Join Jewish young professionals ages 22-26 who live in the DC area this winter on a Taglit-Birthright Israel: DC Community trip! Registration opens 10:00 AM on September 14. Visit www.israelwithisraelis.com for more information!

Contact Sarah Arenstein at sarah.arenstein@shalomdc.org or 301-230-7277 with questions!

Dawn Gress
Baltimore, MD

Today was a great closing to our trip. It was a realization of the price paid for this amazing place as we visited the grave sites of young soldiers at Har Hertzel. It was a reminder of how precious life is. Then we had free time to shop in Jerusalem on Ben Yehuda Streer. It was nice to walk around by ourselves and I finished buying gifts. At the end of the night we got together and each spoke about our thoughts of the trip and blessed another person for something they did for us during the past 10 days. We said bye to our Israelis and it was a great way to end our trip; or so we thought. We ended up getting to stay in a four star hotel on the beach in Tel Aviv for two days when our flight was canceled!

From the Negev Desert Ronald talks about how his camera just can't capture the beauty of the land.

Jeff & Andrew talk about being in Tel Aviv, and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Recorded at Rabin Square in Tel Aviv.

Stacey Naggiar
Charlotte, NC

3:30... AM. The desert. Exhaustion. Heat. Ready to climb Masada?

This is how our day began. After an early night to bed at the Masada Guest House by 4am on Wednesday we were on our ascent into darkness, on a path lit only by moonlight, with an ominous mountain looming in front of us. The thick air and heat hit our faces fast as we began to climb. I started the hike next to one friend and finished next to her too - Becky I could not have made it to the top without you. 

The path to the top of Masada is directly uphill, steep and filled with intense sequences of stone steps. As always Boaz led us up, stopping occasionally to let the whole group catch up and I relished those stops. With friends gasping for air around me I knew I was in good company - not the only one struggling. "Are they kidding me? Oh my Lord. Wow. This is a joke. How much more do we have? DRINK WATER!" ... Just a few of the things I heard.

Looking up was the worst thing to do, the top seemed so far away... but... we made it eventually and it was one of the most rewarding experience of our lives (I hope it’s ok I speak for everyone). Boaz directed us to 'icy freezy water' and the group spent time taking pictures atop this spectacular mountain. Just in time - we made it to see the distant sun rise up from behind a mountain... you could literally see it moving and it was breath-taking. I'm on the top of Masada, in the middle of the Judea desert, in Israel, overlooking the Dead Sea with this incredible group of people I've had the pleasure of spending the past week with. All I can think is "Is this real life?"

In true Boaz style we bounced around from spot to spot on the top of the mountain as he performed historical lessons for us.  I felt my eyes closing and my heavy head starting to fall when Boaz started screaming "You're a Jew?? I hate Jews!" ... I look up and realize this was just Silva, the Roman commander speaking...not Boaz. This was probably confusing for other groups walking by.

After an hour or two of enjoying the beautiful views from Masada, still in disbelief of the accomplishment of the hike, we began our way back down. Although the pain and breathlessness were gone the sun was up and beating down on us in full force... both directions were equally as sweaty. I'm just glad the gondola wasn't working when we climbed up because if I saw that thing zip by over my head on the way up... the defeatist attitude I was trying so hard to suppress might have won the battle.

SHOWER. BREAKFAST. SHOP FOR DEAD SEA PRODUCTS....

DEAD SEA. At the lowest place on earth we cover ourselves in mud and go for a swim in the Dead Sea. The water is crystal clear and the bottom is rough from all of the salt.  It's the weirdest thing I've ever experienced, I pick both my feet up off the sea floor and my body is lifted to the surface of the water.... lean forward, lean backward, there's nothing you can do... literally floating and it's unreal.

LUNCH.

