Israel | Page 4 | Shorashim - Israel with Israelis

We were so happy to finally arrive, and we were greeted by our new Israeli friends! We got on the bus and drove to the north to our kibbutz, Kibbutz Afik.

The trip participants are part of my family, but so are many others who have and continue to treat me with great kindness: friends from high school and college, certain coworkers and people I look up to...even people I've fallen out of touch with, some people I've only tweeted/Instagrammed with or met once.

Sat in the room where David Ben Gurion spoke the words and signed the document that transformed Israel from an idea into a country.

In Tel Aviv, we experienced the sights, sounds, smells, and tastes of an open air market, where you can find anything from counterfeit merchandise to handmade jewelry

Our Israeli peers awaited, with song, balloons, and fanfare; they joined our ranks, and in a sweaty circle, arm-in-arm, we kicked off our trip in an Achim circle.

In the afternoon, we explored Tzfat, one of the four holy cities in Israel. In the "old city," which is made entirely of stone, we saw art galleries, jewelry shops and ancient synagogues. One famous Kabbalistic artist, Avraham Lowenthal, held a discussion for us in his studio about art and spirituality

We said the "shehecheyanu" blessing,cheersing to life (with grape juice!) and our existence and being together in Israel. We then had a surreal experience seeing the Syrian-Israeli border from the top of Golan Heights.

Our first stop on June 11th was at Pluristem, a biotech company in Haifa that manufactures its own brand of modified placental cells for use in a wide variety of therapies. Pluristems's patented PLX cells are currently in different stages of clinical trials for indications ranging from myocardial infarctions to preeclampsia to Buerger's disease, an FDA designated orphan illness. Ohad Karnieli, Pluristem's Vice President of Technology, gave us a thorough explanation of his company's goals, process, and business model and easily fielded our many questions, both technical and otherwise.