Yesterday morning we woke up early in the Negev and took a beautiful hike
near Kibbutz Sde Boker that involved beautiful scenery–overlooks,
waterfalls, and some serious climbing up steep rocks & cliffs, even
ladders within rocks.

We headed from the Negev to Tel Aviv where we spend a couple of hours in
the Nachalat Binyamin artists’ market and around the very hip Shenkin
Street. We rested in the hotel and, after a short talk from a
Taglit-Birthright Israel representative about supporting the program, had
a longer conversation about our relationship with Israel. In the evening
after dinner we saw the Na La’ga’at players perform NOT BY BREAD ALONE.
They are the world’s only blind-deaf theatre.

This morning we woke up early and headed to Ashkelon, Baltimore’s sister
city, where are soldiers gave us a tour around the city, showing us their
high schools, neighborhoods, places they’ve worked, and places they hang
out. We walked around the marina and our tour educator spoke with us for
a few minutes about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Then we headed to
Baltimore Park where we learned more about the partnership between our
cities. There we were joined by a second Baltimore bus (mostly Goucher
and Towson students) and headed to volunteer opportunities in the
community. Half of our bus did some work on a sustainable farming
teaching initiative and half did some work at a store that sells highly
discounted clothing to needy youth. We joined back together for a festive
lunch here in the Youth Center before having a wrap-up conversation
outside.

After ten days together our Baltimore students were so excited to see the
home-town of their (not-so) new (anymore) friends and do some communtiy
service work together. Now we head to Tel Aviv for a trip to Rabin Square
and to Independence Hall before a conluding dinner and trip to the
airport!

I’m hanging out here for a week or so but am looking forward to seeing you all soon Stateside.

It is hard to believe that just yesterday we woke up early in Jerusalem
and headed to Mount Herzl cemetery early in the morning. Our soldiers—I
believe I can now safely say friends—from Ashkelon were dressed again in
military uniforms out of respect for the place.

We started by visiting Theodor Herzl’s grave—originally in Europe and
moved to Jerusalem after the founding of the State—and learned about how
Herzl’s early career inspired him to envision a Jewish state and how he
convened the first Zionist Congress. We walked from here to the graves of
leaders of the State of Israel and gave particular attention to the grave
of Yitzhak Rabin, the prime minister who after serving in all of the other
highest posts in the Israeli government and military, and worked very hard
to bring about peace with the Palestinian people, was assassinated in 2005
by a radical rightist. We walked by the graves and memorials of the
paratrooper heroes who include Hannah Senesh and made our way into the
military cemetery. We visited the grave of Mike Levin who many
Baltimoreans and Philadelphians know from school or from Camp Ramah in the
Poconos, Mike returned from camp to Israel when he found out his unit was
being called up for the Second Lebanon War in 2006 and was killed in
Lebanon. Lior, our tour educator, also told us the stories of some of his
best friends who died during their service as well. We concluded our time
at Mount Herzl with appreciation for the IDF soldiers with us. We recited
memorial prayers and a blessing for the IDF and chanted Hatikvah, Israel’s
national anthem, together. “Hatikvah” means “the hope,” and I’d like to
think that not only is it about appreciating the Jewish homeland that is,
but that this “hope” can also be about the Israel that can be—an Israel
with love and respect among the Jewish people, and true peace and justice
with Israel’s neighbors.

We left Jerusalem and headed to the area of Beit Shemesh, where we stopped
for lunch. The most popular food was actually a drink of sorts—Café
Aroma’s “icecafe”—frothy and apparently fewer than 500 calories (not by
much). Some ate at Aroma; others preferred to scope out the burgers the
kosher McDonalds and we had some pretty positive reviews. We boarded the
bus for a few more minutes to get to the Beit Guvrin area; we sampled
“Krembo,” Israel’s cookie/marshmallow/chocolate treat that I believe holds
a similar mythic place among Israeli children as Oreos do among American
children (“How do *you* eat a Krembo/Oreo…”.) We disembarked the bus and
most of us went spelunking through an underground labyrinth of caves.
Yours truly did this once three years ago on a Taglit-Birthright Israel:
Hillel trip and decided that that was enough for a lifetime so I stayed
outside with anyone else who might be claustrophobic too. Brian was
dubious at first because he did not have a flashlight but found one at
last minute. Though our cave crawlers emerged a bit dirty, most of them
were thrilled that they did it!

