Well, It's been awhile yet again. It seems like that is how this is going - no posts for a week then a flurry of them!
Yesterday the History of Modern Israel class (which I'm not taking) took a field trip to Tel Aviv to see some sites relating to the founding of the Jewish state in 1948. Even though I'm not in the class they allowed me to tag along. A lot of other people tagged along as well, so I was in good company.
The first place we stopped was the home of Chaim Weizmann, who was the first president of the modern state of Israel. He was apparently very good friends with many famous people including Albert Einstein, Winston Churchill, and Harry Truman. He was also a brilliant chemist that helped the British war effort by engineering new ways of manufacturing chemicals used for armament production. By the end of his life, he had acquired over 120 patents for his work in Chemistry! Throughout his life Chaim Weizmann had a fascination with western culture and loved traveling around the world, especially to Britain and the United States. Even though he loved the west, his heart was always in Israel. In fact, the efforts of Chaim Weizmann were largely responsible for the United States recognizing the existence of the state of Israel when it was created in 1948. However, his love of the west ultimately caused him not to become the first prime minister of Israel, as many had wanted. They believed he was to easily influenced by non-Jewish thinking. Instead, the office of President, which is more of an honorary position than a political one, was created to honor this man who had contributed to much to the establishment of the Jewish state. Here are some picture from his house.
Chaim Weizmann was eventually buried on his property in Rehovot. His wife Vera was buried beside him when she passed away several years later.
The next stop we made was at David Ben Gurion's house in downtown Tel Aviv. Ben-Gurion, the first prime minister of Israel, was a much more modest man that Chaim Weizmann. He moved to Israel very early in his life and never had an urge to travel, unlike Weizmann. It is interesting to compare the differences between these two patriots. Chaim Weizmann loved western culture and would often travel abroad to foreign countries, while Ben-Gurion was more of a homebody. He moved to Israel when he was very young and basically never left, but lived a humble life fighting for the founding of his country. Unlike Weizmann who achieved a doctorate in Chemistry before the age of 20, Ben-Gurion never earned an academic degree in his life. However, he was an incredibly brilliant man speaking 11 languages fluently. He apparently learned enough German in 1 week to carry on a conversation with a German delegate (a fact that is disputed by some. I have no comment)! I have to admit that I skipped out on the tour of the David Ben-Gurion house (I just stayed for the talk at the beginning. But I'm not in the class, so I didn't have to be there!) and went to the beach instead, which was 1 block away.
And if all that wasn't great enough, the highlight of the day came next - the Latrun tank museum. And by tanks I don't mean the things fish swim in... I mean THIS!
The Latrun Tank museum and memorial is located at a fort that protects the only road up to Jerusalem from the coastal plain (or at least it was the only road. There is a new road that goes up to Jerusalem a different way that has been built just recently). This was a fort that the Israeli troops attacked and tried to take at least 3 times over the years and failed every time. When they finally did capture it, they snuck up on it and fired upon the main fortress for 20 minutes before realizing it had been abandoned by the enemy several months before (I guess military intelligence is and oxymoron in every country). Upon taking the fort, the Israelis turned it into a museum and memorial for all the troops that have died fighting in the IDF Armor Division since 1948. Their names are etched in wall at the museum that is reminiscent of the Vietnam Memorial in Washington DC. The names of the fallen soldiers are etched in black to symbolize the black color of charred steel in which these men died. The rest of the wall is silver in reference to a Hebrew poem that says the state of Israel was not given to the people on a silver platter. The silver color of the wall makes reference to this poem by saying that they men who died are the silver platter upon which Israel was founded.
The inside of the fort has also been made into a memorial for the soldiers who have died. There are pictures of the soldiers inside with their names, how old they were when they died, and some of their stories. The idea of this place is that no soldier is forgotten. After visiting a very somber inside, we went outside to a veritable playground. The fort is laid out in a circle and all around the edge there are over 160 tanks that can be climbed on, jumped on, and driven (well, maybe not that one). We had a blast out there! Here's proof.
(Rival dorms... Hotchkiss and CDUB)
So, we had a great day, but it was really nice to get back and sleep. Just about everybody fell asleep on the way home because we had such a great time. Also, I got to speak some Hebrew with the bus driver, Moshe. That was cool. BTW, click the link on the bottom right of any of the photos to see some more. God Bless! Baruch Hashem!
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