16 April 2011

DAys 5/6 : THe New Old City



Road blockade, Jerulsalem. See' bomb squad robot' on right.

On our second day in Jerusalem we had the pleasure of being stuck for an hour behind a trash truck on a one lane street in the most ultra-orthodox quarters in the world.... & it was way past lunchtime & the Rigney's were low blood sugar. Not good. To make things interesting though some of the passerbyers weren't very happy we were there nor that we were taking photos.






Because newspapers are banned all of the news is posted on the street walls.


While an extremely solemn experience the new Holocaust Museum was incredible.

(Childrens Memorial)


The Eternal Candle.




The man axis of the museum which the tour meandered itself back & forth across.

The Room of Names.


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In Hebrew, the definition of Tel Aviv literally means, Tel : excavate & Aviv : spring. Modern Israel has been occupied by so many different civilizations throughout time. On occasion its occupants would have to abandon their land because of war, earthquakes, fire & start anew somewhere else. In the last excavations, archeologists are finding many layers of history. For example, in Jerusalem, at the oldest Jewish cemetery in the world , you can find tombs on top of tombs up to forty people deep. Because of its' proximity to the sea & its' abundant resources, the area of Tel Aviv is another location which has been occupied by many different people. This is why in 1910 its founders wanted to call it 'The Old New Land', because it doesnt directly translate in Hebrew they use the words 'excavate' & 'spring' to describe the concept.










...Today is a rest day which is great because I needed some time to absorb the information I have received over the last couple of days. Our tour guide, Ellie, is a wealth of knowledge trapped in a small, excitable mans body. He is running us around like crazy - all the while explaining the most complex theories. I can't say I am always following , he has a tendency to take the long route when answering a question, but even if I only absorb a percentage of this information I will come out of this experience a very well informed Shiksa.

Yesterday, Ellie admitted that he in the midst of writing two books : firsts on The Kabbalah & Jewish mysticism & second a book that compares the Israeli/Palestine conflict to Samson & Delilah. Tomorrow we are taking an overnight fieldtrip with him & I have requested to use the three hour drive to discuss The Kabbalah. He got very excited.

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