Israel Photos!

Thanks out to Steve for giving me a whole bunch of his pictures to include in the blog!  (and to Shlomo the photographer for some of the bat mitzvah pictures as well).  Scroll down as I'm adding photos to some older blogs...

After the service at the Western Wall

The four Bnai Mitzvah posing in Yafo

Giving Rebecca her parent's blessing..

All the proud bnai mitzvah parents (and grandparents)

The four bnai mitzvah during the service..

Kfar Blum to Tel Aviv

The last day of our group tour.  We packed up, moved out of the room, enjoyed breakfast and then started the long drive to Tel Aviv.

We stopped first in Tzfat, where we toured a few synagogues, did some shopping, and ate lunch. We encountered a rather tyrannical, fascist, demogogic, (what else can I say) individual in one of the synagogues who first protested that 7 and 8 year old girls had ONLY their shoulders covered and not their elbows when they entered the synagogue he was working.  Then, he was quite obnoxious about getting us to give tzedakah money.  Then, and worst of all, when we were all standing OUTSIDE the synagogue, in a nearby courtyard, singing L'cha Dodi, which was written at that synagogue, he came outside and YELLED at us for disrespecting a holy place.  Our offense: having women sing alongside men.  If only I would have told them, "that actually wasn't just a woman singing, that was our rabbi."  Alas, better not to go there...

We did a little shopping, got some communal gifts for Rabbi Stacy and Irene, our educator, to thank them for all they have done for the group, and then headed back to the bus.

We stopped next in Caesaria and sat on the beach while the girls (and most of the group) took a nice ocean swim.  This was the place where Hannah Senesh wrote Eili Eili (Our God, we pray that these things never end, the sand and the sea, the rush of the waters, the flash of the heavens, the prayers of man.).  We didn't have any storms in the heavens but the rest of it was vivid and inspiring.

We headed into Tel Aviv and enjoyed our last meal (NOT last supper) together in the Yemenite section of Tel Aviv.  The restaurant was GREAT even as the surroundings were the worst I've seen in Tel Aviv (or Israel).  We took advantage of the rule that Havdalah can be delayed until as late as Tuesday in order to make our havdalah tonight, to separate the holiness of our time in Israel from the mundane...dare I say it....of San Rafael and Marin.  It was as meaningful as it was for us....as it was curious for the Israeli passerbys wondering who are these people, why are they praying havdalah with men and women together, and WHY are they doing it on Sunday night?  Reformim!

We said goodbye to our group, hired a taxi to move us and our 235, 435 pieces of luggage (OK, only 4 large suitcases and 7 hand things; but it felt like more) to the Crown Plaza Hotel in Tel Aviv.  We made a bunch of phone calls to friends and relatives as we set up the next two days before we head back to Jerusalem for Marci's Wexner week.

Lailah tov!

Rebecca delivering her d'var..

Shayna and Emma at the Kfar Blum pool..

Shayna and Rebecca swimming at Caesaria..

Kibbutz Kfar Blum

Shabbat shalom!  

We're at Kibbutz Kfar Blum guesthouse in the Upper Galilee.  It turned out to be a great shabbat experience; the guesthouse welcomes Israeli Orthodox; Israeli secular; and tourists from around the world; each observing (or not observing) shabbat in their own way.

For our group, we started with a grand buffet breakfast and then headed over for shabbat morning t'filah, in our bathing suits!  Rabbi Stacy led the service and Rebecca delivered the d'var she wrote for her (third) bat mitzvah ceremony.  

After t'filah, we all boarded the (shabbat) bus for the ride to the Jordan River and our rafting/kayak adventure.  We picked a six person (OK, 1 man, 5 girl/women) boat with Ellen and Sophie Levin.  We donned life jackets, a few oars, climbed into the raft and we were LAUNCHED into the river.

Alex, a member of our group from the former Soviet Union, remarked that the Jordan river was just like the Russian River.  We told him that ANY river he was on....was the RUSSIAN river.  :)

There was one rapid....err slow....on the river.  We all stayed in the boat (unlike our last trip here 2 years ago).  We also learned that they pump water into the river to keep the boats floating...and when we arrived way late in the day two years ago, they decided NOT to turn the water back on for us...leaving us to have to drag the boats as much as float them.

