SOS International

Aviva P ~ As we have learned this summer with the Tesslers, the Jewish day begins at night.  In accordance with Jewish tradition, my blog begins at midnight on Monday, August 13, 2012, teatime for SOS International (or Summer of Service as we are called in Israel).  We had just gotten back from our night out in Jerusalem on Ben Yehuda (an outdoor mall area) and/or a festival in the Machane Yehuda Shuk (open market).  Earlier in the trip, Nate had had a great idea for a night activity of group bonding and chill time, which unfortunately we had never gotten around to doing.  For those of you who don’t know Nate, he is the type of man that dreams big dreams and tries his very best to follow through.  Occasionally, the Israeli phrase we learned on this trip, “chai ba’seret” (“lives in a movie”) can be applied to him in the best way.  He makes suggestions and expresses wishes with an unprecedented enthusiasm, just to try to let everyone have an additional amazing experience.  He is sweet and kind and all of his ideas come from sweet, kind places, never from selfish or self-serving instincts.  He goes way beyond the call of videographer duty and this has been so lucky, and I am so grateful, to have had him with us.  So, this morning, in the first hour, our group sat down to encouraging words and stories, and tea and cookies, from Nate.  These weren’t just any cookies; these were Timtams, exclusively not found in the US, and with them, Nate taught us to Timtam-Slam!  (For further explanation, please see Nathan Greene, Tel Aviv, Israel.)

After we had finished Timtam-Slamming, with Hannah’s encouragement, the group sat down to a few rounds of Mafia.  For those of you who do not know Hannah, she is wise beyond her years, realistic in the most valuable of ways, and pensive in a way that influences the entire group to be more conscious of ourselves and the world around us.  Yet, when it comes to have some good young fun, there is no one more enthusiastic.  Her bright smile and laughter are so contagious and exuberant that one cannot help but try to make her happy all the time, because when she is happy, we are all happy.  Hannah loved it when we played Mafia earlier in the trip, and the rest of the group did too, so as our final bonding activity for our final night, we played again, coming up with new exciting ways for the Mafia to remove certain townspeople, based on jokes and things we have learned during the trip.  Many of us were still sitting, listening, enthralled as one o’clock rolled around, despite the fact that many members of the group had agreed to wake up at five to daven at the Kotel.

In the end, Mafia almost won out, but despite their attempts, there was one participant able to arise at daybreak.  Though Orly saw the Mafia appeal and watched her friends be sucked in, she saw the point of no return and escaped before it was too late.  For those of you who don’t know Orly, she is our group sourcebook.  Never lacking an answer, opinion, or guess, Orly has kept us all on our toes and thinking back to our classroom days learning Chumash, Prophets, Maus, and many other books and stories.  She is so in love with her studies that she glows when discussing anything she has learned, from Jewish studies to Arabic to Ed Sheeran lyrics, and her glow creates such a warm atmosphere that is so enticing for everyone to follow her lead and take our learning more seriously and more passionately.  Passion allowed Orly to wake up to daven vatikin this morning with the Tesslers at the Kotel.  Vatikin is an amazing mitzvah of davening shacharit, specifically the Shemonah Esre, as the sun rises.  Thank you Orly for acting as ambassador for our group!

At the more decent hour of eight o’clock, the rest of the group began to see the day.  Nate had expressed a wish to take some final pictures in the morning, and many people still had to finishing packing.  After washing, dressing, smiling, and eating, we left the holy Yerushalayim only slightly late, our usual.  We were on our way to Machon Ayalon, the museum institution teaching about the Ha’gana bullet factory, which operated in secret during Israel’s fight for independence while under the British Mandate.  We joined the Rifkin family who had hosted us for lunch in Jerusalem in celebration of their son’s Bar Mitzvah, and continued on to the Weitzman Institute with them to meet children from Sderot who have a diagnosis of trauma.  On the bus ride between institutions, Sydney came to the realization that “we have met so many people on this trip!”  For those of you who don’t know Sydney, she is constantly chatting with new people and making friends.  Every place we went there were new friends to meet and it was always sad when we had to leave them.  They all probably especially missed Sydney because she is always first to introduce herself, she is always smiling, and she always has something to laugh about with everyone.  It is hard to foster new relationships with people so quickly; Sydney always does it so wonderfully effortlessly, even when we only have an hour to spend with our “new friends”.  She was at it again at our next stop:  The Weitzman Institute.

At the Weitzman Institute, we had lunch with the bar mitzvah families who were also sponsoring the day for a group of kids from Sderot who have been diagnosed with trauma.  After seeing the botanical garden and using our own strength to lift us into the air, we had to say goodbye to Natalie.  Our busy schedule did not allow enough time for it to sink in that we were all leaving the same day, but as we said goodbye to Natalie it began to hit us.  For those of you who do not know Natalie, she is truly a ray of light.  Her bright smile and sunshiny personality add so much lightheartedness to our group.  This doesn’t prevent her from emotionally connecting to the people in the group, the places we have been, and the people we have met.  She always has a clever question to ask in between telling witty jokes.  I couldn’t allow myself to really think about Natalie leaving, because the group would really be lacking without her and yet we still had so much more to accomplish in the few hours we had left. 

