On October 17th 2005, David and Sue Tall travelled to Israel to meet old friends and for David to give a presentation for the British Council and to take part in a review of the Science Teaching Department at the Weizmann Institute.
Our trip began in Jerusalem to stay with Shlomo & Hava Vinner, then with Ivy & Tsvi Kidron, then down to Be’er Sheva to visit Ted & Polly Eisenberg, up to Tel Aviv organised by Tommy Dreyfus and the British Council, on to Haifa withUri & Ya-el Leron, a trip to Nazareth and Ibillin organised by Shakar and Amal Rasslan, then down to Rehovot to the Weizmann Institute.
The old city of Jerusalem with the golden dome of the Mosque of Omar seen from the east.

The flat of Shlomo and Hava Vinner where we stayed October 18th-23rd (top floor left at the back).

David and Shlomo at the Artur Rubenstein memorial looking over the magnificent Israeli countryside, standing on a sculpture which is a representation of a piano keyboard ...

Sue and Hava share baklava at an Arabic Restaurant ...
... with Shlomo and David.

Shlomo explains the delicate political position in Israel.

To the east of Jerusalem is part of the wall designed to separate Israel from the West Bank.

October 23rd-24th we stay with Ivy and Tsvi Kidron at the time of the Jewish holiday of Sukkot celebrating the Israelites’ journey from Egypt back to the Holy Land.
We sit inside a Sukka, which is a temporary shelter set up to represent the time in the wilderness. (Sukkot, the name given to the holiday, is the plural of Sukka.)

October 24-25th in Omer, near Be’er Sheva, with Ted Eisenberg in his Sukkah.

Ted, Polly, David, Sue.
On October 25th in the morning we spent over two hours in the synagogue celebrating the end of Sukkot with the festival of Simchat Torah. On this day the last portion of the Torah (the first five chapters of the bible) is read in the synagogue and, to convey the idea that Torah study never ends, the Torah scroll is wound back to the beginning of Genesis and the opening is read again.

David was invited to join in by carrying the Torah in procession and later Ted had the special honour of being chosen as ‘the bridegroom of the Torah’ to be carried on high in a chair with the Torah and to take a central role in that part of the ceremony. At the end, David gave the rabbi a kiss. Not a normal action, but seemingly appropriate in a conservative synagogue where the rabbi was a young lady who radiated happiness to all.
In the afternoon we visited the cemetery of those who died in the Great War in Palestine in 1917 including several from the Warwickshire Regiment.

In the evening of October 25 we took the train from Be’er Sheva to Tel-Aviv to stay (of all places!) at the Tal Hotel for a three day visit.		 Here we are hosted by Tommy Dreyfus at Tel Aviv University.

On Wednesday October 26, David presented a seminar on ‘Biological Brain and Mathematical Mind’...
... to an audience at the University.

... followed by dinner organised by the British Council in Jaffa, with Jim Buttery, Director of the British Council in Israel, Sue, Sonia Feldman who organised our visit, David, Caron Sethil (Assistant Director) and on the right, Tommy Dreyfus, with members of the HEMDA Centre for Science Teaching, including Dr Eitan Krein and Director, Dr Tehilla Ben Gai.

On Thursday October 27th, David leads a ‘Café Scientifique’ on ‘Smart Brains’ at the HEMDA Science Teaching Centre with a substantial audience who then discuss the ideas in groups and pose questions on topics of interest.

Lunch with Pessia Tsamir.
The three days in Tel Aviv included the opportunity of inteacting with so many more friends and colleagues including nine separate research consultations with graduates and the opportunity to meet old friends. Chaim Tirosh took us to dinner in the absence of Dina, who was much missed.

On Friday October 28th, it was time to take the train to Haifa to stay with Uri and Ya-el Leron and to meet yet more colleagues.

With Uri Leron by the Mediterranean at Carmel, Haifa.
The view from the house of Uri and Ya-el Leron at the top of Mount Carmel.

Sue, Uri and the panorama of Haifa.
With Nitsa Moshwitz-Hadar, Michal Jerushalmy, Pearla Nesher and David at a party at the house of Uri and Ya-el Leron.

On Sunday 30th October we visited Nazareth ...
... where Amal Rasslan (right) arranged a meeting with members of Nazareth Rotary. (More pictures here.)

We visit Shaker Raslan in Ibillin.
... to see his new house being built.

Then on to the Weizmann Institute where David joins Joe Redish, Michèle Artigue ...		 ... Victor Mayer ... Angelica Stacy ... and (not pictured) Naama Sabar Ben-Yehoshua, Maxine Singer in an academic review of the Science Teaching Department from Monday, October 31st to Thursday, November 3rd.

David and Sue join the President of the Weizmann Institute, Ilan Chet (right) and others for dinner (including Zvi Artstein, Alexander Rich, Mrs Chet, Mrs Rich.)
The review group (except Naama Ben-Yehoshua): Michèle Artigue, Angelica Stacey, David Tall, Maxine Singer, Joe Redish, Victor Mayer.

The Maths group ... Abraham Arcavi, Moti Ben-Ari, Michèle Artigue, Alex Friedlander, Ruhama Even, Sue and David Tall.
Dinner on Thursday 3rd November with Abraham Arcavi’s family before return to Britain on Friday 4th November.

Waiting at the Weizmann ‘San Martin’ faculty club for the chauffeur-driven car to the airport.
At Ben-Gurion Airport we were given VIP treatment through security with our escort who, fittingly, had the given name ‘Tal’. A perfect way to end a perfect journey through the Holy Land.
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