Over the next few weeks, 80 college students from the Baltimore area Hillels will be in Israel on birthright israel trips. The students are going in two groups, and the first group comprised of studetns from UMBC and Johns Hopkins just arrived. I will be posting regular updates from them as the students see Israel, the Jewish homeland, for the first time.
Shalom from the Israel!
I write to you from a picnic bench outside the guest rooms at Kibbutz Merom Golan which has been our home for nearly 24 hours now in Israel.
After joining up with peers from JHU, our students checked in at JFK airport on Sunday night. Before heading to the gate, they grabbed pairs of Converse (Chuck Taylor-style) sneakers that our Baltimore Hillels and Ashkelon community is donating to a store in Ashkelon (our sister city) that sells them to next to nothing for middle- and high-school students who receive government assistance. In spite of being number 18 for departure (thank you, JFK airport), we had a smooth trip on El Al to Tel Aviv and may have even landed early. Shortly after checking our baggage, we met our tour educator (Lior), our bus driver (Yosi), our guard (Guy), and the eight soldiers from Baltimore's sister city of Ashkelon who will be with us for the whole trip. They are a combination of Army, Navy, and Air Force soldiers--5 men and 3 women.
We changed money, picked up cell phones, went over some rules, and then headed North to the Golan Heights by way of Afula (which happens to be our bus driver's home city) where we stopped for a quick dinner of falafel sandwiches on our way north. By the time we arrived here, it was nearly 11 PM, time for bed, and an early wake up this morning.
Today was a full day; actually, I should say it will be a full day as we still have dinner (I'm running a few minutes late so I can write to you!) and an evening program ahead of us.
After a breakfast with fresh breads, lots of dairy products, eggs, borekasim, and salads & fruit, we did an icebreaker program to integrate UMBC students, Hopkins students, and the soldiers with one another; we had a lot of great laughs and bonded nicely before we boarded the bus. First we headed to a lookout point in the Golan Heights called Mitzpeh Gadot, near the pre-1967 border between Israel and the Syria. Here we learned about some of the history of the State of Israel, particularly through the Independence War (1948) and the Six Day Way (1967) and asked some hard questions about topography and geography around the Golan Heights in relationship to the peace process. We continued to a second overlook at Mount Bental (where it was chilly), took a walk through a (not currently used) bunker, saw the Syrian border, and learned about the Yom Kippur War (1973) and why it was so difficult for Israel.
After a cup of coffee, we came down the mountain to Katzrin, the "capital" of the Golan Heights for lunch. Some had pizza, some shwarma. We found we had a bit more money in our budget for shoes for Ashkelon and there was a sale at the shoe store there, so two of the soldiers joined me and one student to get a few more pairs of inexpensive but trendy shoes.
We then headed to an olive oil factory, learned about olive oil (unfortunately we didn't get to press any; 'tis not the season), got to wash our hands (I confess that I washed my face too) with some funky formula that includes anti-oxidant chemicals present (and often discarded from) olives and their ground pits.
After a little shopping, we were joined by our final participant from Baltimore who was delayed from the first group--but now we are all here.
The end of the daylight hours were at Chamat Hagader, the natural hot springs near the Golan Heights, followed by our trip back here.
Tomorrow is an early day as we are planning to be in Tsfat in the north by late morning and Jerusalem after sunset, and I will look forward to telling you more about it when I have more internet access.
L'shalom,
Rabbi Jason Klein
Director, UMBC Hillel
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