Here is more news from our great 8th graders, now at the Reali School. Hear about those activities and how Purim was celebrated. The journey is almost at an end--and the excitement continues. Thanks to Irit and MArit for continuing this blog so wonderfully.

Susan Weintrob

Feb. 25

Today's blogger is Avi.

Hello from Israel!!

We have been having a great time with the Reali students. We met them again on Wednesday morning at the High School branch of the Reali. We did some leadership and team-building activities with them. We also were able to see some of the Reali students that came to Wornick last year! It was so cool seeing them again! Wednesday night, most of us went to the Haifa Mall, and we shopped around for a while. Later that night, all of us that went shopping, and even more of us, met up at the bowling ally in the mall, and had a great time playing. We rented out about 7 or 8 lanes, and we had, on average, 6-8 people per lane! There was a TON of us!

Yesterday, we had a few hours of activities at Matos, the 1st –9th grade branch of the Reali. We had a fun tour of the campus, and Ron Kitry, the CEO of all the Reali branches, gave us a presentation about our friends in Istanbul, Turkey, and other important topics too. After all that, we all headed home to have a nice night with our hosts.

Today...today is very interesting. Today in Purim in Israel, and its not just in the school. EVERYWHERE!!! On my drive to school today, I saw so many people in costumes, having a great time; people just walking down the sidewalk! In school, it is a very festive day. I have never been in a place with, as Mr. Wong would say, “So much fun and frolic!” I cant wait to see the rest of the day!

This is the last day of our Israel Blog, so Chag Sameach, happy holiday, and we are all looking forward to seeing you on Sunday!

Lehitraot!

--Avi = ]

Feb. 26

Today’s blogger is Sydney. 

Happy Purim!

Today we spent the day at the Reali School and celebrated Purim. Everyone had to bring in a Mishloach Manot basket, and today we exchanged them with other students during class. After we did the Mishloach Manot exchanges everyone went into the auditorium and watched funny skits, and bands. There was also a costume contest! Everyone had crazy costumes! There were costumes that ranged from Minnie Mouse to a refrigerator. When that was done, we proceeded to the gym to watch Chinese Acrobats! They were amazing! Purim in Israel is definitely different from purim in America. It has been an awesome experience to remember.

Sydney

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

Susan Weintrob

Irit writes:

Today was a very serious day compared to the rest of the trip. We visited Har Herzl, a memorial cemetery and museum, Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Memorial, and in the evening we explored the Kotel tunnels.

The Har Herzl Museum is an interactive museum in which we felt part of Herzl's Zionist Congresses. Our conclusion was that any dream, even if it may seem impossible, can come true. We continued to the cemetery for leaders of the country such as Yitzhak Rabbin, Herzel, and other important leaders. We paid our respects to the soldiers that died during the various wars that Israel has fought in. We went to Michael Levin’s grave sight. Michael was an American Paratrooper who made Aliyah and volunteered to the Israeli Defense Force.

Yad Vashem v'Givorim, the Holocaust and Heroes memorial, was a big part of our day as well. It was a very emotional experience for all of us. We saw pictures, videos, documents, clothing, possessions and more that were from the time of the holocaust. Together we remember the 6 million Jews that died.

Our student bloggers today are Scott, Sophia, Danielle and Madeleine

Today we came up with a few thoughts we would like to share with you:

Maddie: “The Hatikvah is now so much more meaningful to me. After witnessing the suffering of the 6 million Jews I remember the hatikvah that gave those Jews so much hope to continue living and to pick them selves up and start a new generation.”

Scott: “Now I vow not stand by so that nothing like this will ever happen again.”

Danielle: “When the Nazis killed one person, they killed an entire generation because the killed the generations that could have come from them. And for the people that lived, they were lucky because they weren’t supposed to.”

Sophia: “I admire bravery of the soldiers that went into combat or made decisions even though they knew they would die for the safety of their friends and fellow soldiers.”

At the end of the day, we saw the Kotel tunnels which were amazing because two thousand years ago people were standing in the same place we were standing and working on the same tunnel we were walking on. Even though it was a hard day, we got to eat at a Machaneh Yehuda market and bought lots of chocolate for Mishloach Manot for Purim when we go and visit an army base.

