By Steve Auslander

After landing in Tel Aviv on Friday, April 29, despite jetlag, the ATID group successfully navigated the new COVID procedures required to exit the airport and enter the country. One of these new procedures includes a PCR test, right at the airport. After getting swabbed, we hopped on the bus and traveled directly to our beautiful Tel Aviv hotel, located right on Ben Yehuda Street, The Lighthouse.  

Following COVID protocols, we all went to our rooms and waited for our negative test results. For Caryl and I, our results took about 4-5 hours to process. The emailed negative result gave us freedom to get out and explore, and we did just that!

Several ATID folks took a stroll and discovered just how close our hotel was from the Tel Aviv Beach. It was remarkable for us to see how Tel Aviv is not only a huge thriving metropolitan city, it also has vibrant beaches filled with beachgoers enjoying themselves, even during Shabbat.

We found a great little beach bar called La Mer. We put our feet in the sand and enjoyed some waitress service and shared a L’chaim toast to our ATID adventure.  

We returned to our hotel for Shabbat dinner. It was a delicious multi course meal of fresh vegetables, fish, dips, and bread. We sang songs and said prayers before the meal and enjoyed breaking bread together for the first time in Israel.

After dinner, the group returned to La Mer after sunset. The beach bar illuminated in red, and we enjoyed another L’chaim and wonderful camaraderie. We all headed back to our hotel to crash and get some sleep in an attempt to conquer jet lag and prepare for our tour of Tel Aviv and Jaffa.