Independence Hall Tel Aviv

 

Lee Diamond

Israel Celebration Tours

www.IsraelCelebrationTours.com

All of us remember the day we left Egypt.  In every generation we see ourselves as if we participated in the Exodus.

All of us remember the day we stood at Mt. Sinai and received the Torah.  We were all there!  If we dig deeply enough we can connect with the entire nation of Israel of all generations who shared this moment which formed our identity forever.

On Tisha BiAv we remember the destruction of the Temples and of the sovereign Jewish State by fasting and mourning as a nation.

As the last phrase of the Seder and as the last act of Yom Kipper we declare “Next Year in Jerusalem.”

Under the Chuppah we break the glass to recall the destruction of Jerusalem in the year 70 C.E.

In all of these cases it is clear that we Jews choose to relive our national history by becoming part of it and it is through this “reliving” that we live as Jews.

Exodus and Sinai were two key moments in our history. But there is another which is as key and as miraculous as they are.

The Birth of the State of Israel on May 14, 1948 is no less significant

and no less miraculous!

Independence Hall Tel Aviv

 

On this historic day, David ben Gurion in the presence of the provisional government of the Jews of Israel declared the State of Israel after 2,000 of exile. The Jewish people, world wide, were glued to their radios as this historic event took place. This turning point in Jewish history was heard and felt by the entire Jewish nation.  Words like Shecheheyanu or Baruch HaShem were heard throughout the streets of Israel and homes in London, Moscow, and Buenos and New York. 

We were all there--the generations before us as well as Jews of the entire world. We knew where we came from.  We remembered the recent and distant past. We saw this as the hope of our future.  Indeed the words of HaTiqva (the Hope) said it all.

Here in this room, in the former home of Meir Dizengoff on Rothchild Blvd in Tel Aviv our history changed. Just as the Exodus was our turning point bringing us to freedom and Sinai was the moment that gave this nation its content, so too this moment gave us the home that we longed for throughout our exile.

This moment needs to be experienced by every Jew. It is so easy to forget. It is so easy to take Israel for granted. It is so easy to assume that Israel was always here.  It is so easy to forget what Jewish life was before being empowered by our own state, our own homeland, our own language; our own holidays our own history and our own literature taught in our schools; our own Knesset or Parliament, our own Israel Defense Force to protect the Jewish people and Israel.

Just as every Jew was at the Exodus; at Mt. Sinai and in Auschwitz, so too every Jew for all times has to relive the moment of Israel’s birth and never allow this moment to be taken for granted or to become prosaic. 

Here in the Independence Hall in Tel Aviv Israel Celebration Tours provides this crucial moment of reliving; a moment of “re Jew vi Nation”; a moment for all generations of Jews to discover the miracle and include it in their lives.

*ICT brings this and other moments to life.

*ICT understands the Jewish mitzvah of identification

*We read the declaration of Independence as it was read on this historic day in this historic place.

*We hear the voice of Ben Gurion declaring the State

*We join in singing Ha Tikva with those present and proclaim the Shehecheyanu prayer with the original participants.

*We discuss the values expressed in the Declaration of Israel’s independence and try to determine our success in implementing these values in Jewish life and in our young nation.

*We remember that Israel is a work in progress

We add our names to the signatures or our founders

We stand as Jews, with Jews and for Jews!

And we commit to our next generation to keep the miracle alive and progressing.

To relive Jewish moments in Israel

Contact

IsraelCelebrationTours

www.IsraelCelebrationTours.com

The Burma Road

November 1947, the United Nations voted to establish two states in Palestine: one Jewish, the other Arab. Jerusalem was to remain a united, international city, independent of either proposed state. In spite of this decision, by early 1948 the Jewish sector of Jerusalem found itself under siege by Arab forces and suffered shelling and bombardment for many weeks. Eventually, Israeli forces secured a narrow strip of mountainous land (the Burma Road), which connected the Jewish part of Jerusalem to the rest of Israel, and the siege was broken.



The story of the “Burma Road” has everything to do with the period of establishing the State in 1948.


