Dr Savta’s web log

Sometimes there are events that happen in one’s life that are unexpected and delightful. Yesterday, I experienced one.

Several months ago, my son Ben lent me a book called “Wild Swans,” an account of a Chinese family that spans the years from the 1920s through the 1970s and their experiences through the Japanese occupation, the Chinese civil war, Mao’s “Great Leap Forward” the famine, and the “Cultural Revolution.” The book was so powerful and fascinating that I read it slowly, absorbing every word, and only a week or two ago, began to reread it. So imagine my delight in finding out that the author, Jung Chang, and her husband, Jon Halliday, who have recently published “Mao: The Unknown Story,” were going to be in Tel Aviv at an all day seminar talking about their new book.

The room in which the seminar was to take place was so overpacked that the entire seminar had to be moved to a much larger auditorium. The vice-president of the university quipped that the current students’ strike at least had one positive aspect: there was a vacant auditorium that could be used.

The participants were not disappointed. To say that the day was fascinating would be an egregious understatement. Jung Chang is a woman with such strength and grace and inner beauty. I loved the candor of her presentation. I loved that she introduced her relationship with Israel in terms of a certificate she received from a reader that indicated that the reader had planted trees here in memory of Jung Chang’s family members and that she, Jung Chang, was touched by the gesture and has the framed certificate hanging in her home.

She spoke openly about her feelings as a child and as a young woman and the process she went through in coming to terms with what was happening in China and why it was happening. It was gripping and poignant.

There is a special feeling that I have when I am in the presence of a person who has that kind of courage and strength and openness. In her case, she has openly challenged the Chinese narrative of the Mao years. In the other case, Natan Sharansky defied the Russians and prevailed. To be in the presence of such strength and courage is to feel a power that is almost superhuman.

I was delighted to exchange some words with Jung Chang and was really happy that a friend was present to take a picture of Aaron and me with her and her husband, Jon Halliday.

Last night we returned from a trip with two wonderful groups of Israelis (one English-speaking, one Hebrew speaking) who traveled together. The people were delightful and China was, as always, a magical place. On the last night of the trip, I read them a poorly rhymed, poorly metered piece of doggerel with which I summarized the trip. Some asked for a copy, so here it is:

Shai Bar Ilan Trip to China, April 16 - May 1, 2007

We took off from Israel on a bright sunny morning,
Full of anticipation but up since the dawning.

At last in China we finally arrived,
Excited and happy and already sleep-deprived.

In Beijing saw Cixi’s Summer Palace,
A home more impressive than J.R.’s in Dallas.

The acrobatics show was thrilling
And we sat there all willing
And fervently hopin’
Our eyes would stay open!

And then in the blink of an eye,
There we all were in Shanghai,
From the Jin Mao we looked down
On the skyscrapered town
On the Bund we started to BUY!

(For the first time we heard the holler
“2 for, 3 for, 4 for ONE DOLLAR!”)

We ate at Chabad with the Jews,
On the Huangpu we took a night cruise,
And saw the bright lights
And all of the sights
And later were grateful to take off our shoes.

In the morning we went to the park
And the monument they put up to mark
The Jews who they saved
And the hardships they braved
Because life there was not such a lark.

At YuYuan Market things were hopping
And we occupied ourselves there by shopping.

The City Museum of Shanghai was one of our priorities,
And there we enjoyed costumes of ethnic minorities.

Our bus to Suzhou without much reconnoitering
Came to a factory where women were embroidering.

That evening all of us were entranced
As at Mater of the Nets people sang, played, and danced.

At the Silk Factory we felt only praise
For the jackets and scarves and duvets.

In the Lion Grove Garden we took stock,
Of each building, tree, pond, and rock.

On shabbat in Hangzhou we took a break
And enjoyed all the sights at West Lake.

The Song Dynasty show in the vernacular
Was nothing short of spectacular.

With waterfalls, lasers, acrobatics, and fire
And more action than your heart could desire.

From the pharmacy to the Dragon Well Tea,
We found cures for what ails you and me.

