A Relaxing Shabbos . . . Shavua Tov!

Ready for Shabbat! 

On Shabbat we went on an overhang of Jerusalem and prayed there. It was a beautiful and special experience for me to do Kabbalat Shabbat in Jerusalem. On Shabbat morning we split up and half of us went to the Great Synagogue, an Orthodox shul that was very big, and the other half went to a smaller synagogue. I went to the Great Synagogue  - and had a great experience! I loved listening to the cantor's voice and experiencing Shabbat in Jerusalem. It was a special feeling to be with other Israelis as we were davening and chanting prayers. 

Ariana Berlin and her friend joined us for lunch and told us about their experiences.  Ariana went to KBA, and after high school, she made aliyah and joined Tzahal, serving as a lone soldier (which means a soldier without immediate family in Israel).
When we got back to the hotel, we went to a pool. There was a big water slide and outdoor pool and there was also a gigantic indoor pool with swimming lanes which I swam in. I love swimming and I was so happy to go in the pool on such a hot day. I had a great experience swimming in Israel. I loved hanging out with my friends at the pool and hearing people speak in Hebrew. I had a great day and I am looking toward to another great day tomorrow!
-Aaron 

Missy:

Today was a fun day. It was our first Shabbat together in Israel. We went to בית הכנסת הגדול and got to experience a Shabbat service. The girls sat at the top of the synagogue while the boys sat on the bottom. It was very interesting to compare our tunes at Kellman services to the tunes at the synagogue. The tunes were not very different from our school tunes. The synagogue was very big and beautiful. It was also interesting to see how the Orthodox synagogue was set up.

Later on, to end our day, we went to a light show. The light show had to do with the history of

Jerusalem. It was at The Tower of David Museum- Night and Day. The show plays a 3-dimensional video of the 4000 year old city. It was such a fun and pretty sight to see. The light show was very beautiful and fun to watch. It was a very different but fun experience. Overall, I'm glad we got to spend our first Shabbat together with Ezra in Israel.

Havdalah and a trip to the Migdal David Light Show 

Reflecting on our Nation's History

Today was not an easy day, it was about the remembrance of those who passed fighting for this country or those who didn't get the chance to see another day. We first started the day at Yad Vashem, Israel's memorial to the Shoah, which was very hard to go through. After this sad experience we went to Har Herzl. On Har Herzl is a military cemetery, in which soldiers and important leaders are buried. When I arrived I was in shock to see how beautiful the graves were and how every grave matched with one another. We stopped at a few graves and talked about the person buried in that spot. To name a few we visited Yoni Netanyahu, Michael Levin, and Thodore Herzl himself. The one person that stood out to me was Michael Levin. He has forever been an inspiration to me and a person I have looked up to since the day I was told who he was. Michael was a boy who came from Pennsylvania and ever since he was a young boy he had always wanted to be a paratrooper in the Israeli army. Michael wasn't going to end his dream until it came true. He was determined and because of that he got the position he hoped for. There was not a moment where Michael wasn't thinking about Israel. He would stand by Israel through everything and anything.  I think what Michael would want people to know is to not give something up that you are passionate about and to stand up for what you believe in.

Going to Har Herzl was definitely one of the most amazing parts of the trip for me. 

-Jordyn  

An emotional visit to Har Herzl 

Jenna: 

The Israel trip has been a blast so far! We have done so many fun and amazing things, such as rafting in the Jordan River and going on amazing and extremely beautiful hikes. Today was more of a serious day though, where we all reflected on the people in our history that have died and died for our country (Israel). Starting off in the morning we all woke up at 6:30 so that we could make our way to Yad Vashem. For those who don't know,  Yad Vashem is the Holocaust Museum in Israel. Even though we have an extraordinary Holocaust teacher, Mrs. Friedman, we all learned even more. The tour guide Hershey (yes you are reading right, his name was Hershey like the chocolate Bar was so great! He told us all about Kristalnacht, concentration camps and the ghettos. It was so sad to hear about all the victims and the families that never made it but it was more than inspirational to hear about all the survivors. 

Later on in the day we went to Har Herzl where our tour guide, Ariel, showed us all the graves of the soldiers who died for Israel. Some of the most influential leaders of Israel are also buried at Har Herzel such as Golda Meir and of course Theodore Herzel himself. Luckily the whole day wasn't sad. 

We also went to a shopping center where I was in a group with Eran and Ronny. It was so much fun! We got Shawarma and Israeli Iced coffee (which is amazing and I have had like 20 cups ). This is just a funny little story,  but my group also stopped at the pharmacy in the shopping center to get some stuff and after purchasing everything we forgot it all in the store. It's so upsetting to think that we only have another week here in Israel. It's so amazing here!

Looking toward the future at Yad Vashem 

A Raft to Remember

Rebecca: 
The really cool thing about Israel is that every day feels like a week--and I do not even mind because it feels like I could stay here forever. 

