Shabbat Shalom!
Last night we stopped on the way up the coast at Atlit, where we stood at a point where we could see the Mediterranean Sea, the ruins of a Crusader Castle, the Carmel mountains, and a British Mandate period prison where the Jews who tried to emigrate to Israel after the Holocaust were imprisoned as illegal immigrants. We wondered at being able to be free as Jewish people in the Jewish State. We said shehechiyanu over some dates and figs of the Land of Israel and read the poem “The Shabbat Queen” by the Israeli poet Hayyim Nachman Bialik as we watched the sunset over the Mediterranean:
We went to services at Ohel Avraham with our Israeli peers. The girls in both groups were invited to light Shabbat candles and they translated a number of things into English to welcome us. The mother of one of the Bnai Mitzvah students at the synagogue gave a long D’var Torah in Hebrew and our kids were very respectful even tired and hungry as it was right before dinner. Kol HaKavod! At least we knew most of the melodies they used in services and were able to sing along. The Israeli kids from Leo Baeck invited us to a potluck dinner, and made American food like spaghetti and macaroni and cheese, along with Israeli burekas and salads. Yum!
Most of the group slept well last night and we are getting over lag. It was over 70 degrees and sunny this morning in Haifa! We slept a little late this morning and met downstairs at the hotel for breakfast. The kids explored Israeli breakfast—many kinds of cheeses and yogurts, labne with olive oil and za’atar, cucumbers, tomatoes and other fresh vegetables, tuna and herring, tehina and olives. There were also chocolate croissants, cheesecake custard (!!!), fruit, hard boiled eggs, cereal and granola. Ask your kids if they were adventurous or stuck to the more familiar foods.
After breakfast we walked to Tayellet Louis, and were amazed that the day is so clear that we could see clear to Mount Hermon, Rosh Hanikra, Lebanon and Syria. We noticed that all of the stores are closed for Shabbat, but that most people are secular Jews who are walking around enjoying the weather and the day off. By luck, we ran into an American student cantor from HUC who we met at services last night, named Susie, and two former Americans named Ilana and Hillel who made Aliyah many years ago and were hosting her here. Susie joined us for a short camp-style Shabbat service and played guitar for us, saving everyone from Shira’s amateur guitar skills. A few older secular Israeli retirees sat in with our tefila as the weather was so nice, and they were very interested to learn a little about Reform Judaism!
Then we took a short walk to the Bahai Gardens, and learned about this very small, tolerant, international religion and saw the amazing site of the plants and landscaping.
From there, we met our Israeli peers at the Dan Panorama hotel and took a group of them onto our bus. We drove to the Carmel Forest, and sat for an icebreaker in the lush green hillside (photo below). The Israelis taught us a bit about Haifa, which is a very multicultural and tolerant city compared to other Israeli cities and towns. Haifa’s 300,000 people includes Jews of many backgrounds and varieties of religious practice, Muslims, Christians, and Druze.
We then learned a little about the Druze people on our way to Isafiya, a Druze village. The Druze are a very small religious people with a secret religion that only the elders of their group know about in detail. They are fiercely loyal to the countries in which they live, and many Israeli Druze fight in the Israeli army. We went to a traditional Druze restaurant with all 20 of our Israeli peers and some of their parents, eating food cooked in a Taboon, or traditional oven that cooks huge pitas at a very high temperature (Sarah and Drew are standing by the taboon in the photo below). We had phenomenal pita and hummus, laffa pita with za’atar and olive oil, laffa pita with onions and sumac, stuffed grape leaves, French fries, salad, rice, and chicken. Everyone ate until they were stuffed.
From there, we took a drive on Mount Carmel, from the Jewish areas of the university, through the center of the city (passing the Carmelite, the only subway in Israel, which has only 2 stops total!). We drove down to the sea, to Stella Maris, where we went by Ma’arat Eliyahu, where the prophet Elijah lived and prophesized. We discussed how Elijah is considered holy to Jews, Christians, and Muslims. There we also saw a Franciscan monastery and talked about the Carmelite monastery as well. So, in one day, we saw sites holy to Jews, Christians, Muslims and the Bahai, visited with the Druze!
The Israeli and American groups really hit it off, and when it was time to say goodbye to the Israelis not hosting Americans overnight, everyone was sad! So, the kids made the plan that the whole group of kids and parents will hang out tonight at the mall, even the kids who are not hosting.
Later in the afternoon, we came to get our suitcases and dropped off the kids with their hosts. Audrey and Maddy are staying with Michal, Nora and Jessy are staying with Golan, Ilan is staying with Guy, Gideon is staying with Itai, and Naomi is staying with Sapir. They all went to their host families to rest and settle in, and will meet back at the Grand Canyon (Canyon means “Mall’) this evening for dinner and time to hang out. Tomorrow morning we will all gather at Leo Baeck Education Center early in the morning for a full day, so hopefully everyone will go to sleep a little early, but that is asking a lot of teenagers on a Saturday night…tomorrow we will ask them to blog about their experiences at their hosts.
That is all for now—wow, it is a LOT!
Shavua Tov,
Shira
Great report! Thanks. Suddenly, I'm STARVING!
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