Nothing gets the juices going like hearing Hebrew even before you arrive in Israel, but as we sat at JFK in, surrounded by three other birthright groups set to depart on our plane, the Hebrew language was all around us. From the other passengers to the EL AL security personnel and flight attendants…we were DEFINITELY heading back to Israel. Less than six months after we were in Israel with the December STL community trip, we were returning home.
After we got through customs, picked up our bags, and met up with our Israeli counterparts (“mifgash”), we were off to Caesarea. After most of the participants dipped their toes into the Mediterranean Sea for the first time, we broke up into eight small groups so the participants could talk to our new Israeli friends in closer quarters.
Using a little bit of Jewish text study to guide them through the conversation, each participant (Israeli and American) got a chance to talk a little bit about what they were looking to get out of the trip.
After a long-ish bus ride on historic highway 6, we arrived at our hotel in the Sea of Galilee and had a scrumptious dinner. After a quick break to shower and clean up, we ended the evening with an enlightening and engaging icebreaker/discussion about Jewish values and each of our own Jewish identities.
Ad machar (Until tomorrow),
Emilie and Joel