1982-1983 Rothberg Yearbook

and th e y said it cou ld n ’t be done
I
Seeing and feeling Israel from a hostile country was an experience Daniel Seigel, Todd
Zuckerbrod, Allan Black, and I shall never forget.
After touring Egypt for eight days and filling our time with memorable sights, sounds
and smells we departed for Jordan. Leaving behind a taxi driver who growled between Giza
and Sakkara, another who asked to "test my strength," a money exchanger who “ accidently
” slipped a one pound note in the place o f a 10 pound, and a total o f 29 hours on the
train between Cairo and Luxor we arrived in Suez City. Arriving at the port we were greeted
with 2000 “ boat people” — G-d only knows how they got the boatfare. Finally we were on
the El-Arish bound for Aqaba, Jordan.
Once at sea, we fanagled a free cabin for the four o f us and settled down to enjoy the
cruise. The Egyptians — in a couple o f galabiyahs each and sheltered from the sun’s rays
were quite astonished and amused to see two “ Ameriks” attempting to get a tan on the bow
o f the ship. Flames from the oil wells in the Red Sea were beautiful as we rounded the tip
o f the Sinai late in the night.
We awakened as our ship was opposite Taba. We cruised into Aqaba with odd feelings
in our stomachs. First o f all, why is it that only we four were sitting on the port side o f boat
facing Eilat? The other side was jammed with people watching their — Arab — nation; we
were looking at our — Jewish — state. This was to be the first time we were to feel “ behind a
hostile border.” To see Eilat from “ the other side” was unnerving. It looked so rich, so near,
and yet so really far away. From the water, Eilat and Aqaba appeared symmetrical. On land,
we equated Aqaba with a combination o f East Jerusalem and Eilat.
Driving through the Moab and Edom Mountains was beautiful; yet, the sighting o f
lights emanating from kibbutzim (in the Negev) gave us the feeling again o f distance.
■ I Amman, if you ’re interested is like Jerusa-
J ®
lem: it stretches across hills and is built
with the same building materials (what we
call Jerusalem stone). Once, when driving
through Jebel (hill) Amman, I felt as if we
were in Rehavia.
When people in Egypt asked us if we were
Israelis we just replied, “ American and
Canadian. ” In Jordan this, o f course wasn’t
asked, but it didn’t matter either. Due to
the events in Sabra and Shatilla, even the
nicest people we met despised America —
arms, money, and tolerance all to Israel. A
taxi driver asked us why we let Israel kill
his family. We stirred and kept ourselves
objectively removed — as any American
would have done in a similar situation.
Also, we had to remain on constant guard
against using Hebrew: no “ rega,” no
“ toda,” and no “ slicha.”
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