SH-21-277's blog

January 23, 2010 Shabbat just ended - Shavua Tov (Good Week)! Since we were offline for the past 25 hours, perhaps we should catch up on Friday’s activities. We woke up very early on Friday for a healthy breakfast and hit the bus for a ride up into the Golan Heights. We were all quite thankful for the dry and sunny weather as we proceeded up the mountain along the Chemdal stream. We were surrounded by beautiful views of the area, which included vast farmland and mountains. As the morning went on a thick fog covered the area and then dissipated as quickly.

It is day three on our excursion and they are sure keeping us busy! In no time, we have all become close friends and have shared interesting stories with one another about where we come from and what we expect to get from this adventure. It is interesting how Israel inspires bonds between us all, even though we come from all walks of life.

Day Two - Jerusalem Despite the hail, rain, and [supposed] snow Monday evening, Tuesday started with beautiful clear skies and sun. We began our tour of the Old City outside the walls on an overlook of Jerusalem and atop the oldest settlement outside of the walled city. Walking up limestone stairs between towering fortress walls dwarfed our group of 50 as we ascended Mount Zion which King David is said to have conquered. King David’s grave lies within stone passageways and rests beneath relics of Torah and other books reclaimed after the Holocaust.

 
 “Anyone can travel. That in itself does not make anyone a traveler.”
 
It is with this sentiment that the Shorashim/JNF division of Taglit-Birthright Israel flew out of Newark in the late afternoon of January 17th. Our group consists of forty Americans between the ages of 22 and 26, most of whom have finished college and have taken time off from their jobs to embark on “the best ten days of [your] life.” Hailing from every corner of the continental United States, we were met at Ben Gurion Airport after a ten-hour flight by seven Israelis who are, with humor and heart, inculcating us on all aspects of Israeli culture. These aspects are as diverse as the normalcy of armed guards (our group has one, Dima, who wears his rifle as casually as a backpack), attitudes towards Kashrut among “secular” Jews, and “Jerusalem traffic.”