My Trip to Israel - Tel Aviv

As I said in last week's post, I wanted to show you some things at our hotel in Tel-Aviv before I tell you about Cesaria Maritime.

The photo above is of the hand-washing area at the entrance to the restaurant.  Many of the Jews in Israel are Orthodox, and the washing cup is important to them. You can see it on the counter to the right of the red bowl.  Although the photo doesn't show it, the cup has two handles. There are also prayers said while washing the hands. I found the explanation of this cup at Chabad.org:  

"After the first hand is washed, it is clean and pure. The unwashed hand, however, is not. If the two hands touch after the first hand was washed, it is necessary to rewash the first one. We use a two-handled cup to make the process simpler, making it easier to avoid the hands touching each other."

I like the idea of eating with clean hands, don't you?  We are conservative Jews, and do not carry cleanliness that far, although we respect other Jews customs. 

Hashem has given us many instructions about cleanliness and health in the Torah, and they are important.  Many times, the Jews have avoided plagues just because of their practices related to cleanliness.  (One of the many blessings of Torah observance.)

The hotels holds Shabbat services in the restaurant, and these are items on a table near the entrance.  The Hebrew siddurs (prayer books)caught my eye, as well as the tallit bag and the bottles of wine used in the service.  I felt sad that we would be leaving, as I would have enjoyed attending a Shabbat service there.

I just had to show you the beautiful items on the breakfast buffet. (I promise this series is not going to focus on food.)  It just was delightful to see the items with Hebrew as well as English descriptions.  Below are more olives and a fabulous array of cheeses. 

This table had beautiful fresh and dried fruit and preserves.  In the foregroud is the halva, which I was surprised to see at breakfast.  My husband and I love this food, which is sesame seeds mixed with honey.  I say my husband loves it, because he does, but he can't eat it because it causes his lips to swell.  So sad to miss such a delightful treat which, by the way, one can purchase in the U.S.
 

Another thing that was unique to me was seeing salads on a breakfast buffet.  That was common in Israel.  

Oh, and the breads were so beautiful, and so good.  Most are whole-grain breads, not the white stuff in many American restaurants.

This is our tour guide, who is a Ukrainian Jew.  Her husband is a Messianic rabbi also, and they have a ministry in Jerusalem.  She spoke with an accent which was hard to catch sometimes, but what a wealth of information she shared with us.  

We boarded the bus after breakfast and traveled through Tel-Aviv.  Our tour did not include that city, but hopefully, I will see it on my next trip.  Below are a couple of photos on the street there.  Most of the signs are in Hebrew, but some are English.  Most people I dealt with on the trip spoke both, which was a relief.    I had been studying Hebrew in the previous year, but I'm not very good at it yet.  I will continue to study, because I hope to take another trip.  Believe me, you always coming away with a desire to return.

It looks like it's going to be a bright, bright sun-shiny day as we head out for Ceasaria Maritime.  

Since this post was so long, I'll save that for next week.  Shavua Tov! (Have a good week)




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