Day 3 (end of the north)

Shalom all,

Waking up this morning at 7:15 was great but not enough. We said our goodbyes to the Astoria Hotel and headed back to down town Tiberias where we went to a Naot (Israeli known company of shoes) store. Today's word of the day was "Chick Chack" which means hurry up. However, some of us wanted another word so after much grudging we were told yalla, which also means hurry up.

After the Naot store, we traveled over an hour to trek down/up Mount Carmel in the mud. There our tour guide Shabat showed us more wild asparigus and informed us that picking flowers there has a fine of 400 shekel ($100...oops). Shabat also showed us an exotic branch that if you chew on it it makes your teeth whiter, as well as sweet tangerines. Then we headed to Haifa during the rain storm and saw a beautiful view of the skyline. We also had lunch in Haifa at a mall.

After our final experience in the North, we started our 2.5 hour drive to Israel's capital, Jerusalem. Before heading to dinner at Divon, the head of Sachlav, our tour provider's house, we dropped our luggage off at the Young Judean Guest house we will be staying at for the next 2 nights. Becuase it was raining we were unable to have the event outside so we squooshed into his living room with another Sachlav tour from Boston University. Divon spoke to us about hospitality and opened his speech with a story from Genesis about Abraham and 3 men visiting him while Hashem was in his tent.

Then we got back to the Guest house to have our closing night activity. Because we were all exhausted and sleepy from the ride back Shabat decided to play a game with us to wake us up, where Sam Weiner was totally fooled but entertainment was provided :) However, afterward we had an intense conversation about the Shoah, Holocaust, becuase tomorrow morning we are going to Israel's holocasut museum, located in Jerusalem, called Yad Vashem. There were many stories shared, with tears and heart felt emotions expressed.

Now it is time for bed so stay tuned... lila tov, have a good day!

-Shaina Stiefel 2012, Lenny Haas 2012 (who says hi)

Day 2 cont'

Shalom Abbas and Emmas,
Today we learned another hebrew word of the day, manishma meaning how are you doing, what's up, what's happening. We woke at 6:30 had breakfast and loaded the buses to head to the Golan Heights Region. We saw the Kineret (Sea of Galilee), then we headed to our adventurous hike where we hiked down the Jeelabon Valley. It was very steep and required great skill. We climbed down hills, up rocks, through jungle areas, and across streams. It took us about two and a half hours, taking pictures every step of the way, videos cheering each other on and acutally ate different plants such as asparagas plants and ate "poison ivy" that helps prevent hair loss. From there we headed to the olive oil factory, tried the cosmetic protects (face and hand creams) and tasted different olive oils with bread. After we had lunch and got to relax, some people played frisbee. We then got on the bus and headed to an open area where we circled up and sang happy birthday to Craig (he's 20). Oren, Sam, and Dan made a chair for Craig to sit in and celebrated with our traditional raising of the chair. We also now have a song that we all sing, the birthright tenth anniversary song. It says one love, one heart, one home and we now listen to Israeli music everytime we travel on the bus. We then went to Mount Bental where Shabat (our tourguide) told us about the 1973 Yom Kippur war and on a clear day you can clearly see the Syria and Israeli border. We walked down into the bunker and saw where the Soldiers hid during the firing of the missles. Once we finised with the bunker we went to the hot springs right on the border of Jordan. The hot pools of water were like a pool club where the water reached 110 degress. From the sulfur we all smelled like eggs but had a ton of fun and very refreshing after the 40 degree weather on Bental. Then we came back to the hotel, had dinner, washed up, and went on the boardwalk to a club right on the Galilee. We had so much fun, dancing, bonding, and singing to our current popular American music. Now we are all back, changed, in bed, and ready to get some sleep for our 7:15 wake up call. You should have seen how excited we all were and how loud we cheered to know we got to wake up at 7:15 not 6:30! Lylah Tov (goodnight) well wished from Israel, until tomorrow....
-Sarah Wexler 2013 & Shaina Stiefel 2012

Day 2

Today, after getting up and out of the Hotel, our guide, Shabat, brought our group to the spectacular sights of the Jeelabon Creek hike. This river,deep in the Jordan River Valley, provided our group with nearly three hours of fun and picture taking. Even though it was a more difficult hike than yesterday, everyone had fun stumbling and slipping over the rocks. Some of us even found a huge cave! After our hike, we visited the Capernaum Olive Oil Company where we saw how olive oil is made and we has a chance to taste some of the oils and try some of the other products. From the hills of Qatzrin we went to Har (Mount) Bental where we heard about story of the moutain's importance during the Yom Kippur War and got to visit the actual bunker dug into the top of the mountain. When we couldn't take any more mountains, we went swimming in the naturally heated sulfur pools near Tiberias. Our day ended with a taste of Israeli club life with music and dancing and fun.
I can't wait to go to Jerusalem tomorrow!
-Sam Weiner, '12

First Full Day in Israel

After an 11 hour flight on El Al, we arrived in Tel Aviv! We had an awesome orientation with a Birthright group from Boston University, and met Diron from Sachlav who told us all about the Taglit program. After we got settled in our hotel in Tiberias, we got a sababa (AWESOME!) and needed sleep. Today, we hiked near the northern borders and learned about the history of the Israeli-Lebanese conflicts. Also, we went to the Galil Mtn. Winery on a kibbutz! Tsfat was awesome because of the history and great scenery and Jewish mysticism! GO ISRAEL!! :D -Scott Sincoff '13

After a long first full day in Israel, we are currently relaxing in our beautiful accommodations at the Astoria Hotel in Tiberias. Today we hiked Mount Heron, visited the Galil Winery, and toured Tsfat. We are tired from jet lag but in great spirits, and we're so excited to continue our journey around Israel! -Ariel Bucher, '11

So after the flight, we met our tour guide! His name is Shabat! It's like the day of rest! He is cool and very knowledgable! We also have a cool security guard named Avi, he has a big gun, but we can't touch it or take pictures with it, but that's okay! Our hotel is cool too, but it definitely is not the kind of hotel I am used to. *shadypalmtree* The hike was super fun! We saw lots of trees and fungi! Yay exercise! Then we had wine at the winery and it was fermented and grapey! Yay! In Tsfat, there was lots of trinkets and dodads and candles, all of which was really unnecessary to buy but people did anyway! Yay candles! In conclusion, it was super fun! Yay super fun! PS- Eho mom. - Lenny Haas, '12

Stay tuned for more!! Shalom!