Shalom from Tel Aviv! It is just past 11 pm Israel time and most of us have already headed for our hotel rooms, fully exhausted but looking back fondly on an exhilarating Day 1 and Day 1A. I say Day 1 and Day 1A because, as Alan Fine pointed out, many of us have shared breakfast, lunch, dinner, breakfast, lunch and dinner together before turning in for a good night’s sleep. Much of this is thanks to a ten hour overseas jet adventure that was colored by such highlights as two perpetually screaming toddlers, a (non-Rubinite) passenger medical scare, the presence of a very mysterious looking and acting gentleman who eventually gave away his identity as aircraft security and the sleep-depriving puzzle as to how it is that Li Zou managed to get everything she needs for a ten day journey into a single, carry-on suitcase!
As is the tradition of the Rubin Israel Experience, our first steps on Israeli soil were followed not by rest and relaxation but rather immediate immersion. As our bus driver Sammy whisked us off to Neot Kedudim, our tour guide, Amir, reminded us that what’s different about Judaism in Israel as compared to anywhere else in the world is that in Israel, Judaism is literally connected to the land. And the land is exactly what we got to see, celebrate, and, yes, work upon our arrival at the biblical botanical park at Neot Kedudim. Our park host, Yair, explained that Neot Kedudim was founded by a man named Noga, a Russian expatriate who made Aliyah to Israel at the start of the 20th Century. He explained that the land was once home to the Maccabees, the stout fighting force who repelled invaders and whose great victories and the subsequent restoration of the Temple lamp are celebrated during Hanukkah. It was quite fitting, therefore, that Yair’s teachings were punctuated by the sounds of gunfire as an Israeli Defense Force anti-terror sniper team practiced maneuvers at their range in a neighboring valley.
The first part of our park visit was spent learning about the importance of water management in a region where rain is generally scarce and falls for the most part between Shemini Atzeret and Pesach. We learned about the difference between wells and cisterns and Emily MacDonald got the chance to demonstrate for us all how to retrieve water from a 2000 year-old cistern. Our visit to Neot Kedudim continued with a lesson in shepherding as the group literally herded a couple dozen goats through an obstacle course of sorts. It took us a couple of attempts to follow Yair’s commands to the letter and only then after we figured out how to work together as a team. Yair then walked us through Psalm 23, “The Lord’s Prayer,” and explained how it truly does lay out the recipe for good leadership. Our time at the park closed with each member planting a tree, one of the most vital deeds one can do when visiting Israel.
Following a lunch at Armando’s that could conservatively be considered “massive,” we headed over to Jaffa, the port city that once spawned a suburb called Tel Aviv (which subsequently outgrew and essentially absorbed it). As the formidable October winds whipped the Mediterranean into a roaring, frothy backdrop, we boarded Segways and cruised the seafront, weaving through the old port warehouse district of Jaffa, scaling winding paths to a hilltop park, cruising all the way over to the beachfront boardwalk of Tel Aviv and then returning the way we came (stopping to pose for pictures with a very amused and somewhat puzzled newlywed couple still in their wedding finery. As Jaffa’s favorite son Jonah might have said, it was a whale of a time.
After some brief downtime, it was off to dinner in one of Tel Aviv’s high rise business districts, where we greeted and dined with a Lone Soldier at Uno Restaurant. A Lone Soldier is a member of the Israeli Military who comes to the country on his own in order to make Aliyah. “Our” Lone Soldier, Noam, hails from Boca Raton, Florida and is a graduate of George Washington University. He was very engaging and informative regarding the Lone Soldier program and other facets of Israeli life. Most of us were even willing to overlook his stated support of the Pittsburgh Pirates in this year’s Major League Baseball playoffs.
And that brings us to the close of this (literal) day of days. We should be in a position to start posting pictures very soon.
Lilah Tov!
