pretty little things: Birthright

Day Seven:

Tuesday morning began on a solemn and upsetting note after we spent the first few hours of the day at the Mount Herzel military cemetery. We visited a few specific plots, and heard the soldier’s stories; the whole experience was very moving. We then went to the Jewish Quarter in the Old City of Jerusalem, where we got some free time to wander around and have lunch on our own. Of course we managed to find the Hopdoddy’s of Israel, also known as Burgers Bar. Although the food was good, the whole experience was very American. I then got to try Israeli frozen yogurt for the first time, which was absolutely amazing. From here, we all went to the Kotel (Western Wall) where we had time to pray and put our special notes in the wall. At the end of our evening, we were given more free time to explore Ben Yehuda street. After dinner and a little shopping, we all made our way to a little bar that was blasting electronic music and handing out free drinks. Strangely enough, one of the bar tenders was from Memphis, Tennessee and had a connection with one of the girls on our trip.

Mount Herzl

Grave of Michael Levin, a very brave American who came to Israel to serve in the IDF

Burgers Bar (aka Israeli Hopdoddy)

The Western Wall

UT at the Western Wall

Day Eight:

Today I was diagnosed with the flu- yay. Needless to say, I felt terrible the entire day despite Ron’s sweet efforts to cheer me up. While the whole group was volunteering at the Spivak Center, a sports rehabilitation center for individuals with physical handicaps, I was in the corner trying to sleep off my fever. When we left the Spivak Center, we went on a nice walk through Tel Aviv to visit Independence Hall. Independence Hall is the site of David Ben Gurion’s monumental proclamation of the State of Israel in 1948. From here we made our way to the Jaffa Overlook where we were taken aback by the amazing view. Not only were we on the water, but the sun was just beginning to set. We walked around Jaffa, took a ton of pictures, and had some free time to explore the shops and eat dinner.

Sunset in Jaffa

Jaffa

Marina in Jaffa

Day Nine:

Thursday was a very outdoorsy kind of day. We began our morning with a hike in the Jerusalem Forest to the Sataf Spring. Unfortunately it was very foggy, but by the end of the hike we could finally enjoy the amazing scenery. Next we went to visit Neot Kedumim, a large interactive nature reserve dedicated to the flora and fauna of the Bible. It was pretty cool because we got to use a mortar and pestle to make our own za’atar. After, we got on the bus and went to take part in an active dig at the Beit Guvrin Caves. We participated in an archaeological dig and found pieces of pottery from over 2,300 years ago. When we finished digging, sifting and discovering, we went on a crawl through one of the excavated caves. This was thrilling but scary, as we had to climb through holes that were barely big enough for us to wiggle through on our stomachs. After a long day outdoors we came back to the hotel to hang out for the rest of the night.

Sataf Spring

The hospital where Ron was born, in the distance

Friends (kind of)

Everyone planting their trees

Ron planting his tree

Attempting to plant my tree

Coff making our Za'atar

Ron, the archaeologist

Sifting through our findings

Day Ten:

Friday morning we had a serious morning at Yad Vashem, the Jewish National Memorial to the six million Jews who perished in the Holocaust. We visited the amazing Children’s Memorial and the newly renovated historical museum. After spending the morning there, we went to Machaneh Yehuda Market in Jerusalem. The market was packed with locals, tourists and what seemed like every other Birthright group that was in Israel. We had lunch at an amazing falafel stand, ate candy from a small candy shop, and were filmed by a few British students for a documentary. All the stores started to close around 2:30 for Shabbat, and we headed back to the hotel for our Shabbat. After a candle lighting ceremony, I went to the reform service, and enjoyed dinner (well, attempted to…) at the hotel.

Yad Vashem

Memorial for the 1.5 million children that perished in the Holocaust

Shook in Jerusalem

Candy shop at the shook in Jerusalem

Day Eleven:

On Saturday we had the morning to ourselves to relax and pack. After Shabbat lunch at the hotel, we walked a few miles to the hotel where the other Texas Birthright group was staying. There we all came together for the Bar/Bat Mitzvah ceremony of the people who chose to have a Bar/Bat Mitzvah in Israel. We then had a few group conversations at the hotel, went to dinner at the mall, and made our way to the airport. At the airport, Ron and I said our goodbyes as we parted ways with the rest of the group. We took a train to Haifa, where we are now!

Finally! A few daily updates from my Israel trip so far. Please excuse any grammar errors, as I am sleep deprived and have limited time and wifi.

Day One:

We departed from New York City and traveled through Moscow. Luckily we were only at the Moscow airport for about two hours. Our sightseeing of Moscow consisted of snow, -5 degree weather, and jam packed smoking rooms in the airport. Needless to say, we were excited to finally get on the plane to Israel.

