Sunday, June 30, History and Communities On the Way Up North

Wow, today was a really great day.  I know I am saying that a lot, but I have to tell you that each day gets better than the one before.  Part of that is because by now I can sit back and watch real relationships being created between the travelers on our trip.  The kids are all starting to really connect with each other, as is evident by the group chat they have going on WhatsApp (I am the only adult in the chat) that is constantly going off as they talk about hanging out or going to the pool.  It is also evident that in all of our dining the kids are starting to sit at their own tables allowing the adults to make special connections with each other as well.  It is really special.  The other reason that the trip gets better and better each day is because each activity we do is better than the one before.  AND WE HAVEN’T EVEN BEEN TO JERUSALEM YET!!!

Today, we were sad to say “good-bye” to the Big Orange, the beautiful and modern city on the Mediterranean Sea, Tel Aviv.  It is always sad to leave a stop on the trip.  Knowing there is so much more to experience that our limited time prohibited us from participating in.  But that just makes the next trip easier to plan!  But, with that sadness comes the excitement of the places we will go.  And today we leave an amazing place to go to end up at one of my favorite places, the Hula Valley in the Upper Galilee.

We left Tel Aviv bright and early in order to make our first stop before the heat of the afternoon was upon us.  We wished Abby Berro a happy 13^th birthday by singing to her in English and Hebrew!  How wonderful to get to share this special day with Abby.  I hope she enjoyed the day I planned for her! 

Our first stop was Caesarea, one of Israel’s most important cities during the Roman Period.  Built by King Herod about 25 – 13 BCE, this is the first of many ruins we will be seeing on the trip.  With the backdrop of the beautiful Mediterranean Sea it is a stunning site to visit and learn about.

We first went into the Herodian Theatre, an ancient theatre that is still in use today.

Here, Uri set the stage for us to understand the importance of Caesarea by going through the entire Jewish history from Abraham and Sarah until 25 BCE, when Caesarea.  He did this in the most dramatic fashion and in only 6 minutes!  We applauded his efforts and continue to marvel at his vast knowledge. 

We then walked around the back of the theatre and went inside the site where Herod’s palace stood, complete with an outdoor infinity pool overlooking the beautiful sea. 

After pausing to take some photos of the beautiful scenery, Uri led us into the Hippodrome, Herod’s personal stadium for chariot racing.

Often people ask me why I only work with Da’at and ARZA World when I plan these trips to Israel.  In my experience (and I admit it is not a ton of experience) Da’at uses only the best guides in the business.  In fact, I do not refer to Uri as our guide, but our educator.  Sitting in the Hippodrome, where we could have just looked at the cool ancient stadium, he challenged us with the story of Rabbi Akiva, who was executed by the Romans following the Bar Kokhba revolt.  Rabbi Akiva was killed in this very stadium, and Uri shared with us the details surrounding his execution.  At a time when Judaism was outlawed, Rabbi Akiva had the courage to continue teaching Torah.  Even when his life was at risk, he chose to say “Shema Yisrael Adonai Eloheinu Adonai Echad” which meant for him a long, and painful public execution.  But then, Uri reminded us that these were ruins and Israel still stands.  The Romans are an empire no more, yet the people of Israel still lives.  How many times in our history have people tried to destroy us and, defying the odds, we are still here, stronger than ever?  It was an inspiring moment for us all.

Uri then led us to the beach and shared the story of Hannah Senesh, who was killed during World War 2 after she was caught by the Nazis as she was trying to rescue Hungarian Jews.  Thankfully, even though her life was cut short much too soon, her poetry still helps to keep her memory alive. 

Here, in the place she wrote her famous poem that has since become a song that is more like a prayer “Eili Eili” Uri challenged us to think about why we were in Israel on this trip.  He invited us to take a personal moment to ponder this after we, as a community sang this beautiful song.  How powerful to sing these words with the seas literally crashing on the shores around us.  This is why I choose to work with Da’at, because with educators like Uri we are constantly challenged to look at ourselves during this trip, to discover who we really are, and who we want to be.  I am so grateful for these challenging moments and was proud of Hayley as she took Uri’s challenge seriously.

Following this, we boarded the bus and Moti drove us up into the Carmel Mountains to visit a Druze Village for a home cooked lunch and discussion with a local member of the Druze community. 

My goodness, this lunch was AMAZING!  Dish after dish was brought to us, there were no empty spots on our table!

Following lunch, Mona, a local member of the Druze community shared information and answered numerous questions we had about her culture. 

