In the Spotlight - Israel
Hazukashii
In the Spotlight – Israel
By Ed “Hazukashii” Howell
24 May 2022
Where to begin? Israel / Palestine is one of the most hotly contested regions on planet earth. Surrounded (clockwise, starting in the north) by Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, a small sliver of the Gulf of Aqaba, Egypt, and finally, Israel has a long coast to the west on the Mediterranean Sea (~185 Kms). According to History . com . . . “the land of modern-day Israel was conquered and ruled by various groups, including the Persians, Greeks, Romans, Arabs, Fatimids, Seljuk Turks, Crusaders, Egyptians, Mamelukes, Islamists and others.” Tippy toeing past the geopolitical aspect of Israel (which you can read more of at the link above), Israel has a dry season (May-Sep) with hot and sunny summers. The rainy season can be cold, with occasional snow (Nov-Mar).
While there is no record of an active hash club in Palestine, local hasher “Boston Creamed” insisted that during the British Mandate for Palestine (1918-1948), the British troops certainly enjoyed revelry and beer. As for Israel, there have been several hash clubs, mostly around Tel Aviv. The first recorded hash club, as listed in the HHH Genealogy, began on 4 Oct 1990, when Jack 'Sponge' Richardson, assisted by Mickey 'Roach' Dunham founded the Tel Aviv H3. There is no indication where either of these two hashers came from, so there is no legacy established at this point.
That first attempt does not appear to have lasted long, as the second hash club to form, also in the Tel Aviv area, was the Holyland H3, founded on 29 Sep 1993 by Steve 'African King' Young and Sari 'African Queen' Young, who had previously hashed in Mogadishu, Somalia. (Note: I, your humble hash scribe, ran what is believed to be the last hash trail in Mogadishu and probably all of Somalia, in Feb 1993). The first Holyland H3 also did not complete to many trails, as the third hash club, also named (and currently active) the Holyland H3, is recorded as running their first trail on 11 Jun 1994. Founded by Lars 'Noggin The Nog' Thompsen who had come down from the Paris H3, he was assisted by former founders African King and African Queen (which makes this listing a bit suspect), along with Colin 'Piss on the Hut' Abercrombie.
The fourth hash club to form, also in the Tel Aviv area but also as far north as Haifa, was the Thirsty Knights H3, running on, as you might expect, Thursday nights. Founded on 24 Jan 2002 by Pat ‘Foreplay’ Carmeli, and assisted by Simon ‘Thrush’ Peel and Karin ‘Golden Snatch’ Assarson. This club’s old website records run 105 on 29 Dec 2006, then jumps to the Holyland H3 run #663.5 on 1 Jan 2007, as the two clubs appear to have merged all reporting into the same TKH3 website. According to Boston Creamed, an actual historian working in Jerusalem, “The Thirsty Knights logo with the running knight was designed by a rather famous cartoonist . . . Yaakov Kirschen of the Jerusalem Post, who publishes a popular local cartoon Dry Bones. The last recorded TKH3 run with a number associated, was run #149 on 4 Dec 2008, but there were sporadically recorded trails all the way up to 7 May 2015. The last trail recorded on the old TKH3 website was #1111, a Red Dress Run, on 18 Jul 2015, apparently for the Holyland H3.
The fifth recorded club was the Jerusalem H3, founded on 1 Jun 2002, by Dawn 'Shaggle' Naughton, assisted by Steve 'Fat Freddy's Cat' Horsup and Graham 'Sir Walter' Mackenzie. There is no previous club listed, so no known legacy, potentially the Holyland H3.
One additional hash club, not previously listed in the genealogy, but now added, was the Looney Moon H3. Founded by Dave ‘Puppy Love Machine’ Lorch on 23 Jun 2013, this club ran monthly around the full moon in Jerusalem. After 2 years of having to set all the trails, Puppy Love threw in the towel and let this club slip off into the cold dark night of history.
On my recent visit to Israel, I was lucky enough to catch up with the Holyland H3, the only active hash club remaining in Israel, for run #1396. After a brief chalk talk, we were off on an excellent urban trail, that took in plenty of local parks in the Herzliya area, along with some tunnels, dirt tracks, and even an orchard. Circle was fun and just the right length, mostly because we ran out of beer. The Beer Meister explained that he had only planned for 10 or less hashers . . . with 20 on hand that day, the coolers emptied pretty fast. As always, it was still a great day on the hash.
I really enjoyed hashing with the Holyland H3, they were very friendly and welcoming to visitors. Although I was able to gather a great deal of new info from these current hashers (Captain Caveman was the longest running on trail this week, with the Holyland H3 since Aug 1997), there are still many questions about these hash clubs. I am asking for anyone knowing any of the hashers listed above, please forward this info, and contact me to fill in some of the gaps for posterity. Much appreciated.
For many more articles like this on the history of hashing, check out . . . http://gotothehash.net/history/inthespotlight.html