Day 11

May 8

We woke up at 7:30, that’s when we all discovered the tragic fact that this was our last day in Israel. And to top it all off, many also realized that they had gone bankrupt from the crazy, and even sometimes illogical, auction the night before.

            We headed down to Tel Aviv after packing our luggage into the bus yet again. After arriving, we entered a Reform synagogue in which we prayed tefillah led by Avi, Rachel, and Josh.

            The class walked back onto the bus and we drove off to the Palmach Museum where we learned all about the group and their push for Israel’s independence. We were able to follow some of the members of the Palmach and learn their struggles and thoughts. Directly from the museum the class went to a mall for lunch and had some time to walk around as well.

            From the mall we went to the house in Tel Aviv in which David Ben Gurion declared Israel an independent state. We learned how it was originally a house for the mayor of Tel Aviv, became an art gallery, than finally was the place where Israel officially became an independent state.

            After the short museum tour, we saw that it wasn’t raining anymore so, as any teenagers would react, we went straight for the beach. There we enjoyed swimming, trying to jump over waves, and of course covering Yaakov in sand and making him look like a mermaid. Yoni then took a picture of him sunbathing with Srulik, a puppet Amit and Nir gave the class to take pictures with in certain areas of Israel.

We then headed off to dinner behind a guy playing the violin in his convertible. After our last dinner in Israel, our Last Supper if you will, we located our bus and headed off to the aifrport. We then said goodbye to our good friends Dudu, Yonit, and Avi. After we entered the airport we shifted some luggage to lighter suitcases, not going to name anyone, Morah Amalya. It didn’t take much longer for the class to discover that our flight had been delayed, what was originally a 12:45 flight turned into a 7:00am one. So we have about an extra six hours to kill, just meandering around the airport.

Day 10

May 6 (continued)

            Last night we did a couple of fun activities including a game in which two volunteers had to have a conversation with each other over a random topic. However, they had to take turns speaking and their sentences had to start with a certain letter and continue on in alphabetical order. We also played games in which two people would be put into a situation and take random phrases from Dudu’s hat and use them in the conversation’s context. Someone, when being left at the altar said, “Like I always say, ‘The tree is small looking compared to the mountain.” After Dudu’s games, we had some free time at a small park and then went to bed.

May 7

Today we woke up at 7:30, bright and early as usual and went to our tefillah. Today, however, there was a special type of tefillah in which each student found their individual space and found a prayer that was most meaningful to them.  Some of the things people wrote included: “This has been the best trip of my life”, “This is our home, forever”, “The Israel trip made me realize how important the things that God gives us are, and how important it is to have unity among the community”, “… in the Shema, it is written, ישראל שמע, which made me realize that God is in all of Israel, which means He is in all of us. Especially now that we have seen the best of the best of Israel, God is closer to us, or at least me, than ever.”  Some people even wrote poems: “Trees laden with chirping birds, Kibbutznik pruning the bushes, Buses speeding by, Doors banging, Keys clinking, These are the sounds of the living, breathing Israel.  It’s the finely tuned music of Herzl permeated with the Jewishness of Ahad-Ha’am, They are the words of the breath of a people, They are the sounds of the beauty of Holiness.”  After this tefillah, which was obviously very effective we packed our suitcases into the bus and left Degania Bet.

We went west to a small village, Kfar Kedem, where we learned about daily life in biblical and rabbinic times. We dressed up in tunics and special head coverings and learned the art of ancient farming. Afterward we made pita over an open fire, which we all enjoyed with some Zahtar, and even went for a donkey ride in which there was a donkey for every two people; one would lead while the other would ride.  Before we left we all got official donkey licenses for life. We then began our drive, on a bus, north. (Oy vavoy).

After a very long bus ride we arrived at Rosh Hanikra where we went down in a cable car to watch a short film about the grottos and how they were naturally made.  We learned about a bride who was supposed to be married there but jumped into the sea and was never seen again. But that was just one of the stories, another one includes when Alexander the Great created steps inside to get his army through to modern day Israel. After the film we went into the grottos and explored them. We also saw where Israel and Lebanon border each other then headed back on the road.

About an hour later we arrive at Caesarea, an ancient city built by Herod the Great. We learned how it was originally Herod’s city but went through multiple periods of different rulerships. After an educational film (and ice cream of course) the class headed back on the bus for our short ride to our new hotel.

We made a short stop at a supermarket where kids bought all kinds of goodies for home, including a lot of chocolate spread!  Then, we arrived at the hotel and ate dinner immediately. After dinner we went downstairs and Morah Amalya showed us a PowerPoint presentation of photos about us since we have been at Ezra. It was a truly amazing piece of our histories. She worked so hard to make it, and we laughed and cried all at the same time. It was weird to see ourselves when we were in kindergarten.