There was so much information shared, here are some of what stood out to me the most.  Mona shared that prior to 1043, people who were not Druze could join the community if they chose to.  Following 1043, however, no one could convert to Druze.  One can only be born into the community.  And if you are a Druze, you are unable to leave and become something else.  The Druze believe, much like Jews, that God is everywhere, and the reason they do god deeds is because God is always watching.  Mona shared that they believe that there are only 7 generations and then the world will end, and all will go to heaven or hell depending on their good deeds.  She also shared that we do not know which generation we are in…  The Druze believe in reincarnation, and believe that the moment the body dies the soul is placed immediately into a new body with a birth.  For this reason, a death is something that is not mourned.  In fact, there are no cemetery markers for the dead and Druze are not allowed to visit the graves of their loved ones, with the exception of a military death.  The Druze also believe that the number of people in the world stays exactly the same.  This is just the tip of the iceberg of what we learned today.  You can imagine the questions that we had!  It was a delicious and informative afternoon. 

After this, we piled back in our bus and headed up to the very north of Israel to the Hula Valley in the Upper Galilee where we would be spending the next two nights on Kibbutz Kfar Blum.  Our first stop in the north was one the kids on the trip (and those of us who are kids at heart) had been looking forward to sine the trip’s inception, rafting down the Jordan river.  More like floating…  There was one rapid at the very end of the 90 minute ride, but we did enjoy splashing each other and the other boats who were floating with us…

Following a DELICIOUS dinner in the dining room, we enjoyed Rokdim Israel, and invigorating and fun Israeli dance session with Dance Israel, a unique initiative that offers exciting educational encounters and multi-faceted experiences through Jewish and Israeli folk dance.  We had the BEST time with this activity!  Our three volunteers represented three types of people who immigrated to Israel at different times during history, from Yemen, Russia and Poland.  And while often the immigrants could not speak to each other because of different languages, they could all enjoy dancing together after a hard day of work building Israel.  We all enjoyed dancing together after a long day of travel in Israel!  The energy in the room was overflowing and we all loved the experience.

This was another amazing day, and there is so much more to come.  As I write this, I am looking out my window at the view from our hotel room.  This is what I see:

Do you see those trees in the background?  Just beyond that is the border with Lebanon.  I cannot wait to share tomorrow’s adventures with our traveling family.  We truly are becoming one big TAE family.

Saturday, June 29, Foundations of a City and State

Boy, today was another great day.  Because it was Shabbat, we let everyone sleep in…  a little!  Here is our first bus selfie of the trip!

I remember the first trip to Israel I led back in 2013.  I came to lead the group late after all the arrangements had been made.  As I studied the itinerary, I saw the Ayalon Institute and was not so excited to go and visit this place.  I looked at it like a “time filler” for an otherwise amazing trip.  Boy, was I wrong!  It was one of the highlights of the trip for me, and one that I continue to include on each and every trip I plan. 

And even though I explain why I love this place so much to our travelers long before they get here, I love to watch their reaction as they learn the story of this place and the role it played in Israel’s history.  Simply put, Israel would not exist without the Ayalon Institute, a clandestine munitions factory used during the British Mandate.

The kids were all enthralled as the story was told of how a bullet factory was needed in order to provide ammunition to win our freedom.  But the amazing thing was this secret factory was built under the noses of the enemy!  Every day 45 kibbutz workers would take this secret entry to the underground factory to make bullets.  The sound of the laundry muffled the sounds of the underground machinery used to create the ammunition.  The ingenuity of the workers was amazing…  The factory was operational 10 hours a day, which meant the laundry needed to operate at the same times…  Well, this kibbutz only had 75 members, which does not require 10 hours of laundry a day.  So what did they do?  They opened a laundry service that would provide the laundry needed for them to run the machines continually.  In fact, many British officers would have this laundry service wash their uniforms!  Here is the laundry room and the secret entry to the factory.

These machines would make 7000 bullets a day, 14,000 a day when the war really started.  In all, more than 2.25 million bullets were created in order to fight the war. 

Because the kibbutz was underground, they had to come up with a way for the workers to get sunlight, both for health reasons and to be sure that they did not blow their cover.  After all, this was an agricultural kibbutz, and there is no way that a worker would ever be pale after spending all day in the blinding sun of the Middle East.  They installed an ultraviolet light for the workers to sit under each day. 

They also installed a testing range to be sure that the bullets they were making would work on the battlefield. 

The other amazing thing about this place was the fact that the workers had to keep this a closely guarded secret.  Some were not even allowed to share what their work was with their spouses!  Imagine holding a secret like this for years!  The factory was operational from 1945 until 1948, when, after the declaration of an independent state there was no reason to keep it a secret anymore. 