We walked back to our rooms after the river expedition, showered, lunched, and then hopped on the (shabbat) bus for a 75 minute drive to Rosh Hanikra, the Israeli/Lebanese border right at the Mediterranean Sea.  It has a cable car that goes down to grottos.  In high school, we welcomed an Israeli exchange student to our home in L.A., Eran Naveh.  We've kept in touch over the decades and he drove up to visit, ever briefly, at Rosh Hanikra.  I also got to gaze, from afar, at my kibbutz, Hanita, located very near.  

We spent an hour or so touring the grottos and then returned to Kfar Blum in time for a walking tour of the ...kibbutz...  We learned that the children are no longer raised together, everyone gets a different salary, most all meals are eaten in private homes rather than the dining hall, even the cherished communal laundry is gone as most people now how their own machines.  Our guide, a third generation kibbutznik, isn't actually a kibbutznik since she merely rents her house from the kibbutz, works in town, and therefore, keeps all her salary.  We asked the difference between a kibbutz and a moshav (which is a collective farm with individual ownership).  She said the kibbutz is almost now a moshav.

Having had a few hours break from the bus, we hopped back on again and drove to Rosh Pinnah.  (I forgot what "Pinnah" meant in English and learned it was "corner."  Then I remembered the Purim song, "Ha'kovah sheli shalosh PINOTE..." and it all made sense.

Since the trip ends tomorrow, we came back and spent the late night packing...

Tel Aviv to Kibbutz Kfar Blum

Today was another big travel day.  We, thankfully, were able to sleep until 8 am, then get ourselves checked out of the hotel and on the bus.  First stop, Caesaria, where we toured the amphitheater, the ruins, walked along the seashore that inspired Hannah Senesh to write Eili, Eili.

From Caesaria, we continued North to a Druze village on Mt. Carmel where we learned about the Druzim and then feasted on a Druze lunch (best Hummous so far!).

We continued North again; this time to the Golan Heights where we hopped in jeeps and rode over the old Syrian positions, learned about the 1967 war, and about the possibility of returning the Golan for peace with Syria.

From there, to Kibbutz Kfar Blum and its guest house for Erev Shabbat and some time for the adults in the group to reflect on the experience (only 2 days left of the synagogue trip) while the kids entertained themselves with lots of games.

Shabbat shalom.

The girls at a dinner..

A Druze lunch with Emma, the newest Dollinger

On a jeep with Gene and Emma in the Golan Heights..

Tel Aviv

The debate this morning: is Tel Aviv in a heat wave?  Answer: No, it's just Tel Aviv in the summer.

We headed out for a family scavenger hunt in the first neighborhood of Tel Aviv (now 100 years old).  After about 4.2 minutes of sweating, our group (Dollingers and Jaffes) decided to duck into a restaurant for some cool liquid refreshment.  Game Over.

Until...we asked a simple-minded question of our server: Where is Independence Hall?  She looked perplexed, not known WHERE the Hall was located NOR EVEN WHAT IT WAS.  We explained to her, "It's the place where Ben Gurion declared independence."  She'd had no clue and went to ask the other guys working there the same question.  They had no idea.  Incredulous, I walked over to the bar and quizzed these young Israelis on how it was that they could be raised in the Israeli educational system and NOT know where it was, nor even that it existed.  They shrugged.  With Noah Jaffe on the video camera, we forged back into the heat, stopping random Israelis to ask them where we could find Independence Hall.  If they didn't know, we asked them what it was.  If they didn't know that, we taught them and asked why they didn't know.  Most of the older Israelis knew exactly what it was; few of the younger Israelis did.  Oy.

In true (or semi-true) Borat style, we took ourselves RIGHT IN FRONT on Independence Hall and started asking Israelis right there if they'd heard of it :)    (They had though they couldn't recall the last time they went in).