Today, we went rafting in the Jordan River, which was quite the experience. I was in a boat with Sophie, Becca, Reena, and Chani. The river started out very calmly. I was helping to row the boat, when suddenly we bumped into a tree, and I fell backwards into the water! I came out unscathed and perfectly happy, but my water shoe, unfortunately did not make it. (Sorry, Mom!) All I can say is that it is in a better place now... That did not put a damper on the day one bit.  In fact, I became rather good at hopping. Rafting as a whole was so fun for so many reasons. I became so close with everyone in my boat and everyone else from KBA and Ezra. We kept splashing each other and going into each other's boats. The river and the area around it was also really pretty (I would use a better word, but honestly the beauty of Israel is so indescribable, you just have to come to Israel), just like the rest of this incredible country.

It was really interesting and fun seeing actual Israelis celebrating Yom Haatzmaut. I never hesitated to shout "Shalom" to any of them, much to the dismay of my friends, but I do not care because when else will I get the opportunity to be a really creepy tourist? ;)

For lunch, we had pizza. The pizza was really cool because aside from the usual toppings like mushrooms, olives, and whatnot; there were toppings unique to Israel such as tuna and corn, which I had never seen before. All of the pizza was absolutely delicious.  I

I cannot wait to experience even more of Israel, because I have been having the time of my life!

Jacob:
After rafting, we went on a water hike. We were walking on a trail that was covered in a few feet water, which flows into the Kineret. It was really fun when we were all splashing each other.  Later, our whole group played a fun game in the water.
After that we had a 3 hour bus ride to Jerusalem. It was really cool to see the beautiful views of Israel from the bus. We later arrived in Jerusalem and went to an overlook of the city at Hebrew University. The view of Jerusalem from there was amazing. After that we checked into our hotel.  We will be staying there until Sunday. The last thing we did today was an evening activity as a group. We spent the time learning more about each other and bonding.
Jerusalem is my favorite city in Israel and I have been really excited to go there, so I feel so great that we are finally here.

Overlooking Jerusalem 

Happy Yom Haatzmaut!

Blog from Debbie: 

Hey everyone! Today was amazing. The day started very early, 5:45 to be exact. Obviously waking up was very hard, but it was worth it. We prayed on a beautiful porch right outside of our rooms. It felt so good to be able to pray outside because we had so many reasons to pray, so many things to be thankful for.

After breakfast we went to Tzfat, where we learned a lot about a perspective on Judaism that we aren't very familiar with. It was amazing to see how big of a role Judaism plays in the everyday life of the city. We then drove to the Banias where we hiked for a little bit. On the way to the Banias, Ariel, our Moreh Derech or tour guide, showed us an inactive volcano next to the Syrian boarder. I actually didn't know that there were volcanoes in Israel. On the way back we stopped at the volcano and went to see a bomb shelter that was used in the 6 Day War. Ariel told us that kids our age learned and lived in bomb shelters because it was too dangerous outside. It was shocking to me because even as an Israeli I spent a few hours of my life in a bomb shelter, while those kids spent years in there. When we got to the top of the volcano we saw a beautiful view of farms and we noticed a single Israeli flag. All of us asked the same question; "what's after that?" The answer surprised me and everyone else. Beyond that was Syria, and the few building we could see were ruins of a Syrian city that was destroyed by the opposition and Assad's fighters. The thought of innocent children and people in general dying or losing everything really scared me. While we get a safe life in NJ, those Syrian kids are trying to survive. The whole experience made me realize how thankful we should all be for what we have.

My favorite part of the day was the Yom HaAtzmaut celebration in Tiberias. Seeing every
Israeli come out of their house to the streets of the city to celebrate the country right after we were mourning the dead soldiers was a life changing experience. It showed me that even though people fight and there are problems in life we really can get together and support this amazing country that we fought for so much. I am so excited to be going to Jerusalem tomorrow, and I'm looking forward to many more amazing days!

Kabbalah, Coffee, Commemorating, Celebrating

Blog from Reena: 

Although we woke up super early this morning, today was amazing. We started off driving the steep way up to Tzfat. We saw it yesterday from afar, from Har Arbel, but it was even better seeing it up close. The Hasidic women, men, and kids running around everywhere made the trip so much more spiritual. We walked around, following Ariel (our tour guide) as he explained a lot about Kabballah, and tried to make us understand more about the way some of the people up there live. The blue doors and railings were so cool to see, something that is done for Kabballistic reasons. We walked to the synagogue where Lecha Dodi was written. Lecha Dodi is a beautiful prayer and it was so cool to see where it was born. The columns, and ark were beautiful. The bimah in the middle was very cool to see, and I hope to experience some Tfillah in a synagogue like that. We walked down to the Tzfat candle shop and saw amazing, colorful Havdallah, Shabbat, and Chanuka candles. We found kippot, hamsas, jewelry and food. Someone was selling iced coffee, and even though I don't like coffee, I tried it - iced coffee is way better in Israel than it is in America because it is almost smoothie-like, rather than coffee with melted ice in it!

