Today was Founder's day on our Israel trip. We went downtown to see the patriotic side of Israel. The story of independence is more detailed, full of valor and greater than most people know, or could even guess.
As we drove to our destination it became obvious that the holiday, Shavuot, was over and traffic was crazy! Cars would not stay in their lanes and motorcycles drove all over the place. In Tel-Aviv a driver must also watch for pedestrians and bicycle riders who come out of nowhere into the crosswalks.
We began with breakfast at the Bagel Market - only, the bagel machine of the bagel market had broken, so we had fresh baguettes instead. This was one of the only bagel places in Tel Aviv, which was why we ate there. Even though there were no bagels, the breakfast was excellent. We had lox and a choice of many vegetables.
From breakfast we walked several blocks to Rothschild Blvd. Our first stop was the Haganah Museum. The museum is in Eliyahu Golomb’s old house. He was one of the original founders of the Jewish yishuv. The house was once was headquarters for the 71,000 member organization. This organization pre-dated and became the Israeli Defense Forces. Most of the commanders were members of the Haganah, and the eventual Prime Ministers of Israel all had a connection as well.
The Haganah grew out of the Zionist movement of the 1890s. At that time there was a desire to “return to the homeland.” Farms were established by Baron Rothschild to produce marketable goods. Through the philosophy of Theodor Herzl, European Jews moved to farming collectives called kibbutzim. Although the two were not in total agreement about how to settle the nation (if you have two Jews you have five opinions), in the end both methods of establishing settlement worked for the greater good.
By the end of World War I, the rapid pace of European Jewish immigration was turning the tide in Palestine politically. The Arabs, who did not like the Europeans from the beginning, saw themselves as losing clout. They began attacking the Kibbutzim. The settlers began police forces to protect themselves. Community police began to work together and train together in order to increase skills.
The Arabs continued to push England on the matter, and finally in 1939, the British government caved in and issued what is called “the White Paper” - forbidding Jewish immigration to Palestine. The British would blockade Mediterranean ports, and if immigrants were found, send them back to Europe and Germany in order to suffer whatever fate they may. The Haganah created diversions and found ways to smuggle the immigrants into Israel. They also declared war on England, a sort of revolution, letting the ruling government know they needed to lift the embargo on persecuted people. (Hitler was already in power in Germany!)
Several officers who had served in the army during World War I served as visionaries in this movement and began to strategize Israel’s future (some were members of the Jewish Legion, which was the first organized army marching under the Jewish banner since the destruction of the Jewish homeland in 70-135 AD). They encouraged and nurtured organization between villages and kibbutzim. They organized Jewish leaders around the world with the dream of a Jewish homeland (although the Jewish people had lived in Diaspora among the nations for over 2,000 years, periods of anti-Semitism arise even in nations once favorable to Jewish settlement). Two prominent leaders of this movement were David Ben-Gurion from Poland (he also lived in New York City for three years) and Chaim Weizmann of Russia (who moved to England).
The war between England and the Haganah began as skirmishes...and the eruption of World War II shook the world, including Israel and the Jews’ ongoing conflict with the British colonialists. The Haganah enlisted men and women to fight with England against the common enemy. They also enlisted spies to find concentration camps and release prisoners when possible (and when they found prisoners, released them, and brought them to Israel, there was a high chance the British would turn the ships around and send them back to Germany!).
After the war, planning began again with strategized terror attacks on bridges, trains, radio, and radar stations. The attacks were always planned to minimize loss of life even while accomplishing desired results - and they were successful. Eventually England (who would not make a decision to free Palestine) asked the United Nations to vote on what to do with Palestine. The land was divided between Jews and Arabs, opening the door for a Jewish homeland (although drastic changes to the UN’s plan would be necessary to make this homeland a reality).
The museum shared stories of bravery as the Jewish military was organized, even before the nation of Israel was born, which is fortunate, for the day after the nation’s birth it was attacked by Arabs, and survived (although the first attacks by the Arabs began six months prior, just after the UN plan was affirmed).
A block away, on the other side of Rothschild Blvd, there exists a building known as Israel’s Independence Hall. This was actually the home of Tel-Aviv’s first mayor, Meir Dizengoff.
After the United Nations drew up a plan for Palestine’s partition and ended British rule on November 29, 1947, Jewish leaders met to take the opportunity to organize a government. (The Arabs disputed the plan because it did not give them all of the land, so they had not taken the opportunity to draw up a constitution and form a government. Various terrorist groups rule areas of Arab Palestine today.) On Friday (the Sabbath begins at sundown Friday and continues through Saturday - which is why the meeting did not take place the next day), May 14, 1948, the day before England was to pull out of Palestine, the Jewish people met at the Dizengoff home (in a room that was used as an art museum) to formally read the Declaration of Independence and assert their right to a land which had been theirs for over two thousand years. The event was put together rapidly, so it might be said Israel, the homeland of the Jewish people was formed in a day. (Isaiah 66:8)
After our tour at Israel’s Independence Hall we walked to the Sarona Market, an upscale food market which is mostly contained in a mall. We ate dates and apricots for a snack and also had some ice cream.
We then walked back to the car and drove back to our apartment. We had decided last night to eat at the Aladin restaurant in Old Jaffa with a patio above the Mediterranean. We went just before sunset. We sat down, almost immediately heard the call to prayer from the minaret next door, and seemingly in response the chiming of the hour by the bells at the Catholic church.
I ordered beef kabobs, Chelsea had baked eggplant, and Sarah had mussels. We also ate tabouli. The food was tov meod (very good). The view was outstanding.
After dinner we walked along the wharfs at the harbor. Other restaurants such as the Old Man and the Sea line old warehouses. We looked at the boats, heard some music, visited an art shop (which also had some familiar books…can you read the title above?) and took some pictures.
This is a picture of “Peter the Fisherman.” Although I do not know his real name, you can see the cross around his neck. He was preparing his lines for the next day.
After our walk we went back to Old Jaffa (no, I did not yet find the bag I lost two years ago, but I looked!) for Ice Cream (what else?!) and to plan our day for tomorrow.
