Bialik Street and Rubin Museum

We took a walking tour on Bialik Street, named after a famous poet. Bialik wrote one of his most famous poems after the pogroms in eastern Europe in 1903. This poem titled In the City of Slaughter was known to inspire people to immigrate to Palestine. Bialik moved to this street in 1924.

Bialik street is a nice tree lined street. I am amazed at the greenery in Israel.

This building is representation of Bauhaus architecture; clean lines, no ornamentation. 

Bauhaus architecture.

Bauhaus architecture.

This home is Bialik's. He is no longer living.

Reuven Rubin Museum. An artist-house-museum in the historical heart of Tel Aviv, formerly the home of the painter Reuven Rubin, where he resided with his family and worked from 1946 until his death in 1974. Constructed in 1930, the house on 14 Bialik Street opened to the public as a museum in 1983.

One of his paintings titled First Passover; the first Passover after the War of Independence. It is a take on the Last Supper painting.

Family portrait; the painter, his wife and son.

I always like paintings of food.

 We all met up for summation conversation over coffee and dessert. There was much joking over the boardroom like setting.

 Rabbi even took notes.

We had a Havdalah service of sorts. Technically Shabbat was not over since it was only 3 PM but we celebrated as such because we were all leaving. Jacob was in charge of the Havdalah candle trying not to set the fire sprinklers off.

 Our fearless little group. We all got along really well.

As we said goodbye to Israel, signs in three languages. A bittersweet goodbye. It is nice to slow down our vacation but we had such a good time in Israel. The tour exceeded our expectations. It was quite a pace to keep up but wouldn't give up a thing. Would we return to Israel, absolutely!

Tel Aviv - Part Two

"Go Under" at the Ayalon Institute in Rehovot, where a secret underground factory existed against the British Mandates Ruling. 

 8 meters underground, 9mm bullets were being developed in the hidden tennis court sized factory.

This ammunition factory produced millions of bullets leading up to the War of Independence.

Neve Tzedek was the first neighborhood built in the city  of Tel Aviv in 1887. The neighborhood is located in southwestern Tel Aviv. 

We went to this restaurant for hummus and pita for lunch. It was off the Carmel Market another street market that was jammed packed. 

We walked along the boardwalk in Tel Aviv to a Shabbat on the Shore service. It was very popular. Afterwards we had yet another over-the-top buffet dinner.

Tzippori, Leket, Tel Aviv

The word of the day, humidity! Welcome to Tel Aviv. We headed south all day until our final destination of Tel Aviv.

Tzipori National Park, located in the Galilee, is known as one of Israel's most esteemed archaeological sites. In Jewish tradition, it is best known as the hometown of Rabbi Yehuda Hanasi who codified the Mishnah (the first book of the Talmud) here in the late second century CE.

Archaeologists have discovered many beautiful mosaics.

This structure uncovered is believed to have been a business building of sorts since it had many rooms. They stated it was not a home.

Every room had its own mosaic floor. It looked like carpeting. 

The main attraction is this 3rd century mosaic portrait of a young woman who has been named the Mona Lisa of the Galilee.

And this is a 'modern' toilet.

 Jacob finally got to eat from a McDonald's. No cheeseburgers, it was Kosher and the meal cost $15.

We did some community service. We helped arrange and pack produce for those in need.

This organization, Leket, serves as the country's national food bank and is the largest rescue network alleviating the problem of nutritional insecurity amongst the growing numbers of Israeli families that  live below the poverty line.

We visited Independence Hall, former home to Meir Dizengoff, Tel Aviv's first mayor. On May 14th, 1948 the People's Council gathered at Independence Hall where David Ben Gurion declared the establishment of the State of Israel.

Jaffa is a southern ancient port city in Israel. The city of Jaffa is well known for its association with the biblical stories of Jonah, Solomon and Saint Peter, as well as the mythological story of Andromeda and Perseus.

There was a whole story about Simon the tanner but I forgot. It had to do with the pivotal split between Jews and Christians.

The small alleyways and streets which make up the city are lined with artist galleries and studios.

All the tall buildings are Tel Aviv.

Mt. Bental, Golan Heights, Safed

Greetings from way up high. We drove to the Golan Heights Mount Bental for an outlook of Syria and the Hermon Mount. Our guest speaker today was Retired Lt. Col Guy Malal who gave us an amazing history of the area and the current political climate. He was well spoken and we could listen to him talk all day.

Looking down below is the Hula Valley, all the green area is Israel but all the brown area in the distance is Syria. Thankfully this area has been quiet since 1973 (you can click the photo to enlarge).

Yellow sign below is a marker for a land mine. It was an interesting drive.

We drove down the mountain a bit to our next adventure, jeep tours. We had a guide from the Kibbutz who drove us around explaining all the farming that happens; apples, cherries, kiwi, truffles, watermelon and cows.

After lunch we drove to Safed one of the Four Holy Cities to Judaism; the others being Jerusalem, Hebron and Tiberias. We toured the old synagogues where Kabbalah, Jewish mysticism, is still part of daily life.

This was a relatively easy day and we got back about a little after 5. I may actually get to bed before 11 PM tonight. Talk to you tomorrow from Tel Aviv.

Neot Kdumin, Sde Eliyahu, Beit Alfa, Agomon HaHula

"If you have a seedling in your hand, and you hear that the Messiah has come, first plant the tree, and then go to greet the Messiah" 

We headed North East to Neot Kedumim, a biblical nature reserve (624 acre) in the heart of Israel to plant trees. It took all of 15 minutes as we headed off to our next destination.

Established towards the latter part of the fifth century, the Bet Alfa Synagogue is situated in the Bet She'an Valley region of Israel. At the Synagogue entrance, an Aramaic mosaic inscription informs visitors that the floor was created in the time of the rule of Justinian. Another inscription in Greek discloses that the artists of the mosaic floor creation were Marianus and Hanina, his son. The various mosaics illustrate the signs of the zodiac, Ark of the Covenant and the offering of Isaac. We watched a 15 minute movie and we are off and running to the next stop.

Kibbutz Sde Eliyahu is situated in the fertile Beit Shean valley close to the Sea of Galilee. It combines an orthodox religious Jewish way of life with the principles of kibbutz life and a devotion to the land and people of Israel. Sde Eliyahu was named in honor of Rabbi Eliyahu Gutmacher who was one of the first rabbis to stand for religious Zionism.

I sent Michael and Jacob with the group to raft down the Jordan river. It was very calm they tell me. Jacob said it was boring, I guess he needed more excitement. I bonded with the old ladies on the bus and read my book.

We have checked into the Pastoral Hotel in Kfar Blum. We love this new hotel. The staff can count to three and we have three of everything in our room. The bathroom is huge. We had yet another buffet dinner but it was great except for the free range children (which is a whole other story over here).