Our group, the families, and the kids from Sderot, went to a lecture and presentation of how glass is shaped and used in the labs.  Unfortunately, the professor mostly spoke in English, and my Hebrew was pretty lacking as I tried to explain to the Sderot kids how glass is made from sand and when grains of sand are observed under a microscope, the moving molecules can be seen, which prove that glass can always become liquid.  Three times the professor called up pairs of Sderot kids and SOS girls.  First up was Laura, becoming the namesake of the first glass experiment we witnessed.  For those of you who do not know Laura, she is incredibly inquisitive and driven.  She could answer all the professor’s questions.  (No wonder Ben Gurion University’s President was eager to meet our group, with Laura present!)  She is not only book-smart, but also street-smart and intuitive; her knack for over-hearing surprises and catching every slip-up are just added bonuses.  We all really enjoyed watching the tutorial, especially with Laura as the assistant.  She even got to keep the glass pitcher he made her.

The group left Rechovot and headed back to Jerusalem for some shopping time.  The Tesslers would be meeting us at the mall after dropping off Natalie, and Jenny remembered something very important on the bus:  We never told to Tesslers our secret from our first Shabbat.  For those of you who do not know Jenny, she is always plotting her next big joke, attacking people with ice cream on her face and borrowing lipstick from border-control officers.  She is always a “bro,” joking around with everyone and always there when anyone needs a friend.  Easy-going and fun-loving, she is great to have around in awkward situations because she can always come up with a funny story to get the laughs rolling.  She knows how to pick her moments for great lines; instead of blurting out stories, she bides her time.  I promised her we would tell all at our closing dinner, but unfortunately we ran out of time.  So here is the untold story of Saturday afternoon in Szarvas, Hungary.

The camp organized for our group to meet with the International Group at camp, comprised of a few Israelis, some kids from Croatia, Hungary, and other countries.  Most of them spoke English very well.  It was already four in the afternoon, and the Tesslers went to nap before they were going to teach a class.  I asked Nate to join the group on our walk to the botanical garden just to set a good example for the kids.  (At the time, I did not realize I was being slightly hypocritical.)  Nate is a natural leader and I knew immediately that if he decided not to join, half the group would follow.  The Israeli madricha had organized a great program for the groups of kids to be able to meet each other and quickly have meaningful discussions.  After a few rounds of name games, we spread cards with pictures across the grass and asked the group two pick tow cards:  one representing their respective country/state, and the other representing what they hope to bring to the rest of their trip or what they hope to take away.  We broke up into groups and discussed.  I was very proud of our group for going along with the icebreakers and not trying to act “too cool for school” (as Aviva says), even though some of the kids from other countries were.  In the end, most people began to open up right and have real conversations just as the groups were told to split.  The international group’s madrichot had to leave and their group went down to the play by the river.  Since we were in no rush, I brought our group to see the river too, passing by a wedding on the way.  Somehow, we lost Nate in the process, all too excited by the idea of jumping into cold water on this sweltering day. 

Two boys from the international group jumped in, and with Ben already walking around in board shorts, it didn’t take too long for him to follow.  For those of you who don’t know Ben, he can easily be compared to the Big Friendly Giant.  Towering over a foot taller than me, Ben always greets me with smiles from above.  He was warm and welcoming from the start, and no matter how early we woke up in the morning, his smile never faltered as he said “good morning”.  Eager to learn and understand everything the Rabbi and Aviva had to teach him, as well as all the people in all the places we went, it was always so easy to talk to Ben because he never stopped taking everything in.  Eternally good-natured, he knew when to take situations seriously, and when to let loose and have fun.  I really tried to take a lesson from Ben, attempting to convince the group to join Ben in the river.  The water was deep, but gentle.  Most of the group had changed into play clothes and seemed like desperately needed a refresher after actively participating in activities that required patience and concentration in sweltering heat.  I knew that once Sydney could be convinced her shorts would dry on their own in the scorching heat, she would jump in and the rest would fall like dominoes.  And so it happened.  For those that were still dressed in Shabbat clothes, I came up with a simple solution:  trade clothes with kids in play clothes that did not want to jump in.  Julianna and I demonstrated with ease.  For those who do not know Julianna, she may like to tell people she is shy, but I have witnessed her daring side on multiple occasions.  Sweet and thoughtful, one might never expect Julianna to agrue passionately over the health and treatment of animals.  You do not want to cross her when an animal is involved.  However, her passion for animals does not compare to her compassion for people, and I am honored to have witnessed one of the most loving sister relationships I have ever seen, between Julianna and her younger sister Hannah.  The care they give one another is remarkable, and if you think it would be a mistake to mistreat an animal in front of her, don’t even go near her sister.  I knew Julianna was gutsy just from this first Shabbat by the river.  In a matter of seconds, we ran behind a watchtower, switched clothing, and rejoined the group.  Before anyone realized, Julianna was wearing my Shabbat dress and I was in the river.  After they saw this, even some of the international group girls who had been acting “too cool” switched shirts and joined us.  This was a once in a lifetime bonding experience, showing that people around the world can have serious situations to discuss, but they can also enjoy themselves and have pure fun together.  There was a true understanding between the groups, as well as an understanding between my group and myself, and I will never forget this day. 

