This trip had very special meaning to me. Not only did I finally get to visit Egypt, a country that has been high on my wish list for several years, but also, I was back in Israel with my dear friends Bill and Marjorie Handel, celebrating their daughters’ B’not Mitzvah on Mount Masada.
It was a fabulous trip. We visited places in Israel I did not visit last year, including the Palmach Museum in Tel Aviv, Hatzerim Air Force Base near Be’er Sheva, Atlit, a former detention camp used to intern Jewish immigrants deemed illegal by the British authorities, and the Knesset, Israel’s Parliament. Egypt was beyond my expectations: the Pyramids at Giza, the Valley of the Kings, the Nile River cruise and our visit to Abu Simbel was a dream come true. But I’m getting ahead of myself. For the next several weeks I invite you to travel with me on my incredible trip through Israel and Egypt.By December 12th our group of 30, all friends and family, had arrived into Tel Aviv. Since it was a Friday night, we welcomed in Shabbat with a lighting of candles and a special dinner, a wonderful way to start the weekend.
Since most stores and public places are closed on Saturday, we started the morning with a walking tour of Tel Aviv, a modern metropolis located on the Mediterranean coastline.Tel Aviv is Israel’s second largest city and its financial capital (Jerusalem is the political capital.) 
According to our guide, Tel Aviv attracts youth with its active nightlife, great clubs and restaurants and lively beach scene that draws tourists year round. The weather in Tel Aviv is similar to Southern California with mild weather in the winter months and hot in the summer.
I was pleasantly surprised as we walked along tree-lined boulevards and parks filled with families enjoying the mild December weather. A highlight of our walking tour was the beautiful buildings and stylish architecture along Rothschild Boulevard. According to Shmul, our guide, Tel Aviv has over 5,000 Bauhaus style buildings, the largest concentration in any one city worldwide. In recent years the city has undergone a massive re-construction/preservation effort, which has earned it a "world heritage site" by UNESCO. Also known as the “white city" because of the bright colors of the building style: white, off-white, light yellow. The Bauhaus building style was actually imported from Germany where it came to an abrupt end with the Nazi rise to power.
Sunday morning we were off bright and early for Hatzerim Air Force Base near Be’er Sheva. Visiting an Air Force base is not a normal tourist attraction, but a good friend of Marjorie’s and Bill’s is a flight instructor at Hatzerim and invited us to tour the base.Hatzerim is home to the impressive Air Force Museum as well as being an operational base, home to various training squadrons. The museum occupies a corner of the sprawling base where over 140 perfectly restored and preserved aircraft are orderly laid out in rows. The range of aircraft on display covers the entire story of air warfare in Israel, from the light singles and Rapides used by the Sherut Avir in Palestine to the Spitfire, Mustang, Mystere, Mirage III, Kfir, Phantom II and A-4. I hate to be sexist, but I will admit that the men in the group were a lot more excited than the women over the vast display of aircraft on the field.
After our tour of the base and the museum, we were invited to the airfield to watch several F-16’s take off on a training mission. The photographers and the plane enthusiasts in the group went wild as the planes roared off the runway. It was an exciting morning.
After a quick lunch stop--Falafel and shwarma tucked into a pita with chopped salad (Israel’s version of fast foods,)
we headed back into Tel Aviv to visit the Palmach Museum. The Palmach was the elite fighting force of the “Hagana," the underground military organization of the Jewish community prior to the establishment of the State of Israel.The Palmach was founded in May, 1941, in order to help the British to defend the country (then Palestine) against the approaching German armies. In the fall of 1942, as the threat of invasion receded, the British authorities ordered the dismantling of the Palmach, which caused it to go underground. It became a fully mobilized military force consisting of six platoons of young men and women. The Palmach units were stationed in Kibbutzim, where they underwent military training, and also worked on the farms 14 days out of the month to support themselves.
From the summer of 1945 until the end of 1947, when the British administration suppressed the Jewish settlement movement and blocked Jewish immigration into the country, the Palmach was engaged in bringing 65 ships with tens of thousands of Jewish refugees and Holocaust survivors from Europe.
Following the UN decision on November 29,1947, to partition Palestine, Arab armed gangs blocked the roads and besieged Jewish towns, including Jerusalem. At the time 2,200 Palmach fighters were the only force ready to engage in battle, though they were poorly armed. As the War of Independence unfolded, they operated all over the country, liberating Jerusalem and other besieged towns, conquering territories, opening roads, and, with the newly organized “Hagana” troops, defeated the invading armies of Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq. They fought valiantly, but suffered many causalities--over 1,168 died and many were wounded.
The Palmach Museum brings the visitor into their story brilliantly. Visitors to the museum join the group of young Palmach recruits from its establishment, and advance through the story of the Palmach until the end of the War of Independence. It is called a museum, but there are no displays or documents. It’s more of an experience, being part of the group as they take you through a series of rooms set up to represent various stages of the development of the Palmach and the War of Independence, including a battle zone complete with virtual bombardment, a warship, a campfire at a field camp, etc. It is actually more of an enactment than an exhibit. It’s a unique interactive experience and I highly recommend you visit the Palmach Museum when you visit Tel Aviv.
Join me next week as we travel north and visit the ancient city of Caesarea and the newly opened Caesarea Harbor.
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