From the Beit Guvrin area we headed South for a couple of hours, through
the City of Arad to Kfar Hanokdim, a Bedouin encampment designed for
pilgrims like ourselves. We put our bags into a big tent and drank some
tea that Aaron K. suggested tasted like boiled down Fruit Loops (everyone
agreed with this backhanded compliment), and visited this beautiful
chill-out tent space that Mike and I thought would be a really neat annex
to UMBC’s other student life spaces.

There was a place to shop for clothing and crafts, and Danielle was
excited to buy a necklace for herself after most of her previous shopping
was for other loved ones. By about 5:30 PM most of the group was riding
camels into the sunset and then returning to the camp. We were welcomed
into a large tent as Khaled, a Bedouin from the Negev desert in Israel,
described Bedouin culture with a particular focus on symbols and rituals
around hospitality. And then after some coffee roasting and drinking, the
next phase of hospitality began as we ate what many people believe was the
most delicious meal of the trip.

After dinner, we headed out into the darkness in two groups and had a
conversation called “Spirituality: Wresting with God” in which students
had a chance to be alone in the desert for a few minutes to reflect and
then share with the group. The stars looked incredible as well. We
returned to our tent where the Ashkelonians led some fun games including
the “crab war”—appropriate for Baltimore I guess—during which people had
to crawl on their back like crabs and get each other out. Josh had a
particular talent for this game but Dotan—the Ashkelonian soldier who
proposed it—seemed to make a pretty good crab himself.

As the night continued people listened to music, sat around campfires, and
generally just hung out before they went to bed, some later than others,
in sleeping bags in thin mattresses on the tent floor. It was a pretty
warm night in the desert for January but as it became chillier luckily my
co-staff and colleague from Hopkins Hillel—Rabbi Debbie Pine—figured out
how to use the heater in the tent.

We were up by 5:40, eating breakfast just after 6—another delicious meal
with the freshest of breads. We boarded the bus and headed to Masada.
Corinne and Sarah imagined that the hike up the mountain would be a lot
longer than it was—the Roman ramp that we took only took about 20 minutes.
But they also didn’t realize how intense the hike down on the snake path
would be. While we were on the top of Masada, two UMBC students who did
not previously have Hebrew names received Hebrew names in a ceremony that
we did together as a group. Lisa had a funny moment on top of Masada
when she noticed she had received a text message on her cell phone from a
Jordanian cell phone company welcoming here to “roam” in Jordan; these
signals seem to get mixed up near the borders. We learned about Masada’s
history 2000 years ago and Masada as a symbol in contemporary Israel
before we headed down the mountain. Now, nearly half a day later, I’m
pretty sure I’m not the only one whose knees are just beginning to
*really* feel it. Lena was particularly gracious on the way down the
mountain as she helped another participant whose fear of heights—perhaps
fear of falling—made the walk down particularly challenging.

After some combination of OJ, ice cream, and Ahava products at the bottom
of the mountain we boarded the bus and headed to the Ein Bokek beach at
the Dead Sea. Most of our students covered themselves with mud and the
water was a little chilly in spite of the warm weather.

We headed from the Dead Sea south and stopped in Dimona, where our
students took full advantage of 20 minutes in the local mall for bathrooms
and food. Nathan was determined to find chocolate “Bamba” (Bamba is
peanut-flavored, giant cheese-puff-shaped Israeli snack food). We found
some funky version of it which our students snacked on. Our guide
mentioned that Dimona receives a lot of attention internationally because
it is thought to be the center of Israel’s nuclear program (which Israel
has never confirmed nor denied exists at all).

We arrived about a half hour later to our kibbutz hotel where students had
a chance to relax before a little more exercise. Our soldiers put on
their uniforms once again to simulate boot camp and divided the bus into
three groups. “Lior (our tour educator) told us to wear comfortable
clothes, “ said Evan, “not, ‘you’re going to be in the army.’” Needless
to say, the fast 30 minutes I had photographing our students running
around and doing push-up jumping exercises probably went by a bit slower
for our participants.

