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.