True, it was the day before Tisha B’av, and swimming for fun in prohibited, but the swimming I encouraged was purely for the sake of fostering connections between Jews from all over the world, and what way to better commemorate the destruction of the Temple, which is said to be due to the Jews own hatred for each other and disunity, than for Jewish kids from all over the world to bond with mutual understanding!  Similarly, the following day our group would be working hard to clean a cemetery in Debrecen.  Even though dust might just fall again the next day, our acting of cleaning the synagogue as best we could was so meaningful to the Jews left in Debrecen and the Jews in Hungary who were told what we had done.  Even though our hard work meant some people could not keep the full fast, the hope and warmth we brought to the Jewish community outweighs the merit brought by fasting.  The pride I have for each member of my group can really be summed up by my impressions and experiences with them these two days, and since this was really the very beginning, they only made me more and more proud and honored to be their madricha.  This is why it was so hard to say goodbye, and so hard to write this blog.

Back in Jerusalem, Romi, Jenny, and Julianna sat down in the mall to finish writing their blogs.  For those of you who do not know Romi, she is the type of person that would rather give up shopping time than miss a moment of laughter on the bus with the group.  Though she came on the trip having only just met the Tesslers and knowing no one else, Romi quickly befriended every person in the group.  Her ease with people and the way she really cares for everyone made it seem like she had been friends with everyone for years.  Romi became the group’s cherished claim to European etiquette.  When her cycling skills were tested, she took her tumble with grace, never complain about the cuts on her beautiful face.  I think Hannah described Romi best when saying how she loved when Romi comes down dressed beautifully each morning, with dried toothpaste as a daily accessory that she wears well.  Romi is always good for a hearty laugh or a long chat, but she is especially good at doing both at the same time.  I look forward to seeing her again, maybe in Ra’anana!

I walked around the mall with Melissa, trying to pass the time until dinner, and looking for presents for family members.  For those of you who don’t know Melissa, she is that person who desperately searches for gifts for her loved ones instead of taking a little time for herself while on a trip that is all about giving to others.  Giving to others is what she knows how to do best, constantly letting others go before her and compromising to ensure peace and tranquility within the group, except when it comes to taking her place in line for the bathroom—then she is scary!  I never saw Melissa as shy or reclusive in any sort of way, as we instantly clicked with our sarcasm and attempts at monotone conversations, and we were able to open up to each other almost immediately on our long bus rides.  She is so honest, caring, and easy-going and I look forward to a lasting friendship.  We were successful in our hunt for presents and soon it was time to leave to mall and head to dinner, late of course.

Throughout the day, members of the group could be seen writing in their journals and consulting each other for advice.  Rabbi Tessler had asked everyone to write a paragraph listing three experiences throughout the trip where we learned something about what it means to be a leader and take responsibility.  Everyone had such beautiful and meaningful things to say, but I cannot remember each person’s words in detail.  I do remember Rachel thanking us all for learning and being Jewish leaders in the memory of her grandfather.  For those of you who do not know Rachel, she is pure joy and kovonah.  She has tremendous pride and enjoyment of her family, never ceasing to entertain us with stories of her siblings, her grandmother’s travels, her grandfather faith and love of learning, and of course, her father’s cooking.  Rachel is known for her bubbly personality and 60-word per second speaking ability, but when Rachel led us in learning Talmud in Vienna in honor of her grandfather, she took her time in explaining the significance of what we were doing, and how much it meant to her and would have meant to her grandfather.  As she stood before the group and spoke, I saw before me a true Jewish leader.

As far as other experiences listed, I cannot remember what everyone said; Rabbi Tessler and Aviva collected the each paragraph at dinner after we finished reading them to the group.  As an example, my list included the leadership of the Palmach and Hagana and the lone soldiers today that we learned about.  Jews coming to Israel from all over the world to fight for the formation of the Jewish State and then continuing to fight in its defense.  I compared this to the leadership of the participants of the Szarvas camp who chose to leave the comforts of their countrymen and join the international group, sharing experiences with foreign Jews and working to create a better understanding and unity within the Jewish community at large.  In addition, each participant of SOS International who chose to spend three weeks of their summer vacation visiting broken Jewish communities and traumatized children and families in Israel shows amazing leadership and understanding of what it means to be a Jew and take responsibility for caring about the Jews of the world.  The synagogue may become dirty in another week, and the cemeteries may never be fully repaired; the Jews that died in the Holocaust and in rocket fire will never come back, but the people we have visited will always remember the leadership and love of our group, and the hope our light brought to them.  Meow each one of us will go home and continue our leadership, becoming ambassadors for the Jewish communities just by telling people about our experiences. 

