Thursday 22 May 2003

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Our plan had been to visit Beit Hatfutsot (the Diaspora Museum) this morning, but we had to reorganize when we arrived only to discover that it is now closed on Thursdays as a cost saving measure. Instead we had a discussion about collective identity and how this relates to our next unit, the competing voices in contemporary Israel. We then had lunch in the university cafeteria.

In the afternoon, we met with Dr. Nimrod Aloni, an education professor and son of former MK and education minister Shulamit Aloni. Dr. Aloni is a committed secular humanist, and offered his perspective on contemporary Israel. We then went to Kikar Rabin for a discussion of the effects of Rabin's assassination on Israel. David, Shira, and Shirel each offered their memories and perspectives on the events, which was fascinating to hear.

In the evening, we went to a late night supper at the Yekev night club in Rishon L'Tzion. The club is actually a winery, where they having singing and dancing on Thursday evenings. We were seated at long picnic tables, and ate supper with liberal amounts of wine. This was followed by a sing-along (evidently this has become very popular in Israel recently) and then dancing. The dancing was very energetic, and included most of the group (as well as most of the rest of the people there) dancing on the tables. All in all it was a fun evening leading into a free Shabbat.

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