With the congregation, I got to see many of the more touristy sites that I had been saving for this time during our stay. Here is a chronicle of the TBA congregational trip to Israel 2023.
The night before the official start of the trip, several staff and a few congregants got to eat together on Ben Yehuda Street. We had Mark's favorite
, or another sandwich. From the staff we had Joe and his girlfriend Kim, Ann and her husband John, Rachel and her child Jayden, Virginia, Josh, and Amanda. Kelsi came without her two sons that were on the trip with her; they stayed at the hotel. It was so wonderful to welcome them all here to Jerusalem!
Day One began at the Ibis hotel where the staff stayed for one night. Unfortunately, we were a little late for everything. A little late to meet the bus, then the bus took a little while to arrive, then the people meeting us at the airport also ran a bit late. Some of our staff's luggage was lost, and though we checked on it while we were at the airport, it had not yet been found.
Finally, we got moving and drove to
Cesarea where our guide, Jonty Blackman, gave us his first walking tour of the historical site. We saw the big theatre and the hippodrome. Jonty's stories were interesting and educational.
Our next stop was the
Druze village where we learned about the Druze religion and saw the Druze flag. We were treated to a delicious luncheon there as well. I especially enjoyed the cinnamon tasting items.
We then went to the
Tulip Winery. We learned about the village and the work that the winery provides for adults with disabilities. I didn't partake in the wine tasting but had fun talking with a few of the trip participants: Treya and David, Sam and Sue, and Frances and Rick, while they drank the wine.
Last stop on the first day was the lovely hotel at the religious Kibbutz Lavi. We had a yummy buffet dinner there and enjoyed the spaciousness of the very large rooms. At the dinner I sat with Reuven and Marcie, Sue and Sam, Maya and Jonathan, Marlene and Keith, Susan, Ann and John, and Treya and David. It was lovely.
Second day in the North: We started in Tsfat. We saw some sites, a beautiful synagogue, heard some more of Jonty's stories, and attended a glass blowing demonstration which was incredibly interesting and beautiful.
Sheva Bracha is a painter and glass artist. We spent time in her studio and saw some amazingly beautiful art. During the lunch break, Mark went to the the
mikveh, and I had lunch with Kelsi, Ari, and Asher at a vegan cafe called
Elements. The Gutkin family and Rachel and Jayden were also there. Before we got there, I purchased a spinach and cheese pastry that was delicious. At the cafe, I got a chai "ice cream" which was also delicious. The owners of the cafe had lived in Berkeley and we talked about how the East Bay was doing. To make conversation, he asked me "what do you do?" which led to a discussion of middle school math and education in general.
Our second stop after our morning and lunch in Tsfat was Tel Dan where we took a hike and spent time at a water hole there. Also at the water hole were some brand new IDF soldiers who were doing some team building. We saw one doing push ups at the edge of the water to dunk his head. One of them came to talk with us about what they were doing there but we were not allowed to take their pictures for security reasons.
The next stop was an amazing group cooking session at another kibbutz. We made shakshukas, breads, salads, and it was all so fun and yummy. They played music while we worked and made us do some Israeli dancing before we started. When we got back to Kibbutz Lavi, there was a lecture from one of the members of the kibbutz who explained what life is like on the kibbutz. Only a handful of us attended but I was really glad I did.
On Day 3, we started with a bumpy jeep ride around the Golan Heights. I was in the jeep with the Gutkin family and Joe and Kim. At the end of the ride, we heard stories of the Golan and were served some delicious watermelon. It tasted so good because we were so hot and thirsty. We stopped at an overlook that I had been to before on the previous congregational trip in 2011. We got to hear stories while looking out at Lebanon and Syria. There were bunkers there. Some were closed but one was available for us to walk through. It was small and rounded. I didn't remember that from last time. On our way out, we bought some honey and cherries from a roadside seller.
Our next stop was lunch at a big rest stop with quite a few restaurant choices. Then we proceeded to Sde Eliyahu, another religious kibbutz. Our guide was a woman from South Africa who has lived on the kibbutz for 23 years and turned out to be a long ago friend of Jonty's. We got to see where the preschool children play in "junkyards" and some huge Banyan trees that were planted for fast shade but became too invasive so most of them have been removed. We met a gardner on the kibbutz who is from Chicago; he's been there 33 years. To conclude, we saw the BioBee film and met some containers of bees, wasps, mites, and one other type of bug that I cannot remember. These are organic, all natural ways to control the bad bugs by introducing these good bugs.
