Tzfat and Tel Aviv

We ventured into one of the four holy cities in Israel and learned about Tzfat. We discovered the warm and tight knit community that distinguishes the area and heard stories of customs that the people still honor today. The old city of Tzfat is where kaballah is studied and understood. It was meaningful to experience this city ourselves, as Jewish people.
We were later taken into an old synagogue in Israel and learned about the unique features that this synagogue holds, as well as customary features that distinguished the synagogue as one where orthodox practice. In addition to learning about Kaballah and the religious aspect of Tzfat, we then had the opportunity to look throughout the city at art. Tzfat is home to some great israeli artists and their original works. It was enjoyable to walk the ancient streets of Tzfat and see all the beautiful artwork that represents the Jewish religion. We then left the area of
Tzfat and moved into Tel Aviv. In order to get to know our new grounds, our Shorashim group was given a task that no other Shorashim group has been given. We were separated into several small groups and sent on a scavenger hunt throughout the city. We learned that the biggest thing to take away from the city is the feeling of the fast paced, metropolitan, culture. Each group was given a theme to explore around the city, and later all the groups rejoined to demonstrate what we had learned about Tel Aviv’s art, fashion, music and architecture. The demonstrations took place at the memorial of Yitzhak Rabbin and following our discussions we learned in great detail of the events that took place the day Yitzhak Rabbin was assassinated. We moved to stand right above where Rabin was killed while we listened to the stories that surrounded the day’s events. We heard individual stories from the Israelis to share their memories of where they were and how they felt the day that the assassination took place. This was a powerful way for us Americans to understand how the tragedy impacted Israelis when it occurred. As we all remember the American tragedy on 9/11 with specific memories of where we were when we learned that airplanes had hit the twin towers, the assasination of Rabin had a similar impact on Israelis. Though the experience was emotional from this powerful experience, we were able to lift our spirits when taken to explore the vibrant nightlife in Tel Aviv’s exciting city.
Our evening in Tel-Aviv concluded with us relaxing and having the opportunity to experience Tel Aviv’s beautiful bars while taking in the atmosphere of customary Israeli nightlife alongside our Israeli friends. It was an incredible day with some very incredible eye opening experiences to the different areas of Israel.