Shabbat in the city that always tows

---

Jack went back to take more photos of the graffiti early this morning while I updated my blog. When he got back, he offered to join me to go to services. There is a modern Orthodox synagogue, Beth El, within 8 blocks of the hotel so we headed over. The synagogue was small, old and there were probably 40 people there, a mix of young and old. We arrived at the end of the Torah service and stayed until it was time for the sermon, since a sermon in Hebrew was a non-starter. In the synagogue the men and women sat with a divider between them, but near the entrance were seats where men and women could sit together. The Rabbi came over to warmly greet us. He acknowledged Jack's Red Sox cap, and politely informed him that being from NY, he was a Yankees fan. While we were there his 4 or 5 year old son came in carrying a toy cell phone and conversing loudly. He ended his conversation and marched up on to the bima to greet his father and then roamed around looking bored. After synagogue, Jack asked me what I got out of attending services for an hour in an Orthodox synagogue where everything was in Hebrew. For me that experience has more to do with community than spirituality. It's different at TBZ.

Jack had taken our rental car out of the car park to go down to the Florentine district and left it on the street near the hotel. He pointed it out to me on the way to synagogue. We came back to the hotel to pack and checkout, but when we got near the car…ooops there was no car. Back at the hotel the young man at the front desk made some calls and as I had suspected, the car was towed. I guess if you stay in a space too long that's what happens. The tow park is only a few blocks from the hotel so Jack headed off to retrieve the car and I'm sitting writing this blog. Worse, more expensive mistakes get made by both of us so I'm not at all upset. We'll still get to go to the art museum, have lunch and head up to Haifa in time to go to the beach in the late afternoon. When we arrived it was in the high 60's and now it's in the low 80's. Going to the beach is what many, many Israelis do on sunny, warm Shabbats.

Jack found our car in the towing lot along with half a dozen other cars that had Avis, Hertz, Dollar and Budget logos on them. Each towed car generates about $125 for the city and I guess they primarily go after tourists.

The route to the museum looked so simple that we decided to use the map. Big mistake, it wasn't until Jack go frustrated that we turned on and trusted Waze. The Tel Aviv museum is spectacular. It has had a large new wing added since I was there in 2011. We had lunch outside in a courtyard of the museum and then explored several exhibits. Lusitana, the piece by Joana Vasconcelos was extraordinary as you can hopefully see from the pictures. The photography exhibit was unmoving. Some of the pieces from the museums collection of Israeli art from 1926 to 1996 were moving such as the one shown in the linked picture and the short film by Dani Gal, "Night and Fog" communicated the mundane aspect of horror. After the museum, the car was were we had parked it and we drove up to Haifa. The Dan Carmel is a really nice hotel and because of the CJP connection we were upgraded to a fancy room. It's nice to stay in such comfy and elegant surroundings. Dinner was at a local restaurant that we could walk to and now and 9 PM, I'm going to close my computer and read. you

---