May 3rd, Sunday, Day #13

May 3rd, Sunday, Day #13

Today we made some changes from our original itinerary and they were all great changes. We started our day meeting Rona, our new guide just for today, who did a wonderful job teaching and connecting with us. Instead of the original hike and cave experience we decided that we had had some amazing hiking and caving experiences already, but, except for the Holocaust Museum, we had not really visited any museums. We went to spend the morning at The Israel Museum and it was fabulous! Not only did we get to see the Dead Sea Scrolls but also the world's smallest Bible engraved on a gold plated silicone chip, the size of a small grain of rice. 

At the Israel Museum there were so many exhibits of amazing archeological finds. There were also exhibits about Jewish life- life cycle, holidays and synagogue- from Jewish communities around the world and from different historical periods. The Israel Museum also has an amazing model of Jerusalem from the period of the Second Temple (Roman Empire). This model was at least the size of our atrium and it was made from Jerusalem stone.

We had lunch on the street in a nice neighborhood of Jerusalem called Emek Refa'im. An important ending to our trip was going to Israel's National Cemetery on Mount Herzl. We walked past rows and rows of graves of soldiers who gave their lives to defend Israel. We stopped at the graves of some young heroes and dignitaries and our guide told us their inspiring stories. Some of the graves included Yoni Netanyahu (killed in the Entebbe Rescue), Hannah Senesh (a young woman soldier from Israel during WWII killed by the Nazis), Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin and the father of modern Zionism- Theodor Herzl.

Back at the hotel we finished our Israel trip scavenger hunt and spent some time catching up on journal writing. Dinner was at a really nice dairy restaurant with a huge variety of delicious food. We got our official Alexander Muss Lippman Kadimah  Israel T-shirts, designed by Jace and Eliana. We gave a big round of applause and cheers to thank our great and unbelievably skilled bus driver, Yoav, and our Israeli counselor, Dikla, who worked so hard to make our trip exceptional. Before going back to the room to pack our suitcases to leave tomorrow, we had a final activity with Dikla. 

Tomorrow morning we drop off our new friends, the Kadimah students from Buffalo, at the airport at 8:30 am. We have a full day planned after that for the Lippman students, until we have to be at the airport in the evening. We will be visiting Kibbutz Gaash, where our Akron Israeli Emissary, Ofri, grew up. His parents will host us and give us a tour of the kibbutz as well as special time at their Kibbutz spa with pools and hot springs. 

After lunch we will be going to a special "museum in the dark" for children to learn about living with blindness. Final stop will be a Supermarket for important food items (like candy and Turkish coffee or whatever other food items students and staff need to buy to take home.)

We are all sorry to leave Israel and to see our wonderful trip end, but we are excited to go home and see our families. We have so many great memories and have learned so much. We are all grateful to everyone who helped give our students this amazing experience, especially parents and supporters of our school.

We hope you enjoyed our blog posts and photos. We will be adding more student reflections and photos in the next few days.

May 2nd, Shabbat, Day #12

Our second Shabbat in Israel...could our trip really  be almost over? We have done so much in such a short time. It has been wonderful seeing our students and the Kadimah students getting along so well and becoming friends.

The students were able to sleep in this morning until 8:15, breakfast at 8:45 and then at 9:15 we divided into three groups and walked to three different synagogues, giving the students their choice of varied Shabbat prayer experiences (a Chabad congregation,  the Agron Conservative Synagogue, and the Great Synagogue of Jerusalem with its orthodox men's choir).  

After lunch the students had a great afternoon at a nearby Jerusalem park, playing ball, frisbee, talking, snacking, relaxing and socializing. 

Our guide, Maor, gathered us together and we thought back over our past 12 days and all that we did, saw, learned and felt. Everyone shared a meaningful moment and then Maor expressed his gratitude to our students for a great trip. Unfortunately, today was his last day with us, since he has to be at the University tomorrow for his studies. Our students also thanked him and we gave him a card and a gift.

After dinner we had a havdalah service and then walked two blocks Ben Yehudah Street, where we did some more shopping at the many gift shops and souvenir shops that line the streets. Hopefully everyone found the gifts and items that they wanted to take home. When we walked back to our hotel at 11, the streets were still full of people and everyone in our group was energized from a great day and evening.

