Today we started the morning by visiting David Ben Gurion's grave in the Negev, and continued our discussion of Jewish leadership and having a vision for a large group of people. We considered if we would accept the money from Germany or if we would decline it so that they aren't considered "off the hook" for annihilating 6 million of our
People.
After visiting Ben Gurion, we left the Negev and drove to Tel Aviv where we visited Rabin square and saw his memorial after talking more about Rabin and his assassination. After this we visited the Palmach Museum. We quickly learned that this was no museum we'd ever seen before and decided to name it the "Palmach Experience" instead of a museum because it was an interactive walk through the life
of an army platoon in Israel.
We enjoyed a shawarma and falafel lunch outside of the Palmach Experience and then headed off to a neighborhood in South Tel Aviv where we visited a secular Yeshiva.
We all participated in a discussion on secularism in Israel, which then escalated into a discussion on the different sects of Judaism and their different "places" in Israel. After our discussion we Toured around the neighborhood and learned about the Refugees who came to Israel for work, yet they're all living in extreme poverty and if you ask me, segregation. It was apparent that the Israelis had never been there before and some even felt uncomfortable. We learned that one primary reason that this secular Yeshiva is in that neighborhood is to help the neighborhood, such as a soup kitchen each night and volunteers playing with the kids and reading to them in the park.
From south Tel Aviv we continued on to Independence hall where we learned about the history of Tel Aviv and The affirmation of Israel becoming an official state.
Preceeding independence hall, we walked to Sheinken street where we had a pizzur dinner and had
Free time to visit the shops and eat dinner.
After dinner we drove on to our hotel (which was on the beach!) and had our full night circle with the Israelis, and then our own SF cohort circle. In the first night circle we discussed how everyone felt about the secular yeshiva and learned that the israelis had very different opinions on the matter of "Israeli Judaism". We discussed how we feel about the role of government within Judaism here in Israel and concluded by breaking off into our specific cohorts and sharing thoughts on the day.
It was a fabulous day of learning about Israel, both past and present, and tomorrow we will head off to Jaffa before beginning Kennes.
Your Leaders of the Day,
Maya Hutchinson and Negin Ehsanipour
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