Trip back in time

Last weekend was a shabbaton to a yeshiva in a small farming community north of Tel Aviv, just a few miles from the coast. The theme was "hard decisions made by people during the holocaust." On Sunday we got to drive to the beach and walk to a few areas where Jewish settlers were smuggled ashore, trying to avoid the British blockade that existed before the creation of Israel. We talked to an old man who, as a child, witnessed a few of the battles between the British and settler Jews, and between the varying Jewish military factions.

On the trip home, the bus pulled off the highway and we all piled out to daven mincha (afternoon prayer) before it got too late. We passed by a bunch of lovely fields, and ended up davening by a graffiti covered bus stand on an exit ramp. A few moments after we pulled off, another car pulled up behind us and the driver hopped out to daven with us. That was very cool.