ISRAEL: THE LAND AND THE PEOPLE

When I was a kid growing up in the 1980s, I always imagined Israel looked exactly like the pictures in the children’s Bibles. I thought that it probably still looked like that even in 1986. I figured there were still low-lying trees and a lot of rocks and the people wandered around in sandals and their mother’s sheets. (Well, that’s how we dressed for the Christmas plays, and I figured it was probably like that there, too. I was six years old growing up in rural Indiana.) But as I got older, and I saw images of modern Israelis running through streets trying to hide from gunfire, grenades, and bombs; I realized they wore jeans and regular clothes just like most other people did. But it took a long time to figure out why almost every time Israel was in the news here, it was for something bad. (One time, I turned on Anthony Bourdain’s new show Parts Unknown to see him talking about food in Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza. It was a nice change.) 

 

The land where the country of Israel is has been known by many names in its long history. Officially, it’s known as the State of Israel, but in the past it has also been known as Judea, Eretz Israel (“Land of Israel”), Zion, Samaria, Southern Syria, Canaan, Syria-Palaestina, among others. The name “Israel,” meaning “struggles with God,” is attributed to its patriarch Jacob. It was his sons who were named the “Twelve Tribes of Israel” or sometimes the “Children of Israel.”

  

Israel lies on the eastern side of the Mediterranean Sea, bordered by Lebanon and Syria to the north, Jordan to the east, and the Egyptian Sinai Peninsula to the southwest. It also has a very short coast along the Gulf of Aqaba, which empties into the Red Sea. This area is sometimes referred to as the Levant. There are also three disputed areas within Israel (I’m sure you’ve heard these mentioned before): the Gaza Strip (a small section along the Mediterranean coast bordering Egypt), the Golan Heights (a small area in the north bordering Syria and Lebanon), and the West Bank (a large area east of Jerusalem and extending to the Syrian border). Israel’s landscape varies between mountainous to some forest areas to desert to coastal areas. The Sea of Galilee, the lowest freshwater lake in the world, is a large lake often mentioned in the Bible as well as the Dead Sea. The Dead Sea is a popular tourist destination because of the “healing powers” of its salinity, and it’s also the lowest point on earth. The Negev Desert in the southern region actually takes up nearly 60% of the country, but only 8% of the population lives there. 

Sea of Galilee

Israel is the setting for many Biblical stories, so people have been there for thousands of years. There were many villages around the land, mostly supporting themselves by farming and herding animals. It seems to me that the country of Israel is one of those countries where everyone was trying to grab a piece of this area. It has been part of many other empires, including the Persians, the Greeks, the Hasmoneans, the Roman Empire, the Byzantines, the Arabs, Crusaders, Seljuks, and the Ottoman Empire. After the British defeated the Ottoman Empire, they divided up much of their territory between themselves and France; the British placed the Judean area (now Israel) under a mandate called Mandatory Palestine (Geez, could they find a less flattering name? Why didn’t they follow suit as their other territories, colonies, and mandates? I mean, British Judea would’ve sounded better.). During this time, many of the Jewish people here left the country for Europe, the United States, Canada, and other areas in the Middle East. When WWII was finally over, British then found itself at violent odds against the Jewish people here, and to an extent, the Arab community as well. However, at the same time, there were thousands of Holocaust survivors trying to come back to Israel amid the tensions. In 1948, David Ben-Gurion declared Israel’s independence as a Jewish state. Israel’s independence was not an easy thing to establish. Pretty much from the get-go, they were almost immediately thrown into more conflict with several Arab countries over the establishment of a Jewish state. Afterwards, Gaza was annexed to Egypt, and the West Bank was annexed to Jordan. During the 1950s, Egypt banned Israel shipping lines from using the Suez Canal, a major waterway allowing ships to travel from the Mediterranean Sea to the Dead Sea, which leads to the Arabian Sea. The Six Days War of 1967 led to the taking of the Golan Heights. There were many Israeli athletes killed during an attack at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich.  Since then, there have been more conflicts between the same combatants as well as many attempts at peaceful interventions. 

Famous Western Wall in Jerusalem

The de facto capital is Jerusalem, one of the oldest cities in the world—and one of the holiest. It’s an important city in three major religions in this area: Judaism, Islam, and Christianity. It’s a resilient city, surviving over 121 incidents of sieges, attacks, complete devastation, and capture/recaptures. While it is often listed as the capital of Israel, this is disputed between Israel and Palestine (which operates parts of the West Bank and Gaza Strip). The city lays on a plateau that is part of the Judean Mountains. It’s not far from the Mount of Olives and Mount Scopus. Jerusalem is known for being divided into quarters based on demographics: the Muslim Quarter, the Armenian Quarter, the Jewish Quarter, and the Christian Quarter. Despite uprisings and conflicts, many people still flock to Jerusalem as a cultural and religious center. It’s host to first-rate museums, theatres, universities, stadiums, business centers and markets, parks, and other attractions. American actress Natalie Portman was born in Jerusalem. 

