The ABCs of Birthright: Afik, Bahai, Community Service, Druze...
It was a warm mid-winter day in the lovely country of Israel. We awoke at the sound of the shofar aka our alarm clocks and had a delicious and fresh breakfast to end our stay at the Kibbutz Afik. Once we Tetris-ed our bags onto the bus, we headed to Israel's third largest city, Haifa for some community service and enlightenment. While on our drive to the site, we stopped to experience and learn about the Bahai faith and it's temple that beautifully stood atop one of Haifa's hills. We soon arrived at a local Haifa elementary school as part of the Boston-Haifa CJP Partnership with its sister city, Haifa. At the school, the children welcomed us with a few songs and dances and were eager to have our company. After a bunch of fun activities with the kids like cooking and playing basketball, we sadly had to leave the school to keep up with the packed schedule Shorashim generously designed for us. Looking back, what made this school visit so special was that the school integrates children with hearing impairments with the students without impairments which allowed us to learn about Israeli sign language and how combining the two groups can make such a positive difference in a child's education. Our next stop was the Grand Canyon which we somehow were able to drive to without crossing any oceans! It turns out that in Hebrew, the word canyon means mall so our lunch for the day was in the international food court of a giant four floored mall, a nice taste of common Israeli fare. Even though we were filled up from lunch, we managed to make room for more food as we learned about the secret religion and lifestyle of the Druze over a hospitable meal of topped pitas and scrumptious cookies. This visit concluded our stay in the North of Israel as we embarked on our journey to the booming metropolis of Tel Aviv.
Arriving to Rabin Square, the site of the 1995 assassination of Prime Minister Itzak Rabin, our tour guide, Iftah, educated us on the history of the square and the change that the assassination brought to both the city and the nation. One of our Tufts Birthright leaders, Raechel, then challenged us to gain a firsthand perspective of reactions to the assassination by talking to Israeli citizens about their memories and how their lives were changed. Following that humbling experience, we checked into the hotel where we had a delicious meal of chicken and potatoes. With our stomachs filled once again, we went to a nearby performance space where we listened to an intimate concert from two contestants from Israel's The Voice, Maytal Michaeli and Etzion Mayer. The musical duo performed several Israeli songs for us, making sure to translate the lyrics so that we had a deeper understanding of the meaning of the Hebrew. Once the performance concluded, we cleaned up for a night on the town and experienced a nice taste of the culture Tel Aviv has to offer. It was a long, activity-filled, fun day and we can't wait to see the rest of Tel Aviv and what it has to offer!
Still here in the motherland,
Matthew Marber, A16 (@losingmymarbers)
Ryan Fleer, A16 (@daflur)
