Tel Aviv

If we are moving forward in history as we travel around the country, there is no better place to finish our visit than Tel Aviv. It is the cultural capital of Israel, a bustling, cosmopolitan city on the Mediterranean, relentlessly forward looking and a formidable counterpart to the rich historical legacy of Jerusalem. Founded from nothing in 1909 by olim from Russia, Poland, and Germany it has grown in less than 100 years into a world-class city with a metropolitan area of more than 1.2 million, a center of the arts, technology, and finance.

First we went to visit the site where Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin was assassinated in 1995 by yeshivah student Yigal Amir. It was a shattering moment for Israel and the country is stilll living very much in its wake - a loss of innocence for a country that was supposed to be different from any other country before it, a loss of a hero who had guided the young State through its most difficult battles and challenges, a loss of hope after this soldier of Israel had become a warrior for peace. We paid our respects at the memorial and recited Kaddish for Rabin and for all that might have been.

From Kikar Rabin (Rabin Square) we went to the Palmach Museum, the museum dedicated to the Jewish strike force that was initially created with British support to defend the yishuv (pre-State settlement) against the Nazis in North Africa, and then was subsequently driven underground as a resistance movement against the British. This was the force that helped the movement toward independence between 1945 and 1948 and then, as part of the Israeli Defense Forces, helped defend the brand new state at great cost against the Arabs who had rejected the 1947 U.N. partition plan and attacked. The museum was a moving tribute to all those whose sacrifices served as the 'silver platter' on which the Jewish State was given.

In the afternoon we headed to Nachalat Binyamin, a fabulous open-air crafts and spice market. Tonight we head to Beit Tefillah Yisraeli, one of the progressive synagogues of the type Rabbi Amy Klein spoke about with us last week, where young Israelis are trying to create an alternative for themselves other than secularism or orthodoxy. As I headed back to the hotel to get ready for Shabbat, I detoured to trail my fingertips in the Mediterranean. As I edged closer to the water, a giant wave suddenly washed up and soaked me nearly to my knees. I guess the moral is that you can't just sample Israel a little: it will find a way to grab hold of you and immerse you whether you intend it to or not.

Shabbat Shalom from Tel Aviv.