In Guilin we didn’t lie dormant
But went to the river to watch fishing by cormorant.

We enjoyed the vastness of the Reed Flute Cave,
And at the Pearl Factory temptation tried to brave.

We saw the Li River’s karst peaks.
We’ll be talking about them for weeks.

We walked through the village of FuLi
And saw what life there was like truly.

Yang Shuo we felt was a “winner”
As we sat down to a flag-festooned dinner.

And here’s the thing we felt best,
Tho’ we were at the end of the East, our hearts were in the West!

The show on the river provided us sights,
Waves of red, torches, and shimmering lights.

In Kunming the city of spring,
At the temple, Buddhist women did sing.

At the museum we saw an ancient pillar
And cases that looked good for a megill-er.

To see another example of karst,
We drove through hills and valleys to see the Stone Forest.

After seeing the Stone Forest re-gi-on,
We took a flight to Lijiang.

The mountains’ beauty and the fresh air
Made it a delight to be there.

Then we took a walk through the old city
That we couldn’t stay longer was such a pity
At Tiger Leaping Gorge,
I saw my old friend George,
(Not really, but the rhyme fit this ditty.)

We visited the small village of Axi
Which is home to people of the Naxi.

We returned that night to Kunming,
Rested, then for Xian took wing.

There Qin’s army awaited,
As a world class attraction it’s rated.

We’ll tell our friend, our son, and our dotta-
“What a lotta terracotta!”

For those of us who like jade,
Twas fun to see how the figures are made.

In Xian we saw the mosque they use
Modeled after the shul of the Jews.

The music, dancing, and acrobatics impressed us so
When we went to the Tang Dynasty Show.

With our adrenaline still raging,
We boarded a plane for Beijing.

The Temple of Heaven was simply Divine,
The pearl factory had jewelry quite fine.

At the show we saw about Kung Fu,
They did martial arts, acrobatics and sung too!

Before breakfast we wives saw our boys pray
Afterwards to the factory for Cloisonné.

Like Humpty Dumpty, climbed the Great Wall,
Then Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City & THAT’S ALL!!!

Frenzy.

We are busily assembling all of the items we need to take to China for us and for our group. The process is tiring, but very exciting. It reminds me of that old show I used to love on TV when I was a kid. It was called “supermarket sweep,” and it was a competition to see who could amass the most costly shopping basket full of goods when given 2 minutes free to load up in a supermarket. I remember enjoying watching the people tripping over their own feet to move as fast as possible and grab as many things off the aisles as they could with the ever-ticking clock ready to rob them of their last treasure.

Well, here we are doing a similar kind of running around, but we are not able to find all of the items we need at only one store. In fact, we can’t even find all of the like items in one store. It seems that after-Pesach stocks are limited until weeks of factory production and as a result, we must go from store to store buying the same item at different prices and hoping that ultimately we will find enough.

We are preparing not just to have the essentials, but to “spoil” our group with all sorts of things (that I cannot, for reasons of utmost importance, reveal), so we have bag filled with a variety of items spread down the length of our entry hall, piled on one another. Still having the remains of the boxes of Pesach wines and grape juices, and added to the suitcases at the ready, the place looks like a veritable “going out of business” sale.

But it will all be worth it as we greet a bunch of happy people on Monday morning and set off for a beautiful, magical, wonderful adventure.

Years ago I lived in Georgia– Fort Benning, to be exact– Sigerfoos Road, to be more exact. It was a very beautiful place with tall, lush trees and green green grass. The summers were hot and moist. Thunderstorms were frequent and heavy with the roads populated by puddles the size of swimming pools. One Friday night on the way home from the chapel, I got so wet, I was afraid I would be arrested for indecent exposure.

But all that rain made Georgia beautiful, green, full of flowers and trees. But despite that, it didn’t really “keep Georgia on my mind.” When we moved away, it became a very lovely memory.

What was on my mind then, on my mind from the time I was about 12, was Israel and my longing to live here. At 12, it was only a vague dream. It was like wanting to go to the moon long before there were moon landings. The possibility was remote, unattainable.

