Excellent Tuesday!

What a fantastic Tuesday in Tel Aviv!  Although I didn’t adjust as nicely as I’d like to the time-change, and my morning started at with a short “nap” before getting up to run to grab a bit of a bite for breakfast and then run to the bus, I was NOT LATE and I was so moved by our morning visit to Independence Hall.  The stories and people that building has housed is information not to be missed.  And the audio recording of the signing of the Declaration acknowledging Israel as it’s independent state sent chills down my spine as if I were really there.  I know I was not the only one who felt this way!   We had a brief reading defining the difference between coming to Israel as a tourist and coming as a Jewish Pilgrim. The distinction is deep and touching and allows for such a deeper experience without denying us the wide-eyed tourist approach to the sights and sounds and experiences we face in our trip. As with so many things already on this trip, it was JUST ENOUGH to set the mood for the day and make me really grateful our trip began in Tel Aviv!

And on to our visit to to the outdoor craft fair Nahalat Binyamin and Shenkin St. and Carmel Market. Here I felt like much the tourist! It was nice with lunch on own…many of us spent it shopping (guess who did that too…yes me!) and some were able to meet up with colleagues and friends and had a sit down lunch together.

But the next part of the day, the visit to Leket Israel (formerly Table-to-Table) http://www.leket.org.il/english/ and here our Pilgrim status was oh so apparent! What a chance to perform the biblical “gleaning” of the fields and help provide much-needed food to anyone/everyone in need of food in Israel–regardless of status, religious affiliation and/or citizenship. We picked tomatoes which we were told, was enough to distribute 4 – 5 lbs to over 200 families. How could we not feel good about our visit there? The gratitude they expressed to us was far greater than the hour or so we spent in the sun harvesting; and the sense of accomplishment and true assistance was beyond measure. Even though it was very sunny and very hot and no shade, we were all energized and happily bent over filling box after box as fast as they could be carried away. Except for the pinkness on my face and neck and arms, I barely felt the heat there! But I was happy as well to return to the air-conditioned bus feeling, of course, so very fortunate. You do not have to be in a GROUP to come and do this and I hope everyone gets a chance to try something like this as for me personally, and I’m sure the rest of us, I “got” more than I gave in a sense of the true meaning of something I did directly affecting someone else!

My free-time evening ended up being a time to reflect, catch up on some of my missed sleep and unwind from the actual travel part of the trip! It is so lovely here on the Mediterranean Sea! We leaving early in the morning to head toward the Sea Galilee and two nights staying at a Kibbutz hotel!