Saturday, November 8
Our last morning in Israel began with a wonderful Shabbat service which Rabbi Miller wrote in honor of Israel's 60th anniversary. Our readings included excerpts from Israel's declaration of statehood. After visiting Independence Hall yesterday, and having spend a week touring, they really had a lot of meaning. This week's parasha, Lech Lecha, was also perfect, since for many of us, the command to take ourselves to our land had been fulfilled for the first time on this journey.
As soon as services ended, we all boarded the bus for our last explorations of Tel Aviv. Our first stop was Jaffa, the "old city" immediately to the south of Tel Aviv. We walked through the old streets where we saw artist studios and apartment doorways, admiring the hand-fired ceramic street signs. We ended up at the Jaffa Overlook, a little park on top of the hill, where we saw both the early remains of settlements in this ancient port city, as well as a wonderful view north along the coastline of the modern city of Tel Aviv. 
From there, we went to the neighborhood of Neve Zedek, one of the oldest parts of Tel Aviv. We walked through the Dance and Theater Center on our way to gathering in the nearby square. Hanna Benesch, a member of our group, had a special connection to this neighborhood--her father used to live here, and he participated in protecting the area in 1948 as the British were leaving, and the Jewish neighborhood was under attack from the Arabs. Hanna read us some of her father's memoirs of that time, which made the history of the area very personal to us. After that, we wandered around for a while, looking at the houses which showed evidence of the artists who lived in the area. Nearby was an ice cream shop, conveniently located across the street from an artist co-op. Almost all of us ended up having ice cream for "lunch", and some of us were happy to continue our shopping.
Our final stop for the day was at Rabin Square. This week was the 13th anniversary of the murder of Yitzhak Rabin, and the square was being set up for a rally in the evening, with a large stage, video screens, etc. Both Mike and Mike gave us their memories of the traumatic circumstances of Rabin's death, and really helped us understand how shocking the entire event was in a place as casual as Israel.
We left Rabin Square and went back to our hotel, presumably to finish packing for the after-dinner departure. A number of us, however, found our way to the beach, where we were able to swim, walk along the shoreline, and finally observe a beautiful sunset. At 6 pm, we all boarded the bus one last time and went to Kimmel Restaurant.
There, we sat at long tables while the wait-staff brought out endless selections of every possible kind of food imaginable. Just when we thought we'd been completely fed, they brought even more! Everything was delicious, and we were thoroughly stuffed when the time came to say goodbye and board the buses for the airport. Everyone agreed they had had a wonderful time, and as most of the group prepared to depart, many hugs were exchanged with the few people who had plans to remain behind for a few extra hours or days.
The evening at Kimmel was a wonderful way to complete the trip, and more than a few of us were already planning our return to Israel even as we had to depart.
There, we sat at long tables while the wait-staff brought out endless selections of every possible kind of food imaginable. Just when we thought we'd been completely fed, they brought even more! Everything was delicious, and we were thoroughly stuffed when the time came to say goodbye and board the buses for the airport. Everyone agreed they had had a wonderful time, and as most of the group prepared to depart, many hugs were exchanged with the few people who had plans to remain behind for a few extra hours or days.
The evening at Kimmel was a wonderful way to complete the trip, and more than a few of us were already planning our return to Israel even as we had to depart.
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