We spent the day in Tel Aviv learning about the history of the city.

We spent the day in Tel Aviv learning about the history of the city. In the 2nd Aliyah period, two men came to Yafo and decided to build a Jewish city. Aharon Chelouche had the money and Shimon Rokach had the ideas. They purchased sand dunes from Arabs and created the town Neve Zedek, which is now a neighborhood in Tel Aviv. We walked around the neighborhood a little bit. In the rest of Tel Aviv, we looked around at graffiti in the city. During our free time near the Shuk, we interviewed Israelis. The questions were on their views of what it means to be Jewish, if they thought all Jews should live in Israel, if they identified more as Jewish or Israeli, etc. Asking people to take time out of their days was stressful for me. We got some interesting answers. After that, we went to a bus station/transit center. It was designed to be a hub of activity. It’s a weird place. It smells like urine and gives an off-putting vibe. Later we discussed what Israel should do with refugees. This led to our final discussion in a square. We talked about what it truly means to have a Jewish state. Issues like Shabbat and marriage laws came up in this. We’re now reflecting on our own Judaism in an essay. I’m excited to reflect. I think this day was special because we learned the history of such a cool city, and it was a great way to lead into this reflection. My favorite part was our free time in the Shuk. - AMHSI student