A haiku blog post for Tel Aviv

We spent the morning of our third day in the city of Tzfat, a mystical area known for the study of Kabballah. We explored the blue-painted alleys and a synagogue while learning about the history that surrounds this city and its people. We perused Tzfat’s many art galleries and shops and even spent time discussing Kabballah and Jewish mysticism with a local artist. It was beautiful and a really wonderful way to begin our third day.

Today we woke up in Jerusalem and drove to Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Museum. The museum was beautiful and so was the view from the museum grounds.

Walking through the museum and listening to the guide was a somewhat surreal and intense experience. The museum was a huge pyramid-like structure filled with what seemed like endless exhibits portraying the vile and evil acts of the Nazis towards the Jews.

It was an amazing experience to hear directly from Israelis in the site that this historic event occured.

We were so lucky to have gotten to speak to someone whose life exemplified the struggles the Jews have faced and the impact these events had on the Israeli people.

From their we traveled to Jerusalem Beach (still in Tel Aviv, contrary to its moniker), where we spent an hour and a half wading in the gorgeous, crystal-clear Mediterranean. Then we explored the shuk marketplace for lunch, before boarding the bus and heading for the nation's capital. 

Hello Friends and Family!

This blog is to keep you updated with what the group has been doing around the beautiful country of Israel and will entail details such as sights, sounds and all of the other great events. We have been having so much fun right off the bat that we are a few days behind on the blog, so our social media committee is going to fill you in on what we've been doing up to this point.

Tel Aviv seemed to be a mix of a seaside city, a European city, and something more practical. Even though all of the groups were separate, there was an overarching sense of unity between the different birthright groups, which made all of us feel at home.

Today, we went to the house of one of our Israeli Participants, Tess. Her family was very hospitable, and we got to eat snacks and swim in her pool! It was really a very cool experience. 

The 1-mile walk from Rabin Square to the Sarona Market gave us a good feel of the exciting and bustling city of Tel Aviv.