When I married and my husband’s plans were to retire in Israel, it still seemed remote. When you are 20, twenty years in the future might as well be eternity. But Israel “was always on my mind.”

Wel, the dream came true and I have been living here for the last 11 years and every day I am grateful to be here. We may not get the rain we got in Georgia, but the land is green and fruitful and blossoming. What’s more, here, even rain is a blessing. I am where I need to be. I am content.

However, there is another place that has a special place in my heart. We have traveled a bit in the last few years and enjoyed every trip, but for me, China is the most magnificent place to visit. It probably has to do with the beauty of the countryside, the temples and gardens, the karst mountains and rock formations, the picuresque rice fields, the little villages on the water, and the haunting music and dance. I think that what captivates me the most is the Chinese people. They are friendly, happy people. They are warm and helpful, whether they are service personnel or whether they are people on the street. They smile and seem to enjoy life. They are beautiful. I suppose, in a way, I have fallen in love.

As of March 25, there have been changes in the itinerary, but the anticipation grows!

Here are the pictures from our most recent trip to China.

One thing that Israelis like to do is travel. Go anywhere in the world that Jews can travel without getting killed (you can understand which countries are off limits) and there you will find an abundant supply of Israelis.

The first time I noticed it was when as a college student I was traveling through Europe. In Rome, I climbed to the top of the “Wedding Cake” monument to Victor Emmanuel and what did I find? Yep. Two Israelis. I have since done a lot of traveling (after all, in March of 1998, I officially became an Israeli!) and there we are– everywhere I look– at the top of the Festung in Salzburg, in the Salt Mines in Werfen, on a city tour bus in Budapest, in Moscow and St. Petersburg, on a boat on the Li River in Guilin, China. We are everywhere.

And in addition, we love to explore our own country. Many Israelis enjoy hiking and discovering all of the wonders of our land. Like us, many Israelis go three or four or five times a year to places in Israel they have never visited before to learn about the history (and every rock here has a history!), to see the enchanting views, to see the wildflowers, the migrating birds, the mountain ibexes, the waterfalls and pools. This is indeed a wondrous land and maybe the fact that Israel is so jam-packed with interesting places is what makes us believe that the world must be filled with additional places of interest.

One thing we Israelis love to do is to make contact with Jews living in cities throughout the world. There is a certain excitement about finding “family” wherever we go. Their very existence gladdens us and our visits to them strengthen both them and us.

It came as no surprise to me to find that Jews were involved in trade from earliest times, traveling the silk and spice routes, interacting with other cultures. When we were in China, many of the parallels between their culture and ours struck us as needing to have come from an interplay of the cultures. Certainly the private prayer of the Emperor in the Temple of Heaven for a good harvest reminded us of the high priest going into the Holy of Holies, the inner chamber of the Temple in Jerusalem, on Yom Kippur. The structure of their palaces and gardens was not dissimilar to the structure of the tabernacle in the wilderness and the Temple in Jerusalem.

The experience of traveling, whether in Israel or outside of it is always interesting and offers the opportunity to appreciate the vastness of creation, the beauty of the Earth, and, as Jews, our special place in the universe.

I finally figured out why I enjoy traveling as much as I do. Normally, I am engaged in activities that I must complete such as household chores like washing and ironing and cleaning and grocery shopping. In addition, I work a couple of days a week teaching family therapy. I have a course I teach for women one morning a week and a course for men one afternoon a week. Even recreational activities are planned and scheduled. Then there are the telephone calls both incoming and outgoing and errands to run.

But when vacation on an organized tour comes, all of that is left behind. I leave behind most of my clothing and take the minimum amount. Everything that I have to deal with resides inside my suitcase. Once on the plane, all I am responsible for is showing up. I am taken from one beautiful place to the next. I learn about the history and art and song and dance of the place. I learn a few words of the language. I notice the people’s faces — the smiles (in China), the frowns (in Hungary). Every day is an adventure. I am constantly learning. I do what is the most human: I live in the moment.

