Wednesday/ Thursday in Israel!!

So it has been pretty exciting here in Israel yay! Yesterday, was a long, but good day. First, we got a tour of where elderly immigrants make arts and crafts, such as silk sheets and painted china. A lot of us bought souvenirs at the gift shop. Then, we went to the Holocaust museum, which was an interesting, yet difficult, experience for the group. We were able to hear the story of a Holocaust survivor in a movie and discuss our thoughts of the museum. Later, we drove to Tel Aviv and spent the night "chillaxin" (according to Ariel, our tour guide) on the beach. Today, we learned about Prime Minister Rabin and were able to discuss with several Israelis on the street about what they thought of him. Ariel pointed out that Rabin was respected and revered because of his policies that tried to foster peace with the Arabic community, operating on the belief that you must try to bring peace, instead of hoping that it will come in the future. Though the majority of the Israelis liked Rabin, a couple of Israelis did not approve of his policies and one thought the question of how Prime Minister Rabin affects society today was "irrelevant." Then, we went to Independence Hall and learned about how the state of Israel was established. After, we drove to Haifa and saw a school and program that supports Ethiopian immigrants. Then, we drove to the Kabutz where we had dinner tonight.