(re: A very special thank you, which you`d be suprised to hear, Ken!) Wow! Thank you for making my day with your letter. I’ll show it to Roberta.
The sad thing is that this was 20 years ago, and things have gotten worse, not better, in Israel.
It’s a bit off the subject, but here’s some background you might enjoy:
Roberta (my wife) loves history, especially biblical history. We’re not religious – but, Roberta’s “hobby” is reading anything having to do with the history of religions.
We’ve done many trips to Israel and the middle east. A huge highlight in Roberta’s life was that recently (just before the recent violence) she was able to climb through one of the pyramids in Cairo. Don’t ask me which one – she’s the historian in the family, and I’m the computer geek. Roberta was amazing. She already knew every twist, turn and chamber.
On another trip we wound up traveling through Israel with Dr. Ruth. In the US, Dr. Ruth is known as a talk show host, who specializes in sex. But, in Israel, she was a national hero. Apparently during an earlier war (notice once again my ignorance of anything historic), Dr. Ruth was a war hero in Israel! Her reputation helped get us access everywhere. We were able to meet with the shakers and movers of the middle east, even people like Netanyahu and Arafat (who ditched us at the last moment because of a terroist attack).
In both Israel and Egypt, groups we were with would quickly discover that it was frequently better to ask Roberta questions than our tour guides.
We are deeply saddened by all the problems in the middle east, and keep hoping things will calm down during our lifetimes – which is unlikely. One of our favorite vacation destinations is Dubai, but I wouldn’t go there now. Roberta has already said that we are going to Iraq as soon as its safe to go.
-Ken W
