Story & photos by Recto Mercene
The story of Israel is the story of creation—a very critical creation,” Ambassador Effie Ben Matityau said during a presentation at the Shangri-La Hotel in Makati City last week.
He said it was Israel that left the world the legacy of the “First Water”, when Moses parted the Red Sea.
“It was also in Israel where the first tablet was created—in fact, two of them,” referring to the stone slates where God inscribed and Moses received the Ten Commandments.
The pun elicited laughter from the audience, many of whom were tech-savvy millennials who took tons of selfies and photographs from their tablets and phones. They trained their gadgets’ lenses at the evening’s guests, Mr. Pure Energy, Gary Valenciano, and Rose “Osang” Fontanes, who won first place in the inaugural season of The X-Factor Israel three years ago.
There was also the pulsating opening numbers of singers Ryan Tamondong and Nicole Asencio, to the appreciation of the appreciative audience.
The roomful of invited guests and celebrities came to celebrate the launch of the campaign, “Israel: Land of Creation and Creativity”, along with its partnership with Asia Tours. The latter marked its 40th anniversary, which also coincided with the 80th year of diplomatic relations between Israel and the Philippines.
An audio-visual presentation, entitled “Sky Above Israel”, showcased the various aspects of life in the Middle Eastern country, its many tourist spots of historical and religious importance, and many more.
Ties that bind
Matityau recalled that the special ties between the Philippines and Israel started during the onset of World War II, when our country accepted with open arms the Jews who were fleeing Hitler’s pogrom in 1939.
While the Western world closed its doors to the fleeing Jews, it was only the Philippines, through then-President Manuel L. Quezon, which allowed 35,000 Israelis to come and live in the country. He had in mind sending them to Mindanao to start cattle ranching there as their livelihood. Unfortunately, the Americans at that time objected to the idea, thinking that the settlers might make the country a stepping-stone to America.
Despite this, 1,300 Jews made it to the country, stayed in Quezon’s hacienda in Marikina and eventually became highly successful entrepreneurs. (Incidentally, Elizabeth Zimmerman, President Duterte’s first wife, is a daughter of one of the early Jewish settlers in the Philippines, Matityau said on a separate occasion.)
The Israel envoy added that under Roxas’s regime, the Philippines’s vote become the tie-breaker in a United Nations’s resolution that separated Israel from Palestine. Israel reciprocated by allowing Filipinos to have visa-free access to their country and “respectable” working opportunities in the Holy Land.
Revered land
The show ended near midnight and showcased in various forms what Israel actually wanted the world to know: a peaceful, productive, historic country with highly intelligent and fun-loving people. This is in contrast to the image of a war-torn piece of real estate in the Middle East, whose citizens are perpetually trained to prepare for the expected invasion from its enemies since biblical times.
Israel is regarded by Jews, Christians and Muslims as the biblical Holy Land. Its most sacred sites are in Jerusalem. Within its Old City, the Temple Mount complex includes the Dome of the Rock shrine, the historic Western Wall, Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.
Israel’s financial hub, Tel-Aviv, is known for its Bauhaus architecture and beaches. It is a place where the world’s three monotheistic religions exist side by side: Christianity, Judaism and Islam.
It is understandable that most tourists in Israel are on pilgrimage, tracing Jesus’ place of birth, as well as the sites of His crucifixion and resurrection. Yet, the country has many more things to offer other than spiritual solace.
Many of the choicest tourist spots were displayed via video presentation and annotated by those who have recently gone there, such as Ana Marie Pamintuan, the editor in chief of the Philippine Star, and Sandra Aguinaldo, host of GMA Network’s i-Witness. The broadcaster’s pilgrimage are filmed in two parts: one shown last Christmas and the other would be aired during the Holy Week.
Her accounts follow that of the Holy Bible, starting from Nazareth, where Mary and Joseph lived, the Basilica of the Annunciation, and on to Bethlehem, where Jesus was born.
She captured on film the Shepherd’s Field, the Church of Nativity and the Milk Grotto. The viewers were also taken to Herodium, the Tower of David, the Holy Sepulcher, the Garden of Olives, the Via Dolorosa, the Magdala and the Jordan River.
“It’s amazing how we are able to tell a story that happened 2,000 years ago by visiting the very same places where it happened,” she said.
Of course, Pamintuan and Aguinaldo partook Middle Eastern food, such as hummus, pita bread, dates, olives and many other specialties in a restaurant highly recommended by Matityau.
From the presentations, the audience instantly got that vicarious experience of having seen places that before can only be gleaned or imagined by reading the Holy Bible. They would also see the bustling way of life in one of the most cosmopolitan cities in the world.
There are coffee shops and restaurants everywhere. Even the nightlife is full of fun and celebration, with sporadic showers of falling lights from exploding pyrotechnics from occasional birthday bashes or wedding festivities.
Land of antiquity
The biblical spots are not to be missed, such as the Red Sea, where Moses parted its waters, as well as the Dead Sea, where anybody could go swimming without the fear of drowning. The expanse is simply too salty to buoy someone up its surface.
Meanwhile, the Qumran Caves is where shepherds discovered the Dead Sea Scrolls, which until now are being studied by biblical scholars. Then there is Masada, where brave Israelites made the last stand against the Romans and chose death over slavery by defending their fortress from which there were no escape routes.
One of the highlights of Israel’s many-faceted images is an area that used to be a desert, but was converted by the early Israel settlers into fully productive farms, or kibbutz. Their pioneering works enabled Israel to make the desert bloom. In a separate interview, Matityau said this enabled them to export fruits and vegetables to Europe during wintertime there.
Asia Tours President and CEO Mano Alemi said his company is one of the biggest travel agencies in Israel, with 150 buses, two hotels and seven offices in Asia, including the Philippines. Turkish Airlines, on the other hand, is the only carrier that offers direct flights from the Philippines via Turkey to Israel with eight weekly.
Both companies sponsored a raffle, giving away free plane rides to Israel (or a free tour for the same number of happy guests). The grand prize: five free plane rides and travel tickets from both companies.
Afterward, Philippine Airlines President and CEO Jaime J. Bautista told Matityau that the flag carrier would fly to Israel soon.
Highlight of the raffle proceedings were a couple of rings, which found their way to two lucky winners, courtesy of the National Diamond Center by Caprice.
But all the attendees will agree with me that they were all enthralled by the beauty and holiness of the expansive jewel of a land that is Israel.
Image credits: Recto Mercene