The Tesslers’ daughter and son-in-law joined us towards the end, as well as our Israeli guide’s fiancé, as we later found out.  We wrapped up our final dinner by having each person thank you other member of the group.  I wish I could remember what each person said, but the best I can do is remember the order:  Orly>Adam>Ben>Nate>A.J.>Hannah>Romi>Melissa>Julianna>Rachel>Laura>Sydney>Jenny>Orly.  Despite the reunions and well wishes, good food and good benching (we were so enthusiastic while benching that we broke a cup, and no one noticed!), as expected there were still onions in the air.  The onions became a bit too overwhelming for Adam, who finally excused himself during the first round of hugging.  For those of you who don’t know Adam, he is generally the group’s comic relief, while at the same time, he keeps us all in line.  When it is bedtime, he enforces quiet hours, especially when bedtime occurs midday on bus rides and during museum movies.  Adam is our cool kid who eagerly buys excessive amounts of water at the beginning of the trip at the best prices in Szarvas just to keep up with the trip regulations of 3 liters a day, even though this rule wasn’t strictly enforced until Israel.  He is hypocritical in the best of ways, laughing at everyone who didn’t have money on them to buy water, and promising to never share with anyone, while in actuality he shared with everyone.  He likes to keep his mitzvot on the down low, always humble and modest with a plethora of excuses for why other people deserve more of the credit.  Adam was the first participant I met and the most consistently surprising throughout the trip.  Thank you Adam.

As the onions continued to overwhelm more and more of us, including our resident tough-guy Hannah, and master chef Jenny, we made our way to the bus and said goodbye to Aviva and Romi who would be heading to Ra’anana.   For those of you who don’t know Aviva Tessler, you are really missing out.  Aviva Tessler represents everything that is good in this world.  She cares for the Jews of the world as if they are her immediate family, and she cares for the kids in the group as if they are her own children.  She is never upset at anyone and always ready to laugh with everyone.  The handwork she put into to this trip on top of her commitment to Operation Embrace is truly inspiring.  Aviva is one of the best role models I have ever known.  Many tears were shed as we left Aviva and there was no way to properly thank her for all she has done.

We continued on to Ben Gurion Airport, and we were down to nine.  Rabbi Tessler bravely continued with us, though his wife and daughter remained in Israel.  For those of you who do not know Rabbi Tessler, I hope you get the chance to before he makes aliyah, or maybe you can visit him once he is living in Ra’anana.  Rabbi Tessler would encourage anyone and everyone to visit him in Israel, because he is such a strong believe in the Jewish homeland and in the fact that all Jews must stick together in order for us to one day have peace.  He is so encouraging to everyone to become active, lively, moral, strong, outspoken, well-spoken, and in general better people.  It is such an honor to have been asked to work side by side with him to staff this SOS International trip.

I had to hug everyone goodbye (again) in the airport quickly, because I did not fly home with my group, and my family friend was waiting to pick me up.  I did not have the chance to tell everyone how amazing they are, both as a group and as individuals, and how much they mean to me, so I have taken the time to do so now.  For those of you who do not know me, my name is Aviva Sima Pollack.  I am a junior at the University of Maryland.  I enjoy writing.  It has been my honor and pleasure to work with Aviva and Rabbi Tessler to staff this trip, as well as to work with each participant in helping to bring light to this world.  Thank you all for the love you have given to all those around, within the group and without.  This is what has truly made a difference in the world. 

With love, AJ

 Adam ~ Whatever time we woke up, it was too early.  We started off our daily adventures with a trip to the Israeli-Hungarian museum. Although I needed to rest my eyes for a few minutes during the introduction, I found the mass amounts of artifacts stimulating. The astonishing coach bus took us to a warehouse-type establishment. We completed about 25-minutes of chesed. This consisted of placing colorful school supplies in mid-sized, durable, book-bags. We then took our journeys to the Palmach museum. Although I had seen the attraction already, I found that following the story of a small group of courageous fighters was in fact, inspirational. Our spirits were raised once of we discovered that we would be going to the Tel Aviv beach. The water was beautiful and the sand felt like that of a baby’s bottom. We took our fun to a new level when the pizza arrived. Our visit soon came to an end, and we boarded the bus. We ended up at the hotel about an hour later. The rooms turned out to be remarkable. We rushed downstairs so we could hear Orly’s grandfather share his experiences in the Holocaust. Having gone through six concentration camps, including Auschwitz, and losing countless family members, Dr. Moshe Avital’s story was truly heartbreaking. The faculty thought that duplicating the earlier methods by raising our spirits after depressing events was the wisest choice. We spent approximately two-and-half hours shopping on Ben Yeduda Street. We ended off the night with “Tim Tam Slams,” and a game of Mafia. Sunday, beyond doubt, followed in the sequence of stupendous days.

