Day 18: Tel Aviv, Israel - Down Day

I've met many travelers who vouch for the importance of "off days." That means no sight seeing, no traveling, just hanging around, reading, eating long meals, and doing internet cafe stuff. Going pedal to the metal for too long can be tiresome, and recharging is often required. I fully agree, and this was my off day. Not having to encounter the beautiful people of Tel Aviv was also helpful motivation.

I stayed in Jaffa, had a cappuccino at a sidewalk cafe (once again, this is not your grandmother's Israel), and read an entire book that afternoon. In the evening, I walked to a public square that was playing the World Cup Final and joyously participated. Because my flight to Cyprus was 7 AM the next morning, and because Israeli airport security is pretty notorious for being comprehensive, I decided to forego staying in the hostel that evening and just napping in the airport briefly before checking in early.

Unfortunately, the Tel Aviv airport was just as hopping at 3 AM as Tel Aviv proper. I never imagined so many flights could depart at such horrible hours. My plan to nap quietly at a largely abandoned airport was ruthlessly crushed by primarily Birth Righters returning from the Promised Land. That reminds me, there are A LOT of people on Birth Right in Israel. I'd have to say that about half of Israel is from New York, and the other half is from Birth Right. I'm pretty sure there's nobody actually from Israel in Israel.

A grad student in Jerusalem tipped me off to a clever externality caused by Birth Right, perhaps even a reason it was created. Because Birth Right is intended for young people, many participants are away from their parents for the first time, during the summer, abroad, and in a country that allows them to drink when their home country might not. Guess what occurs? Romantic relationships. Between Jews. They're creating more Jews! This is even more genius than the Shabbat elevator.

Oh, one final thing. I found myself in a discussion with hostelmates about the status of women in the Middle East. Previously, I would have probably thought that women are horribly oppressed in the Middle East compared to the west. However, my experience in the Marshall Islands has taught me otherwise. For people growing up in a society that teaches separately as being inherently unequal, it's very difficult to understand the concept of separate spheres as being acceptable. For many foreign travelers, seeing cafes full of men smoking, and understanding that women aren't allowed to participate in such activities, is interpreted as discriminatory and oppressive.

However, they neglect to acknowledge that, at that moment, the women are with each other and participating in activities prohibited to men. The catch is that we rather patronizingly regard those activities (managing the household, gossip circles, making textiles, card/board games) as somehow being lower in status than going to pubs or smoking at cafes. That's not necessarily true. We just want it to be true so we can feel good about the status of women in our society in comparison. As open-minded foreigners in places like the Marshall Islands can attest, particularly traditionally and still in some traditional areas, the idea of women weaving mats/baskets at home for use or sale is not at all subservient to men fishing, harvesting coconuts, and "bringing home the bacon." It's separate, but not unequal. The inequality only exists because that's how we interpret it using our judgement and values.

I suspect that, largely due to this reason, many highly educated and upper class Muslim women choose to wear their hijabs and headscarves. They choose to do so not because they are oppressed as women, but because they see those articles as part of their cultural identity and the use of them as maybe even resisting western cultural imperialism and definitions of what a "modern woman" should be.