Sorrow and Joy

I have a few moments in between volunteer placements (Gan in the morning, Kadima in the afternoon), because our water is finally on (it's been off for a day or so), and I desperately wanted to take a shower.

Monday we went up North to Atleat, an internment camp used by the British to hold illegal immigrants prior to the establishment of Israel. The British allowed only 10,000 Jews to immigrate to Israel each year, so Jews living in the British Mandate started bringing in people illegally. When the British caught people immigrating illegally, they were placed in Atleat. It's an internment camp, so there was certainly some trauma.

I will edit this post with more from Yom Hazikaron and Yom Ha'atzmaut later as soon as I get back from Kadima and some afternoon Ulpan.

[2 Days Later :) ]

After Atleat we went to Mount Carmel, for a very short hike. It's a pretty nature reserve, and an amazing view. A longer hike would have been nice, but the trips tend to run extraordinarily behind schedule, so there are problems. We were also supposed to go to a Druze village, but that didn't happen either, which is a shame, because Druze food is delicious. Perhaps one of these days a trip will run on time, but that is unlikely, since delays don't seem to be built into the schedule. We have an overnight this week, so it will be interesting to see how that runs.

Finally, as the sunset we participated in a Yom Hazikaron ceremony at the Naval Training Base in Haifa. This was nice, and had a beautiful backdrop of the Mediterranean, but we didn't understand most of it. I like Yom Hazikaron, because it focus on the emotions of loss, rather than glory or pride. But it's hard to empathize when you can't understand the ceremony, so we didn't really connect with the presentation. The music was beautiful. I've seen multiple singing groups composed of soldiers now, and they're all very talented.

Tuesday during the day continued with the memorial for fallen soldiers, and then at sunset Independence Day began.

Independence Day was fun, but not remarkable. I didn't actually see any of the fireworks, which was disappointing. I hung out with some Israelis I had met during Pesach, a German and a Russian. Perhaps it was our location, but it didn’t feel like a particularly special night out.