Julianna ~ This morning we woke up late and then the girls davened and learned together because of our experience on Friday, which was not great. It was very interesting.  After that we had lunch and the benching was awesome because we were so loud and energetic.  Then we had a little while to rest and then we went on a short walking tour of Tzfat. When we got back we had a lecture by a Chasidic gentleman who taught us a bit about Kabbalah, everyone found it very interesting. There were many mind blowing moments. After we ate seuda shlishi we had a discussion about certain issues in Israel. The discussion became very intense but also challenged us on multiple levels which made for a very intriguing discussion. Then we did havdala and had some free time in Tzfat, which was very fun. I got ice cream which was delicious and then spoke with the Tesslers and a few other people for a while and then they began to sing and dance in the ice cream shop which was hilarious. Then we played trivia and that was fun.

Jenny ~ Today we woke up early, because we had a big day ahead of us like as usual. We ate breakfast then got onto the bus to drive to Caesarea. Caesarea was a Roman city, a capital that Herod built during the Roman Empire. When you walk in you see the buildings that were built during this time. Many of the places we have visited so far are the way they were since they were built hundreds or thousands of years ago. There is a man made port that was used for ships that brought in people from all over the world because the city was thriving and many people wanted to visit. Just the view of the deep blue water made me want to lay down on the sand and relax. We then went to watch a movie to learn some details about the history of the city. Although it was very popular and had many tourists it would eventually be conquered by different empires. Natural disasters and wars caused it to become a sleepy town, meaning no one would come and visit. In the 20th century Israel reinvented to be like the beautiful site it once was. Another one of my favorite things there was the outdoor theater that is still used for concerts today. After our tour of Caesarea we drove about 5 minutes to the Kibbutz from where Chana Senesh lived early in her life. We watched a movie about her life. I learned that she before the war she moved to Israel to make Aliyah because she was so involved in Zionism and it meant everything to her that it was the place for her to spend her life. She wrote in her journal every day and today has many famous poems. Her song “Ali Ali”, a favorite of our group, is probably her most famous work. Her mother and family were still in Hungary and she realized she needed to go get them when she heard what was happening there. She joined the Palmach, parachuted into Budapest, but was caught by Hungarian police. She was taken to prison and tortured, and eventually shot and killed. Though she died at a young age her poems and songs still live with us and Israel today. After the movie we got back on the bus and drove to Haifa to meet with families who are Arab-Israeli. While driving up a main road in Haifa, at the end is the most beautiful garden I have ever seen. It’s called the Bahai Gardens. Noa, our amazing tour guide eem lo ah (if not the, an Israeli phrase she taught us), told us that people from all across the world come here to Haifa for three years to work in the gardens to every day to keep them as perfect as they can be. If these people wouldn’t do this than the Gardens would most likely be not kept as they are now. When we arrived at the families houses we split up and my group went to meet a man who in 2006 had his house bombed. This attack caused him to get burns all over his body. He said he was sitting in his house and all of a sudden the bomb hit. He was burnt badly, his right arm being the worst part. His family were on the floor and had a closet fall on them, saving them being badly burnt. He was assisted as soon as possible by medics, like many other people who lived near him that were affected by the bombing too. There were many pictures of him being taken to get medical help and one of them ended up being on the cover of a news paper with an article written about the attack on the city. The man said one of his family member in America saw what had happened on TV and saw the picture of him. He couldn’t believe it was him and that he found out about it on the news. The man also said that he still recovering from it today, but being around his family had helped a lot. We have heard some amazing stories on this trip and hearing just another has impacted me even more than the last one. We were sitting outside on their porch and there was a nice breeze and it was sunny out and all I could think of was, “Why would someone want to destroy this and the people who live here”? We were all getting reality hungry at the point so we went to Cafe Cafe, a cafe that is la’panim (awesome!). Everyone sat wherever they wanted and my table ordered. I ordered pasta and my friends got salads and sandwiches. I was particularly hungry and finished my meal in like 2 minutes. I ended up eating everyone leftovers, the leftover dessert Rachel ordered, half of the two desserts we ordered at our table, Adam’s barely eaten salad and half of Laura’s pasta that she couldn’t finish. Don’t worry, the Tesslers feed us… usually daily I just happened to be really hungry! Then we decided not to stay so the girls could have enough time to get ready for Shabbat in Tzfat! After the two hour drive, we arrived at our Hostel. We got our room assignments and started getting ready for Shabbat. We walked through the streets to go and daven for Friday Night Services. The street the shul was on was packed!! There was no room to get inside or even daven outside with enough space to pray. Most of us went to the end of the street so there was room to breathe, and after about an hour we left to go eat dinner. Dinner was great. We had our own room and ate lots of salads/appetizers.

Romi ~ We woke up at 6:30, the earliest time we have woken up on the trip, so we could get to Jerusalem early. Although it was hard to get out of bed it felt good to sleep on a comfortable bed after a night at the army base. We drove to Jerusalem and just before we could see the Kotel (Western wall) Ben and Hannah closed their eyes. We all held their hands and led them downstairs to see the magnificent view of the Kotel. Then we carried on to the Kotel tunnels, which is the holiest place for the Jewish people as its closest to the temple. The western wall and the remains left in the tunnels are a part of the wall that King Harrods built around the temple. Now there is an arabic neighborhood above the tunnels. After the interesting tour we walked back through the Muslim quarter to the Kotel. Each of us went to the Kotel and went in separate ways to do our own thing and say what we wanted to say. I always feel very emotional at the Kotel and most connected to G-d, because I feel like he is there listening to me.

