Back in Israel

Eating Falafel in East Jerusalem.

So...I packed up my life in Boston and came back to Israel. I got on the plane and there was definitely a moment where I wondered to myself "what the hell am I doing?" Since at that point (i.e. after boarding the plane) it was a little late to be thinking such thoughts, I just distracted myself with the 3rd Twilight book and then went to sleep.

I woke up just before landing in Tel Aviv, got my stuff, and took a cab to my friend Zoe's apartment in Florentine. (I met Zoe on Birthright; she never went home.) We hung out at her place for a bit and then walked over to the beach, at which point any hesitation I had felt earlier miraculously disappeared. The truth is...Tel Aviv is a pretty easy city to love...and after 60 days of rain in Boston it's even easier.

I only spent one night in Tel Aviv, before meeting up with a bunch of MIT folks who are interning in Israel this summer through the MISTI program. I spent the past few days on a trip/retreat with all of them, travelling around the North, navigating a jam-packed schedule.

Highlights: Idan Raichel concert in Caesarea; Shabbat in Jerusalem; Church of the Holy Sepulchre (I didn't see any Christian sites last time I was here); discussion/forum with Israeli and Palestinian bereaved families, eating falafel on the street in East Jerusalem, talk by Dr. Rachel Korazim about the role of the Holocaust in Israeli society, German Colony in Haifa, talk on Israel's water situaion by Prof. Emeritus Uri Shamir, touring a biogas plant, and swimming in the Kinneret.


Fishermen and Oil Rigs in Caesarea.


Emek Hefer Biogas Plant.


Baha'i Gardens, Haifa.