Day 11 and Day 12

Sorry for not posting yesterday, I was in transit and experienced flight delays!

Day 11: Ein Avdat, drive to Center, beach

Yesterday MBI left the desert and traveled to Tel Aviv. Before they left they visited Ein Avdat (a hike near Sde Boker) and a Hanor Haoved (Habonim's sister youth movement) ken in Mitzpe Ramon as well as the Ramon Crater. After driving north to the center of the country they arrived in Tel Aviv and spent the afternoon by the beach hanging out and relaxing.

Day 12: Modern TA Rotation, Deaf museum

Today, MBI took a tour of Tel Aviv, learning about its history and getting a sense of the values and ideas it was founded upon. They started in Jaffa, a city just south of Tel Aviv that predates the creation of Tel Aviv. Following lunch in Shuk Hapishpishim and some time exploring the open air market of Jaffa they went to Neve Tzedek. The first neighborhood in Tel Aviv was originally a suburb of Jaffa built by early Jewish settlers. From Neve Tzedek they walked through Tel Aviv and visited independence hall, originally the home of Meyer Dizengoff (Tel Aviv's first mayor) it is now a museum dedicated to the Israeli declaration of independance - the place it was signed.

MBI learned about what Israel was dreamt to be, we discussed Herzl's dream in his book Altneuland and they read through the decleration of independance and focused on the following paragraph:

THE STATE OF ISRAEL will be open for Jewish immigration and for the Ingathering of the Exiles; it will foster the development of the country for the benefit of all its inhabitants; it will be based on freedom, justice and peace as envisaged by the prophets of Israel; it will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex; it will guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and culture; it will safeguard the Holy Places of all religions; and it will be faithful to the principles of the Charter of the United Nations.

Tomorrow the group with explore the current reality of Israel learning about the complicated social issues facing Israeli society.