First Day Fun: Flight, Festivities, Etc
Around 7:30PM EST on Tuesday, December 22, we, forty college students from the Boston area, arrived at JFK Airport. We checked in with trip leaders Eliad and Michal, made conversation with our new peers and prepared to embark on an incredible journey.
By 9:50PM, all forty group members were at the gate, ready for Eliad’s anticipated “mini Israel orientation.” Afterward, in groups of ten each, we participated in a learning activity with Eliad, designed by the crafty and beautiful Michal. We learned about Israeli currency, the shekel and gained a slew of random facts. Did you know that Israel has a population of 7.1 million people? Yeah… neither did we.
Around 11PM, we were called to board. The ten and a half hour flight was comfortable and relatively uneventful, but there was one rather serendipitous characteristic. We flew on the El Al airline, which always names its planes after cities in Israel; our plane’s name was Haifa, which, as it turns out, is a sister city of Boston and is home to many of our Israeli participants. Pretty neat, huh?
At the airport in Tel Aviv, now Wednesday, we were all in good spirits and ready to start the trip, despite a bit of lost luggage. There, we learned a few useful Hebrew phrases. “Ani lo m’daber(et) ivrit” - I don’t speak Hebrew - is definitely a popular one.
The man, the mystery, Shimon, came to get our group and bring us to the bus. Shimon is the best of the best and the baddest of the baddest. He is also our bus driver.
Before going outside, we were greeted by our eight Israeli participants. Along with them and Bus 152, we formed a gigantic circle - right there, in the middle of Ben Gurion Airport. All one hundred (ish) of us wrapped our arms around one another and shouted “Achim, achim, achim, simcha, simcha, simcha” while jumping to the left. (“Achim” means “brothers” and “simcha” means “happiness.”) Amazingly, we managed to survive without any tripping or falling.
Outside by the buses, changed currency, some of us rented phones, loaded the buses and off to Jerusalem for the next 24 hours. We ventured to one of the hills surrounding the city to view the city at night. A few of us had been to Jerusalem before, and many have had family travel here. Yet for most of us, this was the first time we set our eyes on this holy place where for thousands of years our ancestors have longed to go and but for a few generations was nothing more than a dream. And gathered together, as acquaintances and strangers, Israelis, American and Canadians, soldiers and students, our new community of friends prayed Shechiyanu, the blessing for new experiences.
Thursday morning after a good night of sleep and recovering from jetlag, we started our first full day in Zion at Sataf, a mountainside JNF reserve. Not only were there a great landscape and beautiful trees, but a view of Israel’s agricultural history and modern success. At Sataf, farmers utilize ancient, organic irrigation and agricultural methods to grow some of the delicious produce found in Israeli kitchens. Then to the new city where we saw where not just the political leaders live, but the common people as well. Archeology is also a neighbor in the new city, with a Greek tomb right in the middle of the block.
For lunch, our first taste of authentic schwarma and falafel and a chance to do some shopping. The most surprising part of Israeli falafel: french fries on top. Who’d have thunk it?
After lunch we finally got to see the old city and learn about its beautiful and often violent history. Jerusalem has been conquered almost 50 times in its history and its architecture reflects these influences. Down the Cardo, the heart of the city built during the Roman’s tenure there we saw excavations and some chances for shopping. Finally the holiest place in the Jewish religion, the Western Wall. Touching and praying and joining in spirit with all of our people who have made pilgrimages to this place, it was an amazing experience. Meters away from the wall we celebrated with another round of achim’s and simcha’s.
That evening we traveled to Ein Gedi to rest before our challenge for the next day: to climb Masada before sunrise…
