We have been busy but this is the last 8 days.
Wow. Where to even begin! This has really been an awesome first 5 days. I was coming from another Jewish trip, called Aish, before this with 40 other Jews. However, trying to meet and learn 40 new faces and names at the airport was a little bit of a challenge. But here I am 4/5 days later having a great time walking around the desert with 40 new friends.
Our trip started a little rocky but I wasn’t bothered by it. We were delayed for a few hours in NY. We were told that the crew couldn’t get to the airport because of weather conditions. When we did finally board and arrive in Zurich, we missed our plane, so we ended up getting on the next plane, 10 hours later. But did that get us down? Nope. We got to know one another, played cards and explored the terminal.
We finally boarded and flew to Tel Aviv, where we were welcomed by 6 Israelis singing Shalom Alechem which was the same version I knew from back home at my temple. It was 4 AM, had no sleep but yet, were excited to see us. Still, with sleep deprivation and no showers for 36 hours, we all were having a good time. We were brought into a circle and introduced to our amazing Israeli trip leader, Omer! He was surprisingly wide awake with a ton of energy at 4am. He had us put our arms around one another and jump in a big circle to the left over and over again shouting as loud as we could, "ACHIM ACHIM ACHIM, SIMCHA SIMCHA SIMCHA!" meaning “Brothers and sisters we are happy!” I think it was the translation which we have continued to recite a few times since then. It is pretty catchy if you ask me.
We then went out to the bus, got our phones and exchanged money. Next we were on our way to the Kibbutz Hakuk in the north. We got there around 7am and we all went to breakfast, followed by showers. We then met and went for a hike to the Devorah Waterfall which was a little challenging for some as we had to cross some small rivers by using rocks which were not all sturdy. Needless to say there was some wet shoes and socks. We then got to the waterfall and it was quite a sight.
After the hike we went to the Golan Heights. We stood on top of a mountain looking at Syria as well as the North of Israel. At this point we talked about what was going on with the Golan Heights and that Syria wanted it. We were asked if it were up to us, should we give it to them to create peace between the two countries. However most of us said that it would not make sense because a) we would lose 30 percent of Israel’s water source because it would be controlled by them, b) it was the highest point so we would be able to see an attack coming, and c) how can we just take their word that this will create peace and they wont keep asking for more.
We finally got back to the Kibbutz and we were all exhausted since we were till going on 40 hours of little to no sleep. We were given an hour before dinner for free time where people took showers and/or cat naps to try to recuperate from the past few days. After being showered and clean, we came back for a short discussion on Shabbat and what it meant to each of us.
Although it was a very interesting conversation, Sam, one of our US leaders, could see that many of us were tired. So instead of going directly to dinner he let us take some time to sleep for about an hour which for a lot of us turned into 1 ½ or 2.
We all eventually made it to dinner and then had another activity before having free time. Oh I didn’t introduce our two group leaders!!!!!! We have Sam who is the Hillel Director at U-Mass Amherst and Jessica who works with JNF in fundraising, Both of them are amazing and have great attitudes towards Israel, Judaism and this trip. They are always willing to answer questions and help us with whatever we need. In addition a few students have been getting sick so they have helped and cared after them as well as sit with them to get better in the hospital. Nothing serious but there have been some people that have had dehydration and others with a few viruses. As of right now everyone is doing a lot better!
So that night was New Years Eve so there were some people who went to bed around 9, cough cough… me…. and others who celebrated til 12 and went to bed at 1210, and a select few who were somehow able to party until 2 or 3am. I have no idea how they were able to do this
Saturday: The next morning was Shabbat and we were able to sleep in until 11a which helped get everyone kind of back to normal with a good nights rest. We started the day with a discussion of the weekly torah portion where everyone read a line of the torah portion and we analyzed it as a group. It was the story of Passover. I was intrigued however because I thought that torah portion was read during Passover.
During the reading, some of the Israeli’s asked if they could read it in Hebrew and English. They described that the Hebrew words are multi-dimensional because of the multiple meaning of all of the words unlike reading it in English where everything has one meaning. There was also a comparison between being Jewish and Harry Potter. Good Times. Erika was a rock-star in her analogy. I will let you try to compare the two and think of how many you can come up with.
We had lunch and free time where I played some cards and played with a cat who I referred to as GATO. I know that’s Spanish but hey the cat responded to so I went with it. I also learned that the Hebrew word for cat is Chatul. You know how in the Rugrats they said Chanukah you have to chaaa when you say it… It sounds like that and not shatool which I messed up a few days.
After free time we all met for Havdalah where we went around and each told a fact about ourselves. One of my favorites was that one person could fit someone else’s entire fist into their mouth. We then all went outside and did the Havdalah prayers. Following this we all got in a bus and traveled to Omer’s house where he showed us a documentary he was in where him and 35 of his friends went and took his handicapped father up the Turkish Olympus Mountain. It was extremely inspirational and we got to see his house. We then got to eat out and I went with a lot of the Israeli’s to a restaurants where some people had toasted bread with cheese and tomatoes which is similar to pizza, a huge Israeli Salad, and I got a Tuna sandwich with eggs, mayo, celery, mayo… lets just say it was out of this world. Following this we had a program called, “Israel on the Big Screen” where we saw movies made in Israel and we compared them to the ones of the States.