Friday/Shabbat, February 19/20

The last two days have been even more exciting than the first days. OnFriday afternoon, our Reali School partners joined us with 2 staff membersand 25 excited 8th graders. As well, the picture was complete when Maritjoined our group for Friday and Shabbat. We began the morning with Tefillahon the Haas Tayelet, with an incredible view of the Old City ofJerusalem. Therewas no doubt which way to face during our prayers! We toured Ir David, theCity of David, the original Jerusalem, smaller and very ancient. Walkingthrough the ancient water tunnels under this part of the city brought usback more than 3,000 years! There was time to buy lunch in the JewishQuarter of the Old City—in pairs, students were given money to purchasetheir own lunches. Felafel, schwarma and shnitzel were favorites! Thestudents shopped in Macheneh Yehudah for special Shabbat treats to be sharedwith the Reali students on Friday night. Hawkers singing their wares wassomething new to all of us! Fresh fruit and vegetables, spices, pastriesand everything you could want for dinner was on sale!

We welcomed Shabbat at the Kotel, Reali and Wornick students partnered up. Wethen returned for a program presented by Wornick and Reali students. We canbe proud of all of them. Shabbat found us at various synagogues in thecity. We became one group again together at lunch, and for several specialprograms, including a tour of the first community outside the walls of thecity, a tour of the country’s only windmill, and an activity organized bythe Reali students. The afternoon was for socializing and then a goodye toour Reali friends, who we will see in a few days and then off to Ben Yehudastreet to give our students money and have them buy dinner and have time forshopping. A lot of excitement here.

I am at the airport, ready to send this off to you, sad to say goodbye toour students and the second part of the trip and excited to be back atWornick on Monday. The students will continue their blog and we all can’twait to hear what their impressions and highlights are!

Shavuah tov from Israel.

Susan Weintrob-- Susan WeintrobHead of School

Ronald C. Wornick Jewish Day School800 Foster City BoulevardFoster City, CA 94404650-378-2602www.wornickjds.org

*Sorry for the interruption in our blog--we had no internet in the Bedouintents! But now we resume......*

***

Thursday, February 18: Day 4

Susan and Irit write: What a busy day we had today! We did the first of twotzedakah activities we will do in Israel. As Vanessa writes, we participatedin the amazing work of Kibbutz Schiller in providing needy families withfresh produce. From the kibbutz, we traveled west to Beit Guvrin, anarcheological site that relies on volunteers like Wornick students to dig,sift and find artifacts from the Talmudic times. We had some great fins,including a full rim and bottom of a jar, not touched by human hands in 2millennia.

We then traveled south to Maktesh Ramon, the largest Maktesh Ramon, took anight hike hear the cliffs of the Maktesh h. In the morning, we took offroad jeep rides in theMaktesh —a highlight for our kids!

We arrived at the Bedouin camp, we learned about one of the cultures ofIsrael and the Middle East: the Bedouin, who until the last 50 years, werenomadic, lived in tents, and traveled on camels. Now Israeli citizens, mostBedouin live in towns and all their children go to school and many on touniversities. The Bedouin who spoke to us had a degree in musicology fromHebrew University and had recorded traditional Bedouin songs.

Our student blogger today is Vanessa.

Shalom. We went to a Kibbutz and picked Clementines. The Clementines, thatwe picked was for an organization called Table to Table. Table to Table givethese Clementines to families in need. This was pretty cool.

After we did that we went to an archaeological dig. This was fun because wefound many different things like bones and pottery. It was 2,000 years old.We dug up things that weren’t touch for a long period of time.

On the next day, we went to a Bedouin camp, which we did many cool thingslike we rode a camel. I was a bit terrified when the camel went up and whenthe camel went down. Riding the camel was really fun. Madeleine and I weretogether on a camel, and we were both first terrified, but then we got useto it. We called our camel Moo-Moo.

We slept in a Bedouin tent. It was different because we slept on matsinstead of beds, sat on the ground when we ate dinner and had Bedouinhospitality.

All of us are having a blast! Israel is amazing. We have taken many picturesand they look amazing.

Well that’s it for today but we will keep you updated!

Lehitrayot!

Slang word of the day: Fannan (cool!)