In the late afternoon we arrived at the hotel in Jerusalem and despite severe fatigue everyone is thrilled to have three full hours for showers and naps, rare for what we've come to expect.  At 6 o'clock Boaz took us on a walk around Jerusalem, we saw the courthouse, parliament and Israeli rose garden... it was a beautiful night to walk around the city, I think everyone was thankful to be out of the desert heat.

Following dinner we were treated to a music performance by an Israeli musician, Udi Krauss.
It was fun to see the Israelis - our Israelis - joining in. After being asked for an encore our performer complied, telling us the story behind his final song only to reveal he was going to sing Salam. After repeated exciting instances of the whole group singing Salam over and over again on Shabbat, I literally had chills as we all joined in singing for one last time.  Afterwards bus 248 had a chance to do some more group activities, an important part of this trip which has been crucial in bringing us all close together. And on our last night to party and be together... I'll leave the happenings of the rest of the night to your imagination... but you would be safe in assuming we all had a great time.

So in the briefest way possible that was my summary of Wednesday, for me it was the best day of the trip and a day I know I'll remember for years to come. But this post would be remiss without mention of the people I've met on birthright. They have truly changed my life.  From the simplest things like a hello in the morning, to words of inspiration and support on one of our many hikes and to ways in which these people helped reaffirm my faith... I say thank you.  I know spending 24 hours a day, for 10 days straight with a group of like-minded people is an opportunity that won't come around again, so I hope everyone took something from this as special as I did.

Lastly a note about the 7 Israelis that stayed with us throughout the trip. It was an unbelievably refreshing experience to meet people from halfway across the world with whom I share so much in common. Words cannot express the many ways in which you have moved me.

Jacob Lubetkin
Arlington, VA

We start off the day in a bit of a haze, quite literally, as we awaken from our rather short rest in the bedouin tent.  We clean ourselves up as best we can, grab a quick breakfast, and head out to our first stop, Nachal Chavarim.  Our hike opens up with a walk down into a cistern, where Boaz explains to us the crucial importance of gathering and collecting water in the desert.  Boaz described how the early Jewish settlers were ingenious in the various ways and means they managed to capture and preserve the sparse amount of water they were able to obtain.  He also tied in a biblical story about the Jewish "chaperon," but I am afraid that I quickly lost hold of this story due to the combination of heat and lack of sleep.  The hike continued to a fairly steep hill from which we got a great view of the majesty and beauty of the desert.  Boaz then showed us the art of "skiing" down the hill, which thankfully ended with no injuries and several cool pictures.  Oddly enough, this skill came in handy a number of times throughout the rest of the hike.  We continued our hike further into the desert, all the while learning of the symbolism and importance of the desert for the Jewish people.  We had a silent portion of the hike where we walked several feet apart from one another without speaking, which was a nice period for reflection and admiring the landscape.  Our journey ended at another large hill, on which we spelled out in stone our bus number.  Several of us also climbed to the top for one last mountain ski trip.

From there, our day became much more relaxed.  We went to Ben Gurion's grave site, where Boaz told us about Gurion's time as Prime Minister.  I found it particularly interesting that he essentially acted like a normal guy in his day-to-day life as the head statesman, such as by going to the beach in the mornings with no guards or aides.  Boaz explained that this characteristic helped to make Ben Gurion into such a popular figure both during his tenure and in Israeli history.  Following Boaz's talk, we played a jeopardy-type game involving the facts we had just learned about Ben Gurion mixed in with facts about members of the group.  One curious thing about the site was the large number of gazelles that roam the park and get remarkably close to visitors.

Our next stop after Mr. Gurion's grave was lunch at one of the few large shopping malls in the south of Israel.  We were tired due to the hike, so we were quite happy to be able to grab something quick and filling.   Fortunately for us there were several good local options, including McDonalds, which was a fairly popular lunch choice for our group.  I and several others had shwarma, which was pretty good but particularly enormous.  After a mad dash around the mall to find gifts for our giants, we headed back to the bus for our next site.