After boot camp, a couple of dogs at the kibbutz seemed to take a liking
to Aaron B. and two hours later I think one of them has still have not
left his side.

The pool is open at the kibbutz for our students tonight and tomorrow
morning we take a hike and then head to Tel Aviv.

In fact, as expected, President Shimon Peres spoke at the Mega Event on
Thursday night; overwhelmingly our students enjoyed the music, the talks,
and the dancing.

Friday morning we woke up and headed to Yad Vashem, Israel’s central
Holocaust memorial and heroism museum. Our friends from Ashkelon were
dressed in their IDF uniforms out of respect for the place and we began
our visit there with a talk from an octogenarian named Shaya who was from
Szeged, Hungary, and told us his story and his family’s story from
childhood through the liberation at Teresenstadt and reflected on the
ongoing trauma of what it means to be a survivor throughout his life in
Europe, in New Orleans, and now in Israel. We were joined by a guide
named Yiftach who took us through the new museum at Yad Vashem. We did
not have as much time as would have been ideal, but students still seemed
to find much of what they saw meaningful. We visited the children’s
memorial, the center of which is a single flame reflected by many mirrors,
and concluded our visit with a short memorial ceremony.

This was certainly a day of transitions as we headed back into the City
Center and visited Machaneh Yehuda market where students ate lunch, bought
baked goods and other fun foods, and just explored this epicenter of
Israeli life.

After 40 minutes to get ready for Shabbat back at the hotel we gave
flowers to each student as we lit candles and our bus dropped us off in
the Old City so we could visit the Western Wall Friday evening at the
onset of Shabbat. The Western Wall, the kotel, is a special place for
many Jews because of its close association with the Temple that once stood
on Mount Moriah behind it, and it is a complicated, sometimes difficult
place for many Jews because its ritual life is controlled by the
ultra-Orthodox. There is no option for men and women to pray together in
addition to the separate sections and women may barely raise their voices
in prayer without fear of verbal or physical attack. Our students had a
lot to say about the experience–from joyous to complicated, from moving
to frustrating. We walked around the Old City to Jaffa Street and
continued all the way down Jaffa Street to the new bridge at the entrance
to the City which was really pretty to walk over as we returned to the
hotel for Shabbat dinner. We finished the night with an oneg shabbat at
which we had some tasty snacks and toasted l’chayim to a great trip so
far.

In the morning, some students woke up for some service options in the
hotel and the surrounding area and some slept in. At lunchtime we
reconvened as we prepared to celebrate the Bat Mitzvahs of two
participants from Hopkins. Three people read from the Torah including one
of the women soldiers who had never from fhe Torah before. It was
special.

After the afternoon service, we headed out for a walk on the government
hill near the hotel. We saw the Givat Ram campus of the Hebrew
University, and walked by the Supreme Court, the National Bank of Israel,
the State Department, and the Prime Minister’s office. We sat next to the
Knesset (Parliament) building and learned about Israel’s government
structure and then split into two groups to have conversation about Jews
as special vs. Jews as normal–to what degree to we feel each and what
does that mean.

After some duck, duck, goose in the park, we headed back to the hotel, had
a snack, and had a Havdalah ceremony marking the end of Shabbat. We
boarded our bus to the center of town and had time for shopping and dinner
on Ben Yehuda Street, Jerusalem’s most famous pedestrian mall, before
spending some time at a local bar. As I write this to you we are back at
the hotel. Some students are still hanging out while others have gone to
bed to prepare for our 6 AM wake up call tomorrow when we visit Mt. Herzl
and then head south . . . .

And what a lovely two days it’s been. After a conversation of Jewish
Memory two nights ago, yesterday morning (it feels like days ago, it
seems) we woke up early at our kibbutz in the Golan Heights, had the bus
loaded by 6:55 AM (can you believe?), ate some breakfast, and were on the
road.

