Wow, today was a really great day. I know I am saying that a lot, but I have to
tell you that each day gets better than the one before. Part of that is because by now I can sit back
and watch real relationships being created between the travelers on our
trip. The kids are all starting to
really connect with each other, as is evident by the group chat they have going
on WhatsApp (I am the only adult in the chat) that is constantly going off as
they talk about hanging out or going to the pool. It is also evident that in all of our dining
the kids are starting to sit at their own tables allowing the adults to make
special connections with each other as well.
It is really special. The other
reason that the trip gets better and better each day is because each activity
we do is better than the one before. AND
WE HAVEN’T EVEN BEEN TO JERUSALEM YET!!!
Today, we were sad to say “good-bye” to the Big Orange, the
beautiful and modern city on the Mediterranean Sea, Tel Aviv. It is always sad to leave a stop on the
trip. Knowing there is so much more to
experience that our limited time prohibited us from participating in. But that just makes the next trip easier to
plan! But, with that sadness comes the
excitement of the places we will go. And
today we leave an amazing place to go to end up at one of my favorite places,
the Hula Valley in the Upper Galilee.
We left Tel Aviv bright and early in order to make our first
stop before the heat of the afternoon was upon us. We wished Abby Berro a happy 13th
birthday by singing to her in English and Hebrew! How wonderful to get to share this special
day with Abby. I hope she enjoyed the
day I planned for her!
Our first stop was Caesarea, one of Israel’s most important
cities during the Roman Period. Built by
King Herod about 25 – 13 BCE, this is the first of many ruins we will be seeing
on the trip. With the backdrop of the
beautiful Mediterranean Sea it is a stunning site to visit and learn about.
We first went into the Herodian Theatre, an ancient theatre
that is still in use today.
Here, Uri set the stage for us to understand the importance
of Caesarea by going through the entire Jewish history from Abraham and Sarah
until 25 BCE, when Caesarea. He did this
in the most dramatic fashion and in only 6 minutes! We applauded his efforts and continue to
marvel at his vast knowledge.
We then walked around the back of the theatre and went inside
the site where Herod’s palace stood, complete with an outdoor infinity pool
overlooking the beautiful sea.
After pausing to take some photos of the beautiful scenery,
Uri led us into the Hippodrome, Herod’s personal stadium for chariot racing.
Often people ask me why I only work with Da’at and ARZA
World when I plan these trips to Israel.
In my experience (and I admit it is not a ton of experience) Da’at uses
only the best guides in the business. In
fact, I do not refer to Uri as our guide, but our educator. Sitting in the Hippodrome, where we could
have just looked at the cool ancient stadium, he challenged us with the story
of Rabbi Akiva, who was executed by the Romans following the Bar Kokhba
revolt. Rabbi Akiva was killed in this
very stadium, and Uri shared with us the details surrounding his execution. At a time when Judaism was outlawed, Rabbi Akiva
had the courage to continue teaching Torah.
Even when his life was at risk, he chose to say “Shema Yisrael Adonai
Eloheinu Adonai Echad” which meant for him a long, and painful public execution. But then, Uri reminded us that these were
ruins and Israel still stands. The
Romans are an empire no more, yet the people of Israel still lives. How many times in our history have people
tried to destroy us and, defying the odds, we are still here, stronger than
ever? It was an inspiring moment for us all.
Uri then led us to the beach and shared the story of Hannah
Senesh, who was killed during World War 2 after she was caught by the Nazis as
she was trying to rescue Hungarian Jews.
Thankfully, even though her life was cut short much too soon, her poetry
still helps to keep her memory alive.
Here, in the place she wrote her famous poem that has since
become a song that is more like a prayer “Eili Eili” Uri challenged us to think
about why we were in Israel on this trip.
He invited us to take a personal moment to ponder this after we, as a
community sang this beautiful song. How
powerful to sing these words with the seas literally crashing on the shores
around us. This is why I choose to work
with Da’at, because with educators like Uri we are constantly challenged to
look at ourselves during this trip, to discover who we really are, and who we
want to be. I am so grateful for these
challenging moments and was proud of Hayley as she took Uri’s challenge
seriously.
Following this, we boarded the bus and Moti drove us up into
the Carmel Mountains to visit a Druze Village for a home cooked lunch and
discussion with a local member of the Druze community.
My goodness, this lunch was AMAZING! Dish after dish was brought to us, there were
no empty spots on our table!
Following lunch, Mona, a local member of the Druze community
shared information and answered numerous questions we had about her
culture.
There was so much information shared, here are some of what
stood out to me the most. Mona shared
that prior to 1043, people who were not Druze could join the community if they
chose to. Following 1043, however, no
one could convert to Druze. One can only
be born into the community. And if you
are a Druze, you are unable to leave and become something else. The Druze believe, much like Jews, that God is
everywhere, and the reason they do god deeds is because God is always watching. Mona shared that they believe that there are
only 7 generations and then the world will end, and all will go to heaven or
hell depending on their good deeds. She
also shared that we do not know which generation we are in… The Druze believe in reincarnation, and
believe that the moment the body dies the soul is placed immediately into a new
body with a birth. For this reason, a
death is something that is not mourned.
In fact, there are no cemetery markers for the dead and Druze are not
allowed to visit the graves of their loved ones, with the exception of a
military death. The Druze also believe
that the number of people in the world stays exactly the same. This is just the tip of the iceberg of what
we learned today. You can imagine the
questions that we had! It was a
delicious and informative afternoon.
After this, we piled back in our bus and headed up to the very
north of Israel to the Hula Valley in the Upper Galilee where we would be
spending the next two nights on Kibbutz Kfar Blum. Our first stop in the north was one the kids
on the trip (and those of us who are kids at heart) had been looking forward to
sine the trip’s inception, rafting down the Jordan river. More like floating… There was one rapid at the very end of the 90
minute ride, but we did enjoy splashing each other and the other boats who were
floating with us…
Following a DELICIOUS dinner in the dining room, we enjoyed
Rokdim Israel, and invigorating and fun Israeli dance session with Dance Israel,
a unique initiative that offers exciting educational encounters and
multi-faceted experiences through Jewish and Israeli folk dance. We had the BEST time with this activity! Our three volunteers represented three types
of people who immigrated to Israel at different times during history, from
Yemen, Russia and Poland. And while
often the immigrants could not speak to each other because of different
languages, they could all enjoy dancing together after a hard day of work
building Israel. We all enjoyed dancing
together after a long day of travel in Israel!
The energy in the room was overflowing and we all loved the experience.
This was another amazing day, and there is so much more to
come. As I write this, I am looking out
my window at the view from our hotel room.
This is what I see:
Do you see those trees in the background? Just beyond that is the border with Lebanon. I cannot wait to share tomorrow’s adventures
with our traveling family. We truly are
becoming one big TAE family.
No comments:
Post a Comment