Today we started out by driving from our hotel in New Jersey to my home city of Philadelphia. Our first visit was to the National Constitution Center. We saw a live performance introducing us to the ideas and history of the Constitution. While most of us thought it was cheesy, Billy really liked it and probably was crying during it. We spent an hour in the museum looking at the exhibits and understanding what the Constitution is all about.

After the museum, we walked across Independence Mall to see the Liberty Bell as well as Independence Hall, where the Declaration of Independence and Constitution were debated and signed.

We then walked to South Street and had time to shop and eat lunch. I got to see my parents and dog as well as got a Philly classic…the cheese steak.

After free time, we walked over to Ben Franklin’s house where Billy told us it was the most technologically advanced museum around….he was a little confused as it may have been when he saw it as a kid in the 1970s, as it was very old school. Unfortunately, the actor who usually walks around dressed as Ben Franklin was not there.

We then stopped by Ben Franklin’s grave and then got on the bus to go to Baltimore. We did make one more stop on the way out of town. We pulled up to the Philadelphia Art Museum and Billy started playing the theme to the movie “Rocky” as we were able to run off the bus and up the famous steps.

Our first stop in Baltimore was at the offices of the Baltimore Jewish Times where editor Neil Rubin spoke to us about the responsibilities of a free and vibrant press, as well as being a member of the Jewish community reporting on the Jewish community. He had us discussing what we would do as editors of a Jewish paper by giving us real life scenarios such as a prominent Holocaust survivor is found to have fabricated some of her stories, or do you publish wedding announcements of intermarried couples.

At night we had free time to roam the Inner Harbor and have dinner. There were Japanese naval ships docked at the harbor and a drum band playing on the sidewalk.

After free time we drove to Washington DC and along the way, Billy showed us an episode of the West Wing, my favorite television series, that spoke about how our government works and some of the tensions of our freedom.

While being a tourist in my home town was odd, it was a great day.

Today we began our day in Philadelphia by going to the Constitution Museum. It was a very interesting museum as it was extremely interactive. We watched a live performance about the way our country was formed, and specifically what the first three words of the Constitution, “We The People,” really mean. The museum had many interactive computers with which we could see if we would have been able to vote in certain decades, view information about our states, and take quizzes to see how much we know about our country.

Next, we went to the Liberty Bell. This was very anti-climactic for me as we did not listen to a speaker and learn anything very important. We just saw a historical artifact. This was unlike anything else we have done on Etgar 36.

in front of the Liberty Bell

Our next historic visit was to, as Billy told us, a very high tech museum. It turns out he was joking with us and took us to a museum that was high tech to him about 25 years ago. It was at the site of Ben Franklin’s house and told us about him and how his life affected the country.

looking into the remnants of Ben Franklin's house

We had lunch at the historic Bourse and then were off to Baltimore. On the way out of Philadelphia, we stopped at the Art Museum to run up the Rocky steps! We had fun and some exercise.

In Baltimore we met with Neil Rubin, Editor of the Baltimore Jewish Times, who spoke to us about the First Amendment and issues of Freedom of the Press. We spoke about whether we should write articles that affect people negatively. For example, if a story is news but it also ruins a person’s reputation, and on a larger scale hurts the Jewish People’s image, should a Jewish paper run the story? Although some of our opinions differed, most of us were strongly in favor of freedom of the press in all cases.

Neil Rubin of the Baltimore Jewish Times

We then went to dinner at the Inner Harbor and made our way to Washington DC. During this drive, we watched a special episode of “The West Wing” which spoke about the way our government works. The show was very good.

When we arrived in DC, we ate cake to celebrate Brian’s birthday. Finally, we went to sleep so we could get ready for the final city on our journey.

We started the day with one of the best breakfasts of the trip. We had heard about it from the lady at the front desk but, in the morning, when Billy told us to hurry up and not miss it we took it seriously.

Our first stop of the day was the Constitution Museum. After being greeted by someone who is clearly a morning person, we went into the theater to see what Billy called a “mind boggling” experience. His passion touched me. I could see how much this play means to him. It was cheesy as we had anticipated but still pretty phenomenal. They walked us through America’s history starting with colonization and ending with current events. It was interesting to see the development of checks and balances as well as their modern applications.

When we exited the theater, Billy introduced our theme for the final days. The preamble of the Constitution was on the wall and Billy pointed out the words, “a more perfect union.” The point of these words is that while the United States can’t ever be perfect, we should always strive for perfection. He then let us go through the museum.

