Palmach

Day eight in Israel was relatively light. We had a late start at 9am, with Henry still whinging (he’s starting to fade) and we headed directly to the Community Heritage Centre IICI where we were given a security briefing on terror related issues.
It was explained to us just how important the various secret agencies (which include the Mossad, Aman and Shin Bet) are to the Jewish people all over the world. Their work is not just done here in Israel, but aims to help Jews worldwide. We saw a very moving DVD about one mission that was carried out in Morocco over 50 years ago. We were then taken upstairs to some small rooms where some terrorist propaganda and weapons were displayed behind cabinets, including exploded handmade rockets, mobile phones smuggled in shoes and images of children as young a 2 years old strapped up in bombs. It is a constant battle in Israel, and yet the atmosphere here is very optimistic.

Next we travelled to the Palmach Museum for an incredible interactive display about the role of the Palmach (the underground army for the Jewish community during the British Mandate in Palestine) in Israel’s creation as a state. It must be one of the most creative museums in the world! You walk through about 8 different rooms, all very atmospherically designed to reflect the part of the ‘story’ being told, which could mean you’re sitting around a campsite with tents, or standing on a ship. It made the history scarily relatable, as you were being spoken to through the audio as a ‘new recruit’ within the Palmach. This experience seemed to really bring together a lot of things we have learned over the past 2 weeks, particularly in terms of how many people (and such young people at that) fought and gave their lives in what seemed a losing battle, in order to create a Jewish state accessible to all Jews throughout the world.

For lunch we went to the New Port area of Tel Aviv for hamburgers, and much needed thirst quenching.

We decided to give Avi a break from us for a few hours (he must be the most patient person alive!) and to reconvene at 6.30pm. As usual Avi was spot on time, and we were 10 minutes late. We went straight to Neve Tzedek, a beautiful suburb of TA where there are many small shops, galleries and narrow tree lined streets, much like Paddington in Sydney.

We ate with Avi in a restaurant he recommended and kept the food light, with no pulses (that includes hummous) as our stomachs are showing the signs of too much pulse, if you know what I mean!!! After dinner we walked to the old port town of Jaffa, and visited the night flea markets…bargaining galore for beads and bangles. There was dancing in the laneways, and people sitting having late suppers or dinners, it was all happening in Jaffa. Then home at the not too early hour of 11pm, considering that tomorrow was a big day – Masada.

NOTE: We had a VERY close call tonight when mum almost lost our digital camera…again after leaving it on the dinner table and walking away (last overseas trip we did as a family in 2007 has no ‘visual memories’ due to mum somehow losing the camera on our very last day in L.A.) . Luckily, someone handed it to Avi once we got up to leave. In the end, we managed to have a big laugh when Henry asked mum to take a photo of something about 5 minutes after we left the restaurant and we watched her panicked rummaging through her handbag. Mean, but lesson learned (I hope).