Birthright: My First Time in Israel – Day 5
June 3 – Tel Aviv
The old (Tel) new (Aviv) city! A tel is an archaeological phenomena – a mound of earth with multiple layers of history underneath.
Aviv is the Hebrew word for springtime – a time of rebirth and renewal. Founded as a secular Jewish city in 1909, Tel Aviv is the cultural hub of Israel. People liken it to NYC and Miami, and oftentimes confuse it for being the country’s capital. The revival of the Hebrew language was really important for those who settled here. Today, Chen took us on a journey of the formation of Tel Aviv and the entire Jewish State.
We first visited the Yitzhak Rabin Memorial. He was the Prime Minister of Israel in the early 1990s and had an amazing following being a politician for peace. He negotiated peace with Jordan and was working on peace with the Palestinians. He was assassinated in 1995 by a right-wing Israeli extremist, and the event was devastating for the entire country and for all of the Jewish people. Chen pointed out the exact spot where Rabin was killed, and it is amazing that the murderer was able to get so close to such an important figure! The memorial, a bed of disheveled rocks, represents the chaos and turmoil that followed Rabin’s death.
The circle on the left marks the spot where Rabin was standing when he was shot by his murderer on the right. In between them was a security guard looking the other way.
After this, we met our Israeli peers (mifgash) and chatted with them. We have eight visiting IDF members who will be staying with us for the next few days. I realistically don’t think I’ll interact with them much because they will most likely be drawn to the more outgoing crowd. That being said, I haven’t interacted with many people on this trip because most interaction occurs at night when I’m asleep.
The trip to Independence Hall was really informative and our speaker was phenomenal! Though the capital of Israel is Jerusalem, the Israeli Declaration of Independence was signed in Tel Aviv. During the Independence War, Jerusalem was under siege. Perhaps this is the reason why some confuse Tel Aviv for Israel’s capital. Current day Independence Hall is on the site of the house of the first Tel Aviv mayor, Meir Dizengoff. It was later converted into an art museum. Right now, I believe the building is mostly filled with offices, though the first floor is set up as it was back when Ben Gurion declared Israeli independence. Around the podium, Jewish themed artwork is featured by notable Jewish 
artists. There was even a Marc Chagall! I learned a lot about Tel Aviv and Israeli history through watching a fifteen minute film and listening to the guide. There wasn’t much to see, but I definitely think it was a worthwhile educational pit stop.
Everyone was really excited to go to the beach, but I was more interested in lunch. I was dead set on pizza and I got a slice at a restaurant that claimed it had a French chef. When we finally made our way to the beach, I kept a bit to myself so that I could write in my journal and spend a little bit of alone time. On an organized, 10-day trip, it is very difficult to be alone and have some time to oneself. The sun got to me eventually, and I started to feel a bit sick. Luckily, I was able to calm myself down before completely freaking out in the middle of Tel Aviv! Great accomplishment on my part, I think.
In enjoyed an intense and extremely needed nap on the bus as we made our way to the next hotel in Arad. At the last minute, our reservations switched and we got stuck at a really bad hotel. The mini-fridge didn’t work, the dinner was bad, and the room we met in before bed smelled like cat urine. As a group, we had our first meaningful discussion. Because we were with our Israeli friends, we talked about patriotism – for the United States and for Israel.
