Sunday, May 12

Happy Mother's Day to all of our moms!
Our last full day, and it was very full...
We started with the whole morning at Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Museum. It was very sad, shocking, emotional and educational going through the museum and hearing and seeing the tragedy if the Holocaust. The chIldren were visibly affected. Then we shifted gears and did a fun activity (of course involving shopping.) The students were given money and a shopping list to shop in an Israeli supermarket and to buy the picnic lunch for our group. While at the supermarket they also had time to do a final major Israeli candy and snack shopping. After lunch we visited Theodor Herzl's grave and the national cemetery. Miriam shared with us the story of Theodor Herzl, the visionary founder of modern Zionism.In the National Military cemetery we heard about national military heroes like Yoni Netanyahu and Michael Levine. Miriam also shared a very personal story about a close friend who was killed in combat and whose grave we visited.
From the cemetery we headed back to the hotel. Some students wanted to go back to the Kotel one more time and a group wanted to go to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, so we added that to our schedule. Finally we headed off to a very fancy vegetarian restaurant where we had a delicious last dinner in Israel. Everyone was in a great mood and when we got back to the hotel we sat together with Miriam, on the floor, with maps to review our full two weeks of travel. We then finished up our Israel scavenger hunt and ended by sharing special experiences from our trip.
We are all so appreciative of the amazing job that Miriam, our guide, did, and Ohri, our counselor. They always went above and beyond for us. The kids also enjoyed our bus driver Benno, and I am sure they will share many anecdotes about him.
Tomorrow morning we get up very early to get to the airport in time. We have a long flight ahead of us and I hope the children are able to sleep. We will see you all soon!

Saturday, May 11

"Is tomorrow really our last full day in Israel? I wish we could stay longer!" This was a common refrain that we heard today. What a great feeling to see how comfortable and "connected" the kids feel in Israel. In addition they have all had a really good time with their classmates and the kids from the Kadima School of Buffalo. Today we saw some great social interactions between the kids as they played and relaxed together. They have really become a nice group together.

We started our day giving the students a choice of going to different synagogues in Jerusalem. Then we came back and Ohri and Miriam had some fun activities for us before and after lunch. Our free time was spent playing cards, eating snacks and watermelon and just hanging out. Next we went to play in a big park near our hotel and then to walk around one of the original neighborhoods of Jerusalem outside of the Old City starting at the famous Windmill of Jerusalem. Dinner at the hotel was followed by Havdalah (service to end Shabbat) and then journal writing before heading off to Ben Yehudah Street for two hours of fun, food and our last shopping spree.

Friday, May 10

What a full week it has been! This morning we started in a Soup Kitchen in Jerusalem helping prepare lunch that is served to 100 poor people every day. The students did a really good job and felt like they had done a Mitzvah. Next we headed to the famous Jewish market place in Jerusalem called Makhane Yehuda. The bustling market place is full of things to see, hear, buy and taste. The kids had a good time and then we went to a food court in a mall outside of Jerusalem for lunch. Everyone seemed tired from the busy and late day we had yesterday so we went back to the hotel to rest ( some kids even took a good nap). Now we are getting ready for Shabbat and to go to the Old City and walk down to the Kotel. It is always a very special experience. We'll have a late Shabbat dinner so we have time to really see and experience Shabbat at the Wall. Shabbat Shalom to everyone!

Student impression

Olivia D

The part of the trip that I liked the best so far has to be the  kayaking. Even though I fell in the water a lot (sometimes on purpose), it was still really fun and really enjoyable!! It was so much fun,  I think it should have been longer though, it seemed kinda short  to me.

Student impressions

Now that I have a better wifi connection I can post some more of the students' impressions that they wrote a few days ago:

Andy:

The thing that I loved the most was when we went to Timna Park. All the cool rock formations and copper mines would get anyone excited, but the fact that so many cultures(such as the Egyptians) used the copper veins, is just too awesome for the mind to fathom.

Tzvi

The thing that I liked the most was the Dead Sea because I liked how you can float without doing anything. The thing that I didn't like was that it was too salty, that if it touches your eyes it will burn.

It's really cool and awesome!

Olivia K:

My favorite part of the trip so far would have to be the boardwalk in Eilat! There were TONS of shops and places to buy food. You could even go on a few roller coasters if you wanted! We went to the boardwalk twice and both times I bought an icee! It was really fun and coming from a person who doesn't like shopping that's awesome!!! This is a place the even non shoppers will like!! There were also tons of venders there, selling really anything!! 

Elia:

After climbing the Roman Ramp up Masada before sunrise,  we walked through the uncovered ruins of the palace that King Herod built. We prayed in a room that, almost two thousand years ago, Jews who escaped the Romans also prayed in. The thing that was different was that we have freedom and  hope for the future but they were surrounded by the Romans and had given up. We used the echo of the surrounding mountains to tell the Jews of the past that Jews thrive at Masada again. The whole Masada experience was amazing and touching. It was awesome!!! :) 

Thursday, May 9

Our morning was spent learning about and driving through the Golan Heights on very bumpy jeeps. Then we drove to a park for a picnic lunch. After that we had so much fun on our kayaking expedition! The weather was perfect, the water was fun and the kids and adults all had a blast! There was lots of splashing, swimming from boat to boat, and of course laughing, as we floated down a tributary of the Jordan River.
Back on our bus we headed to the Kinneret and had a delicious dinner and then took a long drive back to Jerusalem. The bus was filled with happy singing as we drove into Jerusalem and the last part of our amazing trip!

Wednesday, May 8

This morning we drove in the Galilee to the beautiful Lake Kinneret (Sea of Galilee) and went to Capernaum (Kfar Nahum). There we saw ruins from a large synagogue from the time of the Roman Empire. This synagogue is one of the places where Jesus preached. We not only learned there about the beginnings of Christianity in the land of Israel, but we also saw buses and buses of Christians from around the world who came to Israel to be where Jesus lived and preached. In our short time at this one site we saw large groups of all ages from France, Malasia, Ethiopia, S. Africa, Italy and Korea.
Our next stop was the city of Tzfat (Safed), the birthplace of Kabbalah (Jewish mysticism). Tzfat is also known for it's many artists and art galleries. We had delicious falafel or shawarma for lunch at then learned about Tzfat. We visited a special synagogue called the Synagogue of the Ari, we want to the famous Tzfat candle factory and store and had a chance to do some shopping.
On the way back to Kibbutz Gadot we stopped at an army border patrol on the Lebanese border and met soldiers and gave them snacks that we had bought for them. Back at the Kibbutz the kids had a chance to run around and play together. It's great to see how we'll they are getting along!