Day 8 – Wednesday, April 19th: Yom haZikaron blog and photos

Shalom Chaverim! It’s Ella and Jonah reporting to duty.

This morning we woke up bright and early to prepare for a long day. We started our day by visiting a local junior high school. We got to meet eighth graders and became good friends with them. After that, we went with them to their school tekes where we heard meaningful speeches and songs led by their seventh grade. We then parted from them and made our way to the Israeli Independence Hall. We got to see where David Ben-Gurion stood to announce and sign the papers that led to a modern and innovative country. We all found it very interesting to find that the grandfather of Eyal, the elementary school music teacher, sat in that room and took part in the signing of the declaration. Later, we made our way to the Tel Aviv Innovation Center where we discovered the can-do spirit of modern Israel through looking at the modern technology that is developed locally. We got to see an example of a camera that connects to your glasses and helps people who have impaired vision. The guide asked Risa to stand up, took a picture of her, and stated her name. When the camera once again saw Risa it recognized her and said her name. We were all amazed by the devices that were not only high tech, but were also created to help people around the world. We made our way back to the hotel for a little rest. We are excited to be heading out tonight to a celebration in the streets of Tel Aviv. We even invited the class we met this morning! We will bring out all of our blue and white spirit to enjoy this night with all of Israel and to commemorate all of the hard work that went into creating an amazing homeland for all of the Jewish people. Wishing Israel a happy 70th birthday and hoping for many more years to come!