Though the State of Israel had been declared in the U.N., the fate of that state was not assured. This battle, in the struggle for Jerusalem, was essential in order to allow the declaration to become more than words.


There were times in our nation building when all seemed so difficult if not impossible. There were times when it is appeared wiser to be “realistic” and to not take on impossible challenges. There were those who advised such realism in the face of impossible odds. But others understood that without an attempt to achieve the impossible or at least the improbable that the nation would not come to fruition. In other words there was not a choice. Such is the story of the Burma Road. Such is the story of “Micky Marcus.” Such is the story of the Burma Road.

David Mickey Marcus

Some might see in this story something of the miraculous. If a miracle is succeeding against all odds, then indeed this is a miracle.

But there are measurable and non supernatural values that this site must raise for us.

*There is a Jewish Israeli value called “Ayn Bereira” (Nor other choice). This value has everything to do with this outnumbered, overpowered nation in the War of Independence.

*There is a value to be distinguished here of having to do with commitment to a greater cause that required seeing beyond what is normally defined as realistic.

*There is a value expressed here having to do with the phrase: “Im Itrzu Ayn Zo Agada” ( if you will it , it is not a dream) or nothing can stand before the will and commitment of determined people.

*The symbolic significance of Jerusalem to the emerging nation is a value that must emerge here.

*The meaning of compromise and where one draws the difficult line, as well as where and when flexibility must reign supreme is a value to be considered here.

All of the values that emerge from the experience of hiking and or visiting this site are rooted in Judaism and in Israel and contain crucial lessons for the lives of our tourists as well as young Israelis today. These are urgent and significant messages for the nation of Israel as it faces its future in the region

Source on biography of Mickey Marcus:

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/marcus.html

Loving Israel חיבת ציון David Forman z”l

There are cloudy days my friend

Just remember not to forget our direction

To keep the connection alive, even when it is cloudy

In your heart, in your deepest inner self, you know

You know where the compass is, where north is.

Don’t lose hope

Keep your smile

Keep your passion

No, this is not a tragedy

It’s a bit cloudy now even worrying

But tomorrow the skies will clear and the stars will reappear on the horizon and sparkle.

יש ימים מעוננים חבר, רק לזכור לא לאבד את הצפון

לשמור על קשר גם כשמעונן

בתחושה שלך, בתוך תוכך, אתה יודע

יודע איפה המצפן, יודע איפה הצפון

לא לאבד תקווה

לשמור על החיוך

לשמור על הפאסון

לא... זה לא אסון

קצת מעונן, קצת אביך

מחר יתבהר, ינצנצו כוכבי מרום

ובאה לציון הגאולה

And Israel will redeem itself

A blog by Rabbi Lee Diamond

“David Forman’s love of Zion was expressed in his ongoing efforts to make Israel an exemplary society,” “He didn’t let his love of Israel get in the way of his criticism of it, nor did he let his criticism of the state ever cast a shadow over his love of it.”
Gil Kariv describes David Forman z”l

In recent days the clouds have covered the sky, day clouds and night clouds

And it is hard to see the sun, the moon and the stars

And I feel pain.

No it is not the pain that one feels when isolated by a hostile world.

Nor is it the pain that one feels about political realities in our Israel.

It is not the pain of threatening enemies

It is a far greater pain.

It is the deepest pain of all.

The feeling of isolation from my Jewish and Israeli family

from my brothers and my sisters of peace; from my friends of Shalom

No one asks that we avoid the clouds. We must be seen for what they are

No one asks that we not worry. We must worry lest we fail ourselves.

But we need to understand that we can not escape

Nor lose hope

Nor forget that Jewish life, history and values are works in progress.

That to be Jewish is to maintain love in the harshest of days (and these are very hard days)

And to maintain not only hope in our future but commitment to it.

For Israel’s future is in our hands alone

I met three friends in these days; brothers and sisters in Zion.

One challenged our very essence of Israel today and saw only clouds on the horizon

The other declared that it was too late for us. “Our day is past.” All hope is lost.

The third could only cry and grimace.