As we made our way down the Golan Heights over the Hula Valley, there was
an extraordinary-looking cluster of clouds between us and the Valley; it
was breathtaking:

Our first stop was Misgav Am on the   ebanese border where we had practically a 270 degree panoramic view of Lebanon and of Mt. Hermon (topped with snow) in Israel. Here we learned about the history of Israel/Lebanon border and the evolution of challenges Israel has faced
from some of its neighbors since the first Gulf War–particularly the horror of attacks on civilians. We in particular learned about the experience of the Second Lebanon War in the summer of 2006.

You can get some sense of the view here:

http://www.misgav-am.com/english.htm

From Misgav Am, we headed back down into the Hula Valley, where we stopped for a little while at the nature preserve. We learned about the millions of birds that fly through this valley every year–migrations as far as Zimbabwe and Finland–and how scientists study birds by attaching a small light ring to one of their feet with the hopes of finding some of the birds with rings at different times an different places.

After a drive around the nature preserve, we ascended to Tsfat, known as one of the four ancient holy cities in the land of Israel, and perhaps most famous as an epicenter for Jewish mysticism during the medieval period. We learned about Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai who is associated with the Zohar, the text par excellence of Jewish mysticism and about Rabbi
Isaac Luria (nicknamed the “Ari”) and visited one of his synagogues. We had some free time for shopping–from candles to necklaces to Judaic artwork, and many students ate Lahu (I have know idea how to spell that in English–think semi-hard “h”), a Yemenite bread together with some vegetable toppings for lunch:

Others were content with more falafel or shwarma.

What the students did not know but what their staff did know is that we wanted to do a special “shehecheyanu” ceremony welcoming them to Jerusalem yesterday evening, but that time was tight (it would be a three hour ride from Tsfat if we were lucky). So we headed out of Tsfat and drove clockwise around the Kineret (Sea of Galilee) to avoid traffic in Tiberias and then headed down the Jordan Valley Road toward the Jericho Road that leads to Jerusalem. We learned about Israel’s relatively warm peace with Jordan and heard moving stories of their late King Hussein. We also started to talk more about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as we were driving down a road shared by Israeli and Palestinian vehicles and had a view of Jericho in the Palestinian Territories just before sunset.

So somehow by hook or crook–call it divine intervention or the luck of no traffic, we–while singing “Yerushalayim shel Zahav” (Jerusalem of Gold) emerged from the tunnels on Mount Scopus in Jerusalem just as the sun was starting to set. We disembarked from the bus and danced our way to an overlook of the city, took some pictures, and toasted l’chayim over a
little wine to welcome the students.

Then, we headed to our hotel near the City Entrance from the main road to Tel Aviv and checked in, had dinner, and heard some speakers from Gift of Life (the prospective bone marrow donor registry) talk about what they do and registered a bunch of our participants. Some students stayed up for a while at the hotel’s bar, others were in bed by 9 PM, but we were all back on the bus by 8:00 this morning when we headed to the Haas Promenade, where we had a gorgeous view of the Old City from the south, heard some Jewish traditional stories about that place, and learned about 3000 years of Jerusalem history–complete with visual aids–from the City of David the Mount of Olives, from the Temple Mount to the Separation Fence between
Israelis and Palestinians built by Israel.

We entered the Old City itself through the Zion Gate and walked through the Jewish quarter. We learned more about the Roman period in the Cardo, and–after a break for lunch and shopping–made our way down the Western Wall plaza. Students had about half an hour to experience the kotel–the Western Wall. Some people wrote notes, others prayed, wished bar mitzvahs “mazal tov,” some of our men (third picture attached) experimented with the ritual of putting on tefillin (there aren’t any folks at the wall asking women to put on tefillin as there are for men, so I made sure I didn’t forget my tefillin if any of our women wanted to try putting on
tefillin as well).

We visited the Davidson Center and learned about the excavations in the southwest corner of the Temple Mount and then had a walk through Hezekiah’s tunnels (we took the dry tunnels in spite of the very warm day
today) that brought water to the city at a time when Assyrians threatened Jerusalem’s existence as a Jewish city (8th-7th century BCE).

And then our students headed to Taglit-Birthright Israel’s “Mega Event,” a night of food, performance, and speeches. There are rumors that the President and/or prime minister will make an appearance tonight in honor of Taglit-Birthright Israel’s 10th anniversary, celebrating 220,000 people traveling to Israel on the program.

