Tel Aviv - 10 May

Although I am excited about the next phase of my trip, it was sad do say l'hit to my Israeli family.  I always feel so at home at Sherri's and it is the perfect way to start my visits to Israel.  I do hope that I'll see her and some of the family again before I leave the country on the 24^th.

I arrived in Tel Aviv in the morning and was pleasantly surprised to have a room ready for me.  It turns out that the hotel is right on the beach which is quite lovely, but I had planned to do some walking in town and getting to Shenkin street. OTOH, having lunch right on the Mediterranean is not too bad either.  The weather was perfect and I had two hours to eat and read and soak in the incredible atmosphere.

I then went on a tour of the Palmach museum. I've been wanting to do that for ages and finally got to Tel Aviv in time to do it.  It was even better than I had expected.  The museum consists of 12 rooms and each is a 3 dimensional environment that you step in to and then view a multi-media presentation.  The Palmach was the elite strike force of the Hagana during the rebellion against the British and then during the War of Independence and eventually merging with other groups to for the Israel Defense Forces.  What I didn't know is that they were originally started by the British in 1941 as a defense against possible Nazi invasion.  After WWII, they were officially disbanded, but of course, they just went underground.  Their bases were on kibbutzim, so they became part of the kibbutz movement and social framework of the pioneer movement.  So instead of the regular international symbols on the ladies and mens rooms, there were photos of male and female chalutzim and the museum is run by the Ministry of Defense and not by the usual museum authorities.  

Back to the hotel for a quick workout, shower, and change of clothes and then off to meet Neal Levy for dinner.  Prior to returning to Israel, Neal was the Director of the Federation's Israel Center in San Francisco.  Neal was instrumental in helping us create the Israel Connection Department at the JCC.  The creation of that department is one of the highlights of my JCC career and I will always be grateful to Neal for going out on a limb for us on that project.  We had planned to meet on a particular corner that was not along walk from my hotel and then walk together to the restaurant.  I got there about 10 mins early and was dismayed when Neal was about 30 mins late, but after all, this is Israel…American concept of time is not relevant here.  When he was an hour late, I was quite concerned and left several voice mail messages.  So I took myself out for a lite dinner and then back to the hotel in time to see the Celtics beat Orlando by one point by making a basket at the buzzer…what fun!  Neal called shortly after that and it seems that he has just returned from the US, laid down for a "few minutes" and got up 5 hours later missing an appointment and dinner with me.  A person who does not do much international travel might have been insulted, but I can totally understand how this can happen and am just relieved that Neal is OK.  We are hoping to be able to get together when I am in Jerusalem next week.

It is strange to be in the bustling of Tel Aviv after the peacefulness of Gan Yavneh.  Tomorrow, the Melton class begins, so the pace will pick up even more