Like Job I feel at a loss. Even fellow lovers of Zion have lost hope. They offer themselves no comfort. The clouds distort Jewish vision to the point that we can not see a better tomorrow.

Our press paints black clouds only!

Who can bear such continuous pessimism?

Our political “left” criticizes as it should, but fails to point out the north, the compass---

the way to see ---and even more so to achieve that silver lining.

Where is the pride that brought us here?

Where are the accomplishments of 60 years, despite all odds and despite our youth?

Where the wondrous and beautiful are faces and souls of our next generation that carry the vision and who see beyond the clouds?

Why do we hide from today’s visionaries----- our own sons and daughters who indeed are the “geula”---- the redemption?

Where is the love that accompanies the search for truth?

Why not struggle to be our best rather than surrender to our failings?

It is said that the second Temple was destroyed by baseless hatred of Jew for Jew. Our tradition declares that our national loss was caused internally, by ourselves and not by our enemies. Not only Sinat Chinam or baseless hatred but self hatred—seeing only the clouds and losing faith in the vision

But it is also said of the future that: Ahavat Hinam -- Unsolicited love of Jew for Jew will bring the redemption.

David Forman’s love of Zion was expressed in his ongoing efforts to make Israel an exemplary society…He didn’t let his love of Israel get in the way of his criticism of it, nor did he let his criticism of the state ever cast a shadow over his love of it. (see above)

Let us learn from David and carry on his legacy as our living legacy.

Lee Diamond, a friend.

A Journey of Jewish Ethnicity in Israel for Interfaith Jewish indentity, Jewish Ethnicity and Israel

Star of David: Magen David                  Behold you are bethrothed to me

Two tightly knit triangles

form a profoundly strong bond.

“However, the most incredible effect of the trip has been the affect it had on Louisa, my Chinese wife Since she has got back she has not stopped talking about it, sending photos and e-mails to her friends, and reading one book after another, particularly about modern Israel and the Zionist struggle.She even took the initiative to suggest that we go to Synagogue tonight.
I hope she'll write herself, but she was having a hard time putting her thoughts into words…” Jonathan Ross


These and many more are the comments of interfaith multi generational families who participated in one of the many Israel Experiences prepared specifically for them by Rabbi Lee Diamond of Israel Celebration Tours. Rabbi Diamond is an American born Jew and a citizen of Israel. Rabbi Diamond defines himself as an educator committed to the concept that the Israel experience has the power to change lives and most especially for an interfaith family.

What is it about an Israel experience that is so impactful and indeed life changing for so many interfaith families? Is it just a tour of another country? Is it a travel experience together as a family that creates this affect? Clearly there is more!

The secret power of this experience lies in the amazing potential of Israel to serve as a stage upon which the drama of Jewish Ethnicity may best be presented. Although many today down- play Jewish ethnicity for the American Jew as at all relevant; although many Jewish leaders prefer to discuss and educate toward Jewish “Spirituality”; although many will claim that Israel has little to offer an interfaith family, the fact is that Ethnicity indeed survives as one of the most powerful drives in the Jewish soul, keeping Jews connected in more ways than the leadership of the Jewish community is willing to recognize.

The first Seder by Reuven Rubin.(note the various ethnic groups)

Today 85% of all Israelis attend a Passover Seder.

“Jewish Ethnicity” may be defined as connection to the Jewish people and the Jewish drama; Ethnicity may be related to Jewish memory; Ethnicity may be expressed even in such simple ways as love of Jewish foods or love of Jewish jokes; It may often express itself in the form of strong sensitivity to the Holocaust or to continuing forms of anti Semitism; but more than all of the above ethnicity is the source of the uncanny desire of Jews for their own personal continuity and for the Jewish continuity of their children.

The choice of a life’s partner has little affect upon this deep and almost mystical sense of belonging that so many Jews feel and express in varied ways. Often the non- Jewish partner has difficulty understanding this inner urge in their Jewish partner. How many times have we heard non Jewish partners married to Jews complain that their spouse does little or nothing “Jewshly” and yet s/he wants their next generation to be Jewish? It makes little logical sense and indeed is difficult to explain this urge, and yet there is no doubt that it exists and often burns as a bright flame.