We toured the Hall and it was quite impactful for those in our group, especially as the assembled group of tourists began to sing Hatkivah spontaneously when the original 1948 recording of the Israel orchestra was played.  Noah is making a movie of the interviews if you're interested...

We spent the afternoon in the cool air conditioning of the hotel, catching up on email, blog, and sleep.  Yeah.

In the evening, we head to Yafo, where we spent some time in the Shook, eating some baked goods from Abulafia (sp?), and then headed to "The Old Man and the Sea" for an immense dinner.

Two years ago, we attended a concert by Mayumana with David Broza.  This time, it was just Mayumana.  For an hour and a half, we experienced the Israeli version of Stomp (but with music and singing as well as dance).  It was spectacular....and the curtain call had the 10 cast members, drums in hand, just walking off the stage, out of the auditorium, encouraging the audience to follow them outside, where they continued the concert for another 15 minutes in the parking lot.

Lailah tov.

Sde Boker, Beer Sheva, Tel Aviv

A wise tour leader canceled this morning's hike at the Ramon Crater, given the feedback from a bunch of exhausted, overheated hikers from yesterday.  Instead, we stood on the edge of the crater, learned its geologic history, took some pictures, and got back on the bus!

We went next to the gravesite of David Ben Gurion and heard some of his story.  Then, on to Beer Sheva, which has grown quite a bit since I last visited in 1986.  We were invited to a pre-school/kindergarten for Jewish and Arab children, part of a program called "hand in hand" meant to create primary social relationships between Jews and Arabs by creating a bilingual curriculum.  The kids went to play with the Israeli children while the adults heard from the leadership about the project and its mission.  

From there, we went to the Ayalon Institute outside Tel Aviv, to learn about a group of young people who created and operated a clandestine ammunition factory in a basement of a kibbutz between 1945 and 1948. When we finished, Marci and the girls went with the group to the hotel while I stayed behind to conduct two more interviews, this time with the Rosenfelds.  Melodie and Sherman came out of Berkeley in the 1960s.  I was introduced by Irene Resnikoff, our synagogue educator who is along on the trip.  Little did either of us know that I actually studied Sherman's student days at Berkeley and I reported on it in my counterculture chapter for California Jews.  It is always humbling to meet historical actors whom you have described in print.  Fortunately, he thought I did an accurate job (and actually made only one mistake in over-crediting him for something).  For the SF and BHDS readers, he was the one who organized a "sit in" and a "pray in" at the SF Federation in 1971 to demand that it fund Brandeis Hillel Day School.  Special to Sam, Amy, and the rest from Advancement, I did give him an appropriate donor thank you!  Special to Cal alum..  Go Bears...and Sherman and Melodie were the founders of the Israel Action Committee at Berkeley.  (Special to those engaged by Reform Judaism in Israel. Mike Nitzan, whom I interviewed a few days ago in Jerusalem, was the first Reform wedding at Kibbutz Lotan and he sought, unsuccessfully, to have his marriage become a test case through the Israeli legal system. ).

Sherman brought me to the train station.  I hopped on a Tel Aviv bound train and made my way to the hotel.  We enjoyed dinner at Susanna's in Neve Tzedek with Stacy Friedman, Ellen Levin, and the kids.  Query?  Where did the shrimp on that menu come from?   Welcome to Tel Aviv!

Oh, yah, and one more thing...it's HUMID here.

Marc

Shayna and the children at the Arab/Jewish school..

Rebecca playing soccer at the Arab/Jewish school..

Marci and the other adults learning about the Arab/Jewish school..

Masada, the Dead Sea, and the Negev Desert

This was a very early morning.....yet another 6 am wake up call.

We loaded our suitcases and headed out, and DOWN, to the Dead Sea.

After a morning drive through East Jerusalem and onto the West Bank (ooohh,  aaahhh, big reaction from tourists on the bus), we made our way to Masada, passing the caves of Kumran on the way.

