July 10th

July 10

They started the day by visiting  Shuk Ha’Pishpeshim in Yaffo, the old city of Tel Aviv. Unlike the Jerusalem shuk, Shuk Ha’Pishpeshim is a flea market. Touring this market gave the MBIers a chance to take in some of the beautiful architecture and atmosphere of this ancient city, which is believed to be a part of the story of Jonah and the whale! They ended their morning by getting lunch in groups, at nearby falafel stands. They then had an activity where they got supplies and had to build/put together a city in small groups, based on value and ask questions about what it must have been like to think about creating Tel Aviv. 

After lunch the group started their tour of modern Tel Aviv and began learning about the history of this bustling metropolis. They took turns at two sites in the afternoon:  Independence Hall and Neve Tzedek. At Independence Hall they saw a video explaining the history of Tel Aviv and how it became the booming city it is today. They sat in the very room that the Declaration of Independence was signed and heard snippets from David Ben Gurion's speech made on the day of the signing, declaring the end of the British Mandate.

In the historic neighborhood of Neve Tzedek, the MBIers got to see where some of the important authors and intellectuals of the early Zionist movement lived. Yosef Haim Brenner, for example, was a Russian-born pioneer of modern Hebrew literature. Paired with Independence Hall, this neighborhood helped to convey the immense historical significance of this young city, in the Zionist enterprise.

This day was full of understanding the older history of Tel Aviv. Tomorrow we’ll learn more about the city as it modernized.