Life
A lot has changed for teens on Tour
No planes, no phones, but a lot of food and souvenirs - that's what Israel Tour was like in the 1950s
August 2, 2018 11:53
By, Helen Hill
2 min read
No planes, no phones, but a lot of food and souvenirs - that's what Israel Tour was like in the 1950s
August 2, 2018 11:53By, Helen Hill
Teenagers on Israel Tour this summer will find it very different from the place I visited with a group of fellow students in the late 1950s.
Our parents didn’t see us off at the airport. Flying then was for more privileged tourists and we endured a tedious land and sea journey, enlivened by an almost-pioneer sense of anticipation. Most of us didn’t know anyone who had ever been to Israel. Our group soon bonded during the bumpy (even in July) channel crossing, on the overnight train to Genoa and then a Mediterranean crossing on the rickety “Artza”, which proudly flew the Israeli flag.
From the moment we stepped ashore in Haifa we embraced the country’s exhilarating mood. The population of the State of Israel had more than doubled since independence and we marvelled at the myriad mix of newcomers. Observing exotic-robed North Africans, dark-skinned Yemenites and pale-faced Survivors we realised that Jews could look very different from familiar Anglo-Jewry. Wherever we went we heard, (in broken Hebrew or accented English,) “This is our country, our home, no-one is going to persecute or push us around anymore.”
In Israel’s first years strict austerity rules meant stringent food rationing, but when we visited this was winding down.We feasted on fresh fruit and vegetables and tucked into new foods such as felafel, hummus and tehina stuffed into pita with lashings of Israeli salad made from finely diced tomato, cucumber and green pepper. Prickly pear Sabras, also a nickname for native Israelis, were a toothsome fruit.