Then we drove down the hills a bit and stopped in Banias. On the way, we stopped on the side of a road to stand for the siren for Yom Hazikaron; we saw that everyone stops what they are doing, even getting out of their cars in the middle of everything, for a minute of remembrance during the siren. Afterwards we took a nature walk, and walked on wood stairs through different types of tree, including myrtle and fig. We stopped at bright turquoise water. The water was flowing so fast it was foaming and looked white. The rush of the water was so loud it was almost hard to talk over it. We walked back out and ate lunch and headed off to the dormant volcanoes that Ariel had been pointing out to us.

We slowly drove up to Bental, a former army base. Ariel brought us down to a bunker, somewhere that people had to sleep some nights. As I have never been in war, never experienced that, it was interesting to see how some people had to live for years, or for a portion of their life. As we stepped out into the bright sunlight, we walked  to the side of Bental, and looked out over the Golan Heights. We talked about a few of the Israeli wars and tried to understand them.  Ariel pointed out the definitive line of the Golan Heights, something we have been seeing on maps for years; an Israeli flag was marking the border here, and there was a United Nations checkpoint there. He even pointed out that you could hear muffled sounds from the Syrian civil war far in the distance beyond the border.  It was very interesting to see the place, something I have been hearing about, seeing about, and learning about for years. We were able to talk to some United Nations' guards, one from Slovenia, and one from Denmark. They were standing watch over the border.

We then went back to Ashdot Yaakov (the kibbutz where we are staying) to shower and change for our Yom Haatzmaut celebration/party in Tiberias. When we got there, there were already a lot of people with more coming, and it was already a mess with silly string, and live music playing. Dudu Aaron, Yuval Dayan, and many others including children were singing and dancing. There was silly string, and horns, and shops, and food, and thousands of people. It was so much fun to dance and sing with my friends, to window shop, and celebrate Israeli independence. 

Tonight I will go to sleep happy.

Swimming at Sachne (and Supermarket Sweep)

Blog from Emma: 

Today was amazing and because of that it put me in the mindset that every day is going to be just as amazing as today. We woke up at 6:15 am this morning (ugh!!) and by 6:45, our day had started. Breakfast was very good and very different to the standard breakfast in the States. Pasta and pesto, vegetables, pasta and tomato sauce and more. It was delicious. 

We then began our day of activities with an insane hike. We first did a small uphill hike to a gorgeous view point where we did our daily t'fillah. On our way up, what looked like hundreds of Israeli soldiers ran past us, it was really cool. From there things went "downhill" (literally.) From the top of the mountain we hiked down to the bottom. We had to climb down the steep walls of the mountain on the edge. It required teamwork and communication to guide one another as to where to put our hands and feet. We hiked to the bottom and it was amazing to look up to the top of the mountain and see what we had accomplished. 

From there we went to a supermarket to buy food for lunch in a "supermarket sweep". We split up in 4 teams and raced to see who would get their ingredients first.

From the supermarket we went to the Sachne pools which were absolutely gorgeous. They are royal blue natural pools that we swam in. There were little fish, huge rocks, and a stunning waterfall. It was incredible. We ate a pita, hummus, and Israeli salad for lunch and then celebrated Aaron's birthday with cake and watermelon. We then went to a children's home in Afula named Emunah where we got the chance to meet kids who were lucky enough to find a place like this to help them get through the tough times they were having at home. It made us realize how lucky we are to have parents that care for us and love us. 

We came back to our kibbutz, Ashdot Yaakov, and tonight we went to a service to begin Yom Hazikaron, the day of remembrance. We remember those who fought in the many wars that Israel has participated and their lives were taken doing it. We remember those as well whose lives were taken due to acts of terror. We thank all of the IDF for their service and the risk they take every day. 

Beet Picking and Beach Dipping

Blog from Becca:

Our flight left at one in the afternoon. It was a long ten (almost eleven) hours, so we were a little tired when we got off the plane to start another day. After getting all of our stuff and meeting the tour guides and kids from Ezra Academy, we drove up to Caesaria. Caesaria has beautiful ruins from Roman times. We got to see the Roman amphitheater and port, and ate lunch outside on the grass. Then, we had some time to put our feet in the water before heading to Leket. 

Leket is an organization that harvests produce to give to families in need. We got to be farmers for the day, and Jenna and I particularly enjoyed the experience, as we now go by 'Beet Farmer Jenna' and 'Beet Farmer Becca' (also Intern Farmer Reena). Our group was one of the few that actually got to finish harvesting a whole beet field. When we were done at the Leket Farm, we got to go to the kibbutz we are now staying in, Kibbutz Ashdot Yaakov. We ate dinner, and then got to explore the kibbutz. The whole group played games together and bonded. Other than some jet lag, my trip experience so far has been perfect. I distinctly remember the excited feeling the moment the plane took off. I am so excited for more amazing days, and hopefully more beet farming in the near future!