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.

Registration is now open.  Registration requires payment of a $200 program fee. UMBC Hillel will refund $100 and your travel to/from NYC upon completion of the trip—making your cost only $100. (If you apply now and withdraw before February 14th , you will refunded the entire program fee of $200). Don’t delay. The sooner you apply, the sooner we can lock in your spot for the trip.

 Contact Cara with any questions.

Join other Jewish students from UMBC and the Joint Distriution Committee (JDC) for a short-term service trip to Baltimore’s sister city in the Former Soviet Union–Odessa, Ukraine

The trip will take place from March 14 until March 22, 2010.

During the trip you will get to know your Odessa Hillel peers and lend a hand in Odessa! Before the trip you’ll meet for dinner, study, and preparation each week starting in November as you learn about Judaism and service and each community and start relationships blogging with your Odessan peers.

The cost is $450 to $950 based on what you can pay

Applications are available now from hillel@umbc.edu or Max Daniller and the priority application deadline is Friday, October 23, 2009.

Travel to Guatemala with UMBC Hillel this January.

Spend your winter break with American Jewish World Service (AJWS) and UMBC Hillel and Gain a first-hand experience of grassroots development and life. You will join other Jewish students at UMBC building a clinic in a rural area and experience life in another country. Please come to an info session on Tuesday, October 20 at 12 noon in the Mosaic Center, Commons 2B23 for more information or email hillel@umbc.edu.

The priority application due date for this trip is is Friday, October 23, so request your application or more infomration from hillel@umbc.edu today.

Who? The UMBC Jewish community.

What? Working with an organization to build a medical clinic for a rural community, getting to know the community, getting to know fellow students, learning about Jewish ideas of service.

When? Sunday, January 17 to Sunday, January 24

Where? Flying from the Baltimore area to Guatemala City and staying at Lake Atitlan.
How much? $250 to $450 based on what you can pay.

Help take over one of Baltimore’s hottest spots at the first city-wide Hillel event of this school year!  Meet your peers from Johns Hopkins, Towson, and Goucher and enjoy the musical stylings of hip-hop artist Y-Love and DJ Diwon.  The Aquarium will be open to advance ticket holders from 6 until 7 PM.  Get your tickets early!  $5 entrance, additional $3 for round-trip bus transportation to/from UMBC’s Commons Circle, departing at 6 PM.

Yummy food–great music–fun people–what more could you ask for?   You must be 21 to drink, of course.

Please get a ticket as soon as possible from our office in the Interfaith Center (between Susquehanna and Chesapeake Halls).

Sponsored by Baltimore Hillels, Jews for Judaism, and the Jewish Community Center of Greater Baltimore

This program is generously sponsored by Irwin and Donna Azman.

Monday, September 7, 4:30 – 7:00 PM, IFC: JUST JEW IT - Learn anything and everything you want to know about Judaism, the cultural, social, and religious side of it.

Tuesday, September 8, 3:00 – 5:00 PM, COMMONS (in front of au bon pain): CAFÉ HILLEL.

Wednesday, September 9, 5:00 – 8:00 PM, GAME ROOM: GAME NIGHT - Play games, meet new people, and have fun.

Wednesday, September 9, 8:30 – 11:00 PM, COMMONS MAINSTREET: ISRAELI DANCING.

Thursday, September 10, 4:30 – 7:00 PM, IFC: MOVIE NIGHT & POPCORN.

Friday,  September 11, 6 PM, IFC: SHABBAT CELEBRATION—Services followed by free kosher dinner. Come for either or both.

Saturday, September 12, 12:00 PM, IFC: Shabbat Lunch. Come to have free bagels, cream cheese, and lox.

Saturday, September 12, 8:30 PM, IFC: HAVDALAH (end of Shabbat).

Sunday, September 13, 7:00 – 10:00 PM: A NIGHT AT THE AQUARIUM featuring hip-hop sensation Y-LOVE. (Check out the video above)

Tickets: $5 (includes an early entry to the Aquarium if purchased in advance).

$3 for bus transportation from UMBC.