Wednesday, June 26, Making Our Way to Tel Aviv

Baruch Ata Adonai, Eloheinu Melech Ha-olam, who opens the eyes of the blind.

In every morning service, we acknowledge the daily miracles we have in our lives.  Not the miracles like the parting of the Red Sea, but those small miracles we all take for granted.  I love the way that Rabbi Diamond describes a miracle.  He says a miracle is when you lose the ability to do something and then it reappears after a day, a week, a month…  And when it returns, you feel like that is a miracle.  Actually, that ability was always a miracle, we just took it for granted.  Today, Hayley and I had a lesson regarding a specific miracle we both took for granted.

This morning started off as every other morning, with a delicious breakfast with more food than we could ever think to taste.  So much of this meal is spent with Hayley and me talking about the fact that we took WAY too much food on our plates.  It really must be such a comical sight for the staff at the hotels…

Then, we got to share a few minutes with our educator for the trip, Uri Feinberg.  It was so great to see my good friend in person again after 4 years had passed since he and I worked together before.  He looks the same and still has the same passion for guiding people through the land he loves dearly.  I feel so privileged to get to share this experience with him again, and I know my group from TAE will love him as much as the group did 4 years ago.  They have no idea just how lucky they are. 

After this all too brief meeting, Hayley and I loaded our bags into a car and headed to Tel Aviv.  It was an amazing hour drive, as we drove past the security fence that divides Israel from Palestinian territory.  It was a sobering reminder of just how fragile Israel is and how she resides in a place with neighbors who are not so nice all the time…

We dropped off our bags at the hotel and made our way to the Children’s Museum for a remarkable exhibit called “Dialogue in the Dark.”  I had heard of this exhibition before and thought it would be a nice way for Hayley and I to do something totally different.  I had no idea how impactful this experience would be.  We walked into a room and were greeted by a nice Israeli lady who told us to take off our hats, glasses, watches, to remove all items from our pockets and place them in the lockers they provided.  She recommended that we bring 20 shekels to purchase snacks at the cafeteria at the end of the tour.  Hayley and I were a little anxious to leave all of our belongings in a locker.  We discussed how strange it felt to not even have our phones with us.  Boy how we have become to reliant on those phones.  In reality, they wanted us to place all items we could potentially drop (hats and glasses, etc.) and were not allowed to have anything that produced light because it would destroy the experience we were about to have.  We went into a room where another lady gave each of us a cane that you often see visually impaired people using and gave us a quick lesson as to how to use them properly.  And then we met Udi, our guide.  All the guides in this experience are either totally blind or visually impaired.

Udi brought us into a pitch dark room.  No light at all.  I don’t know if I have ever experienced darkness like this before.  We were with about 10 other people from all over the United States.  We were strangers, and suddenly we were in a totally foreign environment.  Immediately we all felt uncomfortable and afraid.  Udi explained that we were going to explore different rooms in total darkness and that our job was to try to figure out what type of space we were in.  We were told there would be no one who would jump out and scare us, and all we needed to do was follow the sound of his voice to find our way to the next room.  For the next hour, this is what we saw.

As we understood what was happening, we suddenly did not feel like strangers anymore.  We all had to rely on each other in order to navigate our way through the rooms.  We bumped into each other so many times, and the word “sorry” was the most commonly used word during the experience.  I feel bad for the grandparents from Long Island that Hayley and I kept hitting…  We became very friendly with them!  I was so impressed with how quickly Hayley adapted to her new environment.  I found myself seeking her out.  She became my safety net.  When I was with her, I felt safe.  I hope I played the same role for her.  We explored a house and navigated furniture, a boat (yes there was real water involved), a city street and navigated sidewalks, curbs, cars, motorcycles and bicycles, a grocery store that was filled with produce, and a train that also doubled as a club that played music.  In this last room as the music played on, Hayley and I got up and danced around.  I would like to think others danced as well, I know the grandparents from Long Island did not.  In the first room, we would not have danced, but we became comfortable enough that dancing felt good in the last room!

Finally, we went into the cafeteria and made our way to the counter where we could order drinks and snacks.  Hayley and I ordered soft drinks and paid and made our way to the table, all in total darkness.  Here we sat with Udi and asked questions of all kinds, trying to understand how difficult it is to navigate the world without the use of sight.  We went into the next room and began to see a dim light coming from the corner.  This was the light that would guide us back to our reality.  That first sight of light was a miracle for us all…  And I will not take my sight for granted again.  It was an incredible experience for Hayley and me, and I am so glad we got to experience this together.

Following this, we made our way to hour hotel and checked in.  Here is the view from the hotel lobby.

And from our room.

The view does not disappoint!  We unpacked and made our way outside to enjoy the Mediterranean Sea for a while.  We ran into Reesa and David Shaw and Gigi Dictor, travelers in our group who had just arrived from the airport and were already out enjoying the pool overlooking the sea.  Hayley and I then took a walk on the beach.

Finally, this evening we got to have dinner with Allison Weisenfeld.  Allison is a TAE kid, the daughter of Melanie and Howard Weisenfeld, who is turning into such a wonderful adult!  4 years ago she was with her family on this very trip and we were enjoying Tel Aviv together.  This summer, she is here as a resident, doing an internship for a small startup in Tel Aviv.  We walked to a fantastic burger joint, and then to the best ice cream place in all of Israel (so we were told).

It was so great to get to see Allison and learn about all she was doing here in Israel for her internship and how she was handling living in a foreign country.  She is doing GREAT!  I am so proud of how she has taken advantage of this opportunity and is really getting the most from her experience.  I would not have had the guts to do that at her age.  I know she makes her parents really proud. 

All in all, this was another amazing day in Israel.  And tomorrow, our tour officially begins.  I cannot WAIT to share my love of Israel with the 43 people traveling with Hayley and me.  I hope that each of them grows to love Israel as much as I do, and that I am able to help them open their eyes to see themselves a little clearer as a result of our pilgrimage.  

Baruch Ata Adonai, Eloheinu Melech Ha-olam, who opens the eyes of the blind.