Then Noa our tour guide took us on a tour around the Jewish quarter and we had some free time to go shopping, and of course the girls wanted to go to Hadaya, a famous jewelry shop. 

Afterwards, we quickly walked to Mamilla Street to have lunch in a restaurant with a bar mitzvah family from the Rabbi’s and Aviva’s community. We had amazing Italian food. We had salads, pizza and pasta, but unfortunately we had to leave a bit after the family arrived as we were in a rush to get to our next destination, Yad Va’shem. Yad Va’shem, a Holocaust Memorial museum, was an emotional and powerful experience. When you walk in, the museum is in a shape of a triangle and there is a movie shown about the 1920s and how everything started, but when you come out of the museum the triangle is small and it leads you outside to the beautiful view of the mountains in Jerusalem. This is to show that “there is always light at the end of the tunnel”, although the Jewish people in Europe went through so much the only thing that kept them alive was hope. This is an inspiration for us that even when things seem very bad there is always hope for better. 

We drove to Tel-Aviv to the Azrieli shopping mall. Each of us had money to have our own choice of dinner. Afterwards, we had a surprise activity in the mall. We were put into groups of 4 or 3 and we had to go around doing tasks like filming a family singing “Hatikva” and taking a picture of us with a chef hat. The last task, which was the weirdest was to ask a “savta” or grandmother for food, which of course not one of us could do. When we all gathered together Aviva said “let’s go and find a grandma so you can finish the task.” We walked up the stairs to a restaurant and suddenly I see my grandparents, auntie, uncle and cousin!!!!! I had no idea they would be there! For the next hour I hung out with my family while everyone else went shopping. It was nice to be with them in Israel and a great surprise. My grandma brought everyone cookies and rugalah to give us to complete the final task! Everyone took a bus back to the hostel, so I stayed a little longer to have some more time with my family. I said goodbye to my family and then went to the hostel and was so tired that I went right to sleep.

Sydney with a little help from Orly ~ This morning was the first time that we were able to go to Aroma in Israel.  We had to wake up a bit earlier at the army base but it was well worth it to get our ice caffes. For those of you that do not know what Aroma is, it is a little chain restaurant around Israel that has the best ice coffees. Once we finished our breakfasts we went to Ben Gurion University to meet up with the assistant dean, who is an expert on Theodore Herzl, while Orly and Aviva went with a social worker we had met the day before to go retrieve her camera from the middle of nowhere. The assistant dean gave an overview of Herzl’s life, answered any questions we had about him, and talked a bit about the school. We then went on a quick tour of a bit of the school and headed over to the engineering department.  I like cheese sandwiches. We met up with two of the teachers there. The first teacher talked about RFID readers. They are these bar codes that are placed on objects and once sensors are placed they can scan the barcodes from a distance and obtain different information from them. One of the purposes of this is to make grocery shopping easier, the RFID scanners can be placed on the food and instead having to check out at a cashier the customers can just walk out the exit and the scanners will take into account everything that is being bought (everyone thought that this was pretty awesome). The second teacher talked to us about their driver simulations. The university was given a car by GM so they could research ways to keep a driver safer in a car (eg. keep drivers awake, what happens to drivers when they are drunk, etc.).  We then left the university to join the kids we had met from Sderot yesterday. We met them at a horse stable, where we watched the kids ride their horses; most of them were really good.  We had thought we were going to just watch them horseback ride but to our surprise we also got a chance to get on the horses. For me this was a really nice surprise since I horseback ride on a regular basis at home, once I got on the horse it was bit weird since their horses were trained in a Western style while I ride an English style, so when I was trying to cantor the horse (make him go very fast) on top of being lazy the instructor was trying to teach me how to do the Western way. Once everyone got a chance to ride and the Sderot children showed us their skills we left to go to Sderot to meet with terror victims who have been around when a rocket has hit. We first met with two women as a group. One of them was a woman who told us the story of how her son was injured by a kassam rocket. She told us that she essentially lived in the hospital for 2½ years with her son, taking care of him. Thank God he is almost entirely back to normal. The other woman recounted that she was walking home from the grocery store when a rocket fell and she was convinced that her child was killed in her home. Luckily no one in her family was injured but she still suffers from PTSD. Both were amazing and strong women even after the trauma they have experienced. 

Then we split up into two groups, my group went to a Yemenite woman’s house. She was one of the most adorable woman I had ever met, when we walked in she had food, snacks, drinks, and seats all set up for us, she was so excited that we had come to see her. Her and one of her sons had been at the market when a rocket hit a couple years ago, it has changed her whole life, she never sleeps with her husband anymore, she can only sleep with her son. She also spends so much time and gives so much attention to that one son who is traumatized that her other 6 children do not obtain the attention that they should have from her. The whole story was heart breaking, but the woman was still so sweet to us all and was telling us how she wished life could be better for her family. 

