Theme: Big City, Small Town
locations: Netivot; Tel Aviv
overnight: Kibbutz Rachama [ get map ]
Robyn Freedman, Naomi Hachen, and Josh Twersky:
So as you know, exciting things have been happening on the Satell Teen Fellowship trip to Israel ’09. Day after day our exciting schedule has taken us to Israel’s greatest landmarks, community service projects, and learning experiences. Today began slowly, allowing the Fellows a short respite from early wake ups and hectic checkouts. Fellows spent their extra morning hours on early beach excursions, extra sleep, or even a quick jog.
After breakfast, the group left for downtown Tel Aviv in order to truly get the “Israel experience”—shopping. Fellows were able to walk through the shuk (the outdoor marketplace); the twice-a-week, only-in-Tel Aviv artist market; and the highest fashion street in all of Israel. Many shekels later, the group moved to lunch in Yaffo at the fabulous multi-course restaurant Dr. Shakshuka. This restaurant specializes in an Israeli delicacy called – you’ll never guess – shakshuka. This dish is made from fried eggs, tomatoes, onions, and special spices, a favorite for some and a new experience for others.
[At this point, we discovered that two of our dear friends and travel companions had contracted the swine flu virus. So instead of the tedious continuum of the tourists’ life, we had opted for a more “hard-core” Israel experience, adventuring this time to the edgy realms of swine flu (hay echad nun echad) exposure. Unfortunately, we were compelled to leave our friends behind - confined to the hotel with board games and Brendan – to recover from their illness.]
After conferring with the Jaffa Institute’s educational and volunteer coordinator, we decided that it was in the best interest of the children to avoid direct contact. Instead of volunteering there, we dropped off the two duffle bags full of athletic clothing that we had been carrying all trip long for that purpose. Then we opted for a bit more shopping, this time in the Yaffo market. The Yaffo market is different from any other in Israel. Much less oriented toward tourist purchases and produce, the Yaffo market provides the opportunity for unique finds. “If you see anything you like, buy it at once,” said our guide Yishai, “because you will not find it anywhere else in the world.” We were happy to oblige our leader’s advice, coming back with clothes, jewelry, and even musical instruments (many of which are native to Bedouin culture rather than Israeli.)
Our last bus trip of the day brought us to Netivot – our Partnership 2000 sister city – where we met with several Israeli teens for the last leg of our day at Kibbutz Alumim. The Israeli youth and their parents were aware of the circumstances, and they decided that if they could face the threat of Kedusha rockets, they could deal with a little flu virus. Once there, we learned about Kibbutz life, played icebreakers with our new friends, and ate Italian cuisine. We wrapped up the night learning about the Israeli Declaration of Independence and discussing its contents.
Jeremy Maissel, our leader for this activity and a proud member of the Kibbutz, posed an interesting question to the mixed group of Israelis and Americans: “If we were literally to be the first ‘Israelis’ as we know them, and we stood on the eve of our sovereignty, what would be the terms of our independence?” The exercise allowed the group to look objectively at what it means to “own” ourselves and to “own” our home. Not surprisingly, both of the groups that were set to the task of designing their own Declaration of Independence came up with similar ideas (many of which, understandably, can be found in the actual Declaration.)
After this compelling discussion, we retired to the Kibbutz guest houses (graciously given to us despite our potential exposure). Although we were five and six to a room, we happily collapsed onto our beds, enjoying the opportunity to have the true Kibbutznik experience.
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