other interns' perspectives on their work and their time here. At MIT, I've
just finished my thid year. I'm in CS, and over last winter break, I decided to
go premed as well, which means I've been working pretty hard recently. My work is
MIT is in autism, and I had the good fortune (and networking luck) to find an
internship at the Technion here in Israel in autism as well, in the Faculty of
Industrial Engineering and Management. For those keeping score at home, a
"faculty" is a department and "Industrial Engineering", as far as I can tell, is
the study of human factors in a work environment; essentially consulting, with
lots of ergonomics research as well. My supervisor,
Dr. Eldad Yechiam, is in the
behavioral science area, which apparently includes autism research!
As a MISTI reporter, it's my job to visit the other interns; this week I took
Sunday off (I love flexible academic environments!) and visited two MISTI interns
in different parts of the country. One of the absolute best things about Israel
is that - although it may seem like an enormous place because of the
diversity of scenery, historical perspectives, and ideas - the actual country is
in fact quite small (only a tiny bit bigger than New Jersey) and you can actually
travel substantive amounts of it over the course of a day. So I began the day at
9am in Beit Shemesh, a suburb of Jerusalem, where I was visiting family friends;
traveled to Jerusalem proper, then to Hadassah Hospital to visit one intern;
headed back to the center of Jerusalem, had lunch with a visiting friend,
traveled to Tel Aviv to visit the other intern, and was back in Haifa by 7pm or
so. It's really amazing how close everything is; it doesn't seem possible when
you consider how different those cities actually are from one another.
Batya Fellman, the intern in Jerusalem, is working at the Hebrew University
Medical School (adjacent to the well-known Hadassah Medical Center) in the area
of Dental Medicine. She just graduated from MIT with a degree in Mechanical
Engineering, and she's now interning in the area of biotechnology with MISTI. The
medical school campus where she's working is absolutely beautiful:
She's just beginning her internship with a lab in Dental Medicine, but they work
on many topics related to physiology and bone structure. Here's Batya next to her
building:
Batya will be exploring the issue of lower back pain resulting from degenerate
disc disease, since not much is known about what actually happens to the disc.
During her internship, she will be investigating the structure and properties of
one of the prominent molecules, called aggrecan, that makes up the vertebral disc
to help understand more about how degenerate disc disease operates.
During my visit, I met some of Batya's co-workers: Professor Gadi Pelled, who
supervises her work...
... and a grad student, Dima
Sheyn, who works on similar projects in the same room.
During my time at Hadassah, I was able to interview Batya, Dima, and another of
Batya's coworkers, Zulma Gazit.
After my interviews, Batya and I took some time to check out the quirky nearby
art:
... and then it was off to Tel Aviv to visit Meena!
Meena Viswanath, one of the MISTI interns at Tel Aviv University this summer, is
a Course 1 (Civil Engineering) major at MIT who has just finished her first year.
Her internship is at the gorgeous Tel Aviv university's main campus.
This summer, she's doing something a little different than her usual courses at
MIT...
Her internship involves using sensitive nanoseismic equipment to analyze waves
resulting from events below 2.0 on the Richter scale. Essentially, she's learning
about mini-earthquakes! Applications of this
technology include predicting collapses of caves and sinkholes, analyzing
building responses the earthquakes, and tracking underground animals.
Here's Meena and her Professor Hillel Wust-
Bloch discussing nanoseismic events:
During the summer, Meena will be
focusing mostly on tracking and analyzing the signals made by the Middle
Eastern blind mole-rat as it digs underground - it was very exciting to hear
about her research and the interesting collaborations with groups in Jordan and
other nearby countries.
After the interviews, Meena and I headed out for a
quick bite to eat...
... and then I was on my way back to Haifa! I had a fabulous time beginning to
visit the MISTI-Israel interns, and I'll be posting more about them soon. Clips
from interviews with Meena, Batya, and their coworkers/supervisors will be posted
soon.
My name is Elijah and I am one of
two MISTI-Israel reporters this summer. Even though I have only finished my first year at MIT, I am already delving in to an experience abroad. Israel is new for me (and I'm not Jewish either), so this should be – and has, so far, already been – an enlightening experience. Currently, I am working on a project at the Technion, Israel's Institute of Technology, where I am collaborating with researcher Robert ("Roby") Carmel to look at something that is a major problem in Israel – pedestrian safety.
