By Jake Levine
On our third full day in Israel, we were lucky enough to tour Tel Aviv through the lens of “the first Hebrew city in two thousand years”, a remarkable feat when considering it was founded before the State of Israel was anywhere near a reality. Led by our in-house tour guide Jamie Salter, we trekked across the city - from old Jaffa, overlooking what was nothing but sand prior to 1909, to the Azrieli tower, Tel Aviv’s icon of modernity built exactly ninety years later. The contrast between the two views, along with stops in between, was emblematic of the rapid rise of the city Israel now touts as the 21st century global center of innovation, an impressive feat when considering it was quite literally raised from the ground in just over a hundred years.
However, the sheer force of man required to accomplish such a task was not at the core of our tour, nor should it have been. Rather, we were forced to tackle the same questions the sixty-six families that founded the city faced: how do you build something from the ground up with nothing but a blank slate? What does the ideal, new Jewish city look like? Perhaps more relevant to our own purposes as the next generation of Jewish leaders: how do you make something from nothing? Admittedly, we have not yet reached an answer. That is not, however, a failure by any means. By beginning to ask the question, we have been able to more concretely consider our own futures, along with beginning to shape our own vision for the Jewish people. At least to me, much like the view from the top of Azrieli overlooking the city of Tel Aviv and the Mediterranean to the west, it is quite the view.
