2009 Israel Trip Diary
#1. Off they go...
Leaving Pearson Tuesday, 10 February
#2. Landed safely
Spoke to the trip leaders —flight landed safely in Israel about 30 minutes early. They are going to check in and have a walk around the Rabin Square area in Tel Aviv. My guess is pizza and falafel...
LATER: The group went on a bus tour of the Mediterranean coast, walked around historic Yafo (Jaffa) for a bit; went back to Kikar Rabin, visited the Yitzchak Rabin Memorial; as predicted, sampled the local pizza and falafel; then went exhausted to bed...
#3. Thursday -- down to the Negev
Thursday 08:15AM Toronto time:
This morning the group started by visiting the historic Independence Hall in Tel Aviv —the place where the State was declared by David Ben Gurion in 1948, and heard a talk on the background. They then headed south to the Nitzana Ecological centre (http://www.nitzana.org.il/1realhomepage3.htm) where they will do a variety of activities connected to the desert, animal tracking, solar energy etc., and finish with an open-air barbecue tonight. You can find Nitzana in the top left hand corner of map 17 on the excellent INTERACTIVE MAP OF ISRAEL
Tomorrow they head to Masada, Ein Gedi and then Jerusalem for shabbat. All is well.
UPDATE: 2:00PM Toronto time -- "great day ... really cool…" Animal tracking in the sand dunes was "fascinating" —great campfire and cookout to end the day. "We're all exhausted and going to sleep".
#4. Masada and the Dead Sea
08:15AM Toronto time —as I spoke to the group they were just entering Jerusalem, after a "fabulous" day. In the morning they went up onto Masada (see live links following), climbing up the Roman ramp on the east side (not the snake path!). They had a tour of the top of Masada, with explanations about the history and the excavations. They descended by the cable car and then went to bathe and 'take the mud' in the Dead Sea.
Jory Vernon reports that the students were "impressive" in their knowledge and questions. Fun was had by all. On the way back into Jerusalem, they passed Qumran, where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found (coming to Toronto this summer). Cheryl Cash says the group is a bunch of 'fabulous kids' -- all enjoying the trip. Shabbat is in Jerusalem; next update Sunday morning. Shabbat Shalom!
#5. Friday - Shabbat - Sunday
08:05 Sunday morning Toronto time: Everything is fine, and there are no significant problems. A couple of kids are "very tired", but all is going well. On Friday, after Shabbat dinner, the group went on a walking tour around the Sacher Park, Knesset, Supreme Court area. On Shabbat morning, everyone went to service in the grand —possibly over-grand— Jerusalem Great Synagogue, and then walked around the beautiful Rehavia quarter of jerusalem, seeing the Prime Minister's house and Bet Hanasi (President's House).
Back to the hotel for lunch, and then a long walking tour of the Old City, for several hours —including the Kotel (Western Wall) and several historical/archaeological sites. [Best link is via the Interactive map— map #9, and then click through the Old City and click on the links to individual sites.] After Shabbat they went to the a-v show on Israeli history, the 'Time Elevator', and then there was evening free time in Ben Yehuda, where everyone filled up with falafel, ice cream, fries etc. Several TanenbaumCHAT grads in Israel turned up to join them, and some families came to visit as well. All returned on time....
On Sunday morning they started with a short visit to Mt Herzl (not sure that they went in), but then spent three hours at Yad Vashem. Programme and tour of the museum was described as "excellent". They left Jerusalem for Haifa, stopping on the way to plant trees at Neot Kedumim, the biblical nature reserve. When I caught up with them they were going to visit a water-recycling ecological plant...... Sounds to me as thought they are packing a great deal of activity into a short time!
#6. Haifa and the Galil
08:05AM Toronto time —"A fabulous day". On arrival in Haifa the trip were taken on a tour of the city, seeing the Bahai temple, the dockside, and the view over Haifa bay. In the evening our students met with a group of Israeli High School students. They went for a 'nature walk' and then had a great exercise where they all made pita bread from scratch— mixing the flour, rolling the dough and baking the pita on a fire. "A lot of fun".
This morning they set off across the Galil —moving from Map #4 to Map #5 on the interactive map— going south-east into the Jezreel Valley, but stopping at the top of Mt. Gilboa. Here they had a tour of the mountain ridge, which offers "truly spectacular" views across the whole of northern Israel, and had a briefing on the Biblical sites and sights of the area. They also saw the ruins of Tsipori, which in Mishnaic times (c 200CE) was a major city, and where very famous mosaics have been uncovered. They will spend the remainder of today and the next day or so in the north. See the many links on the interactive map, plus.....
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#7. The Golan
07:30AM Toronto time —A very enthusiastic report this morning— "absolutely fantastic day… just gets better and better ... kids are just wonderful" -- so, today finds our group way up north - maps #1 and #3 on the interactive map. They began by exploring the ruins of the Talmudic village of Katzrin (see bottom of map #1 and links below). Katzrin was one of the first, and the most important, modern excavations that showed evidence of extensive Jewish population of the Golan heights in mishnaic and talmusdic times.
From there they went across to the Israeli-Lebanes border, where they spent time with some tough Golani brigade Israeli soldiers ("the boys will tell you that this was the highlight of the trip"). A quick whip-round among the students collected enough to buy an appreciated coffee-maker for the troops! They then went over to Mt Bental, one of the key sites of the 1973 Yom Kippur war to see the film 'Oz 77', which describes the war and the strategic importance of the Golan. At the time of contact they were just going off for some r & r at the Roman hot springs of Hammat gader (see bottom of map. south-east edge of the KIneret on map #3). All going well -they seem to be packing a huge amount into their trip.
#8. Biriya, the Huleh - Latrun and....home!
09:30AM Toronto —a "fantastic' last day to an 'amazing' trip". They started off in the Biriya forest, a major JNF ecological project, including a visit to the ancient synagogue in the middle of the forest. From there to the Huleh valley— the swamp whose drainage was a legendary project in the early years of the State of Israel, and which has now been partially re-flooded as a nature reserve.
At this time of the year it is a major resting place for birds including cranes, migrating from Asia to Africa. The birds are fed in the Huleh to stop them feeding on crops in nearby fields —and they are accustomed to tractors and vehicles delivering food. So the students were able to go into the middle of a field of "25,000" migrating cranes... From there they travelled south for their final evening and 'wrap up'. They are having a visit to a shopping mall for souvenirs and gifts; then they will go to Latrun for a cookout and final session ... and from there to the airport!
PLEASE CHECK THE FLIGHT ARRIVAL TIME BEFORE SETTING OUT -- the flight is El Al 103, due to arrive at 0645AM, Terminal 3 at Pearson. We will update the arrival time on this site as well.
FLIGHT UPDATE
Left on time -- should arrive as scheduled. Tomorrow 06:45AM, Terminal 3, Pearson.
