From Our Israel Awareness Committee
Come to Tel Aviv
As my last days in Tel Aviv draw to an end, and tomorrow I move up to Jerusalem for a number of weeks, I am eager to return to the city I know so well, but saddened to leave Tel Aviv, a city I have grown to love.
After a steamy June day, I popped into the Mediterranean Sea for the second time today. This time, rather than doing early morning laps, I took a few dunks to cool off and watched the sun set, a fiery red ball dipping into a cloudless western horizon.
Soon after, I joined a few friends for a farewell dinner in the old port, now a bustling attraction with packed restaurants and shops. Seated at a boardwalk restaurant I enjoyed healthy food and excellent local wine, and people watched. An evening breeze brought out Tel Avivians to eat and to stroll. Young and old, religious and secular, athletic runners and pensioners, tattooed spectacles and tsitsit wearers, all display their ideologies proudly.
Tonight there are no disturbances. People are gentle, happy, and relaxed. No need to look over one's shoulder in fear of conflict or violence. No shouting, no honking, just a cool evening breeze and tonight, a content people. Unimaginable that in May the evening sky was lit up with terrorist missiles and Iron Dome deflectors.
Tomorrow, the reality of endless building and construction will continue, and main roadways throughout the country will be super congested with SUVs on improved but inadequate highways. Tomorrow the sounds of dogs and Hebrew speaking children playing happily in the parks and by the shore will be a joy to hear. Tel Aviv must be the dog capital of the world, and unlike the U.S. or Europe, Israelis, even the secular, are reproducing in large numbers.
This country, 73 years young, despite its high pitched political and social infighting, is the living proof of God's miracles, and the fulfillment of the promise that Am Yisrael Chai v'Kaiyam. עם ישראל חיי וקיים
As soon as the borders open to tourists, plan to come. You won't be sorry.
Best,
Jeff