Day Two:

We finally arrived in Israel and drove north to Nof Ginosaur, where we would be staying for the next few days. The hotel, which is more like a village, is located on the Nof Ginosaur Kibbutz. Day two consisted of a lot of driving, unpacking, and an orientation.

Nof Ginosaur

Sea of Galilee

Day Three:

Despite being completely jet lagged, we woke up early and hit the ground running. It was pouring rain the entire day, and oddly enough, it had not rained this hard for this long in Israel in over ten years. Of course this would happen to us! The most exciting part of the day was the Jeep tours that we went on in the Golan Heights, where we climbed in the footsteps of the IDF soldiers. We even got a full history lesson while standing inside of a large Turkish bunker. From here we drove to Kiryat Shmona, one of my favorite places in Israel, where we picked up the seven IDF soldiers that would be joining our trip for the next five days. We then had some free time where we got to enjoy lunch in the mall and got to know the soldiers. We then drove back to the hotel (village) and prepared for Shabbat. After a candle lighting ceremony and services, we enjoyed a phenomenal dinner with four Birthright groups from other schools. We spent the rest of the night enjoying a few glasses of wine outside, and making new friends.

Jeep tour

View from the Turkish bunker

Lebanon in the distance

Jordan River overflowing

Our little crab friend

Day Four:

Saturday was amazing because it was Shabbat. My roommates and I spent the entire morning catching up on our sleep, and the rest of the day relaxing. After a nice Shabbat lunch, Ron and I went on a walk to explore the Sea of Galilee and the rest of the kibbutz. The views from the pier were absolutely breathtaking. In the afternoon we had a few Birthright workshops, and then ended Shabbat with a Havdallah service. We were then surprised and taken to Hamat Gader, a Talmudic period bathhouse which today is a modern spa facility. The bathhouse consisted of natural hot spring pools and showers.

Shabbat, playing on the beach

Hamat Gader hot springs

Day Five:

Day five was not only the most productive day, but my favorite day of the trip thus far. After waking up at 5:30 and checking out of the hotel, we made our way to Safed (Tsefat) where we went on a “spiritual search” of the city. After exploring the streets of Safed, we were given some free time to roam around the little market that consisted of local shops and contemporary art galleries. When we finished in Safed, we made our way to climb Masada, and luckily we got to take the “easy” way up. It was not until I reached the top of the mountain that I realized how beautiful deserts are.

After climbing back down Masada, we drove to the Kfar Hanokdim encampment in the Negev desert. The Kfar Hanokdim is a Bedouin-style “resort” where we enjoyed a ‘Hafla’ dinner and stayed the night. As soon as we got to the encampment, we put our stuff in our designated tents (yes…we all stayed together in one giant tent) and went to a “guest tent” to have tea and conversations with real Bedouins. This was absolutely amazing, and so intriguing- I have never been so intrigued by a culture. The Bedouin man spoke to us about their tribes, marriages, customs, and much more. After our talk we went to the dining tent where we sat on the floor and enjoyed a delicious meal. From dinner we walked as a group out to the middle of nowhere in the desert. In the dark we had some alone time to think about our trip, watch the stars and relax. After coming back from the desert, we all sat around a huge fire while drinking hot tea, singing songs, and getting to know our Israeli soldiers.

Candle shop in Safed

Hamsas at Safed market

View from Safed

Standing on top of an ancient little building

Negev Desert

Climbing Mesada

UT at the top of Mesada, plus Ron and his Gig 'Em

Inside our giant Bedouin tent

Our Bedouin guide

Eating a Bedouin dinner

Day Six:

Monday morning we were all woken up at 6 am by the UCLA Birthright trip that was sleeping in the tent connected to ours- needless to say, we got off to a rough start. After eating breakfast outside, we all went on a camel ride through the desert, which was so much fun! We packed up our bags at the Bedouin tents and drove to Nahal David, a freshwater spring at the Ein Gedi Nature Reserve. We hiked the mountain and played in the water of the springs, while overlooking the Dead Sea. After leaving the mountain, we went to the Ahava factory, and then made our way to the Dead Sea. Here we had so much fun covering ourselves in mud, floating in the water, and soaking up the sun after so many cold, rainy days.

After the Dead Sea we finally made our way to Jerusalem. The moment the bus came out of the tunnel and we were overlooking the entire city was absolutely breathtaking. We went straight to Mount Scopus where we met up with the Birthright groups from other schools. We spent over an hour blasting Israeli music, dancing, and taking pictures of the view. We ended by doing the Shehechiyanu, and then I spoke in front of everyone (lovely) on behalf of UT about what I was most looking forward to in Jerusalem. After leaving Mount Scopus we arrived at our hotel in Jerusalem, which was a real hotel- thank goodness! We ate dinner at the hotel, had a two-hour session learning about the lives of our Israeli soldiers, and spent the rest of the night drinking wine with friends at the hotel bar.