Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Congregation Beth Am Israel Trip 2011


Hi Friends, 
We are doing well! Tired, but well! After some travel glitches that had the Bellows family on a flight to LaGuardia at 6am with a shuttle to Newark only to wait 7 hours in the Newark airport (!!)... we all met and finally boarded the plane! Once in Tel Aviv, we met our guide, Gadi and began our tour! We went to a sculpture park in Tel Aviv where we saw not only a spectacular view of the Ocean and Tel Aviv, but relished in the fact that public art here often has a Jewish Theme! we quickly stopped at an upscale mall for a snack at Michigan Ave. prices and then set out again. We learned about the Palmach--one of the predecessor groups of the Israeli Defense Force--with an amazing interactive tour at the Palmach Museum. We ate an Israeli dinner in Tel Aviv and then said Lila Tov. Yesterday was a full day! We toured a british detention camp near Haifa which, because of the British quota on immigration to Palestine, held thousands of Jewish Holocaust survivors who tried to enter the country. We had an amazing meal at home hospitality in a Druze village and then  toured Leo Baeck school-- an K-12 grade reform/liberal school with about 2500 kids. We met with the rabbi of the school and learned about what it means to be a liberal religious Jew in a country that sees Jews as either secular or Orthodox--more on that another time. We are staying at a beautiful Kibbutz and are enjoying the beautiful gardens, food and weather!!! Today promises to be a terrific day--will check in later!

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