What can I say, it was HOT.  How hot?  VERY HOT?  Actually, for readers from the trip two years ago, it was VERY COLD.  Rabbi sighting.... Phil Nadel...leading a group up the mountain.    We took the cable car up the mountain and Maron, our guide, shared the story.  We were all melting (with all due respect to Elphaba).  Rebecca and I retreated to shade about halfway through.  

From Masada, we headed to Ein Gedi, where we were told....15 minutes walk to the spring; 30 minutes swimming; 15 minute walk back.  NOT TRUE.  Instead, hike up the mountainside in blistering heat, lots of kids, a few grandparents and one none-too-happy diabetic (that be me).  The oasis was...refreshing  (just keep all the algae and moss off of you) and the brought body temperature and tempers down.  Still, not much left in my tank by the time that experience was over.  Shayna did well until she decided to play soccer with an underwater rock.  Ouch.  We hiked back down, counting the steps, sighting the buildings in the distance, recalling ALL the water we had drunk all day, realizing that, yes, we really did have to go the bathroom....walk...walk...jog...jog...there's the building...pictograms are great (no need to read the Hebrew)...enough!

By the time we got to the Dead Sea, the Dollinger family went on collective strike.  Shayna has heat rashes on her body (not so good in the Dead Sea).  Marc was still way wiped out; Rebecca wanted rest and air conditioning.  Marci had blisters...  and so we sat in the restaurant.  When the rest of the group returned, we heard harrowing stories of a dead sea so receded that the hike there was compared to, yes, say it, the Ein Gedi hike we'd just completed! 

From the Dead Sea, we drove inland, through Arad, and then Dimona where we DID NOT SEE the Israeli nuclear plant, then on to a Beduin village, sort of... It's actually a tourist tent village created by Israelis to LOOK like a Beduin village, but it was way fun anyway.  We all went into a giant tent, sat on the floor (after a few minutes, I did, indeed, realize that there was actually no place for my legs), and they brought out HUGE amounts of really good food; salads, hummus, beduin bread, lamb shishlik, chicken kabobs, roasted chicken, blah blah blah.   After dinner we moved to another tent for some stories, history, music, mint tea and dessert.

Then, the bravery begins...a camel ride.

These are mean looking camels (are there nice looking camels), all tied together in a long train, two to a camel.  Shayna and I were together, which was fine until they said, "Get on the camel at exactly the same moment because the camel with try to stand up as soon as he senses someone climbing on."  On your mark, get set...

As Shayna and I held on for dear life, the camel jolted butt up, face up, back, forth, WE'RE ON! (except that someone from Rabbi Mona Alfi's group was bitten by one of them there camels and Shayna witnessed it).  She was quite scared and all my encouragement could do NOTHING once the camel behind us decided to investigate Shayna REALLY CLOSE.  OK, so close that the camel's head was at Shayna's waste and Shayna's mouth was wide open screaming.  We did get the handler to come over the keep the camel back from Shayna...until Marci yelled from the camel behind us, "He licked me!"  This, at least, made Shayna laugh.  We decided, Marc and Rebecca liked the ride.  Shayna and Marci, not so much!

We were back on the bus and off to our hotel in Mitzpe Ramon, a small town in the Negev desert famous for a giant crater-like formation.

While it was only about 7 pm, we just vegetated in the hotel room and caught up on needed sleep!

Marc at Ein Gedi oasis..

Marci (far left) at Ein Gedi oasis..

Shayna, Marc, Rebecca, Marci (four on right) at Beduin Village..

A Beduin dinner!

Jerusalem BAT MITZVAH DAY

This was a great day...

We woke up quite early, in order to be out of the hotel by 7:30 am so that we could be first in line at the Western Wall for the bnai mitzvah service.  By 8 am, we were underneath Robinson's Arch, setting up our portable table, preparing the Torah, and beginning the morning service.  Rabbi Stacy led an inspirational service, with each of the four sets of parents delivering blessings to their child on their bat/bar mitzvah day.  (For Rebecca, this was more of a Torah reading and less a bat mitzvah since her official bat mitzvah was in March.  For the others, though, this was it!).  Each of the b'nai mitzvah read Torah, one parent (Marc in the Dollinger family) from each family read Torah, and all the parents had aliyot.  In order to bring Rebecca's grandparents into the moment, Marci and I dialed them up on our two celphones, and held the phones out over the Torah as Rebecca read.  That was a pretty cool contrast between the Herodian stones, the Temple Mount, the Torah scroll, and the cel phones.  It all worked out well...and at 11 pm CA time, didn't keep them up too late.