The other half of the group went to visit a woman with four kids. After saying bye to the families we got back on the bus and headed to the youth hostel in Yafo.

Ben ~ An Interesting Day in Israel  

I opened my eyes with a sigh of relief: we had survived the cockroach invasion of our tents from the night before. Mission accomplished, Adam. After a breakfast that was as ethnic and tasty as last night’s feast, Rabbi Tessler segway-ed the topic of conversation to Operation Embrace and stories of horror that brought those suffering souls into the program. Although their tales were grim, their attitudes proved otherwise as we met a bus full of kids around our age that pulled up to the main building. These children were all medically diagnosed trauma victims of missile attacks that devastated their homes, leaving them unable to fully ever feel safe. As far as I could tell, there was an 12 year old cowboy and a kid a few years younger than me that would keep faking me out with handshakes. They had their social quirks, but one would never know just by hanging with these kids what they had been through. Our group and their joined forces as we went through ice breaker warmups and fun gymnast activities involving those cloth rope things you see in cirque du soliel. When the festivities were over, we had a few minutes to mingle with the Israelis while the finishing touches of lunch were added. I had my cheat sheet of basic conversational Israeli phrases in hand, prepared for me by our tour guide, although I soon found out that it would be unnecessary once I met a girl that not only spoke fluent english but also loves a lot of the same tv shows and music that I do. We swapped stories and laughs over lunch, the kid who was faking me out with handshakes continuously challenged Adam or I to fight him and the cowboy showed me a picture of a beautiful girl he probably has in line behind 15 others for that week and then had me talk to her and his other friends on the phone, even though they only spoke hebrew. You can imagine where those conversations went. We said our goodbyes to the kids for then and loaded the bus for our drive over to Sde Boker, the final resting place of Ben Gurion. Greeted by Ibex that were hardly afraid of our presence on what felt like a desert oasis resort, I marveled at the beauty of the lush landscape contrasting the oceanic canyons of desert rock filling our panoramic view. A history lesson followed by an ice cream break took us to an Israeli defense force shooting range where we watched recruits and veterans alike practice their aim. The girls moved about the soldiers looking for a future husband while I got some pretty sweet pictures with the troops holding assault rifles and a grenade launcher. From there we moved over to the actual army base near Be’er Sheva, where a military style bootcamp workout was waiting for our already starving and exhausted bodies. Sike! We threw our bags on the solid metal grids that were our mattress frames and stood at attention in three lines of probably the sorriest set of soldiers I have ever seen. The “drill sergeant” had us performing rigorous exercises like sets of 3 pushups at a time and forming the Hebrew letter ‘chet’. Demoralized and dubious of our survival past it all, we were relieved by one of the heavy machine gun specialists showing us how quickly he could take apart and reassemble his weapon of choice. He had us race to a humvee across the yard and back to see who could try and do it themselves first. Since I was under the impression that I would also get to shoot the gun, I got there and back before he said go and without any help, managed to not even be able to shove off the first part. Everyone else got a crack at it, some more successful than others, and once our hunger for weapons was satisfied, our thirst for blood had to be quenched. So one of the medics had the machine gun specialist lay down while he drew blood from his left arm, just for our sick pleasure. I swear they do this kinda stuff for fun around the base. At long last it was dinner time, which was particularly special because we took a bunch of the soldiers out to Be’er Sheva’s food court in a shopping mall for pizza pies or shwarma (not both at once, of course). I’m pretty sure the ones that got pizza pies literally ate the whole pie themselves. When we asked them what they wanted, talking about food, one of the guys responded saying he wanted to go home. That one stuck with me. I sat with Adam and this soldier also named Ben for the bus ride to and from, learning that he’s really a musician that plays reggae style music with his bands and loves listening to Jack Johnson. He’s also quite the beat boxer. The men and one woman in military apparel were belting out Avril Lavigne songs and goofing off, elated with some time away from army life. the night out had me realize that these soldiers are really just people, kids actually like us that want to go home and live normal lives when their service is finally over. As I sit on this mattress about as thick as a hamburger seasoned with delousing powder, I reflect on this experience as a learning one, beyond all the fun we had with these good people. P.S. On a completely unrelated note, I still haven’t tried a Magnum Gold. I’ve heard legendary folklore about them so I’d like to taste the myth myself.

Hannah ~ “One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” -Neil Armstrong.

Thats all it took. One small step and history was made. This morning I made history. At 1:06 AM I took my very first step into the State of Israel. All traces of exhaustion and hunger diminished only to be replaced by happiness and elation. Immediately after, I was bombarded with multiple mazel tovs and great big bear hugs. When I was eventually released from the multitude of arms clawing at my small 5 foot frame, we all made our way to the Ben-Gurion airport where we went through customs and claimed our luggage, all of which was completed successfully. As I exited baggage claim,Ii was met by clapping and singing by my surrogate family, a big sign saying “welcome to Israel Hannah!” (and another one for Ben!) and the singing of Havenu Shalom Alechem to celebratory dancing. We exited the airport and met Noa, our tour guide and got on the bus. The adrenaline from being in Israel was beginning to wear off as we all began to look like walking zombies. Within five minutes of being on the bus, we were all asleep, making our way to the fortress Masada. 

