Shabbat Shalom from Tel Aviv

5/10/19

Tel Aviv

Greetings and welcome to the 2019 Davis Academy 8^th Grade Israel Trip Blog. This blog serves a couple of purposes. First, it’s an invitation for family and friends to follow along with our adventures (of which we’ve already had many). Second, it’s meant to serve as a compliment to whatever notes, photographs, and stories our kids bring back from their time here. Last (at least for now), it’s an attempt to tease out some of what this trip means to its participants by putting these experiences in a broader context that helps frame them and reveal their power and significance.

Each Davis Academy 8^th Grade Israel Trip shares much with those that came before, but ultimately comes to have its own identity and uniqueness. Right off the bat, this trip is unique because of the students and chaperones. Add to that the fact that we left for Israel on Yom Ha’Atzmaut, Israel’s 71^st birthday. While we missed the celebration, there are traces of it all around us: more flags than usual, lots of people at the Tel Aviv beach because of the holiday, and so on. It’s a time of national pride and unity. It’s a time when some folks who are reading this blog might pinch themselves as they remember a time when there was no State of Israel. 

And  in terms of preliminary points of distinction for the 2019 trip, while it seems insignificant, this is the first time in recent years that our trip has left on a Thursday.

Our Thursday departure meant that our travel to Israel would coincide with the arrival of Shabbat. There’s a stark contrast between the energy that surrounds international travel with a group of close to 60 8^th graders and the energy that descends on Tel Aviv with the arrival of Shabbat.

Travel is a microcosm of all of our wordly aspirations. It’s a very goal-oriented activity. We pick a destination. We make a plan to get there. We gather 50 pounds (or slightly more) of our most needed possessions and we cram them into our parents’ luggage. We fret over departure and arrival times, we get anxious with delays and unexpected interruptions. We’re willing to tolerate a certain amount of turbulence and discomfort in service of getting to where we’re headed. You get the point.

There’s nothing more antithetical to the spirit of travel than Shabbat. On Shabbat the goal isn’t to arrive at some distant place, but to simply be where you are. You don’t need a watch on Shabbat. And you don’t need stuff. All you need can be found within you and around you, if you know how to look for it. For that reason, getting off a plane and hitting the beach in Tel Aviv for Shabbat prayers and watching the sunset, is a pretty remarkable 180 degree turn around. Today we had the good fortune of leaning into this abrupt transition. And we’re all the better for it.

As we hung out at the beach singing some of our favorite Shabbat prayers, we caught the attention of dozens of folks of all stripes making their way down the boardwalk. Some smiled as they passed by, others joined us, some took pictures, and a few Israeli motorcycle police officers hopped off their bikes for a moment. You could tell that folks were feeling us out, trying to figure out what this group of tie-dye clad people were doing singing prayers on the beach, some with kippot, some without and so on. In that moment it felt like we were in dialogue with Israeli society and with the Jewish people more generally. Ours is a particular series of expressions of Jewish identity, familiar to some, less so to others. But the beautiful beaches of Tel Aviv, with their colorful characters, visible diversity, and endless skies, were the perfect setting for us to greet one another in a spirit of welcoming Shabbat and welcoming one another home. After our services an elderly lady asked to speak to the group. She told us how wonderful we were, welcomed us, and wished us a blessed and peaceful Shabbat.

Before dinner we dipped our toes in the water, took lots of pictures, gave hugs to Morah Bruria who came by to welcome us, and watched the sun disappear. Then we had dinner, showered, and went to bed.

As adults we know that we need the energy of travel and the energy of Shabbat in our lives. There will be seasons in our lives when we feel like we’re always focused on reaching a destination or achieving a certain goal. There will be days and weeks and months when we live by the clock, worrying our way towards feeling prepared, and constantly checking the weather to make sure things are looking good. To be human is to know such seasons.

But there will also be seasons of our lives when we embrace the present moment. When we accept the world on its own terms, see things as they truly are, and celebrate our place amidst the bigger story of all creation. Every so often, we get to experience both seasons on a single day. Landing in Tel Aviv on Friday afternoon made today such a day for us. And if you read this post before Shabbat arrives in Atlanta, perhaps it will be such a day for you as well!

Shabbat Shalom!