The First Post about UMBC Hillel’s Taglit-Birthright Israel trip this winter.

I write to you from a picnic bench outside the guest rooms at Kibbutz
Merom Golan which has been our home for nearly 24 hours now in Israel.

After joining up with peers from JHU, our students checked in at JFK
airport on Sunday night. Before heading to the gate, they grabbed pairs
of Converse (Chuck Taylor-style) sneakers that our Baltimore Hillels and
Ashkelon community is donating to a store in Ashkelon (our sister city)
that sells them to next to nothing for middle- and high-school students
who receive government assistance. In spite of being number 18 for
departure (thank you, JFK airport), we had a smooth trip on El Al to Tel
Aviv and may have even landed early. Shortly after checking our baggage,
we met our tour educator (Lior), our bus driver (Yosi), our guard (Guy),
and the eight soldiers from Baltimore’s sister city of Ashkelon who will
be with us for the whole trip. They are a combination of Army, Navy, and
Air Force soldiers–5 men and 3 women.

We changed money, picked up cell phones, went over some rules, and then
headed North to the Golan Heights by way of Afula (which happens to be our
bus driver’s home city) where we stopped for a quick dinner of falafel
sandwiches on our way north. By the time we arrived here, it was nearly
11 PM, time for bed, and an early wake up this morning.

Today was a full day; actually, I should say it will be a full day as we
still have dinner (I’m running a few minutes late so I can write to you!)
and an evening program ahead of us.

After a breakfast with fresh breads, lots of dairy products, eggs,
borekasim, and salads & fruit, we did an icebreaker program to integrate
UMBC students, Hopkins students, and the soldiers with one another; we had
a lot of great laughs and bonded nicely before we boarded the bus. First
we headed to a lookout point in the Golan Heights called Mitzpeh Gadot,
near the pre-1967 border between Israel and the Syria. Here we learned
about some of the history of the State of Israel, particularly through the
Independence War (1948) and the Six Day Way (1967) and asked some hard
questions about topography and geography around the Golan Heights in
relationship to the peace process. We continued to a second overlook at
Mount Bental (where it was chilly), took a walk through a (not currently
used) bunker, saw the Syrian border, and learned about the Yom Kippur War
(1973) and why it was so difficult for Israel.

After a cup of coffee, we came down the mountain to Katzrin, the “capital”
of the Golan Heights for lunch. Some had pizza, some shwarma. We found
we had a bit more money in our budget for shoes for Ashkelon and there was
a sale at the shoe store there, so two of the soldiers joined me and one
student to get a few more pairs of inexpensive but trendy shoes.

We then headed to an olive oil factory, learned about olive oil
(unfortunately we didn’t get to press any; ’tis not the season), got to
wash our hands (I confess that I washed my face too) with some funky
formula that includes anti-oxidant chemicals present (and often discarded
from) olives and their ground pits.

After a little shopping, we were joined by our final participant from
Baltimore who was delayed from the first group–but now we are all here.
The end of the daylight hours were at Chamat Hagader, the natural hot
springs near the Golan Heights, followed by our trip back here.

Tomorrow is an early day as we are planning to be in Tsfat in the north by
late morning and Jerusalem after sunset, and I will look forward to
telling you more about it when I have more internet access.