We hired Shlomo the photographer to document the event for us and the other families.  For $250, he delivered a completed photo album to us at dinner that evening! Bring's one-hour photo to a new digital level.

We toured the Davidson archeological park after the service, went to a museum, learned about the Second Temple Period, all the usual stuff at the Temple Mount  :)

From the ruins, we made a quick change at the bus and headed outside the old city walls to the City of David and Hezekiah's Tunnel, constructed just a few thousand years ago to get water to Jerusalem in case of a siege.  The tunnels are narrow, winding, full of water, and very fun.  For about half an hour, we trudged through, spotted the point at which teams from opposite digging sides met to complete the tunnel, and then exited into the fresh water pool.  This was Shayna's first trip in the tunnel and after screams of fear climbing in (it is a bit scary to get into a big pool of rushing water and forge into the darkness of a narrow tunnel), she turned on the flash light, started walking, and reassured us that it was "really fun."  This was the first time Marci walked the tunnel since Ulpan in 1981....when.....her future husband was somewhere in that tunnel with her....if we only knew...

Israeli version of running late: Drive bus to German colony; park in bus in illegal spot; holler at 36 tourists to quickly get off the bus, line up for felafel at the same felafel stand, buy the food, eat it, and cross the street to catch the bus at its next illegal parking spot......in 30 minutes.  On your marks...get set...

(And Marci even had a few minutes to spare for shopping.  Who knew?)

After lunch, we headed to Beit Shmuel and HUC to hear Anat Hoffman, director of Israel's Religious Action Center, tell us about the state of Reform (and Conservative) Judaism in Israel.  She was quite dire and angry, though we also heard of some important positive steps for religious pluralism in Israel.  When she finished, we all participated in boxing up food for Darfur refugees who had, literally, walked to Israel from Africa.

Back at the hotel, I conducted the first of my academic interviews for the next book on Jews and the 1960s.  I'm looking at American Jews who moved to Israel as a result of the counterculture, to determine how their American experiences in the 1960s led them to become Israelis.  I had a fantastic talk with Mike Nitzvan of Kibbutz Lotan, who is literally weeks from completing his Ph.D. at Hebrew U. on the evolution of Reform Zionism in the period I am investigating.

The four bnai mitzvah families hosted a celebration dinner at Anna Ticho House in Jerusalem.  We all met Shlomo there, rec'd our photo albums, and, coincidently, witnessed a wedding ceremony occurring on the patio of the restaurant.  The rabbi officiating was one of the few native-born Israeli women rabbis ordained at HUC.  (For those following rabbi sightings, we have also seen Rabbi Howard Laibson and Rabbi Mona Alfi.  For those following friend sightings, we see a lot of the Dordicks and spent the afternoon with the Bukis).

We walked home through Ben Yehuda, where it was time, once again, for a Babette Waffle.  (Not for Marc...but the rest enjoyed).  Thanks, Lezak.

This was our last day in Jerusalem....until we return for Wexner...

Rebecca reading Torah and the cel phone contacts with the grandparents..

Marc reading Torah..

Rebecca handing off the Torah.

Marci, Marc, Sue and Steve in Torah procession..

The Bat Mitvzvah

Rebecca leading a prayer..

The Shema...

The service...

The parents' blessing..

The bat mitzvah

With Cousin Donna..

The Bat Mitzvah girl.

Marci and Shayna...

Wearing her talit...

Jerusalem

This morning, our group split with most of the adults heading to Yad Vashem and most of the kids to the Jerusalem Biblical Zoo.  Marci and I opted for the zoo since we've both toured Yad Vashem several times.  Rebecca, who will be returning to Israel next Spring with her 8th grade class, said she wanted to wait and see Yad Vashem with her friends for the first time.

