We have been having so much fun! We would like to recount some of the incredible experiences of the past week, so that you can share in the enjoyment of your child’s trip. After landing on Tuesday morning at Ben Gurion airport, we took our excited, but exhausted teens straight to Jerusalem for lunch and a beautiful shehechiyanu ceremony to mark the wonderful beginning of our journey. After concluding the ceremony we went to the Western Wall for the first of several meaningful visits. All of the kids were then thrilled to relax on the two hour bus ride down south to Sde Boker, the home of Israel’s first Prime Minister, David Ben Gurion. Our group pushed through their exhaustion and learned a bit about Israel’s history and then reinvigorated themselves with a nice dinner and shower at our accommodations. We spent the night under the beautiful starry skies of the desert playing games and getting to know one another. After a well-deserved night’s sleep, we embarked on a fun filled day packed with a short morning hike, afternoon water sports (including banana boating and rafting), and an awesome evening dance party on the top-deck of a ‘disco boat’ on the Red Sea. The next day was no less packed with a really fun (and very safe) excursion to a cliff for rappelling. Everyone enjoyed and some even surprised themselves with their abilities to conquer their fears! We then completed our desert experience with camel rides and an overnight stay in a Bedouin tent at Kfar Nokdim. The kids loved the authentic Bedouin food and the ‘chilled out’ bonfire under the stars. Educational discussions about Jewish identity were also a highlight of the desert experience. We woke up very early the next day (4 am!) to begin our journey to hike Masada and visit the Dead Sea. Our kids were real troopers and we made it to the top of the mountain by sunrise and listened to the song, “here comes the sun” as we felt the temperature quickly rising with daybreak. After touring the top of Masada and hiking down the snake path we led our (very) sweaty (yet, well hydrated) kids to Nachal David to swim in the invigorating water of the Ein Gedi spring. The next stop was the Ein Gedi spa where we enjoyed a visit to the Dead Sea and learned the ramifications of entering the water with any cuts or scrapes whatsoever. Everyone found at least a few bug bites that they never knew that they had! Lunch at the spa was delicious and followed by a bus drive back to Jerusalem for Shabbat preparations. Not a sound could be heard on the bus, as all the kids went to sleep almost immediately, as everyone had been awake since the wee hours of the morning. Our accommodations at the Kikar Tzion hotel in the heart of Jerusalem provided us with much needed showers and allowed us to enter the Shabbat with a wonderful excitement and delight. We all attended Friday night services at the Great Synagogue in Jerusalem, which exposed the kids to a unique and renowned experience. Dinner following services was a nice chance for everyone to slow down and catch up after such a packed week of activity. The kids earned some necessary relaxing time and really enjoyed it. The next morning some boys chose to go to the Western Wall with Eric and Adina and gained a lot from the meaningful trip. A morning educational program run by the staff discussed prioritization of services in a Jewish community and was followed by lunch, an afternoon in the park close to the hotel, and preparations for meeting with the Israeli teens in Ashkelon. Shabbat ended with a havdala service led by some of our very own teens. Saturday night free time on Ben Yehuda Street was definitely one of our kids’ most exciting excursions, and we believe many of them made some great purchases! On Sunday we began our mifgash (meeting) with teens in Ashkelon and have so far really enjoyed every second. We started with some games and a pizza lunch and then volunteered at an Old Age home. Some of our teens spoke in Spanish, French, and Hebrew with the elderly and quite simply made their day! There was dancing, arts and crafts, and some great conversation going on! The night was spent at the teens’ homes for some hang-out time with the Israeli families. Everyone is really enjoying our trip to Israel. We know that each participant is gaining from the journey, learning from their environment, and having fun as a member of our group. We hope to have more access to internet (our usb stick is being returned and we are getting a new one so we look forward to sending pictures and updates)
We are taking good care of your precious children. We are really enjoying every moment of it!
Have a great day!
Adir, Shai, Eric, and Adina
