Today we started the tiyul day off by having class at the beach near Atlit.

This picture was taken on 4/3/19 at Rose Haniqra. Today we started the tiyul day off by having class at the beach near Atlit. There, we learned about how the Jews had a struggle because David Ben Gurion said: “We will fight the white paper as if there is no Hitler, and we will fight Hitler as if there is no white paper”. This is because the British passed the McDonald white paper in 1939 which closed off Jews and prevented many Jews from being able to come into Eretz Yisrael. At the same time, the holocaust was happening in Europe. This quote was unrealistic, and the reality turned out to be that many Jews volunteered for the British army and stopped fighting the British in order to be able to beat the Nazis. The British trained 32 Jews as parachuters. We learned about one of them named Hanna Senseh, one of the only two women that risked everything in order to save other Jews and ended up being executed for it in 1944.

We also learned that even after liberation, thousands of people died and there were also pogroms in Poland were 2,000 Jews died. The British and American armies turn the Nazi camps into DP (displacement persons) camps and the refugees couldn’t leave unless they had somewhere to go. There was resistance against the British (immigration, settlement building, and military action). There was lots of illegal immigration going on, and the Hagana (Jewish defense) ran this. They bought boats to get Jews into Israel. We learned about a specific boat called the Exodus, where 500 immigrants where brought on a boat all the way to israel only to be taken back to Germany because they got caught by the British. After class, we had a fun activity on the beach where we were the Jews trying to escape the British. We did some workouts and competitions, as well as jumping into the water and “saving someone”. It was a very nice day which made the activity very enjoyable and fun.

After visiting the beach, we visited a camp that the British kept Jewish prisoners in at Atlit. We learned more about settlement building and the Hagana actions. The Hagana functions based on Jewish morals so there is no attacking or revenge. The opposers to this view formed a new organization called Etzel and they fought back. Another underground organization that broke off from that is called Lechi. Being there sort of feel like being back in Poland, the same trapped and sad feeling, however the weather was much warmer. Our third stop of the day was in Akko, where we saw a castle and the prison inside it. We learned that the British used the old crusader castle to imprison Jews in the underground. A person named Menachem Begin proposed to blow up the Kind David Hotel in Jerusalem because the British controlled it. 86 people ended up dying as well, but it wasn’t intentional. We mostly learned about the conflicts with Britain.

Our fourth and in my opinion the most exciting stop was at Roah Haniqrah, where this picture is taken inside one of the grottoes there. It is a very stunningly beautiful place, and it was a very gorgeous day to be outside. It is at the border with Lebanon and you can see an incredible view of the vast blue ocean. There is also a place where you could entire little caves. I’ve already been to this place before so it wasn’t new to me, but it’s beautiful every time. Lastly, we had dinner on the streets where I ate at the most fantastic restaurant. It was overall a great day where I felt as if I had learned a lot and also experienced and so much fun as well. It was a good combination of note taking and experiencing by seeing and doing. The nice weather made it even more enjoyable. I’d say that this was a very successful tiyul. - Roni