Monday, February 22
Monday, February 22, 2010 at 4:49PM Thanks to Irit Kuba for send us the blog! Enjoy today's adventures.
Monday, February 22
Today our student bloggers are Lauren and Natalie, Rebekah and Danielle.
Dear Parents
Today we visited the Jerusalem Time Elevator, went to Ammunition Hill and saw a tent dedicated to the release of Gilad Shalit.
The Jerusalem Time Elevator is a motion simulated virtual tour of Jerusalem’s past and present successes and failures. It took us all the way through history from King Herod’s rule to The Six Day War in which Jerusalem was once again reunited with the Jewish people.
At Ammunition Hill, the site of a Six Day War battle, we were guided through trenches and bunkers that the Israeli and Jordanian soldiers used to fight. We were told many personal stories of the heroism of the Israeli soldiers who bravely fought for the right of Jews to be able to pray and have possession of the Western Wall. This experience connected us to Jerusalem and how it is a privilege to be able to freely visit and pray there like we have for the past few days.
On our way out of Jerusalem, we stopped by a tent where we sighed a petition to release Gilad Shalit from Hamas terrorists. 1335 days ago, Gilad Shalit, an IDF soldier was abducted and taken by Hamas terrorists into captivity where he has remained since then. Israel is in the process of negotiating with Hamas to return him safely home and today we were able to show our support for him. Jerusalem has been an amazing experience and a lot of fun. We can’t wait for the rest of our trip!
Love, Lauren and Natalie
In the evening, we visited Kfar Kedem in the lower Galilee. We talked about traditions such as having a Bar Mitzvah, how they became traditions Jews all over the world do, as discussed in the Mishnah. In order to understand this, we simulated the life of a Jew living during this time. We wore traditional clothing of the time, including head dresses. With a partner, we rode and led donkeys. But don’t worry-- we all received our donkey driving licenses!
We became very close with the donkeys, some people even named the donkeys. Others had difficulties controlling and riding their donkeys. Sydney and Gianni had a particularly crazy donkey. The way to lead a donkey is to walk in front of it so that it follows you. However, every time Sydney walked to go in front of the donkey, it would start running to get in front.
After riding donkeys, we learned how to make pita bread, from the plowing of the field to baking it. Some of our pita came out round but others were more like a blob. Next, we got to eat the pita for dinner. We sat in a big tent around small tables and ate pita, lamb, chicken, tomato and cucumber, rice, tehina, and humus. Amir, our guide, was the funniest person ever. He made jokes about everything and everyone. It was such a fun night to end our busy day. Tonight we will be staying in Tel Chai, in the upper Galilee. ~Rebekah and Danielle