The story of this kibbutz and the secret bullet factory is another example of how people, not much older than children, worked to create this place we all love today.  They were not superheroes.  They were our children.  They were you and me, dedicated to building a better future for their families.  I hope this inspired the children on the trip to go out and make a difference through their actions.

The next stop of our day is a tough one for me.  We went to Rabin Square, a center of Tel Aviv’s cultural and political life, named for Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin who was assassinated there on November 4, 1995.  We first stopped at this Holocaust Memorial where we found some shade and Uri shared with us the history of the place we were standing.  

This courtyard was a center for rallies of all kinds, and on November 4, 1995 was the sight of a peace rally in support of the Oslo Accords where Rabin spoke.  After Uri gave us the background, we went to the site of the memorial.

Uri then gathered us around and began to tell the story of the assassination, which was a watershed moment for Israel.  Before, there was really hope for peace, hope that there was leadership in place that could forge a path towards peace.  Uri explained how an Israeli ultranationalist, who opposed the signing of the accords was the gunman.  Uri said that had the shooter been an Arab, they could have dealt with that.  But because the shooter was an Israeli, this was a dose of reality that was difficult to swallow.  How could an Israeli do something like this?  It called into question all the Israeli flag stood for.  From that moment on, everything was different.  Uri explained that for Israelis, this was a moment that everyone remembers where they were and what they were doing when they heard the news.  Not unlike the JFK assassination, September 11 or the Space Shuttle Challenger tragedy.  As I heard Uri describe how he felt and what the reality of this event meant for him personally, I could not help but look at our kids standing and listening to him.  I focused on my Hayley, who is just now starting to grow into adulthood.  All I want to do is protect her from the reality that humanity brings to us sometimes.  And I know I can’t.  What will her watershed moment be?  What tragic moment will be her September 11, her Rabin assassination? 

My eyes filled with tears as I watched her absorb all Uri was sharing.  He shared what the special markers on the floor were and showed the exact place Rabin was standing and the exact place where the assassin was standing when he fired three shots, two hitting Rabin and one hitting a security personnel who jumped in front of the bullet.  He explained that there were many security guards there but they were all facing outward, protecting the Prime Minister from the outside.  And the assassin was on the inside.  What a powerful message for us all.

We went to the memorial, which is a series of volcanic rocks from the Golan Heights, a place Rabin held very close to his heart. 

The volcanic rock seems to say that an eruption occurred when he was killed, or, perhaps even more appropriate, that our world is broken and it is up to each of us to put these stones back in place.  We need to make the choice to do this. 

We went to look at the one section of graffiti that remains on the walls surrounding the location of the assassination.  

After this, Hayley and shared a long and emotional embrace.  I told her that I hoped that when she faces a Rabin assassination moment in her life, that she chooses to help fill that darkness with light and chooses to put the stones back together again. 

It was a powerful stop on our journey through Israel.

Following this, we took a short drive to the Sarona Market, where we would have the chance to stroll through the enclosed renovated Templars town, exploring the range of cuisine offered by renowned chefs.  We had a delicious lunch and one of the best chocolate chip cookies we had ever eaten.

After lunch, we went to South Tel Aviv to take a graffiti tour of Florentine, a traditional Sephardic neighborhood that is a hotspot for local and international graffiti artists. 

Noy, our guide through the town, helped us to identify several street art pieces and interpret the meaning behind them.  Here are some examples that struck me.  Here you see an Israeli child and a Palestinian child embracing each other in a call for peace.

And here is an Israeli woman and an Arab woman weeping together…

And our final stop was the depiction of the Rabin assassination, which happens to be the oldest piece of street art in the neighborhood at 24 years old.  How appropriate that we could see that piece of art after experiencing the memorial, and a sobering reminder of the power of art as am expression of emotion.

We couldn’t believe all of the art we witnessed on this tour.  By the end we were able to even identify specific artist’s works seeing similarities in each piece of art.  It was an outstanding tour.

After a full day of meaningful events, it was so special to include Havdalah to cap it all off.  

Almost one year ago to the day members of this group (or most of us at least) gathered on the beach in southern California to share our first Havdalah as a traveling family.  And at that event, we dreamt of what it would feel like when we were making Havdalah with the Mediterranean Sea as our backdrop.  Havdalah means separation, and we separate the holiness of Shabbat from the mundane week, or, as Uri stated, the less holy.  What a profound lesson that is, to strive to make everyday as holy as Shabbat.  Our group gathered with the pounding surf behind us, almost as if God were singing along with us.  It was a truly special moment, just another special moment during this trip of a lifetime.