Day 2-3 blog - Daniel Schwartz

The past two days have been packed with exciting rides and activities. Since it is already late and I am ready for bed, here are some of my highlights:

Day 2 – Riding through the streets of Bat Yam, Jaffe and Tel Aviv along the seashore. We had a beautiful view of the sea, the old buildings, the Tel Aviv skyscrapers and even a number of weddings. In fact, one groom was so excited that he jumped into the middle of our group to have his picture taken.

Day 2 – Walking down to the Mediterranean Sea after a long day of riding for a nice swim with other some other riders. The water, which we were told would be too cold, was actually very nice. It was getting out of the water in the cool evening air that made us shiver.

Day 2 – Meeting with members of Beit Daniel, the largest of the 25 progressive congregations in Israel. They had a wonderful reception waiting for us at their synagogue. We ate, drank, learned about the synagogue and their programs and got to know members of the congregation. The evening ended with a tour of their building and an impromptu question and answer session.

Day 2 – Walking around Tel Aviv with Brian and then meeting up with Noah and Jonathan at an outdoor café on the Mediterranean Sea.

Day 3 – The beautiful ride along the Yarkon River. As I’m sure you will see in other writers’ blogs, today is election day. Therefore, many places of business are closed so that people are free to go and vote. Many of these people also made their way to the paths along the river and also to their boat houses so that they could take their kayaks out on the river. It was great to see some many people out and enjoying the beautiful weather we had.

Day 3 – The fantastic lunch we had that was prepared by Limonada, the company one of the riders (Eyal) from the past two years. Unfortunately, we were a little late in arriving and were unable to see some of the members of B’vat Ayin, the progressive congregation of Rosh HaAyin. Fortunately, a few were able to remain and tell us about the congregation and the history of the area (There are biblical references in I and II Samuel and in modern times it was an important strategic location because of the natural resources available).

Day 3 – A wonderful dinner at “Loculus” with members of Kehilat Natan-Ya -- the progressive congregation of Netanya. At the restaurant, we heard about the congregation and were able to hear some of the stories of the different members of the different congregations. After dinner, some of us joined Rabbi Mira Raz for a tour of the synagogue. Since the space is rented and they are hoping to get their own building soon, their space had been converted into a polling place. In addition to the wonderful tour by Rabbi Raz, some of the election officials also explained the Israeli election system.

Finally, a contest for my NFTY OVites who are reading this: The first five send me an e-mail (dschwartz@urj.org) with correct answers to the following will win a prize from Israel.

1) The name of the party that received the most votes in today’s election.

2) The order of the following cities through which we traveled if we were going from South to North (Bat Yam, Hod HaSharon, Jaffe, K’far Saba, Netanya, Shefayim and Tel Aviv).

3) Fill in the blanks: “There’s more than ____ _____ to be ______.” [From the Israel Movement for Progressive Judaism website: http://www.reform.org.il/english/]

Looking forward to another two wonderful days of riding…