Roman Pipedream: Letting Ideas Flow

This weekend we joined one of the tour groups on a day tour to the Alona reserve near Zichron Yaakov in Israel. It is the site of 2000 year old Roman ruins, the remains of an aqueduct system that brought water to enable the expansion in the port city Ceaseria.

At a certain point the water was transferred in underground passageways. The Romans dug piers, and connected them with caves. They calculated the angle carefully and the water ran down hill.

This is a fun little trail. We walked through cool underground caves, water up to our waist and everybody marveled at the ingenuity of Roman engineers.  After all it was a time when people believed in pagan gods and prayed to idol statues, and there in the midst of all this, mathematicians and engineers were constructing complex structures and putting the laws of physics to use for mankind.

Being students of history, we have to remind ourselves constantly that ancient people were not dumber, or primitive necessarily. In almost every possible sense, Ancient Romans, Cananites, Israelites, Babylonians and Egyptian were like us. The brain had not significantly evolved over 3 millenniums.  However, the norms, concepts, beliefs and way of life predominant in the time of the ancients were completely different in comparison with that of modern western societies. Most of the ancients, like most of us were unable to transcend their time, their world.

Looking at the current events throughout the world and specifically in Israel, We always try to keep this in mind. Israel is a micro-cosmos of a world debate about ideas on religion, society, human rights, culture and nationality. It is the kind of debate we encourage in our Educational tour.

In order to have a civilized fruitful debate it is important to remember that different societies have taken different paths and over generations had nurtured different ideas and that those ideas have become the reality for them. Yes our society is no different, and we also find it hard to transcend our "facts of life".

If we avoid labeling societies as primitive or people as evil, we can have a true exchange of ideas, a true debate and perhaps we could nurture a more collective inclusive culture. If we are not afraid to let ideas flow between us  we may be able to connect the peelers of our society like the arches of the aqueduct.  Then we may find that other people aren't all that different from us.

Economic Peace: A Tale of Two Cities

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times; it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness; it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity; it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness; it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair; we had everything before us, we had nothing before us; we were all going directly to Heaven, we were all going the other way."

-A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens

Yes, sometimes we look from those summits in Washington to the conflict in Israel and our eyes darken and it feels like the worst of times, like we are all going to hell, Arabs, Jews and all the rest. However there are places where we feel it is the best of times, an epoch of belief with  everything before us.  One such place is Rawabi.



Rawabi 3D illustration



Rawabi is a new city to be constructed by Palestinians for Palestinians outside of Ramallah. The new venture is one of hope, forward looking sentiments of a bright tomorrow. Colorful  3D animations already display the bustling city streets, green parks and historic view while the founders promise high education, ample business and employment opportunities. A pink vision for the future Palestine.



What do the Israeli's say about all this?  Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he supports Rawabi's construction. Going back to 2008 Netanyahu said "We must weave an economic peace alongside a political process, that means that we have to strengthen the moderate parts of the Palestinian economy by encouraging rapid growth in those area, growth that gives a stake for peace for the ordinary Palestinians."



Not very far away are our headquarters in a city named Modiin. Modiin had quite similar beginnings. It is a modern planned city with the highest environmental standards of urban planning and a design for future growth. The city rose from nothing in 1993 and today is home to approximately 80,000 people.



Modiin, Israel



As Jerusalem became more orthodox and hard-lined many of its Jewish moderate communities moved to Modiin. And I wonder whether Rawabi would be an escape for the moderate Palestinian, an oasis of economic peace in the midst of political turmoil.





Moderation is profoundly simpler when the fundamental elements of life such as education, employment and community are provided for. Luckily moderate people have a tendency to build and innovate. So in Israel and in Palestine moderate people will continue to build cities where they can nurture their peaceful way of life and where they will feel at home.   

The Great Iranian Leader or Honestly, Who Throws a Rock?

As Iran's President tours Lebanon heading to the Israeli border to ceremoniously through a stone at what he refers to as "the evil Zionist regime" I reminisce on the days of Ancient Persia and its King Cyrus.

