As I sat in my seat at 20A on the plane, I tried to engage the Israeli sitting next to me in conversation. I asked him a mundane question, and he promptly grunted and moved his seat, giving me the whole row to myself. Only on the way to Israel can something like this happen!
As we drove to the airport I felt my heart start to race a bit, and as our plane made its way from Poland to my home in the east the feeling intensified. With each moment I became more and more excited. There is something about Israel that is unexplainable, and yet each time I have the honor of being here the feeling of connection intensifies. This is true even when we are flying in the middle of the night.
As our flight landed at Ben Gurion airport I felt myself exhale for the first time in a week. While my time in Poland was amazing and inspiring, it was also heavier and darker than anything I had ever experienced. For me, Israel represents the brightest of all possible lights. The air just smells different, and the feeling of walking into Israel is enough to invigorate and excite me, even at 3:30 in the morning.
You immediately get a sense of feeling at home by seeing all the Hebrew that surrounds you in the airport. I became so excited to share Israel with out travelers that I was pointing out each and every thing I could. I think our group was still sleepwalking and wanted me to shut up, but I could not help my excitement and enthusiasm.
We got our luggage and passed through immigration and made our way to our bus. I remind you of the sign that welcomed us to Poland identifying our bus.
In Israel, the sign was a bit more welcoming.
Now THAT is the way to identify our bus!
We all paused for a moment to take a few pictures with our bus before boarding and heading to our hotel in Tel Aviv. We met our driver Shlomo, the man who is responsible for our well being for the next 9 days.
Aren't we bright eyed and bushy tailed??? Keep in mind, it is 3:30 in the morning!
We settled in for a few hours of sleep before heading out for a light day of touring.
I was woken up by a strange sound outside my window. I crawled out of bed to investigate only to find a huge storm had hit Israel. A wall of rain was falling sideways because of the intense wind. I could see lightening and hear thunder as I stood in disbelief watching the storm. We had virtually no rain in Poland and we bring a torrential downpour with us to Israel. We are grateful for the rain because Israel needs the water and we were determined to not let it get in the way of our day of touring.
We began by driving to Old City Jaffa. We stopped for a very Jewish activity, lunch. Most in our group had their first taste of Israeli falafel. There is NOTHING like Israeli falefel!
While some ate I was able to walk around this town a bit. I love the clock tower and the flea market...
As the rain fell we boarded our bus to drive up to Tel Yafo, the mountain that contains the remnants of the 3 thousand year old city. We learned that a tel is a city that is built on top of another city, which is built on top of another, and another... We stopped to take in the beautiful view of Tel Aviv, in spite of the rain.
We walked to the top of Tel Yafo and learned of all the references to this great city in our bible. The history of Israel is amazing and reaches back further than we can imagine. There was no way we were going to let the rain stop us!
We then made our way to Independence Hall where the state of Israel was declared on May 14, 1948 in an art museum in Tel Aviv. We learned about the history of Tel Aviv and what led to the declaration. We learned that 106 years ago 66 families came from Jaffa to build a new city that would be called Tel Aviv. It is hard to imagine that the mounds of sand they first laid their eyes on could become the metropolis it is today, but they envisioned a modern, socially conscious city that would propel Israel into the future. I think they would be proud of what Tel Aviv has become.
We learned about David Ben-Gurion and the courage it took for him to change the story of our world by declaring statehood in spite of everyone, even the Americans, telling him not to. As we sat in the exact room where this declaration took place I was in tears as we listened to the original broadcast and learned about that historic day.
When we heard the words of Hatikvah and we stood out of respect, I began to weep. Why? After all, I was just here 4 months ago with 42 temple friends. Why was I so emotional? What I am learning is that my time at Majdanek and Auschwitz changes everything. I am forever changed because of these experiences, and now I see them through the lens of those difficult and painful steps. As I stood there I thought of my walk into the gas chamber at Majdanek, and the selection platform where I felt the presence of Sophia van Hasselt so clearly. I looked at all of the pictures on the wall of the room where Ben-Gurion declared statehood.
These are the same faces I pictured in the camps, the faces of Polish Jews who would never have the honor of standing in Israel as an independent state. As they were marched to the gas chamber they could not fathom a place where Jews could stand tall and proud of their Judaism and experience true freedom. So why were they in the room during the announcement? It is a statement that those Jews, their tragic story, is our story. They have a place, if only in memory, at the table of Israel. I thought of the Tallitot and other Jewish items that were stolen from victims and how in Israel those are not museum pieces, but items that can be used again and again, for generations. It was all overwhelming. As we stood there in that room, it was as if we carried the memories of the six million victims with us. Oh how I wish they could be here to experience this emotion and joy. Israel is the reason why we will never have to experience another Holocaust again. For if anyone threatens us, we have a place to go, unlike those poor souls during World War 2. Suddenly, the importance of Israel is magnified exponentially for me. Israel is our home, and we must do all we can to ensure a peaceful and fruitful existence for her. What a responsibility we have to carry forward.
The best way I could describe my joy is out of the ashes and darkness of Auschwitz comes the light and potential of Israel. The finality of Majdanek to the forever of Israel. And we are here. Now. Experiencing the power of this place, just like we felt the power of the heroes at Mila 18. Auschwitz represented the oppression of old, Israel represents the freedom of new. It was empowering. It is Tel Aviv.
We left Independence Hall and walked Rothschild Boulevard and Ron pointed out many interesting architectural elements of the buildings and their recent renovations. We could see the old and new of Tel Aviv. And we fell in love with this city.
We made today an easy, early day of recovery from our all night travel. Tomorrow will be another great day as we share in more of the energy, excitement and potential of Israel. If you haven't seen the beauty of Israel in person, you must come here. The pictures are great, but do not even to begin to do justice to all Israel holds. Ask anyone who has traveled here before, reading about Israel is not enough to truly discover her and to truly discover yourself. How lucky I feel to be able to discover and rediscover Israel with our community.
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