On our recent trip to China, for example, I enjoyed every sight, every sound… even walking throught the alley with the fish market in Xian where the creepiest crawliest characters were for sale for dinner– imagining myself as a contestant on “Fear Factor.” When we were in Chengdu, I loved watching the panda stand up and greet us. I marveled at the number of bikes and motorbikes coursing through the Chinese cities and parked filling wide swathes of sidewalk. I loved the music and dance and acrobatics we saw. I was completely tuned into my surroundings. I was not preoccupied with planning or waiting for a phone call or making arrangements for tomorrow. All of that was taken care of and all I had to do was to enjoy it.

And I wondered. Is it possible to turn off all of those preoccupations we carry with us and just enjoy the moments we have when we are here at home? Can we do it for a short time?

And I began to understand that that is precisely what shabbat is about every single week. It is a time we put away the telephone, the scheduling, the household chores, the errands, and we enjoy the moments with family, with friends. We enjoy the walk to shul, the sound of our feet on the sidewalk, the fresh air, the people we see, the pets out walking, the trees and the bushes that bloom here all year long. The peace of shabbat allows us to be fully human, fully in the moment. It is an oasis in time available to all, and you don’t even have to pack your bags.

I am sitting here, still endeavoring to get over my jet lag and there is beautiful music playing in the background. It is music that we bought in China with the haunting sounds of the flute. Many of the traditional Chinese instruments are different from those we have in the west. They use stringed instruments and woodwinds, chiefly. and some percussion. There is a calming feeling that this music evokes in me. As soon as I hear it, a beautiful garden appears in my mind’s eye.

There are so many experiences that remain with one far beyond their actual duration in time! How many times do we recall the excitement of our wedding and the profound joy at the birth of our children! These beautiful milestones in time remain in our memories to be called upon to lift our soul.

How lucky we are to live in a world that encompasses such beauty and so many opportunities for joy. How important it is to be among those who are privileged to increase the goodness in it!

We have returned from China. Our experience on this Shai Bar Ilan tour was once again fantastic! We landed in Beijing and hit the ground running. Each day was filled with beauty and wonder. From the Summer Palace to the Temple of Heaven and Forbidden City, we saw Beijing’s wonders, stopping for a most welcome foot massage. We flew to Xian and saw the wondrous Terracotta Warriors, thousands of them, each different from the others, no two the same. We flew to Chengdu and were lucky enough to see a number of pandas up close, including a look into the nursery where four baby pandas were lying in their cribs. We went to LeShan and saw the world’d largest sitting Buddha. We flew to Kunming and marveled at the beauty of the Stone Forest. Later in Guilin, we saw cormorant fishing and traveled to Yung Shuo to cruise down the Li River and see the magnificent scenery. We traveled up a 1.5 kilometer chairlift to the top of a mountain overlooking picturesque Guilin and then went on to Hangzhou to see a tea plantation and the beautiful West Lake and then we went on to Suzhou to see the production of silk and a The Master Fisherman Garden. In Shanghai we saw yet another beautiful garden, the Yu Yuan Garden. China consists of some 55 minority ethnic groups with the majority group, the Han, making up 92% of the Chinese population. We got to meet some of the people who are members of the Zhwang group (the largest of the minorities) and of the Yao group. Each group has its own language, customs, land area, and crafts. We enjoyed Chinese dance, music, and art. All in all, it was a dream vacation and one that restores one’s love for beauty and one’s sense of transcendence.

You can see my pictures at this location.

We are getting ready for our second trip to China.

Before the first trip, China was, for us, a place far off, so completely removed from our experience as to be a source of endless speculation as to what it would feel like to be there and what types of experiences we would have.

When we finally got there, we were completely captivated. Everything was so unbelievably beautiful! The people are beautiful. The architecture, the temples and gardens, the music, the shows, the minority people, the ethnic art– they were all exquisite. When we got home from China we could speak of nothing else for weeks. (If you don’t believe me, ask my children!)

And now we are returning and if anything the anticipation is even greater because we know what beauty awaits us. The more we read and study about China, the more amazing it becomes. Stay tuned for stories of our adventures!