          Most would think that climbing Masada at 5:00 in the morning would be so annoying especially after a long plane ride. Let’s just say, that is NOT the case.  I awoke to Nate shaking me telling me that we had arrived at Masada early. I knew that I wouldn’t be able to fall back asleep knowing that just past the darkness of night stood Masada. Such a revelation continued to boggle my mind until I was reminded of the 1.5 litre bottle of water Nate and A.J. made me drink and how small of a bladder I actually have. I walked to the front of the bus only to be met by a sea of black hats, tzitzit, and Peyot. A Chasidic camp of 500 boys had just climbed Masada and were preparing to leave. This of course meant that 400 Chasidic boys needed to use the bathroom. At first I didn’t think much of this. Nate guided me to the girls restroom where I was met by even more Chasidim who wouldn’t look at me or speak to me. Thank G-d Nate was there or else I wouldn’t have had a way to communicate with these boys and Nate wouldn’t have pushed me into the next open stall so I could go to the bathroom. In the first 5 hours of me being in Israel, I was put in a situation which not even Noa, our Israeli tour guide had ever been in before. What a welcome party. We all began to prepare to climb up Masada on the Roman side (the easy side) and before I could even blink an eye, I was on top of Masada overlooking the dead sea. The Rabbi told us that the correct time that you are supposed to say Shmonah Esreh is right when the sun peaked over the horizon. Never have I seen such breathtaking beauty. Never have I felt so at peace with the world. This is the moment I can truly say that I fell in love with Israel. I turned my head to the right to look at the faces of my surrogate family as the Rabbi finished the last few words of the Shmonah Esreh. The arising sun shining down on their beautiful smiling faces. It filled me up with joy seeing my brothers and sisters so happy in the land of our forefathers. 

          When the sun had fully arisen, Noa proceeded to teach us about Masada as we walked in and out of the different ancient buildings. Two hours had gone by but it only felt like two minutes. Finally it was time to leave the magnificence that is Masada. We walked down the Snake Path which is the path that the escaping Jews took to get to Masada. The Romans were unable to climb the Snake Path so instead they created their own pathway (which was much easier I might add). After climbing down Masada, it was around 8:00 in the morning. We made our way to the youth hostel where we had breakfast, showered and than passed out for three hours of amazing, pure, old fashioned sleep. I have never been so thankful for a bed before. 

          I was rudely awakened by loud knocking, signaling the unfortunate time of getting up. After dragging our feet to the dining room with all of our bags, we proceeded to eat lunch and drink as much caffeine as was humanly possible so we could be able to be awake for the Dead Sea. After eating much needed food, we made our way to the Dead Sea. At first, I was quite uneasy about going into the Dead Sea as I have a lot of cuts, but then I realized where I actually was and overcame any remaining fears. At first the water was extremely hot as the day was indeed sweltering, but as I made my way into the water, the heat ceased to bother me. I heard a bunch of ‘Oh my gosh!’s and saw everyone floating. Before this experience, I thought that floating in the Dead Sea was just a myth. Well, I was proved wrong. VERY wrong. Before I knew it, the Dead Sea lifted my up as well, almost as if it had a mind of its own. After getting out of the water my mind was set on one thing, Mud. After debating with the others if it was melted poop or not (not), we were all covered in mud. My skin is still soft. The shock of being in Israel wasn’t even close to settling down. Before I could even dry myself off from the showers, i was being shoved back onto the bus, where we made our way to a surprise. Camels. We rode camels. I rode one with A.J., and we named ours Nigel. Nigel Tibor Camel. To say that it wasn’t the most comfortable thing in the world would be an understatement but it was fun and incredible nonetheless. I was almost 99.9% sure that my face would be stuck in a huge smile. I was kinda starting to get sick of the bus, but we eventually made it to the final destination of the day, Hanger Adama. Its a dance studio type of establishment. After arriving, we all got settled into the indoor Teepee’s we would be staying in for the night. We made our way to the cutest little set up of a fire, cushions on the ground, chairs, and most importantly, dough. Pita dough. We were to cook our own pita over the fire and eat it with the multitude of spreads that were dispersed across a small table. What an amazing first dinner in Israel. Although simple, the meal was definitely affective. We continued to sit around the fire after dinner, roasting marshmallows, drinking tea, looking up at the beautiful, clear night sky, and of course, playing Mafia. I really was home. Because Natalie and Romi had a bug in their room, Romi was to sleep in my room (with Julianna and Rachel) and Natalie and I fell asleep on the outdoor couches to the beautiful sound of Israel. I am positive that the memory of this day will be ingrained in my mind forever if not more.