We’re doing it again!

Whether this is your first trip to Israel or your tenth, a mission to Israel with your Temple Beth Sholom family is a once in a lifetime experience.

Together we will explore Israel: from the Mediterranean and the vibrant city of Tel Aviv, to the valleys and mountains of the Galilee and upward to the city of Jerusalem, each moment will inspire and invigorate.

This mission is designed for all ages and will include both traditional tours as well as experiential programs for all.

The time is now and the land is calling us to taste her sweetness and experience the people and rich history that is ours.

I look forward to you joining my family for our journey together. For more information, see our detailed summary or check out the ARZAWorld web page with itinerary, costs, and full details

L’Shalom,

Rabbi Heidi Cohen

February 17th at 8pm is Israel Shabbat - Rabbi Cohen will speak about our trip and hopefully i’ll have a few pictures to show that aren’t so blurry We look forward to seeing all the Schleppers there that evening

In case anyone was concerned, we made it home fine last night. Don’t know about anyone else, but Heidi & I went to bed at 8:45 and slept off and on for the next 12 hours!

Happy (Secular) New Year!

Its been a whirlwind couple of days, so here’s some notes for me to use to
fill in the gaps later:

Services at Beit Daniel. Beit Daniel is the only Progressive synagogue in Tel Aviv. It is so popular that they have B’nei Mitzvah services every Monday, Thursday, and at least two on Shabbat mornings! The service was beautiful with a very joyful cantor. I had the opportunity to sing with the congregation. Turns out that while they were checking us out, they found my picture on the TBS website with my guitar and thought it would be fun to have me sing with them. It was a wonderful experience. The congregation is very warm and inviting and I encourage anyone in Tel Aviv to give them a visit.

Friday night dinner at Dan Panorama - talk about a meal! This was a multi-course, delicious Shabbat dinner. Literally from soup to nuts. There was no lack of food on this trip!

Torah Study with Rabbi Cohen - we took this final Shabbat morning in Israel as an opportunity to first sleep in and then those who were up and willing, do a little Torah study. This whole excursion has been one very exciting Torah study in that I took every opportunity to grab my Tanach and read passages as we traveled through parts of the country that were traveled by our ancestors so long ago. It really brings the text alive.

Driving Tour of Tel Aviv - our guide Chaim, knows the city backward and forward. Well, maybe not every bridge. As we approached one underpass we were not so sure the bus would make it. So, imagine if you will, Chaim getting out of the bus in the middle of a busy intersection and walking in front of the bus backward just trying to make sure that we would make it. Let’s just say, it was inches! We had the opportunity to see the University in Tel Aviv as well as the Hall of Independence where David Ben Gurion declared Israel a state. The city has grown tremendously over the years and it is incredible to look at this modern city in the middle of an ancient land.

Ayelon Institute - This was the first “teaching” Kibbutz where new immigrants came to learn how to work on a Kibbutz. However, this was not all it did. During the years before the War of Independence and before the British left Palestine, the Jews knew they would need ammunition. They acquired equipment from Eastern Europe that took over 4 years to get to the Kibbutz. Then, once the equipment arrived, they had to hide it from the British. The Kibbutz built their laundry and bakery close together, and below each was a huge hall about 20 feet underground, with strong concrete walls to help conceal the sound created by the ammunition machinery. Every day, 35 workers went underground through the laundry to create the ammunitions that would later be used in the war of independence. But they needed more help. So others were brought to the Kibbutz to help work the land but knew nothing of what was happening below ground. These other kibbutz workers were called giraffes. The noise from the laundry kept the secret and in order to justify having the laundry running for as many hours as they did, the kibbutz solicited laundry from the nearby town. The British even heard how good the laundry was that they sent their laundry out to the kibbutz that was deceiving them right under their noses. Today, the Ayalon Institute serves as a museum and reminder of the hardships that the people in Israel had to endure for their own freedom.

Farewell Dinner - Along with other congregations who were in Israel at the same time as us, we ventured out to a wonderful Yeminte restaurant for a rowdy and delicious meal. Did I tell you that we ate well this trip?

Leaving for Home…We’re off at 1:30 a.m. for the airport and then for our flight at 5:30 a.m. Thank goodness we left early, it took a while to get through the security. Some of us even had our bags searched because something set off their sensitive equipment. For me, it was a picture book of famous homes in Jerusalem. Others were sought out by the dog in LAX. Careful, don’t forget to take the apple out of your bags before returning to the United States. Boy can those dogs smell!

We’ll be getting on the plane soon, and I’m out of Internet, so this is
all for now - see you B’California!

We learned here about the financial backing of the Rotschild (sp?) family in the formation of Israel and some of the cities here. While there is a synagogue in Zichron Ya’akov with some history, we found ourselves short on time (see earlier post) and so went directly to the shopping and lunchtime

There was a pedestrian mall similar to Ben Yehudah in Jerusalem, but this on was filled with less tourist-y type shops and some wonderful artisan galleries and shops. There was a toy store there with all wooden toys that a few of us with children and grandchildren to shop for found some things to bring back in our suitcases.

Heidi & I found ourselves in a small cafe where we expected to grab a couple of borekas to go, but the mama-type running the store forced us to sit down and have a proper lunch with salad. She even tried to make us take the rest of the large salad we didn’t finish with us, but we had to tell her that we couldn’t take it on the bus.

From there, the last of our architectual visits for the day was to the Roman Aqueduct at Ceseria. This is a famous Roman city that is on everyone’s “Israel 101″ trip to see. It is spectacular to see both the ruins themselves, as well as to think that these were hidden just below the surface in some areas, and what else may be waiting for us to find later.

