There is nothing like Shabbat in Jerusalem. The entire city seems to be taking a
break. There are very few people on the
streets, most stores are closed. It is
as if the entire city is taking a collective breath. There is a peace that we just don’t get in Thousand
Oaks. It is a very different feel than
the Shabbat we experienced last week in Tel Aviv. I love Shabbat in Jerusalem.
As we wake up on our final day of travel together there is
an air of excitement as this is the day that our 10 students from TAE will lead
a Shabbat service overlooking the Old City and chant the ancient words from our
Torah. We have been preparing for this
day for about 5 months now, with individual and group practices to get them
comfortable with the service. We are all
exhausted from our travels, and some, including my poor Hayley, are feeling
under the weather (side note, today, Sunday, she is feeling much better). But even these illnesses will not get in the
way of our families enjoying perhaps the most unique Shabbat service experience
they have ever enjoyed. Not only are we
parents and grandparents bursting with pride that our kids are taking their
place as leaders, but we are also overlooking the Old City, and from this point
forward when we are in our sanctuary at TAE and Rabbi Diamond has us turn and
face east for the Bar’chu, Amida and Aleinu, we will once again be transported
back here to Jerusalem, and remember our time at the Western Wall where we laid
our hands on this ancient and holy stone, and our kids will remember when they
led services in the penthouse of the hotel where they turned and faced the Old
City. Incredible.
Of course, the first order of business was our traditional
TAE B’nai Mitzvah Selfie! This one,
without question, included the most people ever! And someone even got a photo of me taking the
selfie. That is a TAE first!
The service was incredible. All of our kids did a terrific job and did
their families and TAE proud! I was
unable to take photos, and I am trying to include as many of our kids as
possible, but these are the only photos I have received so far.
I am grateful that people chose to take
photos of Hayley as she read Torah. I am
so proud of her for being such a terrific leader, in spite of her illness as
she was feeling really rotten. She has
made me so proud every step of this trip.
Following the service, we all went down to a ballroom to
enjoy a celebratory Kiddush lunch which included a delicious cake!
After lunch most of the group went with Uri back to the Old
City to tour the Christian Quarter and enter the Church of the Holy Sepulchre,
followed by some more shopping time. I
chose to stay at the hotel and be a dad to Hayley. She really needed the rest. And to be honest, so did I! I am grateful to my friend Uri who was able
to take the group without me there to take up the caboose.
In the evening, we loaded the bus for the 20 travelers who
would be taking the first flights home and then we gathered with Uri to wrap up
our experience here in Israel. Uri
showed us a map and we went over each stop in our epic journey. It seems like more than 9 days ago, and we
covered so much ground, but Uri was quick to tell us that although our days
were full, there was so much we were not able to do. Who knows, maybe we would come back someday
together and fill in those gaps. But Uri
also shared that we got a realistic view of Israel, with her triumphs and
challenges. We learned to love her in
spite of her shortcomings and to be proud of her many accomplishments. I was able to thank everyone for coming on
this trip and allowing them to have experiences that would shape the rest of
their lives. I shared that we all need
to become advocates for Israel, sharing our experiences with the many people
who will undoubtedly have questions for us when we return.
Uri and I then asked the group to share. We wanted them to share their views of the
trip, a special highlight of a moment that they experienced, and what happens
next for them as they travel home. I was
so grateful to be able to hear their remarks.
Everyone spoke of how they loved the trip, and, mostly how they loved
developing close relationships with those in our traveling group. Some knew each other well before traveling,
others only knew people from our pre-trip gatherings. But all are leaving Israel with new lifelong
friendships. The kids, who at first separated
into small cliques, by the end were one solid group, and are already planning
to get together when we are home. The
adults are talking about a reunion party where we can share photos and experiences
together and remember when we were in Israel.
Everyone spoke about the importance of Uri, our educator. I cannot stress enough how incredible he is
as a teacher. He brought Israel to life
for each of us in our own special way.
He connected with every person on the trip, from our youngest traveler
(Eli, age 3 and a half) to the oldest.
Everyone is leaving Israel with a new friend in Uri, and I am grateful
for the chance to have worked with him again.
I hope to continue to build on our friendship and hope to see him in
Thousand Oaks at TAE soon. And I hope to
be able to experience Israel with him again, soon, as our educator.
After almost an hour of sharing, we did our final act as a
traveling family. We celebrated Havdallah,
officially ending Shabbat. But for me,
this was a different kind of Havdallah. Instead
of focusing on separating the holiness of Shabbat from the not-yet-holiness of
the rest of the week, I chose to focus on separating the holiness of this trip
from the not-yet-holiness of the rest of our lives. And just like we bring the sweet taste of
wine and the smell of spices with us to remember the sweetness of Shabbat, we
used these items to bring with us back home to remember the sweetness and holiness
of this trip. As we sang the music with
our arms wrapped around each other it was incredibly emotional for me. For two years I have worked on this trip,
hoping it would be a transformative one for the people who trusted in me enough
to come along. It was a total labor of
love, and I am so grateful for these travelers.
I shared with them that there were special moments with each one of them
during our journey. And I can’t wait to
share that glance at TAE, knowing what we experienced together here in our home
in the east. And… I can’t wait to start planning our next
trip. I encourage you all to consider a
TAE communal trip to Israel. We are
already working on a family trip for June of 2021.
And now, for Hayley and me, we get to go on a little
vacation to London to experience all she has to offer in terms of Harry Potter. The highlight will be Thursday, where we get
to see Sara Kirby and her husband Tony.
Sara is the cousin of Hayley’s Holocaust Twin, Hermi van Hasselt. We have developed a close relationship with
Sara through the years since Carly’s bat mitzvah (where Carly twinned with
Hermi’s younger sister, Sophia). It will
be so nice to spend some time with her and share about how meaningful Hermi
helped to make Hayley’s bat mitzvah. I
will try to update the blog after this meeting.
Until then, thank you all for coming along this trip with us. I hope you got a taste of what traveling to
Israel might be like, and I hope to take YOU and your family here one day soon.
L’hitraot Israel, until we meet again.