Posted by: Joe Yudin | May 31, 2010

I like the days off from guiding. The gaps between tours gives me time to spend with the family, relax, recharge the batteries, do some much needed office work, catch up on some e-mails, and reflect. The first day after about two to three solid weeks of leading tours is just chill time. I sleep in then sit on my couch and zone out in front of the tv half the day and the other half of the time I follow my kids around outside pretty much like a zombie. Day two is much more productive, I get up early and go to the bank, post office, my own office and play catch up until the kids get home from school then they are in for some big trouble as I chase them around the Moshav (a kind of communal farm/village). Finally, I can write a few sentences and post it to my blog.

The last three weeks I have guided several evangelical Christians including a Pastor, from across America, a couple, one Catholic and one Jewish (both atheists) from Chicago, and a family of seven Hasidic Jews from Brooklyn. I mention their religious-cultural persuasions only to point out the fact that these people pay me to show them Israel and to have a great time doing so. Now as an Israeli, a scholar, a Zionist and a businessman I certainly have my work cut out for me. I need to give all these people an honest, introduction and tour of Israel and at the same time make sure that they enjoy themselves and come away from their vacation happy, relaxed and educated. Different people want to see different things and its my job to make sure they see what they want to see and also make sure they see the things that they didn’t know that they wanted to see but will be quite happy that they saw it. They key is to show each group what they came to see while also showing them a bit of what they didn’t know was there and also a bit of what they didn’t want to see. Do you follow me?

Israel is not all a bed of roses, and I am not even talking about the Arab-Israeli conflict. We, like every other place in the world have a bad side, and I would be dishonest if I didn’t show you, the tourist, at least some of our flaws. The important thing to know about Israel and Israelis is that we are aware of most of our flaws and we really are trying to improve them, while at the same time trying to make the world a better place. This last point is a whole new world to the average tourist. We are not just trying to survive here, we are trying to live and live like no other. This is what I try to show all tourists no matter what background they come from.

I don’t know maybe I need another day to decompress before my next blog…