Hello from Haifa

[Bob78164]

Well, the 78164 family has been in Haifa (10 hours ahead of Bored time) since Sunday evening and I have a few hours for myself, so I thought I'd take a few minutes to say hello. We're based in the Beth Shalom Hotel, an inexpensive (read, small) little place atop Mount Carmel. We don't have a view, but to get one, all I need to do is walk across the street.

That's when I have time, a commodity that has been seriously lacking. This trip is not an ordinary tourist jaunt. Believe it or not (and for those who know me well, it's hard to believe), it's a religious pilgrimage. Not for me, but for Ms. 63, who's Baha'i. It turns out that many of the most venerated sites of the Baha'i religion are in an around Haifa. So the Baha'i organization has made some sort of deal with the Government of Israel, limiting the number of pilgrims who show up at one time. There are about 300 of us and we have 10 days to do our thing. After it's over, Ms. 63 has to wait five years before she may apply again for pilgrimage, and she can expect to wait another five years or so before her number comes up. Even though I'm not Baha'i, I have all of the access privileges of any other pilgrim, so I can go anywhere Ms. 63 goes, as can Sparky (as he now likes to be called).

The Baha'i property in Haifa itself is gorgeous. There are 19 garden terraces spanning Mount Carmel pretty much from top to bottom. I'm still considering hiking down them (I'd catch a bus back up to the top of the hotel). This is the administrative center of the Baha'i faith, so it has many fancy buildings as well as some important shrines.

We also spent a day in the old city of Accre, where the founder of the Baha'i faith was imprisoned for a couple of years. We've been spending most of our time retracing his steps here. It seems that the prison itself is an Israeli museum, but the Baha'is managed to hold on to the actual cell. We've also visited various houses in which he and his family lived in and around Bahji, and learned something about an early schism (those on the wrong side are referred to as "covenant-breakers").

Today is a free day. I decided to spend the day in Haifa, catching up on e-mail at the office (almost all of which I could delete), getting reconnected to the States, and generally relaxing. Ms. 63 and Sparky headed back to Bahji to spend more time at the shrines there. More sites await us tomorrow, and Monday we get our long-awaited visit to the Archives building. (The scheduling of this trip was dictated by the necessity to await Sparky's ninth birthday to be sure he'd be permitted access.)

I'm not much for writing travelogues, but if anyone has any questions (and I get Internet access again), I'll be happy to try to answer them. --Bob

[jarnon]

Hope you have a great time!

Did you visit the Shrine of the Báb (pronounced "the Bob")?

[Bob78164]

Hope you have a great time!

Did you visit the Shrine of the Báb (pronounced "the Bob")?

We have circumambulated it (that's the word the guide consistently used, and it was an accurate description of what we did). Ms. 63 does plan to get back there, and I do want to get a look inside. I thought I might do so today, but I couldn't work up the energy to walk down the terraces. Perhaps tomorrow (though I could go tonight if I wanted). --Bob (not Báb)

[kayrharris]

Sounds like a wonderful trip. Look forward to another report soon.

[Bob78164]

Sounds like a wonderful trip. Look forward to another report soon.

By far the nicest part is that I don't have cell coverage here. That means the office absolutely cannot reach me without significant effort. --Bob

[kayrharris]

The Today Show had a segment this morning on the new "addiction" which
is our electronic devices. A vacation without one is very rare these days! Here's hoping
you don't hear from your office.

[Bob78164]

The Today Show had a segment this morning on the new "addiction" which is our electronic devices.

Well, that certainly doesn't describe me. I can leave the Bored anytime I want to. I just don't want to. --Bob

[kayrharris]

The Today Show had a segment this morning on the new "addiction" which is our electronic devices.

Well, that certainly doesn't describe me. I can leave the Bored anytime I want to. I just don't want to. --Bob

You and me both!

[Estonut]

The Today Show had a segment this morning on the new "addiction" which is our electronic devices. A vacation without one is very rare these days! Here's hoping you don't hear from your office.

This week's Ugly Betty touched on this. All of the magazine's upper management were away at a retreat and had their phones and other devices taken away. Plucky Betty got a message through to her boss Daniel via skywriting.

[VAdame]

While you're there in Haifa, please watch out for this notorious criminal named Joseph, wanted for looting. He may be hiding out with his German father, a musician, or his mother, who has joined a Catholic convent in Spain's 2nd-largest city. He plays the flute in his father's band, & occasionally works as a farmhand.

So, be on the lookout for a Haifa-lootin', flutin' Teuton, Son-of-a-Nun from Barcelona, part-time plowboy Joe!

[PlacentiaSoccerMom]

I hope that you and your family have a safe trip.

[MarleysGh0st]

What faith, if any, does Sparky consider himself part of? Does Baha'i have ceremonies equivalent to baptisms, confirmations or bar mitzvahs?

[TheConfessor]

Bob sends a report
Overseas, he thinks of us
Hello from Haifa

[Bob78164]

What faith, if any, does Sparky consider himself part of? Does Baha'i have ceremonies equivalent to baptisms, confirmations or bar mitzvahs?

I'm not certain of the answer to your first question, because I'm not sure he is either. He's had very little formal religious instruction of any sort.

I think at the age of 13 he gets to elect to be a Baha'i if he's so inclined. Because Ms. 63's mother converted from Judaism, under Jewish law, Ms. 63 is Jewish, and therefore Sparky is Jewish as well. He had a bris, but a Bar Mitzvah is unlikely. --Bob

[Bob78164]

Bob sends a report
Overseas, he thinks of us
Hello from Haifa

Confessor responds
Wittily, he writes haiku
Bob replies in kind.

[hermillion]

Bob sends a report
Overseas, he thinks of us
Hello from Haifa

Confessor responds
Wittily, he writes haiku
Bob replies in kind.

Bob Numbers and Ed
have much time on their hands this
Sunday afternoon.

[AlphaDummy]

Confessor responds
Wittily, he writes haiku
Bob replies in kind.

Someone visited
Haifa, and all that we got
Was this damn haiku.

[clem21]

Confessor responds
Wittily, he writes haiku
Bob replies in kind.

Someone visited
Haifa, and all that we got
Was this damn haiku.

Stop it all of you
This is so very stupid
And a waste of time

[Beebs52]

Confessor responds
Wittily, he writes haiku
Bob replies in kind.

Someone visited
Haifa, and all that we got
Was this damn haiku.

Stop it all of you
This is so very stupid
And a waste of time

Ha! If a light shines
On our poor haikus we are
Wasted not at all!

[Bob78164]

Lacking further thoughts,
Bob elects to surrender.
Victory is yours!