The organized Jewish community of North America also has great difficulty relating to and understanding this urge or flame of ethnicity that burns in the souls of all Jews. So many Jewish leaders dismiss these inner feelings as irrelevant and not at all serious. How can one be in an intermarriage and still feel connected? How can one be a Jew and not identified with institutional Judaism, such as Synagogues, JCC’s or other Jewish institutions? This same leadership although often adopting an open and welcoming approach to the interfaith family fails to understand the profound power of a burning Jewish soul, of ethnicity, of connectedness that defies all institutions all definition and all logic.

However this urge, this soul flame burns brightly despite all the misunderstanding, all the criticism, and all too often the rejection.


It is the claim of Rabbi Diamond and of Israel Celebration Tours that we must not only recognize this love of “belonging” but it is the “mitzvah” (the command of our time) to fan this flame; to allow it to burn; to strengthen it and indeed to add fuel to this inextinguishable fire. Not to do so is to misread the nature of the contemporary Jew and to miss the moment and to fail the future.

Israel is about Jewish Ethnicity. Israel is about belonging. Israel is about Jewish history. Israel is about Jewish future. Israel is about connections. Israel, for the interfaith family, is about understanding and creating Jewish memory. Israel is an authentic non- threatening environment for simply releasing the Jewish soul. Israel at its very core is the natural environment to feel and express Jewish pride and “peoplehood.” Despite all claims to the contrary by so many, who miss the real soul of Israel, she welcomes all and her people open their hearts and homes to the searching, and caring visitor.

Float in the Dead Sea

Israel is about children. It is simply fun to be a Jew in Israel, even for a short visit. Be it swimming in the Med, the Dead or the Red Seas; be in kayaking on the Jordan River; be it a jeep tour in the Golan Heights, skiing on the Hermon, snorkeling in Eilat, camel riding in the Negev dessert. All of these experiences strangely enough come across to children as “it’s fun to be a Jew.” It is this feeling that often allows the child to connect as a Jew after years of not feeling comfortable.

Israel provides an amazing insight for the non- Jewish partner in a blended or duel heritage family into the soul of his/her Jewish partner and into the soul of parents and grandparents. Understanding is promoted and gaps are often closed.

While many may miss this truth, Rabbi Lee Diamond is dedicated to promoting such experiences as the command of the hour. He is convinced that more and more interfaith families need to have such an experience and that such experiences will impact them forever.

The flame must be fed and Israel has an unlimited wealth of this natural energy.

Israel’s natural energy: “Orange Jews”

Perhaps these words of a non-Jewish partners express it best::

Louisa Ross:

I love Israel, its people. I will be back!

Rabbi Diamond invites you to visit the website of Israel Celebration Tours at www.IsraelCelebrationTours.com

“Rachel” and Naomi Shemer - “Souls On Fire”

“Rachel” and Naomi Shemer

At the Kineret Cemetery, on the shores of the Sea of Galilee close Kibbutz Degania (Israel’s first Kibbutz) lays this peaceful yet powerful cemetery. Here we tell the story of idealistic youth who came to change society, the Jewish people, and Jewish destiny. This cemetery tells the story of individuals souls who lived and often died for this commitment. The Chalutzim or pioneers were only as strong as every individual heroic soul who gave his/her all to this group and to making the dream of 2,000 years happen.


Among the many who are buried here is Israel's unofficial poet laureate:

Rachel Blaustein, known endearingly as “Rachel”

Unlike many of her contemporaries amongst the Chalutzim pioneers, Rachel was ill and physically weak. Her contribution came not from labor in the fields nor in building the roads and the buildings of her time. Rachel's contribution to the newly forming society and state of Israel was her poetic soul and her poetry. Note this short quotation from one of her poems:


“…The Kinneret is not simply a landscape, not just a part of nature; the fate of a people is contained in its name. Our past peeks out of it to watch us with thousands of eyes; with thousands of mouths it communicates with our hearts.”


Another brief poem illustrates her inner love for Israel and the strength of her vision:

Sham Harei Golan

Over there are the hills of Golan,

Stretch out your hands and touch them.