Israel is one of the most economically advanced countries in its region. It has the second-largest number of start-ups (the United States is the largest), and outside of the US, Israel has the largest number of companies listed on the NASDAQ. Much of this is due to the types of commerce it specializes in: pharmaceuticals, medical equipment, software and electronics technology, rough and cut diamonds, fuels, and military technology/equipment. Israel also has a highly developed agricultural sector as well, exporting products such as grains, beef, fruits, and nuts. Israel is a huge center for science- and technology-based industries, and the country has wrapped its arms around solar energy (must be nice). They are also one of the world’s leading countries in terms of water conservation (California, you might want to talk to Israel about this). 

Israel is the only country in the world that has a Jewish majority. And while that is true, as I mentioned earlier, this country is also a center for many other religions. Judaism itself has different denominations (or maybe more like levels of how “Jewish” you are, perhaps?) like Haredi Jews, Religious Zionists, secular Jews, or traditional Jews. There is also a large Muslim population in Israel as well along with smaller populations of Christians, Bahá’ís, Buddhists, and Hindus. 

Shalom = Hello

Officially, there are two main languages spoken and used in Israel: Hebrew and Arabic (Hebrew being the majority language). Many Israelis speak and understand English because of its international role; school children study English from an early age. Because Israel is a haven for many immigrants from Russia, Ethiopia, and Northern Africa, you’ll also find pockets of Russian, Amharic, and French speakers throughout Israel (mostly in the urban areas). 

Olive tree, an important part of their cuisine

The thing about Israel is that they are at the top or nearly at the top of things I think would surprise a lot of people. Israel is home to many technology companies’ research and development centers, such as Motorola and Cisco. There has been many program developments and inventions produced in Israel: cell phones, voice mail (actually, I think this is the worst invention ever, next to speaker phone), anti-virus software, and computer processors. Israeli paper money has Braille on it so that blind people can identify which bills they have. They were also the first country to adopt the Kimberly Process, which is a process of determining that diamonds came from conflict-free zones. Israel also publishes more books (per capita) than any other country, but that’s not all: they also have more home computers, museums, orchestras, media coverage, cancer survivors, in-vitro fertilization (and it’s free!), immigrants, ratio of university degrees, engineers, scientists, PhD degree holders, physicians, the largest consumers of fruits and veggies, and producers of milk per capital in the world.  It certainly has a lot to be proud of. So, let’s delve into Israeli culture while we wait to eat!

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INDIA: THE LAND AND THE PEOPLE

In my 10-year-old Midwestern mind, India was the representation of the word “exotic.” Its dusty land, spicy food, and trippy music surrounded in a whirl of color and animals I only saw in the zoo were almost the opposite of rural Indiana. I remember pouring through old issues of National Geographic at my grandmother’s house, mesmerized at how other people live. (I was also confused at the word Indian: did it refer to Native Americans, or did it refer to people from India? How do you make that distinction?) As a music major in college, I would have to study about Indian classical music and realized what I called “trippy” because of its influences on psychedelic rock of the 1960s and 1970s, was actually a system of slightly complicated rules and different tuning methods. 

 

India was named after the word Indus, the Persian word for the area based on the Sanskrit word for the Indus River.  Indians themselves refer to their country as Bharat.  The name Hindustan often refers to northern India and Pakistan.

  

India is often mentioned as its own subcontinent in Asia. It’s a large peninsula surrounded by the Arabian Sea on the western side, the Laccadive Sea off the southern coast, and the Bay of Bengal on the eastern side. On the northern side of the country, India shares borders with Pakistan, China (Tibet), Nepal, Bhutan, and Bangladesh as well as the Himalayan Mountains. This mountain range pretty much bars the cooler winds from northern Asia from reaching the Indian subcontinent, leaving this area warmer than other areas of the same latitude. The state of Jammu and Kashmir (which always reminds me of the Led Zeppelin song) has been disputed for many years among Pakistan, China, and India.  The island nation of Sri Lanka lies off the southeast tip of India and the Maldives, also an island nation, lie farther off the southwest corner. India also claims two archipelagos: the Lakshadweep island chain off the southwest coast, and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands set pretty far off in the Andaman Sea. 