After a fairly short bus ride we arrived at Mactesh Gadol.  Though we had originally come to this site to do a second hike in order to see some naturally formed craters, our group leaders decided to nix that idea given that it was approximately 247 degrees outside (rough estimate).  We did however brave the heat in order to get a rather amusing demonstration from Boaz on how the craters were formed as well as to see the colorful sand of the site.  We each got to collect a water bottle worth of colorful sand to take with us (there were four colors that I could find; white, golden brown, light purple, and red).  After our little art class project, we escaped from the heat for the comfort of the bus as we made our way to the Masada Guest House.

Due to our fortunate timing, we had about three hours to clean ourselves off, nap, and go to the pool.  The pool in particular was great as it offered great views of Masada and the Dead Sea.  After our fantastic and much needed period of relaxation, we went to dinner, which, surprisingly, was chicken schnitzel, rice, and mixed vegetables, along with an assortment of fresh vegetables and spreads.  Following dinner, the Israelis hosted a "birthday" party for the group, during which they introduced to us birthday games they played growing up.  There were several fun games we played, including trying to find candy in a mound of flour, pass the package (sort of like hot potato, except each time you are stuck with the package get a random task to complete based in the various notes buried within the package wrapping), and egg carrying races where we used our mouths to carry the spoon.  Following the games, Avichai made a presentation on the ease with which the media can and does manipulate pictures and stories, creating false perceptions and factual inaccuracies of Israel.  He argued that this is particularly relevant to the news coming out on Israel, where the issues are highly contentious and complicated, and pictures often over-simplify or even completely distort the truth.  The presentation concluded our evening, and so we headed off to bed to get some sleep before our early morning wake up for our hike up Masada.

Amy Gitnick
Springfield, VA

Yesterday was Monday and we started the day in Tel Aviv. After awakening in the tiniest rooms I've ever seen three people fit in, we proceeded to breakfast and then on to Yitzhak Rabin square. Our trusted guide Boaz explained the significance of the night of Rabin's assassination. For Rabin, the hope of a peaceful Israel was the most important thing. He decided that ceding land to Syria as part of a peace treaty was the right thing to do for the country. He held a rally in Tel Aviv to promote peace and unity. At the end of his speech, Rabin, a man never seen singing in public, was so moved by all those who came to the rally and the energy in the square that he broke out in song. The song he sang was called Shir La'Shalom, the Song for Peace. Rabin thought that all Jews, whether secular or Orthodox, had the dream of Israel at peace and were willing to work towards that goal, even if it required ceding land. Unfortunately, there were some Jews who disagreed. While Rabin was surrounded by body guards in a security zone, they were on the lookout for Arabs who might be a threat and disregarded the Jewish man who came about four feet away from Rabin and shot him three times in the back. A film student was filming nearby as an exercise and caught the whole thing on tape. As he died, Rabin said "these are not real bullets" so as not to frighten those who were nearby for the rally. The people of Israel were shocked and saddened by his death and the fact he was not protected. The feeling of solidarity in Israel between all Jews was broken. We toured the square and saw the markers noting the position of Rabin, the bodyguards, and the murderer.

After the square, we headed to Jaffa, the older city that was the port before Tel Aviv was built. Jaffa had old Arabic architecture and was a lot of fun to walk through. We visited some artisan shops, saw an ancient Egyptian monument to Ramses that had been excavated, and ended at the port market. Lunch was at an amazing bakery eating sambusas or the ever popular shwarma.

After lunch and shopping, we loaded up the bus and headed to a nature reserve that planted biblical plants to preserve the feel of old biblical Israel. At the reserve, we helped build terrace walls, planted acorns that will helpfully grow into oak trees, and ground some dried Hyssop to make our on zatyr, a delicious spice mix. Hyssop is a relative of the oregano plant.

