Arrival in Israel,Rosh Hanikra, Naharia and Tzipori
Well , it has come to my attention that over the past few years, due to exhaustion, I have made some grammatical blunders.
Here is my official disclaimer: Sorry, in advance!
We got on the bus and when we were waving good bye Noah’s mom was crying, so cute. After we left school Rabbi Weiss began with the usual instructions; the loading and unloading at the airport; passport concerns- all passports to Rabbi Weiss; no fooling around and saying questionable things at security etc.
The first award was given out even before the boarding (no not the plane!) THE BUS at school, Benya received the Award for ”not listening” he came in shorts.
Zach’s gift of entertaining has already begun to liven-up the trip. To start Zach has been smiling the entire way to Newark . At security, when asked “do you have any weapons?” he answered “ No, well, I don’t think so”. Well I guess Zach and Benya can share the first award. While we were waiting to board Zach again entertained us by walking into the childrens restroom then the changing area” (no comment).
At the X-Ray machine Ari placed his Passport in the bin to be x-rayed, his passport fell-out and we were a bit stressed, don’t worry all is well!
Tali wanted to know “I wish we could leave from Atlanta? They have such great shopping!”
Ilan and Noah already fell asleep and Simon ate his lunch.
Zach and Simon were discussing the Zimmerman case at the airport and went to watch CNN.
The arrival was awesome, everyone clapped when we landed. We Davened, gathered- up our luggage and met up with Yoni our tour guide, Maor our Shomer and Eliana the Madricha. Benya, Ari and Simon kissed the ground and we’ll just say that they didn’t enjoy it that much.
We then continued driving north and Yoni showed us Mt Carmel, Yoni asked the students to take out their Tanachs, so that he could study with the students the amazing story about Eliyahu Ha’navi that took place on Mt. Carmel.
Our first official stop was Rosh Hanikra, the border between Israel and Lebanon. We took a cable car to the caves and grottos used and made by Alexander the Great plus many others. Yoni showed us how the Israelis blew-up bridges/train tracks that were used by the Arabs to sneak in armaments before the Independence War. From there we went to Nahariah, a magnificent coastal city in the north. We had a wonderful lunch and walked around a little.
We then continued to Tziporri an ancient city where Rabbi Yehuda Ha’nasi compiled the Mishnayot. We saw the archeological findings of this large and wealthy ancient Talmudic beautiful city. The trees and foliage was breathtaking. Yoni taught us about Mosaic tiles and how the smaller the tiles the richer the individual must have been. We saw the Shul of R. Yehuda Ha’nasi and a Crusader castle overlooking the settlement of Yeshai. We davened Mincha in that very old and holy shul.
After a very loooooong and exhausting 36 plus hours it was time to take refuge at the hotel, in Moshav Chispin. We checked in at about 7:30pm, and washed up, and had dinner. Then after the meal we davined Maariv, counted Sferat Haomer, and concluded the night with a great class on Jewish History given by Yoni. Good night all! It’s time to snooze….. zzzzzzzz
Noah and Zach
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