From Tel Aviv to Atalit to Tiberias in One Day

Site of Rabin Assassination in 1994

We began the day early with our first stop at Kikar Rabin, Rabin Square, where Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated in November 1994.  It was renamed a year later and  is the site of many rallies and parades still to this day.  We then made an important stop at the Independence Hall where David Ben Gurion declared  Israel's independence on Friday May 14, 1948.  We had an animated guide, Tali who taught the history of the building, Meir Dizengoff's first Mayor of Tel Aviv's house turned Art Museum turned historical site.

The State Is Born
Friday, May 14, 1948, the Tel Aviv Museum of Art. At 4 p.m. - eight hours before the termination of the British Mandate in what was then Palestine - the members of the People's Council and Executive and invited leaders gathered in the museum hall. They listened with emotion as David Ben-Gurion, head of the People's Council, the Zionist Executive and the Jewish Agency, declared the creation of the State of Israel.
After the reading of the declaration of independence, Rabbi Fishman-Maimon recited the Sheheheyanu (a Jewish blessing of thanksgiving) and members of the People's Council and Executive signed the scroll. The ceremony concluded with the singing of "Hatikva."

The WHOLE group outside the Hall of Independence

Our soldier guid

Our next stop was the Palmach Museum which again gave us the history of the  first organized fighting force of pre-state Israel.  It is an experience where we saw a multi media presentation which also told us the story of the War of Independence.  It is not told through pictures or displays but through the account  of a fictional group of young people in the Palmach, through the displays and visual effects.  I am always hit hard at the end of the tour with Natan Alterman's poem: On A Silver Platter which was based on a quote attributed to Chaim Weizman,  "The state will not be given to the Jewish people on a silver platter," Ha'aretz newspaper ran this story on December 15, 1947, soon after the UN decision to partition Palestine.

Here are the words to that poem:

The Silver Platter: Natan Alterman

And the land grows still, the red eye of the sky  slowly dimming over smoking frontiers

As the nation arises, Torn at heart but breathing, To receive its miracle, the only miracle

As the ceremony draws near,  it will rise, standing erect in the moonlight in terror and joy

When across from it will step out a youth and a lass and slowly march toward the nation

Dressed in battle gear, dirty, Shoes heavy with grime, they ascend the path quietly

To change garb, to wipe their brow
They have not yet found time. Still bone weary from days and from nights in the field

Full of endless fatigue and unrested,
Yet the dew of their youth. Is still seen on their head

Thus they stand at attention, giving no sign of life or death 

Then a nation in tears and amazement
will ask: "Who are you?"

And they will answer quietly, "We Are the silver platter on which the Jewish state was given."

Thus they will say and fall back in shadows
And the rest will be told In the chronicles of Israel

We continued up the coast to Atlit and visited this living museum to the pre-state illegal immigrants to Israel.  They had replicas of the barracks, the boats and our last multi media presentation of the day. 

Today the Atlit Detainee Camp is a museum dedicated to the pre-state illegal immigration, telling the story of Jews fleeing Nazi persecution in Europe, finaly reaching Palestine, only to be incarcerated in camps similar in appearance to the death camps they have just escaped.

We had so much Jewish history I was temped to give a test at the end of the day.  We ended our day in Tiberias and off to Tzefat in the Boker.  

I love Jewish History!

David Alon, just one of many Jewish History teachers on EIE

I have had the pleasure of sitting in David Alon's Jewish history class in EIE at Tzuba for the past two days.  As David told the class of 22 students that due to scheduling he was spending two days on the Middle Ages from the Golden Age of Spain, including the poet Yehuda HaLevi, Shmuel Nagid and the physician philosopher Rabbi Moses Ben Maimon or the Rambam.  I forgot how much I love to sit in class and learn.  The  students did a great job of taking notes, paying attention and participating in a good discussion.

Just a few of the chevre from EIE

David's first question for discussion was David Ben Gurion's radical quote "the history of Israel stops at 70 CE and begins again in l948"  The students quickly grasped that if this were really true we would not be studying any of the Rabbinic Judaism which is of course a part of their curriculum.
 David incorporated songs from these  great poets which are still sung today by different popular Israeli artists.  Some of the Piyutim, liturgical poems, that you might be familiar with include: L'cha Dodi and Adom Olam.
Jewish history is a 3 hour class every day and tomorrow we go to the Israel Museum and learn as we walk through the museum together.

This is my second child on EIE and I believe as a Jewish educator that this experience is so important  for them.  Yesterday as they discussed Halacha, Jewish law and what it means to follow Jewish law I had the chance to tell them as Reform Jews they need to know Halacha so they can decide for themselves what to do and what to follow.  I looked at them and told them they are future Jewish leaders from each of the communities from which they are a part back in North America.

Baruch Kraus at work preparing for a lecture on Franz Rosenzweig  

Special Todah Rabah to Baruch Kraus, who is the head of EIE.  I hope to post more pictures of the other hard working faculty who make sure that all students are learning and loving to  live in Israel!

I love spending time with my son, Ethan meeting his friends and seeing the community that exists on EIE.  I am proud to see this high level of education for our Reform Jewish high school students and I look forward to seeing where these students will be in 10 years.  I will  I hope to call some of them colleagues, so here is to the HUC Classes of Mid 2020's.