The museum is very high tech. It is a circular exhibit with the history on the outside and interactive political activities on the inside. There were such things as voting for president and passing a bill, so everyone was entertained. The exhibit concludes with a collection of bronze statues of all the signers of the Constitution. We all “signed the Constitution” and then went to the gift shop.

From there we walked to the Liberty Bell. Ezra taught us about its origins. It was originally rung to announce big occasions and it’s last usage was in 1846 on George Washington’s birthday. It was an important symbol during the Civil War because of the quote from Leviticus, “proclaim liberty throughout the land unto all its inhabitants.”

We then had a speedy version of the other Philadelphia landmarks such as Independence Hall, Ben Franklin’s house which was not the high tech museum Billy said it would be but, rather, a museum built in the 70s that has not been updated since.

We then passed by some Jewish landmarks such as Mikveh Israel Synagogue. This was one of the first Sephardic synagogues in America. They had a memorial dedicated to Jonathan Netanyahu. He went to school in Philadelphia and then moved to Israel. On July 4^th, 1976, when hijackers attacked a commercial jet, they landed it in Uganda and separated the Jewish and Israeli passengers from the others. Israel put together a rescue mission in which only one Israeli soldier, Jonathan Netanyahu, and one hostage was killed.

We also visited a sign explaining Haym Salomon, a Jewish person who helped fund the Revolutionary War. Our final stop was at Ben Franklin’s grave.

Carlton drove us to the Reading Terminal Market for lunch. It is full of stalls with just about every food you can imagine.

On the way out of Philadelphia, Billy gave us a driving tour of the rest of the city. Naturally we couldn’t leave without racing up the steps at the Art Museum famous from the “Rocky” movies. Adam Nesenoff won the race and then we were on our way to Baltimore.

As soon as we landed in Baltimore to the tune of “Good Morning Baltimore,” we headed to a meeting with Neil Rubin, editor of the Baltimore Jewish Times. He began by introducing journalistic dilemmas that we debated. He introduced the idea of self censorship, which led into a discussion about which stories are newsworthy. In the true life case presented, an inspirational Holocaust survivor’s story was exposed as a fabrication, so we argued about whether or not it was necessary to expose such an inspiring figure. Neil believes that all good newspapers create debate. He also acknowledged the need to change with the times, meaning he knows most print will become electronic. He believes it is important to read multiple sources on every topic so as to better understand the situation.

After this riveting debate, which continued outside of the conference room, we went to the Baltimore Inner Harbor. There we were able to walk around and have dinner. Afterwards, we drove to our hotel in Washington DC to rest up for some upcoming packed days. Overall, today was a nice combination of meetings, free time, and good food.

Tuesday was fun, we left the hotel and headed straight to Revolution Books. This is a Communist bookstore. We met with George who is a member of the American Communist Party. George brought up some good points and though they were somewhat idealistic and flawed they were interesting.

We then left Boston for a ride to Philadelphia. During the ride we watched the movie “Keeping The Faith” which reminded us of our visit to New York. Once we got to Philadelphia we went down to South Street, which is filled with some funky stores and good restaurants. We had some time to explore the street and eat dinner.

From Keith Wasser:

Today began at 9 AM when we headed down to see the Liberty Bell in downtown Philadelphia. At first glance it was not all it is “cracked up to be”. However, upon spending more time around it, I began to realize what an awesome experience it was to be around such a famous historical artifact.

After viewing the Liberty Bell, we went to the Constitution Museum and met with Davis Terestky who works with the ACLU.

He explained the purpose of the ACLU and much of the law surrounding the issues of free speech and the separation of church and state. After this meeting we walked around the Constitution Museum and learned about the historical significance of the Constitution.

After this high tech museum we walked over to the very low tech museum dedicated to Ben Franklin.
Because it was close to 100 degrees and very very humid, we cut short our time outside in Philadelphia and began to head to Baltimore. Despite the heat, we stopped by the Philadelphia Museum of Art and ran up the “Rocky Stairs”.

We began our visit to Baltimore by meeting with Neil Rubin, the assistant editor of the Baltimore Jewish Times. He spoke to us about moral and ethical dilemmas that journalists face as well as the importance of the Jewish press, the First Amendment, freedom and responsibility of the press.

We then went to the Inner Harbor of Baltimore where we had time to wander around and have dinner. After dinner, we got on the bus and headed for Washington DC. When we got to the hotel we were all tired and went straight to bed.