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Israel Day 10 - Wednesday May 10, 2023

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  After breakfast, we left the Farm and Guesthouse at Vered Ha-Galil and began the drive back to Tel Aviv, where we started our adventures more than a week before. The bus was quieter than usual as we were all thinking about the day ahead and ultimately having to say goodbye to Israel and to one another after an incredible week of touring, friendships, and learning.   But before we were scheduled to arrive back in Tel Aviv for an afternoon free, we stopped at a large elementary school in the seaside city of Netanya. It was there that we met with the Principal, Racheli Slater-Tzarfati, who was actually our guide on the very first trip that we made to Israel with a group of Grade 8 students from the Rashi School. Racheli was a superb guide, and once she married and had a family, she went back to school to get her degree in Education and then her credentials as a building principal. The Hayim Hefer Primary School in Netanya (Grades 1-6) has tripled in size over the past decade or so, a si
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Israel Day 9 - Tuesday, May 9, 2023

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Tuesday morning, many of us woke up to the sounds of birds, chickens, and roosters! It was a beautiful sunny day and we ate breakfast and boarded the bus for one of the most interesting and beautiful places in the north of Israel – the Golan Heights. We started at a magnificent and historic site way up in the north of Israel on the border between the Upper Galilee and the Golan Heights called “Tel Dan.” Tel Dan is one of the most important archaeological sites in all of Israel because a fragmentary stele containing a Canaanite inscription which dates to the 9th century BCE was found there. It is notable for possibly being the only extra-biblical archeological reference to King David. We walked around this enormous archeological wonder and were impressed by the huge walls that were used to protect the city of Dan and preserve the many archaeological treasures related to the northern Kingdom of Israel that have been found at Tel Dan over the decades.   In addition to the ancient area of
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Israel Day 8 - Monday, May 8, 2023

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  It is always difficult to leave Jerusalem. No matter how many times I have been there, and despite – or perhaps   because   of its continued tensions and complexities – I always feel a sense of sadness when I leave Jerusalem. There is really no place like it in the world. It is one of the planet’s most fascinating and challenge-filled “classrooms.” There is so much to learn there, so much to share with others, so many diverse people and opinions, such a long and complicated history, and so many narratives. It is impossible to absorb it all and while being there always feels stressful, like any relationship, it tugs on my heart long after I move from its physical space.     So, we left Jerusalem and began to head north – perhaps my favorite section of Israel. The north combines beautiful scenery and amazing archaeology and history. The north is green and hilly, with some of the best and most fertile valleys for farming and raising animals and produce. While Tel Aviv is a city to “play
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Israel Day 7 - May 7, 2023

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  Sunday was an emotional day of ups and downs. As such, we gained an appreciation for the residents of Jerusalem and the roller-coaster of their lives in this beautiful but highly complex city. We began our day at the quiet and lovely Mishkenot She’ananim in the Jerusalem neighborhood known as Yemin Moshe. Yemin Moshe is located just on the other side of the valley from the Old City. It is built along the hill and was one of the first modern areas of Jerusalem to be established outside the Walls of the Old City. There, until 1967, Jews had built this neighborhood, planted gorgeous trees, shrubs, and flowers, and gazed directly at the Old City which was part of Jordan. For them, it was a way of remembering the past and anticipating the future – a future that became a reality in 1967 as the Israel Defense Forces finally entered the Old City and overtook the Jordanians in one of the most incredible battles in Jerusalem’s long history – ancient and modern. We saw the famous Montefiore’s W
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Israel Day 6 - May 6, 2023

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  Jerusalem is a city made up of lots of smaller mini-cities. The more modern part of Jerusalem, where our hotel was located, was built and settled by Jewish immigrants who came to Israel in the years before 1967 when the ancient walled “Old City” was in the hands of the Jordanians. The Old City is familiar to the world as the birthplace of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The contrast between these two sides of Jerusalem is amazing: On the one hand, there is a bustling, contemporary, metropolitan area, and just across a beautiful valley it is easy to look right at the walls to the ancient part of Jerusalem known as The Old City. Jerusalem is set apart from the rest of the landscape – and most other ancient cities -- by its large stone walls which when the sun shines on them turn a yellow-gold color. On Shabbat morning, Saturday, we began our tour in the Old City, which is subdivided into four neighborhoods or quarters: the Armenian, the Jewish, the Christian, and the Muslim Quarters.
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Israel Day 5 - May 5, 2023

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  We have been so busy that I fell behind on the blog! So I will pick up where we left off!! Today we left the desert and our hotel in Mitzpe Ramon and headed north toward Jerusalem. The high temperature in the desert today was 96 F, so our guide changed our plans to avoid being in the direct sun for too long.    We began traveling toward Jerusalem and we were told that a “surprise” was in store for us. We stopped at a little neighborhood very close to the Gaza Strip and met a man named Yaron Bob. Yaron, who is also a computer teacher, lives right on the border with Gaza and Egypt, in the small moshav of Yated, where he has both his studio and home. When Kassam rockets are fired into Israel from Gaza, Yaron gathers shards of metal from the missiles and turns them into pieces of art, including Judaica, jewelry, and rose-adorned sculptures and candlesticks.   Yaron told us his story – his fascination with melting metal, his artistic aspirations, his desire to literally “turn swords into
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Israel Day 4 – May 4, 2023

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It is so easy to fall behind in keeping track of the things we are doing because there is so much to report! And, by the end of each day, we are tired from soaking everyting in! So I am going to pick up with Thursday, May 4. We woke up on Thursday morning in the beautiful desert town of Mitzpe Ramon to a very warm and sunny day. The Negev desert is in a short period called “Hamsin” – which is an Arabic word meaning “hot spell.” While the air was dry and gentle and there was a breeze, the contrast from Tel Aviv was amazing. No humidity, no city noise, no crowds. But because of the Hamsin, the high temperature was forecasted to reach 90 degrees – which is very unusual for the month of May…even in the desert! After breakfast at the hotel, we were prepared with hats, water bottles, snacks, and cameras for a predominantly ‘outside’ day. After all, that is what Israelis love about the desert – the beauty, nature, interesting wildlife, unique flowers and plants, and the unique colors of the h
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