In their stalwart stillness they give the

command to halt. In splendid isolation

grandfather Hermon slumbers.

A cool wind blows from the peak of

whiteness.

Over there, on the seashore,

a low-topped palm tree stands,

disheveled like a mischievous infant that

has slid down and splashes in the waters of

the Kinneret.

How abundant are the flowers in the winter,

bunches of blood-red anemones, the

orange of the crocus.

There are days when the greenery is sevenfold

green and seventy-fold is the blue of

the sky.

But even if I become poverty-stricken

and walk bent over and my heart becomes

the beacon for strangers,

how can I betray you, how can I forget.

How can I forget the grace of youth?

Herein lays the magic contained in this cemetery. Rachel was a soul on fire as were so many of the souls of her generation who are buried here. One candle burning brightly gives light but when many of these flames are gathered in one place it becomes a light unto an entire nation. Every one of us has such a soul. Every one of us can make a contribution. Heroes are those who give their all to a cause and as a result of this have the power to change the world or improve it. This value of the power of an individual to change the world is deeply rooted in Judaism. The value of giving ones all and one's best is deeply rooted in Judaism. The value of a group being only as powerful as the intensity of the souls within the group is no less a Jewish value. The modern state of Israel was born in this way and the continuity of Israel and of the Jewish people will continue to exist, create and make its contribution to the world precisely because of this value.

Among the graves of the founders is a latter day poet whose life and works are deeply connected to Israel’s soul and whose contribution lights the flame of a generation.

Another soul on Fire:

Naomi Shemer: First Lady of Israeli Song

Naomi Shemer gave life to an emerging nation. Of all of her works and they are as numerous
“as the stars in the sky” is Jerusalem of Gold which has become a hymn of Israel today:

JERUSALEM OF GOLD

by Naomi Shemer

The mountain air is clear as wine

And the scent of pines

Is carried on the breeze of twilight

With the sound of bells.

And in the slumber of tree and stone

Captured in her dream

The city that sits solitary

And in its midst is a wall.

Jerusalem of gold, and of bronze, and of light

Behold I am a violin for all your songs.

How the cisterns have dried

The market-place is empty

And no one frequents the Temple Mount

In the Old City.

And in the caves in the mountain

Winds are howling

And no one descends to the Dead Sea

By way of Jericho.

Jerusalem of gold, and of bronze, and of light

Behold I am a violin for all your songs.

But as I come to sing to you today,

And to adorn crowns to you (i.e. to tell your praise)

I am the smallest of the youngest of your children (i.e. the least worthy of doing so)

And of the last poet (i.e. of all the poets born).

For your name scorches the lips

Like the kiss of a seraph

If I forget thee, Jerusalem,

Which is all gold...

Jerusalem of gold, and of bronze, and of light

Behold I am a violin for all your songs.

We have returned to the cisterns

To the market and to the market-place

A ram's horn (shofar) calls out (i.e. is being heard) on the Temple Mount

In the Old City.

And in the caves in the mountain

Thousands of suns shine -

We will once again descend to the Dead Sea

By way of Jericho!

Jerusalem of gold, and of bronze and of light

Behold I am a violin for all your songs.

Israel Celebration Tours is HONORED to tell our story at this monument to the nation of Israel. We join you in being Jewish souls on fire.

“Venues and Values” - Zichron Yaakov---ICT style

Gentrified Zichron Yaakov today

Zichron Yaakov is located 35 km south of Haifa at the end of the Carmel Mountain range overlooking the Mediterranean Sea , near the coastal highway. Literally the name means: "in memory of Yaakov” or Edmond James (Yaakov) de Rothschild (a member of the famous banking family) who helped establish this village for Romanian Jews who chose to return to Israel at the end of the 19th century. This return to the land is known as the 1st “Aliyah” and refers to the attempt by eastern European Jews of this time to redeem themselves in the Land of Israel. They no longer saw a future for themselves in their lands of dispersion. They heard the call of the Zionist movement and decided to act upon it.

