My friend called up the Qumran National Park to inquire about it's hours. He was told "I don't know," by the employee who picked up the phone. He asked for someone who would know. After a half hour wait, another person got on the phone and said, "I don't know."
Welcome to Israeli customer service and pride (or lack of it) in one's work.
Welcome to the experience of trying to pursue any of your interests here. My friend, who is intellectual, also tries to order books since books in English are not sold here. However, the mail service is atrocious in Israel and it's an ordeal to have books shipped to you. You wait for months. It's also expensive, and many sellers don't sell to Israel. Most of eBay does not ship to Israel.
I am trying to arrange a visit to the Rockefeller Archeology Museum in East Jerusalem. The website says "The Rockefeller Archaeological Museum is temporarily closed to visitors." The same website provides a link to tickets:
You figured that Israel being full of Jews would be a good place for intellectuals. I recall reading that "There's a bookstore on every street." The reality is that only in Haredi neighborhoods do you find bookstores. As for academic materials, art, music or anything in English, you will not find them in Israel, anywhere.
As British Historian Arnold Toynbee pointed out, Zionism has created a new type of Jew. You are used to the intellectual, the artist - picture Woody Allen or Franz Kafka (credit: NF). You don't find much of that in Israel. What you get is martial arts instructors and that's not even Kung Fu but Krav Maga, which does not contain Eastern philosophy. It's all about injuring the other person.
Welcome home, that is to the Mental Home.
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