So, we played camp counselors to 9 kids and had a great morning at the zoo.

The afternoon was a trip highlight.  We drove towards Hebron (but did stop before the West Bank border) and stopped at an archeological site that invites tourists to help dig.  We climbed down a ladder into a subterranean room, were given tools and buckets, and spent an hour digging up pieces of pottery.  It was a thrill for each of us to dig, and to find stuff.  When the 25 of us finished, we formed a bucket brigade to hoist all the dirt from the floor of the cavern to the land above.

With that task complete, the guide took a few of us extra-willing souls to go cave exploring in an undeveloped area of the mountain.  Lit only by candles, we descended and starting climbing, crawling, squeezing, dropping, and rolling through a maze of rooms.  Our favorite; the toilet bowl; which, indeed, looked like a toilet bowl.  Only this one, you had to put your feet inside and drop down through it.  For adults, it only went chest deep.  For kids....  (let's just say they had spotters).  Turn about is fair play since the kids could easily slide through narrow openings in the rocks needed to get from one room to another.  The adults...not so much.  Let's not get too graphic but let's say that it was like a breech birth; legs push through first, then but, then shoulders, and arms; no idea what's on the other side....just PUSH and TRUST.  I would just like to acknowledge Nate Zilberg who had to witness me "birthing" about half a dozen times.  Then, again, Seth Jaffe and I got..well...a little too close.  (Nate did get a picture of me in one of those first few seconds of new life!)  Happy Fathers Day!

How I wish I had brought along with camcorder.  between the dust, the darkness, and the tight quarters, we were advised against.  Maybe next time...

We headed back to Jerusalem for much needed showers and then a quick dinner. Marci and Renee hung out in Jerusalem and I took the girls back to sleep.

We prepare now for a BIG DAY tomorrow as Rebecca reads Torah at the Western Wall, the third Torah reading on three continents in the last 6 months of her Bat Mitzvah year!.

Lailah tov.

Jerusalem

Our entire group decided to forego shabbat morning services in favor of some Israeli history and culture.  We headed in the morning to the Israel Museum where we toured the Shrine of the Book and then the Youth Wing.

We were unsuccessful in our negotiations with the taxi drivers.  They wanted 40 shekels off the meter.  We demanded 25 shekels (knowing that the meter would be 32 shekels).  It was actually fun to argue with a group of drivers, in Hebrew, as they lamented everything from "it's shabbat" to "we've been waiting 2 hours for a fare and you offer us 35 shekels!  As I pushed back at them, reminding them that it was, actually, shabbat when I paid 32 shekels that morning on the meter, one guy said to the other (in Hebrew).  "This guy speaks Hebrew.  You're not going to get anywhere."  We decided to start walking home, figuring the drivers would agree to what amounted to a $1.25 discount.  They didn't.  We were far too committed to that $1.25 to turn around ourselves.  We did catch a few taxis on the road that brought all the kids and a few chaperones back.  Marci, Stacy, and a bunch of others actually DID walk all the way back.  Nice job!

In the afternoon, we planned on visiting Marci's best friend from nursery school, Renee, who has lived in Israel for many years.  Then, we fell asleep.....and slept and slept and slept....for hours.  

About 7 pm, we walked over to Yemin Moshe, the windmill, overlooking the walls of the Old City (and the first neighborhood built outside the city walls).  We made havdalah as the sun set over the Old City and the flood lights along the base of the wall did, indeed, reflect back a gold hue, giving Jerusalem the nickname, "The Golden City."

After havdalah, and with restaurants now opening throughout the city, we went to a restaurant called Focaccia.  While I saw steak on the menu first, Marci saw a pasta with cream sauce.  It took a few nanno-seconds for us to realize that this was NOT a kosher restaurant.  (Hard to believe in Jerusalem!).  To be sure, we kept reading the menu; shrimp and then prosciuto.  And they were doing a GREAT business!

Shavua tov.