After that, we headed to the Negev desert for our Bedouin camp experience. The sun was hot and the sand was everywhere... And the experience was great. We got on the camels and had a ride around the desert, then awaited our sumptuous dinner. The meal was definitely one of the best we had - loads of kabobs, fresh pita, rice and all different kinds of hummus.

That night, we hung around the bonfire, sang songs and talked under the stars. Late that night we retired to the Bedouin tent to sleep as a large group.

Emily shares her story of going to an Israeli synagogue on Shabbat and compares the experience to her typical Shabbat in Washington, DC.

Greg Witkin
Silver Spring MD

Hey folks! So this morning we went to Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Memorial Center that was set up in Jerusalem.  The museum is set up in a similar fashion to the Holocaust museum back in DC, in that your path through the museum follows a timeline through history, starting with the rise of Hitler and the Nazis and continuing through the liberation of the camps in 1945.  Obviously, this was a really powerful experience for all of us.  We had a guided tour of the museum, although some people (myself included) decided to go through the exhibits at our own pace.

Overall, I was very impressed with the museum.  I have extensive experience studying the Holocaust, and I have studied in Berlin and visited a few concentration camps.  It is always overwhelming to discuss the horrors of the Holocaust, yet we all know how important it is, both as a Jew and as a human being, to remember what happened.

This museum had a few different exhibits that others do not.  We got to visit the Hall of Remembrance, which has the names of all of the extermination camps as well as victims' ashes. We got to visit the Children's Memorial. And we also got to listen to a survivor tell her story of her life in Lithuania before the war, of her incarceration in the ghetto and camps, and of her life since the war. She was a very impressive woman, and we all were rapt as we listened to her speak.

It was a heavy morning, for sure, but a very important one. After the museum we had a short reflection discussion section, telling our feelings about everything we felt and experienced. 

Later in the day, we went to Tel Aviv! We got to lay on the beach and swim in the Mediterranean, which was BEAUTIFUL.  Lots of fun, a few sunburns and minor jellyfish stings but overall everyone was ecstatic for the chance to relax! We also visited the site where they signed Israel's Declaration of Independence and got to go out for the town in Tel Aviv, followed by a rooftop toga party!  Great day.

We also started playing an Israeli version of secret Santa... Anonymously giving each other random gifts. People have gotten bracelets, drinks, temporary tattoos, and even a two foot Dora the Explorer balloon!

Sorry I rambled, but I also promised that I would mention that grape jam is the only way to make a PB&J sandwich. Hi mom and dad Witkin... Love and miss you!

Sidra Carman
Silver Spring, MD

The Sabbath, a much needed day of rest in a very full week. It was a day for learning and a chance to reflect on the past week before starting a new one. At home I do not normally observe the Sabbath and so it was a big change to celebrate it with so many other welcoming Jewish people.

We spent the morning learning about what it means to be a lone soldier in the Israeli army and what some of our definitions of our own Judaism are. A lone soldier is someone from another country that comes and volunteers in the Israeli army. The man we met was from Philadelphia and he came to Israel with no family and without knowing much Hebrew. Volunteering for the army of another country was something I had never heard of and it was very interesting to listen to his story and learn about why he volunteered and how much he felt he got out of his service. He said it was something he would recommend to others because it helps you grow up much faster than college does and it created a great sense of community for him.

In the morning we had great discussions about whether Judaism needs the state of Israel to survive and how important it was for each of us to marry a Jewish person versus non Jewish. Both topics touched on how important our religion is in our everyday life and challenged us to really think about how we view Judaism as a whole and on an individual level. Discussing these things while in Israel, surrounded by other Jewish people gave deeper meaning to the topics and I appreciated the opportunity to think about these topics and discuss them in a group.

I have never observed Havdallah and I could not have asked for a friendlier group to have my first one with. It was a wonderful experience to have so many people wish me a good start to my week and I hope to bring some of that goodwill into my own life at home. I look forward to the week ahead in Israel and to continuing to learn all I can while I am here.