The empire over which Cyrus ruled was the largest the Ancient World had ever seen and may be to this day the largest empire ever. The image of Cyrus has survived throughout history as more than a great man who founded an empire, but as a conqueror that was tolerant, benevolent and magnanimous.
Perhaps some of the positive sentiments that we have for this king were seeded when he ended the Babylonian Exile and let the Jews return to their conquered home land.

Today Persia is no longer the crown jewel of the world, but its leadership is still striving to hold influence over the entire region. It does so by supporting militias in Lebanon and Palestine, by providing oil to Russia, strengthening relations with Syria, Turkey and of late Colombia and it is aggressively pursuing nuclear capabilities.

Whether their endeavor will bare fruit is still unknown. But the interesting question is what type of Middle East is Iran promoting. What cultural contribution will they have? what would be inscribed in history as Iran's cultural legacy? 

Women in chādors  (a cloak covering  the body and head) , totalitarian government systems,  fundamentalist religious rule and persecution, weapons of mass destruction (like those used in the 80's during the Iran-Iraq War).

Perhaps Iran would be forgotten but its leader remembered for eternity as a heroic figure who threw a stone over a fence at his enemy?

Tolerance, Benevolence… these attributes belong to Ancient Persia and have been lost in the sands of time. I doubt King Cyrus would have condoned a petty symbolic action such as that of Ahmadinejad, because King Cyrus was indeed a great leader.  His greatness as a ruler was an extension of his character as a man, a great man to be favorably remembered over millennia.

Do You Follow the Golden Rule?

We apologize for not updating the blog this past week.  It was due to the Holiday of Sukkoth, or as it is often translated the Feast of the Tabernacles.

The Holiday, originally an agricultural festivity, commemorates Gods helping hand as the Jews made their 40 year long Odyssey from Egypt through the desert to the Promised Land.
Jewish People celebrate the holiday by sitting, sleeping, and feasting in traditional huts or "Sukkot" gazing at the stars through palm tree branch ceilings.

I wonder… Were such Sukkot built during the current settlement freeze? Did Palestinians oppose them?  What was the position of the United States?… but I digress.

Lately evangelical Christians have also started celebrating this holiday because it was during the Feast of the Tabernacles that Jesus revealed his role to the disciples. On this day evangelical Christians, gather from the four corners of the world in the annual Christian Embassy "Feast of Tabernacles Congress” in Jerusalem.

We at Identity Travel attended this year's Congress, which took place this past week, and presented the visitors with our new Jesus Biographical Tour of Israel. It was heartwarming that Christians would come all the way to Jerusalem to show their love and support for the Jewish People.  As believers in both the Old Testament and the New Testament they remember the Jewish heritage of the Christ and the Jewish role as God's chosen people.

All of the major monotheistic religions believe that God has a plan, and that we all have roles to play in his vision. It is because of that role that despite all the disagreement and strife we are commanded to follow the golden rule. A law which is mentioned in the philosophies of all the empires that have ruled this land, through all religions that sprouted here and through all cultures that see Israel as a home:

Ancient Egypt: (c. 1080 – 332 BCE) papyrus: "That which you hate to be done to you, do not do to another.

Jewish: "Love your neighbour as yourself: I am the LORD."—Leviticus 19:18, the "Great Commandment"

Ancient Greece:  "Do not do to your neighbour what you would take ill from him." – Pittacus (c. 640–568 BCE)   

Jewish Talmud: "That which is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow. That is the whole Torah; the rest is the explanation; go and learn." —Talmud, Shabbat 31a

Islam: "Seek for mankind that of which you are desirous for yourself, that you may be a believer; treat well as a neighbour the one who lives near you, that you may be a Muslim [one who submits to God]."—Sukhanan-i-Muhammad (Teheran, 1938)

Bahá'í Faith: Blessed is he who preferreth his brother before himself. —Bahá'u'lláh

Whether you are a Palestinian, a Christian, a Muslim, a Jew or an Atheist, whether you live in Israel or elsewhere we would like to leave you with this thought; despite all the controversy and all the animosity, and regardless of your own personal, national and cultural conflicts do you observe the Golden Rule?