I'll talk about that later, but first, a look at what has happened already:
Two and a half weeks have passed since I first arrived in the country, but I only just started my internship this past week. During the early days, I was participating in a delegation on behalf of
Hibur, a program that links students from MIT and the Technion. (Students, by the way, are always welcome to join – hint, hint.) Throughout that time, the Technion "Hiburniks" had planned a packed schedule consisting of tours of different departments (known as "faculties") and labs, as well as companies. Even though the six members on the MIT side of Hibur come from different fields – I, personally, am majoring in civil engineering – the coordinators of the delegation schedule ensured there was enough for everyone. By the end of the week, I believe we visited every delegation member's department.
In addition, we had the chance to visit a few companies at the
Matam Technology Park, at the southwestern corner of Haifa. And by companies, I mean GE and Intel; for a small country, Israel is a real nugget of technology achievements. The Intel branch in Haifa, which spans multiple buildings, was responsible for the development of the Core 2 Duo chip.
We had plenty of time to explore the Technion's beautiful (albeit, very hilly) campus as well as see Haifa. Not far from the campus is a crossroads where one could get a bite to eat (as I did several times) or get a haircut (as I did once, on June 5). The Technion students arranged a tour of the Bahá'í gardens, by far Haifa's claim to fame. The gardens, and the buildings which they surround, form the Bahá'í World Center, the headquarters for the approximately seven million followers of the Bahá'í Faith worldwide. Visitors must traverse the mountain going down instead of up (perhaps thankfully so, given the large number of steps, and the constant heat).
On Tuesday, June 3, we also went to see Tel Aviv, a city that makes Haifa look like a sleepy hamlet. Some even call it the "city never sleeps" (okay, let's not get ahead of ourselves; it's no New York). The Hiburniks all went to the top of the tallest tower in the Azrieli Center to see a view of the city and the Mediterranean beyond. Afterwards, we took to the city streets, walking along King George Street for food and shopping, through old neighborhoods, and onto one of Israel's beaches abutting the serenely blue Mediterranean (no beach near Boston could match).
I've also had some time to explore on my own. I don't know any Hebrew, but it's very easy to get around without it; nearly everyone speaks English to some degree, and many speak it fluently. Perhaps the most notable experience for me came the evening of Sunday, June 1, when I (and some of the other Hibur students) were invited to a yeshiva for a celebration commemorating Jerusalem Day, the day when the city was unified during the 1967 Six-Day War. I was the only one who ended up accepting the invitation – and I'm glad I did. Although I originally felt out-of-place in the midst of a sea of Orthodox Jews, nearly all of whom were dressed in white, I ultimately felt welcomed by arbitrary locals who came up to me to say ‘shalom' and engage in conversation. At one point, a large group of men began dancing in a circle as music was playing and as others were waving Israeli flags. I was just taking pictures, when someone else entered the room, grabbed my hand, and beckoned me to join in. It was a bit surreal.
That, though, sums up my encounters with Israelis so far. Even though I was forewarned that the average Israeli might seem impolite compared to Americans, I have seen precisely the opposite. I am not sure if it's the fact that I'm a visitor (a "tourist" at times), but everywhere I go, Israelis seem to be open to talking to me, asking where I am from (some presuming I'm American even before asking) and wondering how I have enjoyed Israel. Almost invariably, my conversations with locals proceed toward discussions about politics – about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict or about the U.S. presidential elections (luckily, two of my favorite topics). I am very excited to see Israel from this perspective, rather than the perspective I see from home (which is always about its political climate, in one way or another). There's clearly so much more to Israel.
Last on my major experiences these past few weeks was my trip to Jerusalem (I went a few other places, but Jerusalem was the most pertinent and interesting). Tel Aviv may be where all the action is, but the Old City of Jerusalem has already taken its place as my favorite place in Israel. The entire country has a mix of religions and cultures (although, of course, with a distinct Jewish majority); both Hebrew and Arabic are official languages of Israel and one will frequently hear people speaking both (or English or Russian or something else entirely). However, the Old City captures all these backgrounds and crams them into one square kilometer. Most mesmerizing was seeing a sea of Hasidic Jews streaming through the Muslim Quarter from their neighborhoods north of the Old City to the Western Wall, just before the start of Shavuot (which lasted June 8-9, sundown to sundown). Then, there was the iconic view of the Dome of the Rock on the left, the Western Wall in the middle, and the al-Aqsa Mosque on the right. Further still were the various markets selling local crafts, the restaurants offering native cuisine, and the other historical and religious sites that make the Old City of Jerusalem one-of-a-kind.
Last weekend's trip will certainly not be my last to Jerusalem. Just a two-hour drive from Haifa to Jerusalem and six hours to the southern tip of the country, nothing in Israel is far. I will have to work during the week, but I expect to take advantage of the weekends to explore the country and spend more time amongst Israelis (political conversations and all).
But, now it's on to my internship; I'll tell you how it goes...