Friday, May 1st, Day # 11

Friday, May 1st, Day #11

Today started with a morning hike down Sataf mountain to learn about ancient agriculture. We saw how they used terracing and natural water springs,found in caves,  to irrigate their crops.

Our next discussion was about the history of the Israeli Palestinian conflict. We got a better understanding of both the history and current situation, and it was clear that this is a very challenging and complicated situation. We saw, from a vantage point, the controversial security fence that has been built to separate parts of Jerusalem.

Next we drove to a beautiful look out spot for a great view of the Old City of Jerusalem and the hills surrounding it.

The Jerusalem Marketplace (Shuk) in Makhane Yehuda is famous for all of its fresh foods, baked goods, fruits, nuts, vegetables, shops and little eating places. It is an especially bustling place to be on Friday afternoon, as people finish up their Friday shopping for Shabbat. We joined all of the shoppers to experience the Marketplace (Shuk). Then it was a short walk back to our hotel to get dressed for Shabbat evening.

At 6:40 we lit Shabbat candles and then walked (35 minute walk) to the Old City and down to the Kotel. The Kotel was full of people coming together to pray and welcome the Shabbat. We had our own Prayer Service first, in an area of the Kotel that has been recently sectioned off so that women and mixed groups of women and men, can come to the Kotel to pray , either as a women's group or groups of men and women together (since the rest of the Kotel has men and women separated). It was a very meaningful experience to pray together in Hebrew and English and then to put more notes with prayers from students at the Lippman School into cracks in the Wall. Our Kotel experience would not have been complete without joining the men and women on their designated sides to hear the joy of prayer, singing and dancing- religious men and women, fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, soldiers, students and tourists all moving and singing together as they welcomed Shabbat in this holy place. 

We walked back to our hotel, enjoying the cool mountain air, and had a good Shabbat dinner.

April 30th, Day #10

April 30, Day #10

This morning we started with breakfast in the Kibbutz dining hall and then we went for fun rides in jeeps into the lower Golan Heights. We learned about the the need to have a secure border along the Golan Heights and the battles that were fought there in the Six Day War and the Yom Kippur War. The jeeps left us off at the foot of a stream and pools of fresh spring water that we hiked through to get to the actual source- a waterfall called the At-Tina Spring. The water was thigh high and then we hiked up the rocky mountain about a half mile to reach the waterfalls.

Our next stop was even more water fun. After a great pizza lunch in a park we went kayaking/rafting down a tributary of the Jordan River. The weather was perfect and the kayak experience was fabulous!! The students had so much fun! Many of the students were really looking forward to the kayaking and they told me that it surpassed their expectations. The water was not very deep or rapid and many of the students had fun "falling" in and out of the rafts, and of course there was lots of splashing and joyful faces.

From there we drove to visit the Israeli emissaries that were in Akron last year, Shirel and Eran. They live in a beautiful town called Har Adar, in the Judean mountains outside of Jerusalem. What a great view from the lookout point that they took us to. We could see Jerusalem and on a clear day, they told us, you can even see Tel Aviv. It was so wonderful to see them!  What great memories the eighth graders had of traveling with them to Montana last year and studying with them all year. We are so fortunate that our Akron Jewish community invests in having Israeli emissaries each year to help us connect to and learn about Israel. We look forward next Monday, to going to visit the kibbutz that our emissary from this year grew up in. Our final stop for the day was our Youth Hostel in Jerusalem. 

April 29th , Day #9

Today we spent up north in the Galilee. We started our morning at the Sea of Galilee, the Kinneret, where we visited two important Christian sites- Mt. Beatitudes and Capernaum. We learned about the history and life of Jesus and where the major events in his life occurred in Israel. There were many Christian groups at the sites we visited from all over the world.

Next we drove to the city of Tzefat (Safed), which is known as the city of Jewish Mysticism, Kabbalah. We saw 2 famous synagogues and we were also able to visit a candle factory and walk in the artist quarter. Tzefat is built on a mountain, so we walked a lot of steps, and it was a very hot day. The students ate some delicious ice cream and drank fresh fruit smoothies.