The Ampitheater in Cesarea is another famous spot to visit. It is still in use as a theatre - Joan Baez performed the first concert here after the excavation was completed.

Back on the bus, we then started the drive down to Tel Aviv. Some of us slept, but we learned a lot about Chaim’s home town and the differences between Jerusalem and a more metropolitan city like we may be used to.

More about Services and some pictures to add later…

Bit of a late start today - we had some ‘luggage issues’, but we got on the
road and made it to the gift shop Synagogue Ruins.

Tzippori is another city from Talmudic times, but is famous for a
mosaic floor called the Madonna of the Gallilee.

It was here that the people did not revolt against the Romans so the city
was spared. Yehuda Hanasi left the city and took the Torah, Mishna and
Gmara with him in order to help perpetuate the tradition.

The city was mixed with Jews and non-Jews. It is considered that this was
an early progressive community.

The house that is built on the site had the first indoor toilet! Talk
about modern. Then again, it was right off the dining room, and they had
no exhaust fans…

The mosaic in the house reminds us how the pesach seder was celebrated in
such a luxurious way. People sat around the mosaic on couches reclining
while they celebrated Pesach.

Then throughout the rest of Tzipori we saw more mosaics in homes which have
an average of 180 tiles per square decimeter (10 centimeters)!

Now off to Zichron Yaakov!

We’re having a great time and here at Kibbutz Goshrin we’ve met some other
trips that are staying here. We have discovered that we could have a beit
din with at least three rabbis at any time. We’re all traveling together
and having fun chasing each other.

This afternoon more hedonistic the hedonistic afternoon trip the Golan
there is the Golan Heights winery which makes wine under the Yarden, Golan
and labels.

We saw the bottling factory ans aging room with the oak barrells, but the
most fun was of course the wine tasting For those of us who had never
been to a professional tasting, we were taught about how to use all our
senses to ‘taste’ wine. (now we know why they ’swirl’ wine)

Since we know that we could buy this wine in the US, we decided to instead
buy wine to have for our own ‘cocktail’ hour - more on that later…

And then we had lunch - eating again… (Scott wants his folk to know that
he had a fallafel and we’re making him go to bed at a decent hour)

Now we’ve eaten, drank, and so now its time to shop! Teva, the sandal, is
properly pronounces TEH-vah and is a hebrew word meaning ‘nature’. Teva is
an Israeli shoe company that pruchased the patent to their manufacturing
process from another Kibbutz called kibbutz Naot. They make sandals and
shoes in Israel and the US that Heidi loves.

Turns out she wasn’t the only one since many of us bought shoes at the
factory store (to her credit, Heidi bought the ones on sale…)

Remember that wine we bought? We stopped at a market and bought some
cheese to have a wine & cheese party before dinner (what, eating again?)

Dinner was a nice cap to a great day - now off to bed. Laila Tov!

Some of you in the states might have heard that there is some activity
going on in Gaza and the West Bank, which was started because of Hezbolah
making some noise in Kiryat Shemonah. We are currently staying on Kibbutz
HaGoshrim, right outside of Kiryat Shemona. Just to reassure everyone,
while we are hearing some activity, we are absolutely safe. My, our
guide’s and the ARZAWorld travel agency’s ears are constantly listening to
news reports in order that we can change our schedule if needed. However,
right now we are not changing anything and we are in no danger.

As everyone on the trip are quickly learning, you can’t trust everything
you hear on the news inthe United States.

So now a little bit of what we saw:

While at the top of the Golan Heights, listening to our guides, we see two
soldiers relaxing against one of the old fortifications. Suddenly, the
radio calls out something and they both jump up, put on their equipment and
walk up to the top of the stone towers.

We’re watching this with interest out of the corner of our eye, but Chaim,
while listening to the radio, seems unconcerned.

Then about 5 minutes later, we hear a ‘boom’ in the distance, and again
another 5 minutes later. Chaim tells us this is ok, and is now explaining
that the Syrians are trying to agitate Israel and lebanon and others
involved in the peace process.

Later in the day we hear and even see (smoke from explosions) some military
exercises on the Syrian side of the border. We’re all very relaxed about
it now that we see its not such an isolated occurance. So you shouldn’t
worry either

Back to the trip!

This area has a history of being in contention between Syria and Israel,
but one pair of Israelis set up a coffee shop at the top of one of the
mountains purely for a tourist stop.

It is a wonderful view, with an outlook that covers Syria and, on a clear
day, can even see Damascus. Coffee Anan means “Coffee in the Clouds”
At the top is a old Israeli army bunker that is now available to walk
through, but also siloutettes of soldiers in true tourist-trap fashion.
In some of our real camera pics, you can see the backround behind us posing
here.

Chaim then took us on a bus tour off the standard tourist routes where we
could see active outposts, and anti-tank fortifications. He was also
searching for an army group training so we could get a chance to speak with
them. Unfortunately it was too cold and so nobody was out. We still did
get to see the military monuments to fallen soldiers that were
unfortunately very frequent.

Chaim says there is an Israeli saying that the ground in the Golan is not
brown from the soil, but from the blood of fallen soldiers.

Qatzrin is an ancient city from Talmudic times. This excavation was from a
period before 746 CEWe walked through a series of stone houses, belonging
to Rabbis listed in the Talmud.
Here is an example of an Olive Oil press., both for the virgin (first
pressing) using a screw, and the full press behind it.
#img2#
I found it interesting to see the old Synagogues built with Roman columns -
one usually doesn’t associate Synagague (not temple) with Roman
architecture. (sorry, I didn’t get a picture of that one)