On Sunday we went to Tzfat and walked to a high peak where we were able to see a great view. We listened to a song, “Kol Gal Gal” that I attempted to learn afterwards from an Israeli. We then walked around and I had the opportunity to try this bread with cheese, oil, tomato and lettuce. DELICIOUSAAAA!!!! We then went to have lunch in Haifa where many of the Israelis are from. That day we also went to Adi’s house, one of the Israelis, where her mother prepared a wide spread of desert for us. We also watched and discussed the relationship between Boston and Haifa. We traveled to Tel Aviv later that night where we checked into our hotel, had dinner and went out to the CLUBBBBBB on the beach where we were able to meet another Birthright Trip!
Even though most of us were up til 1 or 2 in the morning partying on the roof of our hotel, we still had to wake up early the next day. We went to Independence Hall where we learned about the day Israel became Independent as well as where the Declaration was made. Next we went to the holy land and got to travel around all of the city. We were able to haggle for souvenirs in the Jerusalem Market. We also went to the Jewish Quarter and stood on the top of one of the buildings where we could see in all directions of the city. We then went to the Western Wall. I don’t know what I was expecting but it was not what I had in my mind of this holy place for all these years. I wrote a note and went up to the western wall and put it in it.
One of the things that I realized when at the wall, was that this was truly an amazing place that connects a lot of Jews. So many Jews have prayed there, put prayers in the wall. It really was a great experience because I can now be one of those many people who have done those things. After the wall we went back to the hotel and had a group activity talking about Yad Vashem which we would be going to the next day.
The Next day, Tuesday, we traveled to Yad Vashem which is one of four Holocaust Museums in Jerusalem. I have been to multiple Holocaust Museums in the states and have learned a lot about it from Hebrew School but every time I go to one, it hits me so hard that people did this to us! It also bothers me that some people, including Leaders of Countries, believe it has not happened! Its unbelievable how they could think that. I mean it wiped out 1/3rd of us, we are only 12 or 13 million which equals .223% which rounded to the nearest hundred is Zero Percent. Yet we were able to last this long! We have to ask ourselves Why?
Later that day we drove to the desert where we would eventually all be sleeping in a tent. When we met for dinner that night we ate pita, rice and chicken whilst sitting on the floor. I felt like I was in China but it was definitely an experience. The Israelis wanted to do a program with us which we were all interested to see what they would come up with. We were surprised when they came into our bunks with paint all over their faces yelling and shouting orders as soldiers. They made us all get up, run outside, and put paint on our faces. We couldn’t keep straight faces in the beginning but we started to become more like soldiers the longer we did it. I was really enjoying it but they ended it sooner then I would have liked. I was just starting to get into. We then did another program where people were blindfolded and were fed different types of food where they had to guess what it was. Needless to say there were some items people did not like.
After we wiped the paint off of our faces, we went for a hike where there was no talking and no lights. We were really able to think about what we appreciate as we looked up at the stars. We came back to a campfire with guitar’s and I went to another Birthright’s campfire after a bit where they were playing HipHop Music.
Wednesday:
Today was awesome. We rode Camels which was surprisingly not as comfortable as one may think but it was very amusing to watch the camels get up off the ground where people mounted them and how they went back down for people to get off. We traveled for a bit to another part of the Negev Desert for a hike at “Nachal Chavarim” where everyone put something on their head so people wouldn’t get sunstroke. And the people who didn’t have a hat people tied shirts around the head. Luckily we made it through with nobody passing out. You could see for miles and miles of this desert and the sights were truly incredible.
After we were all tired from the walk, we went to a farm called “Shvill Hasalat” where we learned how they grow tomatoes, flowers, plants, strawberries, and oranges. We also were shown some pretty awesome messenger Pigeons which we learned have magnesium in their beaks to always know where they were born and can find their house from great distances. We then drove for a while to Arad but it was an early night because we would be waking up early the next morning to hike up Masada.
Thursday: Masada and Dead Sea
We woke up for breakfast at 5 where we had coffee, hot chocolate and cake. We left around 530 and drove down a road, which is extremely windy and some people can get car sick but luckily, nobody threw up on the bus ride. We started the truck up the mountain and got there just in time to catch the sunrise which was soooo beautiful. We also got to see a bunch of other Birthright Trips up there at the same time. We hung out around Masada and learned the history of it and surprisingly there was a lot of it that was still original including a bathing house. We were also designing our Group Trip T-shirt that was due the day before but because we have an amazing trip leader, Omer was able to extend our deadline.
After a treacherous hike down the mountain which seemed like it took forever, as well as making my legs shake, we had breakfast. It was then on to the dead sea which was awesome!!!!!!!! We walked in and it was freezing but nevertheless we kept going. It was one of the strangest things I have ever experienced. Literally you bent your knees, leaned back and you were floating. It was so bizarre! It felt really oily but still it was funny watching people get in and hearing them scream because they were so freaked out.
People got out for a bit and put mud on which was a interesting feeling but a lot of fun and made the skin feel awesome!! We are now on our way to Jerusalem where there will be a Mega Event later tonight. It is sad that we only have 2 more full days then it is back home to LA for me L TTYL!
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Lewis Hatkoff
Chatsworth, CA
Emerson College - Boston
VMA TV Production