We left Tzefat and headed back to the Kinneret to enjoy a fabulous meat and grilled chicken dinner on the lake. After dinner we drove to the Kibbutz where we had some great free time before lights out running and playing ball or relaxing with friends.

April 28th, Day #8

April 28th, Day #8

Our Tel Aviv day was great! We started off doing a meaningful Mitzvah project. We packed boxes with food for 36 poor families. We did our community service in the city of Jaffa (Yaffo) at the Jaffa Institute. At the Jaffa Institue we learned about the issues of the poor in Israel and the many programs that the Jaffa Institute does to try and help the poor families in the Tel Aviv/Jaffa area. We dedicated our volunteer act of kindness (Chesed) in memory of Talia's grandmother, of blessed memory. At the end of our work time, the woman in charge complimented our group for our great cooperation and teamwork. She said we were the best group of 7/8th graders she has worked with in the past four years. 

After our mitzvah project we went to Independence Hall, Hechal Haatzmaut, and learned all about the history of Tel Aviv and the period of the establishment of the modern State of Israel. As we sat in the room, that still looks exactly the same, where David Ben Gurion, Israel's first Prime Minister, read the Declaration of Independence and declared the State of Israel in 1948, we listened to a recording of the actual event.

Next we took a short walk to a Pedestrian Mall called Nahalat Binyamin, where every Tuesday and Friday artisans sell their wares and there are cafes and an open market. After lunch and shopping the students did a fun photo scavenger hunt on the streets of Tel Aviv. 

Next stop was the beach for fun and relaxation in the sand and Mediterranean Sea.

Dinner was a real treat. We ate at an upscale dairy restaurant with delicous breads, salads, pizzas, two kinds of raviolis with cream sauces, pasta primamerva with tomato sauce, and three flavors of ice cream. There was so much delicious food everyone found something they could enjoy. 

Back at Alexander Muss we got our clean laundry back and everyone took showers 😉

All is well and happy with the Lippman group!

Day #7 April 27th

April 27th, Day #7

We woke up at the Sde Boker Field House and started off our day with a beautiful hike through the Ein Avdat canyon/oasis in the Negev desert. In addition to the amazing scenery of the canyon and pools of water, at different parts of the hike some students saw a desert mouse, vultures, ibex, and a chameleon. The second part of the hike was a challenging ascent up the mountain to the top of the canyon. There were some metal ladders built into the side of the mountain, which made the climb even more special.

After the hike we spent time talking about Israel's first Prime Minister, David Ben Gurion. Ben Gurion was one of the great leaders of Israel. He believed that building and developing the Negev desert was essential to the success of the modern state of Israel. Since Ben Gurion was a member of Kibbutz Sde Boker it was his wish to buried in the Negev desert by the kibbutz rather than in the National Cemetery in Jerusalem. We went to visit his grave and saw the magnificent view.

Next stop was a pizza lunch. I never saw so much pizza consumed!

We then left the desert and drove north to an archeological dig site at a Tel which is the ancient city of Maresha. We learned about the history of the Tel and then we went to work digging in caves, that were actually basements from 2,000 years ago. 

We found all kinds of large and small shards, handles and bones. it was nice and cool in the cave and the time flew by. Next we carried buckets full of the dirt we dug up and shifted through all of the dirt to be sure we didn't miss anything important. there were archeologists there to help identify and explain our "finds." 

After digging we went "Spalunking", crawling through a series of narrow caves by candle light. Yes, it was as cool and fun as it sounds! 

Our final part of the dig experience was seeing pictures and stories about the major archeological finds that have been found at Tel Maresha. We all got to take home real pottery shards as souvenirs of our experience. The archeologist who was our guide told us that we were the best behaved group of Middle School students she has had in her four years of working with groups! We love getting those well deserved compliments!

An hour an a half later we arrived at the Alexander Muss High School Campus, took showers, dropped off our dirty laundry and walked around the corner to the lovely city of Hod Hasharon where we had dinner on the street- falafel, shwarma, hamburgers, whatever the kids wanted.

It was a great day, only the students (and teachers) were disappointed we didn't have wifi in the dorm at Alexander Muss. Hopefully we will have it tomorrow.

Today we really had a chance to feel some Israeli hot weather. Tomorrow will be hot again.... good thing we're going to the beach!