Ani Zocher:
Pilgrims' Stories

Eastern Europe/IP 2003,
by Leora Jackson, ECRUSY

One of my favourite Pilgrimage memories took place during a morning in Tel Aviv, at what is probably one of the most touristy places you will go on Pilgrimage: Independence Hall. We had this crazy tour guide who told us about how important a place it was in Israel's history. Not only were we standing in the exact building where the State of Israel was declared, but it also happened to be the foundation of the city of Tel Aviv and the former home of Tel Aviv's first mayor, Meir Dizengoff. We watched a movie about the history of the place (I may have fallen asleep at that point), and then we learned about the history of the building and land on which we stood. When the first immigrants came to Tel Aviv, they drew lots to pick who would get each piece of land. The lottery took place on the land where Independence Hall now stands, and that land was drawn by Meir Dizengoff, who would become the first mayor of the new settlement. Years later, David Ben Gurion would choose its basement as the place for declaring Israel. Our tour guide couldn't emphasize enough how important the location was, telling us random stories about non-Jewish Japanese tourists who asked him if they could pray Mincha in the hall, because it was such an important part of the Jewish history. He may have exaggerated just a little in some of the stories he told, but when we walked into Independence Hall and he told us the story of how the State was declared, I wasn't the only one who got a little emotional. We listened, over loudspeakers, to a recording of David Ben Gurion declaring the State of Israel, and we all sang Hatikva together. It was probably the most meaningful moment I have ever had while singing Hatikva, plus it was just really cool that we were standing in the exact room where the home of the Jewish people became the Jewish State in 1948.

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