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.