Chofesh Part 1

For the first week of my chofesh, vacation, I went to Tel Aviv, Akko, and Haifa. I was only in Tel Aviv briefly. With my friend Asher, who I did all my traveling with, I went to Nachalat Benyamin, which is an artists' market in Tel Aviv. The market is filled with very beautiful things, many of which are made by the same people who are selling them. We walked through the market for several hours before heading off to Haifa with the key to our friend's apartment.

After spending the night in the apartment we took off for Akko, or Acre. Old Akko is a walled in city on the Western coast of Israel north of Tel Aviv. Like the Old City in Jerusalem, it features ancient buildings, roads, and architecture. Akko is also famous for a prison escape by a radical Zionist organization called the Irgun, the same outbreak that Leon Uris wrote of in Exodus. In Akko, we toured the city, visited some art museums, and saw what was to be seen. The city is mostly Arab and we walked through the Arab shuk. I bought a flannel shirt and we saw this shark: It was a very cool trip.

We then bused back to Haifa to sleep and eat there. The next morning we woke up and went to catch the first of our two tours of the famous Baha'i gardens. The Baha'i are a 100-some year old religion that is supposedly the most dispersed religion in the world. I don't know much about their practices, but they believe in a universal oneness, respecting of all religions, universal education, equality of the sexes, and much more. They have these gardens in Haifa, which is the center of their religion, that include 18 well-groomed terraces and a huge Shrine in the middle. Located on top of a hill, the gardens overlook the city of Haifa and into the Mediterranean Sea. Here's a picture: The gardens are beautiful and peaceful and if anyone is in Haifa I would highly suggest seeing them.

Sar El

So I spent these past three weeks on an army base called Amiad in the north next to Lake Kinneret and Tiberius. My time there was spent doing the work of an army jobnik, which are people whose work in the army is non combative. They work on bases so that if a war breaks out then they are ready and equipped for it. After the Lebanon the government really saw how ill-prepared they were in the event of war so now they are spending more time on base upkeep i case of the outbreak of war. So as a temporary jobnik I would work to organize a warehouse full of solder's bags or cleaning guns. Other kids helped clean tanks. The work was typically trivial, but it was cool to be doing something that so directly benefited the army. I also was able to meet many interesting solders. My group went on some trips; one to a hike next to the Kinneret and one to an ancient city towards the coast. In Sar El we had to wear army uniforms all the time. Here's a picture of me in mine inside the room that I lived in for the three weeks.