There is no feeling like stepping out of Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv and seeing the bus that has your group number on a sign in the front window.  To me, that is when it starts to hit me that I am actually in Eretz Yisrael, the holy land.  I literally couldn’t contain myself… right as I exited the double doors and saw that bus, I yelled, “ein li eretz acharet”. It is those feelings that make me identify as a Jewish American rather than an American Jew. When I am in Israel, I just feel like I belong.

After loading all of our luggage onto the bus, exchanging our money, and picking up our rented cell phones, we set out for Caesarea.  Though it was a bit windy, we gathered in a circle on the beach of the Mediterranean, next to the famous aqueduct that King Hared built and said the shehechianu blessing to celebrate the beginning of our journey.  Then after some group icebreakers (is there anything better than playing two truths and a lie with a group of 40 excited and creative people?), our amazing Israeli tour guide, Maxi, gave us some background on the history of Caesarea and the role it played in the destruction of the 2nd temple.  But just like that, we were back on the bus and off to Haifa to see the Bahai Gardens.

Even though we didn’t get to spend very much time in Caesarea or Haifa, there was no doubt that all of the participants have already started to realize how special the land of Israel really is.  I can’t wait for them to see the rest of it!

Ad Machar (until tomorrow),
Joel