Jerusalem

In a touring day shortened by the approach of shabbat, we were out early and headed to the Western Wall, where we did NOT go to the usual prayer place at the Western Wall.  Instead, we toured a set of tunnels and excavations alongside the Wall, descending down to the level of one of the original roads and walking, underground, along the base of the Wall.  It was a walk we took on our trip two years ago but it was still quite impressive.  We ended up putting our notes in this section of the wall.

The end of the tunnel brought us to the Via Dolorosa, home to the stations of the Cross in Jesus' final moments.  We walked, learned, and eventually made our way to the Church of the Holy Seplicur (spelling?), site for many Christians of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus.  As an observer to this Church, it was profound.  We climbed narrow and steep stairs to a room that contained the rock believed to have held the cross upon which Jesus was killed.  We watched elderly women climb underneath a table-like piece of furniture in order to kiss the rock and then cross themselves.  Watching them fulfill such a deep and meaningful religious act filled all of us observing with deep respect and humility.  Down on the main floor of the church, many others waited in line to go into the space of the resurrection.  They brought in candles and then lit more around the perimeter of the small chapel.  While I certainly do not believe the Christian narrative, I was surrounded by people who did; and for whom this experience was and would be a lifetime memory and opportunity.  That, I could understand and relate to on a very deep level.

We continued through the Arab shouk and then to the Jewish quarter for some shopping and lunch.  

In preparation for shabbat, we went next to Machane Yehuda, the outdoor food market, which was teeming with thousands of people preparing for shabbat.  It was, to be honest, a bit too overstimulating.  Rebecca and I ducked out soon.

For erev shabbat, we went to Kol Ha'nishama for services, then walked back to the hotel for an incredible buffet!

Shabbat shalom,

Marc and Marci

Elli's Bar Mitzvah

Today was Elli's big day.  We gathered with the Dordick family's guide in the hotel lobby, stopped to get a local rabbi who will be officiating at the service, and made our way to the Robinson's Arch section of the Western Wall, where non-Orthodox services are permitted.  When we arrived, we saw a group of about a hundred celebrants carrying a bar mitzvah boy on their shoulders, under a chuppah, singing and chanting as they walked through the Old City towards the Wall.  We set ourselves up and began the morning service, hearing the sounds of multiple other services on both our sides.  Elli chanted an incredible Torah portion (and, due to a rare glitch that has the US and Israeli Torah portions on a one-week stagger, Elli read the same portion that Rebecca and Marc will read at her Bat Mitzvah III next week.)  Needless to say, I listened carefully (Marc).

After the ceremony, the Dordicks continued on their tour of the Temple excavations while we returned to the hotel to....yes....practice our Torah portions for Monday!

A cab driver recommended a good felafel place (Shalom Felafel in Rehavia) and we decided to make the walk.  It was HOT; the walk was LONG; and we found a tiny tiny hole in the wall place where you order, pay, and eat in the same spot.  The felafel was great but, what can I say, I also value a table, a chair, and air conditioning!

We continued walking to the central bus station to get to the airport to meet the Rodef Sholom group arriving this evening.  

We were told that busses leave every half hour, on the hour and half, from gate 18.  We got to gate 18 fifteen minutes early to discover that the busses actually leave every half hour, on the quarter and three-quarter hour.  The bus was just pulling in.  We stood up to get in line....to discover....no line.  Just teems of people pushing, pressing, crowding, and cramping the door.  It was chaos; and an ordered one if you were one of the Israelis.  (Americans, not so much :)  After some futile and worthless pushing and waiting, the driver closed the door and pulled away, leaving us, and dozens of others, to wait for the next bus.  Minutes later, a new one arrived and the RUSH was on again...only this bus had a different number, was going to a different place, so Marci and girls retreated back and Marc pressed forward, NOT for this bus, but to be positioned better for the one that follows.  (quick study!).  Ten minutes later, the new bus starts pulling up, Marc signals Marci and girls to move in; alas, too slow, the crowd forms and presses leaving Marci and Shayna in the middle.  Rebecca squeezes through.  Marc and Rebecca board the bus, confirm that it does, indeed, go to Ben Gurion airport, and we save the front two seats for Marci and a Shayna that is invisible from my site on the bus amidst the crowd.  They made their way up and we were off...