Then Rachel and Yaakov led the tikun olam auction. Each student had to buy one small item for the auction. The staff also donated some items. Morah Amalya and Rabbi Amanda are waking up the room that donated the least amount, by singing a song and other stuff (more about that tomorrow). Dudu donated his dubi and hat, Avi donated a drawing, which Kayla won and Yonit donated her huge Hebrew hammer. The bidding was very intense. Yaakov was an excellent auctioneer (obviously not as good as Stuart), and Rachel was a superb cashier (although not as good as Ali). In any case, it’s hard to describe what really happened, but let’s just say our class raised a lot of money. We voted to send the money to the Emunah Center. It was an incredible evening.

Day 9

             Today we all woke up at 6:30 after staying up late last night celebrating Yom Haatzmaut in Tiberias.  We woke up and trudged over to tefillah. Tefillah was a little long, but spirited, led by Avi, Yaakov, and Julia. Yaakov, Ben and Avi read Torah from the reading for Yom Ha’atzmaut, we headed over to breakfast where many of us once again enjoyed “the wonders of the hot chocolate machine,” as expressed in yesterday’s blog. We just can’t stop talking about that.

            After a brief breakfast, we took a drive to the Israeli air force base where we met up with last year’s emissaries, Assaf and Yuval. We toured the base, met with its commander and viewed all types of planes, helicopters, and jets (Oh my!). There was also a fascinating air show where we saw F16s. It was also very interesting to see the actual “Iron Dome.” It was a once in a lifetime experience that won’t be forgotten.

            After looking through the air base and saying goodbye to our old friends, the class took a rather lengthy bus ride in which Avi was screaming most of the way (not an uncommon phenomenon.) When arriving at Kfar Blum we went rafting on the Jordan River. We divided into groups of four and went on our way through the rapids. Also, we, very proudly, were able to push Morah Amalya over into the river. However, she would like us to mention how she put up a big fight. There is quite a list of kids who went over the edge too: Rachel, Ben, Zachary (great job, Rabbi Amanda), Yaakov, Yoni, and Julia. In fact, Morah Amalya’s raft, the Tamale Trolley, all went down.

            We then took another long bus ride back to our hotel. During this drive most of the students slept while others took a more unique approach and sang songs the whole ride home. (Thanks, Avi, Jennifer, Yaakov, Josh and Ben.) Well, actually they defined it as “singing” while some of us characterized it more as “noise.”

Yom Ha'Atzmaut 2014 video

Day 8

Today we woke up at seven-thirty, some of us more ready to start our day than others.  It was a very solemn morning because today was Yom Hazikaron.  After we got up we had a very meaningful tefillah, led by Kayla, Tatiana and Jennifer. We then left for breakfast where many discovered the wonders of the hot chocolate machine at the kibbutz we are staying at. Many went back for seconds and drank more hot chocolate than they ate food. (This was followed by numerous bathroom stops!)

            After breakfast we headed to a special event at Degania Alef (the first kibbutz, founded in 1910), for Yom Hazikaron.  It was a very powerful ceremony, especially when half the class nearly had heart attacks from the ceremonial gunshots.

            The class then went on a shopping experience at two separate grocery stores. Each group had to find certain items so that we could eat a picnic. It was pretty frantic knowing we had a limited time to find all the items on the list. It took us a while to find Bisli, but we did find it in the end. We then got on the bus and kept heading north, more specifically to the Golan Heights. 

            When we arrived we learned about how the Kinneret is extremely important to Israel because it supplies the whole country with water.  We had lunch right outside the nature reserve, made from the food we bought at the stores.

            Then we headed off to a bike rental place where we took a lot of bikes and a guide took us on a bike trail and told us about this area’s rich history.  This entire area used to be a swamp until it was drained.  That created many different problems in this area so many people had to come back to restore the area. Morah Amalya and Rabbi Amanda decided that biking wasn’t their thing, so they rode a golf cart. Let’s just say that a few other kids liked the idea and hopped onto the cart as well. (We might not have named names, but we have to-Ben, Jennifer and Julia (Sorry)) It was quite the sight. Half way through the trail, they got left behind and got completely lost and had to be rescued. It’s not that we snickered much...

            Tonight was absolutely incredible. We ate a feast in the kibbutz hadar ochel (dining room) and then headed out to Tiberias to join in the Yom Ha-atzmaut celebrations. It was a hard transition from a remembrance day to a celebration, but the bus ride helped us a lot. You will no doubt hear about the craziness of this particular bus ride. We haven’t laughed that hard in a while. We decided that we would do a “flash mob” when we arrived in the city. The first person we asked to videotape it, recorded the ground, so we had to repeat our dance, much to the amusement of everyone on the promenade. It is perhaps the most ridiculous “dance” you will ever see. We saw some not-so-spectacular fireworks, but then heard there was a Seminal concert on in the square, so off we went with Rachel swathed in our huge Israeli flag and we had the best time ever. We danced, we sang and then…have you ever heard of fake whipped cream? Well, Zach decided to buy some after we had all been sprayed multiple times by total strangers. Zach made sure that all of us got completely covered. We ended the evening with Morah Amalya buying ice-cream for everyone. The bus ride home was a tiny bit subdued, but not much-until we found out that we are waking up at 6 AM. There are a group of keeners who want to run at 5 with Dudu, but we will have to wait and see if they will actually run. We think not.