Tuesday, August 19, 2008
day 7
The first thing we did today was ride into the Golan for a Jeep ride around the mountains. We got a little history lesson on the way. The ride was about an hour (maybe more?) Then we went to the Galilee winery, where we were explained the process of making wine (we even got to do a taste test at the end.) After that, we rafted down the Jordan. We went in inflated rafts in groups of 2-5. The rafting felt much longer than the Jeep ride. In the evening, we took a short boat trip through the sea of Kinneret, and had dinner by the waterfront. Then we made our way back to the hotel for sleep.
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Friends, family, and fellow Ohevites,
We're in Tel Aviv for the day, haven't had wireless access at our hotels the last two days so the Glanzmans' ability to load photos, film, etc has been very limited. I want to begin my comment by thanking Allan and David for all their efforts to load info on to the blog each day after we're all exhausted from walking, traveling, schmoozing (lots of community building going on here!) and learning, learning, learning! While the rest of us are collapsing in bed they're on line to record our trip for those of you back home. Their efforts are greatly appreciated.
I also want to thank Mark Squared, aka Paikoff and Sykes, because the Ohev website is just chockful of info - love the school calendar (thank you, Joan) and the HH schedule - Ohev has arrived in the 21st century!
There is so much to say about our trip so far but I'll focus on the 2 days that I personally felt were the most special - first,the day on Masada where we celebrated Julia Starer Gross' bat mitzvah. To be there when the torah was passed on to this beautiful, bright, thoughtful girl, surrounded by her loving family of three generations on a site where Jews were so committed - it was a truly moving experience. Then, we had the opportunity to relax in the Dead Sea - some of us then covered ourselves with mud,at the Ein Gedi Spa - quite a trip with lots of Russian women and men enjoying the hot tubs. Quite a scene. Then off to Tiberias which was packed with vacationing Israelis. Kids, kids, kids everywhere, and it was hot, hot, hot!
Our next day traveling by jeep onto the Golan Heights at first was fascinating. Our guide was a Syrian Jew from Damascus who had come to Israel at the age of 8 and had grown up on the kibbutz just below the Golan Heights. He remembered having Syrian guns trained down on them during his childhood and is understandably nervous about the current talks between Syria and Israel. After a relaxing visit to the Golan Winery where we did a little tasting and toasting, we were off to the Jordan River for kayaking and rafting. The water varies between 5' and 5" deep but there were a few hair-raising, adrenalin-pumping moments for some of us! Again, lots of vacationing Israeli families and hot, hot, hot!
After changing in our Balinese huts (those on the trip will know what I mean!) we were off to a boat ride on the Kinneret where we were treated to Joe Friedman's (our tour guide from Ramah) ISraeli dancing lessons to Israeli folk gunes - alot of fun! Another family which was celebrating their California grandson's bar mitzvah - they were a combination family from California and Israel with grandparents named Boris and Natasha (I kid you not) was on the boat with us and ended up in the same dockside restaurant, Deck's. The food was excellent and the owner came out mid-meal to announce over the LOUD loudspeaker that the restaurant has a tradition of celebrating the b'nai mitzvah of visitors. Waitresses came out with sparklers in each hand as Julia (our bat mitzvah) and Noah (the California/Israeli bar mitzvah) were announced onto the stage and treated to special restaurant t-shirts. The restaurant broke out into music with a celebratory horah and there was some talk of a shidach. Julia pronounced this the most embarassing moment of her life but the rest of us were moved to tears and again honored to be part of this special Israeli-style celebration.
We are now in Tel Aviv visiting the Palmach, learning about the War of Independence and visiting the Independence Center, then getting ready for Shabbat.
It's been exhilerating, exhausting, fun, thought-provoking, and a pleasure to have some time to get to know each other better.
We miss you all, can't wait to tell you all about it in person, and wish you a shabbat shalom at Ohev Shalom in Delaware County.
Much love, Frances
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