Yeah...

Except that 40 minutes later, we pull off the highway, stop at this random streetcorner, and the driver announces "Ben Gurion Airport."  Dazed and confused, I asked the driver if this was REALLY the stop for the airport.  A kind passenger said, "Yes, you get off here and then wait for the #5 bus transfer to the terminal."  Then he showed me that my ticket did indeed have a transfer on it.  The joys of learning.

Some two hours after we began our journey in Jerusalem, we arrived at the airport and greeted the group.  Needless to say, the trip back on the tour bus was far less eventful!

We returned to Olive and Fish restaurant for the second time in three nights and then came back to sleep....6:30 am wake up in the morning!

Lailah tov.

Day 2 Jerusalem 6/17/09

Well so much for trying to beat jet lag.  For those who are curious, NO JET LAG pills do not actually work.  We were all up around 3 am this morning and our day began.  Luckily, we all had enough to keep us busy until the sun came up.  The girls watched a few episodes of I LOVE LUCY. We bought them the first season on dvd before we came.  I caught up on email, started a blog and did a good amount of reading for Wexner and my own pleasure.  By 7 am, we headed down for breakfast.  And what a spread it was...all kinds of cheeses, a full salad bar, the best burekas ever, breads, sweets and pancakes and blintzes with chocolate sauce.  There were many different types of fish and of course, the freshest fruit in the world.  So I was very happy!  We dined with the Dordicks. They set off on their morning excursion and we set off on our own walking tour to Mea Shearim, the religious quarter.  Of course, we had to stop for Iced Coffee slush and a fresh fruit smoothie on the way.  (You'll see that much of my blogging will be about the food..no holding back here!)  Marc went in search of the son of a taxi driver he befriended here many years ago but no luck.  The address he had did not seem to match what he remembered. So it was a good walk for all of us and we rewarded the girls with their favorite ice cream pop, watermelon shaped and yummy.  We investigated the bus station to plan our journeys to Tel Aviv and Safed while we're here.  And then we cabbed it over to the Old City to meet up with the Dordicks for lunch and shopping at the Cardo.  We bought Elli a beautiful and colorful talit for his Bar Mitzvah tomorrow and then dined in a dairy cafe for lunch.  After lunch, we visited King David's tomb and the supposed sight of the Last Supper. I've now been in Jerusalem at least 8 times and this was the first time to these historic sites. We got some great views from above and then made our way back to the hotel for an afternoon siesta.  We tried to avoid it but we all benefited from the two hour nap.  We met up with the Dordicks for a lovely Italian dinner near the Russian colony.  Homemade pasta and yummy salads.  We were still raring to go after dinner so the Dollingers, along with Fran and Elli, the Bar Mitzvah boy, headed over to Ben Yehuda for some late night snacks and shopping.  Our favorite dessert spot in Jerusalem did not disappoint..Babettes waffles smothered in chocolate sauce and whipped cream.  It was as delicious as I remember. Thank you Michael. I'll be sure to have an extra one for you.  More window shopping as we slowly made our way back to the hotel in preparation for tomorrow's big day...Elli's Bar Mitzvah.  Ad machar...until tomorrow!  

We've arrived! 6/16/2009

We're here!  We arrived safely in Israel, after an uneventful and easy trip on Air Canada.  We even got some sleep, movies and reading in on the flight.  We landed around 5:30 pm Israel time and arrived at our hotel in Jerusalem (The Dan Panorama) about an hour and a half later.  The traffic in Jerusalem is crazy and there is a lot of construction going on.  The Dordicks (our friends from NC) pulled up in their van about 5 minutes after we had arrived. We all checked in and made our way to dinner at Olive and Fish.  It was a delicious kosher meat meal and we are so excited to be here on this journey. It feels like coming home.  We'll update as often as possible. We are all looking forward to a fun and meaningful month here in this beautiful country.  More to come....