The Syrian Border, Tzfat and The New City (Tel Aviv)

After our hike in the Jilaboon we were lucky enough to ascend Har Bental and look out onto the now calm and barely discernible Syrian border. Our trip leaders thoroughly explained the history of the Israel Syria conflict and we got to walk through a dormant military bunker where soldiers would live for months on end. We then proceeded to Mitzpe Gadot, a look out over kibbutz gadot which heroically withstood syrian barage between 1948 and 1967 while the syrians posessed the golan heights, which the IDF was then able to conquer.
Our short stay in the north concluded with a visit to Tzfat, one of the four holy cities in Israel, an artistic and spiritual center of Israel. Our absolutely amazing luck with weather finally began to run out as we braved some intermitent showers and cool winds. Avraham Lowenthal, a Detroit born, Kabbalistic artist shared his story with us in his studio introducing us to the principles of the Kabbalah, which have so drastically changed his life. Awesommmmmeeeeeeeee! After lunch and some shopping in the art galleries we left for a completely different part of Israel: Tel Aviv, The New City!
Tel Aviv truly is different than any other place we had seen in Israel thus far. It is bustling and alive, modern in every way. High rises, sky skrapers and cafes line the streets-for many of the Americans these images felt familiar. We gathered in Rabin Square, a plaza in the middle of the city that housed the peace rally at which Yitzhak Rabin was assasinated on the 4th of November, 1995. Accompanied by Yossi on guitar, the Israelis and a few of us preformed a beautiful rendition of "Shir la Shalom" (song to peace), The same song sung by Rabin on the night of his assasination. For me personally, this song always stirs emotion. Even though I was only in 2nd grade and thousands of miles away, as a student at a Jewish Day School, that day really affected me. Many of the trip participants are too young to remember the day, but those who could, shared their memories and impressions. We briefly spoke about the implications of Rabin's assasination, an event that has shaped modern Israeli politics.
After a stroll down Rothschild Boulevard we made our way to Independence Hall, the place where on May 14 1948, Ben Gurion declared Israel as a State. Though we were exhausted, being in the room where such an important moment in history took place was quite awe inspiring.
The evening activity was one that most of the participants have been looking forward to for the whole trip: a night out in Tel Aviv (the party city of Israel). Ellis Bar was located on the 16th floor of a building which opened to a beautiful night view of the city. Exhausted but excited we returned to our hotel rooms for yet another early rise. Tomorrow an archaelogical dig...