Tel Aviv! (part two)

Well, so much for getting part two up last week . . . Wednesday was a full day (more on that in a later post), Thursday was a busy day, and I caught a cold on Friday. I worked my shifts Friday, Saturday, and Sunday but had absolutely no energy at the end of those days to think through a blog post. Today is a day off, so now I'm back to finish the Tel Aviv story! :-)

Tuesday morning, I walked to the Ha-Hagana train station in Tel Aviv. It would have been a nice walk (about 45 minutes) except that I walked in the rain the whole way. By the time I got to the station, I was soaking wet, but one can hardly complain. There has been precious little rain in Israel this winter, so despite getting wet, it was so nice to finally see some moisture falling from the sky!!!!

Even though the train was a bit more out of the way than hopping on a bus, the experience was well worth it. It was much easier as I didn't have to worry about what stop to get off at, and it was a quieter ride as well. Now, I can say I rode a train in Israel. :-)

Tel Aviv's central train station
After changing trains at the central train station, I disembarked at the Tel Aviv University stop. It was a cloudy, rainy day--this is looking back at the city skyline.
My goal for Tuesday was the Diaspora Museum, located on the Tel Aviv University campus. We had been here for about ten minutes in 2008--just enough for a glimpse that has left me longing to go back ever since. This was the main headliner of my entire trip to Tel Aviv, and it was the only thing on Tuesday's itinerary. Good thing because despite leaving Beit Immanuel at 9:00 that morning, I did not step into the museum until 11:30. But, being able to spend three hours there made all the travel well worth it.

The word "diaspora" comes from a Greek word that means "scattering" or "dispersion." It is commonly used to describe the movement or migration of a people group. In this context, diaspora refers to Jewish life, culture, and communities outside the land of Israel.

Fittingly, the museum begins with the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Temple by the Romans in 70 A.D. The stones are reminiscent of the Herodian stones in the Temple Mount, and on the far wall is a replica of the Arch of Titus (the original stands in Rome) depicting Temple treasures being carried away. Although the Jewish people had been exiled before, this event began a 2,000-year scattering across the world.
The museum was every bit as fascinating as I remembered. The first floor centered on themes that have defined Jewish culture among many other cultures--family, holy days (including Shabbat, Passover, and Yom Kippur), and weddings. Half of the second floor is dedicated to the importance of faith for the Jewish people and contains miniature replicas of eighteen synagogues. They vary in location from Toledo to Morocco to Vilna to Warsaw, and in date from the Byzantine time (3rd century AD) to the 20th century. It is an amazing display, and the attention to details is simply breathtaking.

In the center of the museum, a memorial column is suspended from the ceiling of the third floor and stretches down to the first floor. It depicts Jewish martyrdom throughout the centuries and urges visitors to remember.

The dim lighting made pictures difficult, so this is the best I could do photographing the memorial column.
Although still dark overall, this photo turned out "interestingly"

The other half of the second floor is a chronology of Jewish contribution to culture--language, music, arts, science, etc. The third floor takes a closer look at thirteen large Jewish communities in the diaspora, highlighting such places as Rome, Alexandria, Spain, and Poland. All of this leads to the final exhibition in the museum--"Return." Although certainly a large percentage of the Jewish people still live outside of Israel, the Jewish Diaspora officially ended with the establishment of the Jewish State of Israel in May, 1948. The climax of the museum is a return of the people to their homeland.

The final display is this backlit menorah--the symbol of the modern State of Israel.
My visit to the Diaspora museum was everything I had hoped for, and I am so glad I had the opportunity to return and spend as much time as I desired there. I took a bus back through central Tel Aviv to Jaffa and then walked back to Beit Immanuel, stopping to pick up a falafel for dinner.

Late afternoon sky from Beit Immanuel, Tuesday January 4th
Night skyline of Tel Aviv from my window
It poured rain all night Tuesday and into Wednesday morning. I was initially unsure if I would be able to do any more sight seeing in Tel Aviv on Wednesday, but it partially cleared during breakfast, and I decided to risk getting wet and visit the places still on my itinerary.

I set off from Beit Immanuel a little before 9 and walked some of Tel Aviv's main streets on my way to Yitzhak Rabin square. It was a pleasant hour's walk through the city.

This square is located in the middle of Tel Aviv and was originally called Kings of Israel Square. It was renamed in 1995 in memory of Yitzhak Rabin--then prime minister of Israel, he was assassinated near the steps of City Hall in November of that year.
The square itself--it is the largest open public city square in Tel Aviv and was designed in 1964.
This memorial to the Holocaust stands near the southern end of the square
On the north end is Tel Aviv's City Hall
Yitzhak Rabin was the fifth prime minister of Israel, the first native-born prime minister, and the only prime minister of Israel to be assassinated. He was serving his second term as prime minister when he attended a peace rally at the then Kings of Israel square on November 4, 1995. This memorial stands at the site of his assassination.
This graffiti wall stands nearby--the wall has been glassed over as the graffiti honors Yitzhak Rabin.

I walked north and west from Rabin Square through some quiet neighborhood streets before turning onto Ben-Gurion Avenue.
My destination--the Ben-Gurion house.
Built in 1930-31, this was the home of David and Paula Ben-Gurion until they moved to S'de Boker in the Negev (1970). David Ben-Gurion was the first prime minister of Israel and hugely instrumental in founding the modern state. He deeded this home to the State of Israel in his will, and it receives approximately 40,000 visitors per year. The house has been left largely as it was during their residency, and it houses personal mementos as well as Ben-Gurion's personal library of 20,000 books!

A relatively small house to begin with, the upstairs is virtually entirely a library--four rooms of books!

The sun had been skipping in and out of the clouds all morning. The one major place I had yet to visit in Tel Aviv was . . . can you guess . . . the beach! Others would have probably gone there first; for me, it was low on my list of priorities. I wanted to see the historical places and museums first!! :-) When I left the Ben-Gurion house, clouds were rolling back in, but I decided to gamble and walk the c. 2 miles back to Beit Immanuel along the seashore.

Having grown up in a landlocked state, I never get tired of the sight and sound of ocean waves. In some ways, the cloudy weather worked to my benefit. There weren't many people on the beach, so I was able to enjoy the sights and sounds of the water solo.

For the most part, my walk was largely under the clouds--it was cool and quite breezy.
"Hotel Row" along the Tel Aviv beach
When it started to shower the first time, I decided to stop and have lunch. My first choice didn't work, so it was McDonalds with a view! :-)
The lunch stop was about halfway down the beach, so after eating, I continued walking. Right about then, the clouds opened up, the rain fell, and I got drenched! (This is looking south; the land on the horizon is the ancient city of Jaffa)
But then, the sun came back out for a bit. This picture really doesn't do the sight justice--the sun reflecting off the sea was blinding.
Can you believe this picture was taken the same day as the other ones?
The previous picture was looking west, out to sea. This was the next picture I took, looking south. It was quite a weather day, and I absolutely loved my walk along the beach. The views were breathtaking!!

So, now you've shared my trip to Tel Aviv--hope you've enjoyed the sights as I did! It was such an enjoyable trip, and I'm glad the rain didn't keep me from seeing everything on my list.