Then we came back to Jerusalem. We first went to a lookout on Mt. Scopus where Jonty explained what we were seeing and told stories. Ari Bornstein also met us there and told us his lone soldier story of his aliyah and IDF service. After that we took Ari to our hotel for a minute, then to dinner at Pizzaria Flora on Aza Street. He was lucky to get permission to stay out away from his base overnight so he went home to Ranana to sleep instead of returning to base. We went to our apartment to do some laundry, then repacked and returned to the Dan Panorama hotel.
On Friday the bus drove us to the Old City. This was a special treat for me because Mark and I only have walked there! Our first stop was the roof at
Orayta Yeshiva which is always beautiful and meaningful. Rabbi Dardik met us there and told us his stories of the temple times. Next stop was the
Wall. People got to go to their side and pray for a few minutes. Then we saw the
Western Wall tunnels. Mark and I took the Bridge tour of the newer excavations while first timers took the tunnel tour with Jonty. In the Old City, we had lunch and shopping time and Mark and I got me a pair of small gold
chamsa earrings. Sadly, yesterday, July 26, I lost one. But I did enjoy wearing them here in Israel while I had them. Lunch was a ReBar smoothie but my chai flavored one was sadly not that good.
Mark led Kabbalat Shabbat overlooking the Old City next to the Windmill. Noa, Levi, Sylvie, Tate, and Ezra helped lead the singing and prayers. We had a nice buffet dinner at the hotel and then went to
Shira Chadasha for Kabbalat Shabbat services. About 8 people joined Mark and me at the service.
Saturday morning - Shabbat in Jerusalem! Breakfast at the hotel was a wonderful spread. Only Marlene and Keith, Frances, and Susan joined Mark and me at Sod Siach for morning services. There was a cute oneg there in honor of one of the congregants' grandfather's memory and included some beer bread which I didn't care for and sushi which I loved! We chatted with several English speakers at the oneg. Some of the congregants took Jonty's afternoon tour of the Old City, especially visiting the Christian sites.
At the end of the day, Mark and I hosted havdallah on our balcony. During the singing after the prayers, some people saw a shooting star! Sadly, one of the participants tested positive for Covid so he ended up missing a few days of the trip and only met us at outdoor activities. After havdallah no one wanted to go to Machane Yehuda with Mark so he and I went to the First Station instead. It was much bigger than I remembered from 2011. We ran into Joe and Kim there and saw a huge book festival there as well. We also ran into Yoni Swidler there on his way home from a trip or a friend's house. Mark went to Captain Burger and I got ice cream with caramel, rice krispies, and cashews. Yum!
On Sunday, we traveled to
Masada and
Ein Gedi and the
Dead Sea. It was very hot at all three stops. At the Dead Sea, I only put my feet in the water but lots of participants in the trip did the floating thing. There were only a few tears. The hike at Ein Gedi was very hot and even involved some challenging climbing. The water hole there was a lot smaller than I remembered and Jonty said that a rock slide a few years ago cut it into a quarter of what it used to be. We had some rest time in the hotel before going back out to Ben Yehuda Street and
Machane Yehuda for dinner at Basta!
Monday was our last Jerusalem day which started with everyone at Machane Yehuda and a walking tour of Nachlaot. We met a resident who yelled at us for stopping in front of her building and then ended with "enjoy your visit!" So Israeli. During mid day, most of the trip went to Yad Vashem. I was lucky to be able to take four young people to the Biblical Zoo instead. Our bus driver Aharon took good care of us! At the Biblical Zoo, Levi, Ezra, Sylvia, and Asher enjoyed walking around, seeing many animals, and playing on the playground. After all of this, we drove to Tel Aviv and settled into our Tal by the Beach hotel. I was very lucky to get to attend the
Batsheva Dance Company performance with Barbara. It was amazing.
During our first day in Tel Aviv, we went to the
Anu museum which was so well done. We then spent time in the Carmel Market and in the artists street Nahalat Benjamin. I picked up some very inexpensive jewelry that I haven't lost yet. :-) Finally, we took a graffiti tour through several neighborhoods in Tel Aviv and got to make our own spray painted record albums. Our day ended with a farewell banquet at a yummy restaurant. Our former congregants, Alison Hazen and her daughter Louise performed their circus act for us. They were fantastic.
We said goodbye to everyone and got a ride back to Jerusalem with JJ Jonah of Israel Maven whose team planned and executed our whole trip for us. It was wonderful, exhausting, fun, and interesting to have this special time with so many wonderful people from home. We really enjoyed ourselves. It was fun to play tourist in the city where we are living for four months.
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