Message from Israel

Jody, one of the two staff people on the bus from Hillel in Philadelphia wrote the following e-mail. I have attached links to explain to some of the terminology - enjoy!

hi. sorry for the no caps but this keyboard is no fun at all. just a quick update on our trip, which is going really well.


friday- we toured the old city, students shopped in the cardo and visited the wall. i think many of them were surprised by their reaction to the whole environment. in the old city they were given a list of questions to go around and find answers to, they had a lot of fun with that.
following the old city, we visit machane yehuda right before shabbat, with all the chaos and rush, they had an amazing time. students broke up into groups and went shopping for specific items.

shabbat- was a very interesting experience for them, services were held in the hotel, and across the street at an orthodox shul. afterwards, 8 busses came together for shabbat dinner. this was followed by an oneg (celebration) with penn, that featured many of the goodies they obtained at machane yehuda.

saturday was for relaxing, except for those of us who walked 1h45m each way to the kotel [Western Wall] (that would be me) where they had a short time to visit at the wall, experienced zatar for the first time, and saw yemin moshe. then it was lunch, a short walk to a playground around the corner(yes, we have pictures) and rest.

after havdallah, we went to emek refaim [Emek Refaim is one of the most popular streets in Jerusalem, with a cosmopolitan flavor, stylish boutiques, restaurants and coffee houses bustling with life.], for dinner and free time, the group was mainly split between shwarma with me and norman's with Judah. and we enjoyed some max brenners...yum.

then at the israel museum, students saw the dead sea scrolls, had a dark photo op at the ahava statue, and heard avraham infeld speak. they loved that, as well as the concert that followed. a band called shine.

then late to bed, and early up today. right now they are in a speaker, and will soon meet the mifgash.

Lovely Shabbat

On Friday the group had a tour of the Old City of Jerusalem. This included a visit to the "Kotel", the Western Wall - the oldest remaining structure from the Temple.
After a wonderful Shabbat, there was a trip to the Israel Museum and the group had a photo in front of the Ahava sculpture - the Israeli version of the Philadelphia Love sculpture in Love Park.
Students are lookng forward to tomorrow's "mifgash" (encounter), where they will meet the group of soldiers, Israelis their age, who will travel with them for a few days so that they can learn about each others' lives, expectations, dreams and hopes.

More tomorrow...

Scratchy phoneline....

OK, so Charles Bronson is no longer in the land of the living...so he probably wasn't on the flight.
I am blaming this misunderstanding on a bad telephone connection.
Sorry for the confusion.

They've arrived safely!

The Hillel in Philadelphia students arrived safely in Israel this morning (1pm Israel time). The flight was uneventful - although apparently Charles Bronson was in First Class. One student is on a later flight after confusing the day of the trip's departure. They are expected to all meet up by this evening.
When I spoke to them the bus is on its way to Jerusalem, the ancient and modern capital of Israel.
Upon arrival they will have a "shechayanu" cermony at Haas Promenade. This ceremony, named after the Jewish prayer, will welcome the participants to Israel.

They are on their way!!!

Winter 2006 (bus 565) trip

This blog will have occasional updates of our trip starting around December 28th.