The Indian subcontinent is one of the oldest inhabited areas in the world, spanning back around 30,000 years. The Indus Valley Civilization is one of the oldest in the world, and just after this time, the implementation of the rigid and unfair caste system was put in place. At the same time, the most important Hindu work, the Vedas, were also composed. Buddhism was established during the 6^th century BCE as was Jainism. Indian civilization was booming with advancements in literature, medicine, science, mathematics, and astronomy. During the Medieval times, India underwent a massive urbanization: towns and cities were being developed, reorganized, and strengthened. India engaged in several skirmishes and fought off invasions from the Mongols and other regions in what is now India. The British East India Company set up its trading posts during the 18^th century, and eventually just took over the entire land. The British did introduce a variety of technological advances to the Indian people such as the railroad system (which are often depicted as being overcrowded -- definitely no "capacity" signs there) and the telegraph, but it wasn’t enough to quell the other problems with their occupation, and the Indians revolted. Eventually, the British East India Company was dissolved; however, the British remained in the picture until India completely gained independence in 1947, resulting in two states: India and Pakistan. These two countries would have several periods of unrest between themselves, and they are still in dispute, along with China, over territories in northern India. 

The India Gate, New Delhi

The capital of the country is New Delhi. As the center of India’s government, this bustling city has roughly 21.7 million people in the metro area. The capital lies in the midst of several fault lines, making it vulnerable to earthquakes, although most of them are fairly moderate. New Delhi suffers very hot summers with mild winters and is also susceptible to dust storms during the dry season. However, it typically ranks as one of the worst cities for air pollution, so if you’re asthmatic, you might want to head to the coast perhaps. New Delhi is every bit of a modern city, yet it has preserved many pieces of its ancient history throughout the city. Museums, restaurants (ranging from local, traditional food to world-class cuisine), shopping districts and markets, sports arenas, theatres, clubs, and parks dot the city, showing off the best of its culture. 

 

India has one of the world’s fastest growing economies. They have a large agricultural sector where major products include rice, cotton, wheat, potatoes, teas, sugarcane, jute, and oilseed. They also have highly-skilled industries such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals, textiles, telecommunications, software, food processing, and other products and skilled industries. They also have the world’s second-fastest growing automobile industry.  And of course, India is known for its IT industry that includes creating popular websites and tech products as well as supplying call centers and help desks (the inspiration of the short-run sit-com Outsourced, and much chagrin to many people). India’s film industry produces some of the world’s most-watched cinematic films. Even Netflix has an entire section just for Indian films (available in streaming and in DVD format – we just watched the movie Dhoom: 3 tonight, and it was great!). However, there is still a very serious problem with income inequality in this country, especially along gender lines. India has more than a million people who are listed as millionaires, yet most people live off of less than $2/day. 

 

Four religions began in Indian lands: Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, and Jainism.  Hinduism is the third largest religion, and Buddhism is the fourth largest one in the world. Because of India’s multicultural history, there are also followers of several other religions in India as well: Muslims, Christians, Zoroastrians, Jews, Bahá’ís, atheists, and agnostics. 

Yes, yoga is a physical and mental practice with a basis in Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism.

 

Sanskrit, one of the oldest languages in the world, stems from this area and is part of the basis of the Indo-European family of languages. Hindi, one of two official languages, is the most widely spoken language in India and is mutually intelligible with Urdu (which is spoken in Pakistan and northern India); English is the other official language. Because this country is very much a poly-linguistic society, there are several languages that are listed as regionally recognized languages: Assamese, Bengali, Bodo, Dogri, Gujarati, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Maithili, Malayalam, Manipuri, Marathi, Nepali, Oriya, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Santali, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu, and Urdu. Of these 22 major languages spoken in India, they are also written in 13 different scripts. It’s also estimated that there are between 720-2000 dialects spoken in this country alone.

India is the second-most populated country in the world with about 1.2 billion people, yet the land is only about 1/3 the size of the United States, making it also the largest democracy. Many Indians never eat with their left hand because the left hand is used for bathroom purposes. Cows are sacred in the Hindu religion because of the symbolism between cows and good fortune. They are therefore allowed to wander freely in many areas. Although India has the largest postal network in the world with over 150,000 post offices, it’s pretty common for a letter to take nearly two weeks to go 30 miles (I’ll stop complaining about the US postal system now). One of the world’s most iconic buildings, the Taj Mahal (not to be confused with the blues musician), is located in Agra. Chai tea originated in India and is one of the most popular beverages in India – and one of my favorites as well. I’ve already found my recipes and absolutely can’t wait to make these. In the meantime, I think I’ll go drink some chai and look through more Indian films.

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