Saturday Evening
February 6, 2010
23 Shevat 5770
The bus is coming for us at 8:30 PM to take us to the airport. Each of us has spent our last day in Israel doing different things. Some have chosen to take some walking tours. Others have chosen to do things at the hotel and the spa. Still others have taken the opportunity of this last day to be with friends and relatives living in Israel.
Over the meal last night I overheard several conversations of how this trip has touched their souls in different ways, how they have learned to see Israel in a new way with greater depth and understanding of the passion of the people and what it means to be a people even when politics, and religion, may divide them. After breakfast I went on my own “tiyyul” (walk) to the Tel Aviv Marina outside of out hotel where I watched the waves break and splash onto the promenade. I enjoy listening to the power of the sea which I can fear from my hotel room on the thirteenth floor, mixing with the music that is accompanying the “rikkudiyah” (folkdancing) that is happening on the beachside courtyard of the hotel next to us. That and the ryhtmic klack of the kadmiah balls is like a symphony of sounds that cannot be replicated anywhere else. No wonder, it is difficult to leave, when you feel so much at home in such a short period of time. And for those of us who have been here before, it becomes even more difficult after every visit.
Lynn and I took a walk on the “kikar” that follows the beach line all the way t Jaffa. Even though we did not go all the way to Tel Aviv’s sister city, we walked far enough to take in some of the sights of the local traffic and the diversity of people who traverse this area – elderly, families, joggers, beggars, musicians, bikers, even bird feeders… As an Israeli friend of mind would comment, “Sabbabba!” which means “Wow!” in our own language, a note of complete satisfaction. I truly am satisfied by our visit to Israel and what it has meant to each one of us and to us as a group. As Moshe, the guide who convinced me to consider taking a synagogue group in the springtime, said t us in the lobby o f the Crowne Plaza where we spent the night in Tel Aviv, “”You all play a new role in your lives. You are our newest embassadors. I can tell peole to come to Israel., However, when they hear it from their friends – what you saw and what you did and how you felt – there are no better ambassadors than you! “
“L’’shana haba’ah beYerushaliyim – Next year in Jerusalem” – the saga continues with a new group of pilgrims.