There were three other villages that emerged as well in this time: Petach Tikva, Rishon Le Tzion, and Rosh Pina. All of these settlements were populated with Jews who wanted to redeem themselves in the land.

Zichron Yaakov today is a reconstructed, gentrified and lovely town in which one can get a sense of Israel's recent past and present. You will be able to visit the shops of local artists and craftsmen. Unique and one-of-a-kind items can be found here. It is here in this village your ICT guide will have the opportunity to introduce you to the early "chalutzim" or pioneers, and on the values that motivated them in making this life decision to change not only themselves but to change and try to affect the destiny of their nation.

What kind of person takes on this kind of responsibility? Why? What are the forces that bring this about? Is it really possible for an individual or a small group of individuals to change destiny or history or a nation?

Some historians say that the first “Aliyah” did not succeed in achieving its goals. However there is no doubt that what they began paved the way for those who followed. Given the times and their challenges, they achieved immeasurably more than they are accredited with.

One such person who paved the way for those to follow wasSarah Aaronson. She and the N.I.L.I. . (נצח ישראל לא ישקר) which was a Jewish espionage network that assisted Great Britain in its fight against the Ottoman Empire in Palestine during World War I. Its headquarters were located here in Zichron Yaakov. Your ICT guide will take you to Sarah’s home and lead the discussion about individuals who take on the cause of their people and who dedicate their lives to it at all cost. Sarah became a model for all time of a woman dedicated to changing the destiny of the Jewish people. She left an indelible mark on the course of modern Jewish History. She was truly a woman of valor.

Eliezer ben Yehuda—the father of Modern Hebrew

The focus of our values discussion in “Zichron” centers on what the first “Aliyah” did achieve and not on its failures. Perhaps the greatest of all achievements is the re-establishing of the Hebrew language by Eliezer ben Yehuda as the spoken language of the new Jew. The rebuilding of our national language in this time is a value that is crucial for our ICT guide to relate to in the context of such a visit. This value discussion leads to the ongoing discussion that is part of any and all ICT Israel experiences, namely our own willingness to change our own world and our own Jewish destiny.

No less important on this day is a visit to the Carmel Winery located in “Zichron”! Here Baron Edward De Rothschild otherwise known as the “Nadiv” (the generous one) supported the Jews of the first “Aliyah” by helping them establish grape vineyards and a winery to provide a productive industry for the fledgling community. As we know today the wine industry in Israel is a most successful one with roots in the caring of the “benefactor” and the hard work of those who planted the roots of our newly emerging nation.

See Israel from within -Bet Shean: Two Worlds –Romans and Jews

Israel Celebration Tours invites you to

“See Israel from within”

Bet Shean: Two Worlds –Romans and Jews

From the Roman bathhouse in Bet Shean

South of the Sea of Galilee in the northern section of the Jordan valley lies the ancient site of Bet Shean otherwise referred to as Skythopois by the Romans.

Few venues in Israel illustrate more convincingly the presence and world view of  Rome.
 This Roman city with its magnificent theatre, its broad paved streets, its shrines for worship, its commercial districts and shops, its columns and varying capitols all testify to the power and accessibility of Roman Hellenistic culture in Israel during from 63 B.C.E. onwards. Perhaps more than any other structure in Bet Shean, the Roman bathhouse reflects and expresses the world view and value system of the Romans (and perhaps local Jews) of the time.
The bath house in Roman culture had all to do with the perfection or treatment or perhaps the culture of the body. The physical here reigned supreme. As part of this “value system” is the world of Roman gods and goddesses who accompany and adorn such a bathhouse. The Mishnah in Tractate: Avoda Zarah 3:4 raises the question as to whether a Jew is permitted in such a place. This Mishnah thus asks the contemporary value question regarding Roman and Jewish values and their potential conflict.

Here in this bath house or in the Roman theatre or environs we study this very Mishnah and try to understand the value conflict and the resolutions of the time. No less so we examine similar cultural differences and value conflicts that we have in our lives today and try to determine our own options for resolution in our own time.

To see “Israel from within” contact us: http://www.israelcelebrationtours.com/