Interesting fact: 80,000 Beouin live in Israel.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thursday, February 18: Day 4

Susan and Irit write:

We all feel we have been here in Israel together for so many days together!This is an intense and very rich trip together. From jeep and camel ridesin the Negev (dessert) to the difficult yet rewarding ascent on foot toMasada, the students are taking risks—trying activities they thought theycouldn’t do and feeling very proud afterwards. In our processing timetogether this evening, one student said, “I thought that Israel wasn’treally that important ut I have discovered that I am reallyconnected.” Anothercommented that the 24/7 time spent together as a class was very special andmade the trip even better. The years at Wornick have created so manyarticulate students—we are proud to be learning ad traveling together.

We met with 2 Ethiopian families and learned how they left Etheopia, traveledon foot and waited in refugee camps until Israel, on a non-stop flightcycle, brought almost 40,000 Ethiopian men, women and children out of theSudan in 36 hours. The prophesy that the Jews would return on the wings ofeagles was certainly fulfilled in this case. The students had preparedquestions to ask, and they surprised themselves at how much Hebrew theyunderstood!

We were all excited as we went up to Jerusalem today (actually almost 2,500feet-- from so far below sea level at the Dead Sea to more than 1,200 feetabove sea level). We stopped at Har Ha-tsofim Mount Scopus for a toast ofgrape juice and a prayer together of Secheyianu for the 17 students who havenever been in Jerusalem before. We sang “Jerusalem of Gold” together andmany passing by not only smiled but also joined in singing with us! And nowfor our bloggers today. Get ready for a wonderful read.

Our student bloggers today are Mallory and Rachel

Jeep Rides -

Hi! This morning/afternoon we went on jeep rides! We toured in them aroundMaktesh Ramon. We went off-roading and the ride was really bumpy! All of ussplit up into 4 jeeps. The drivers all drove to one place that looked likea small cliff, and we thought we were going to stop on the edge, but he justkept on driving and it turned out to be a steep hill. On the way back ourjeep sang (shouted) songs in Hebrew that we had learned in school. MakteshRamon is really big and the jeeps were such a fun way to get around!

~Rachel

Bedouin –

We drove from Maktesh Ramon to where the Bedouin live, in the Negev. As soonas we got there we put our stuff in the giant tent, and then went to go andride camels. The camels were defiantly an unforgettable experience. Thecamel guides took us around for about 30 minutes. Most people wereuncontrollable and others were really scared because they thought that thecamels were going to bite them. In the end, everyone had fun, and wouldalways remember this experience. After the camels, we went into a specialtent and were welcomed by the Bedouins. They gave us sweet tea and bittercoffee as well as home made laffa over a fire (laffa is like pita). Theymade us a fire and ground fresh coffee, and made music out of the rhythm ofthe coffee grinding pot. After that we had dinner in a different tent. Wehad lamb, laffa, vegetables, rice, humus, fruit, and tea. The way we atewas as a group of 4 people, sitting on the ground in a circle, sharing outof a big pot. When we were done eating, we had a small campfire and went tobed, to be woken up at 4:30 am which was not exactly the “funnest” thing todo.

~Mallory

Masada –

We left the Bedouin tents at 5:20 am ish to go hike up Masada and see thesunrise. On the way up we went on the Roman path. We got up and went on alookout at the highest point of the mountain. We saw the sunrise and it wasincredible. We did Tefillah on the lookout and then walked to the northernside of the mountain. We saw the ruins of King Herod’s palace on that side. Also on the northern part were the Roman’s ancient open bathhouses. Thenwe walked to the southern side of the mountain and stood on the very edge(there was a small wall, don’t worry). We looked down to see the ‘Valley ofte Bones,’ which is where the bodies of the Jews of Massada who committedsuicide were thrown by the Romans. They (the Jews of Massada) killedthemselves so they could die free and not become slaves of Roman’s or bekilled by the. We shouted while facing the valley, “Am Yisrael Chai, thepeople of Israel live.” When you shout it after waiting about 3 seconds, youhear the echo of everyone shouting and it was so amazing. Then we hikeddown the snake path. The walk took 45 to get down because there are so manycurves. It was a pretty rigorous walk but I thought it was also really funand hope to hike up it some day.

~Rachel

Ein Gedi -

We went to the springs of Ein Gedi and the water was cool, but since it wasso hot outside it felt really good. The water was clear and it was reallyfun treading water while underneath the waterfall. The only sort of grossthing is that there was seaweed in the water and some people were putting iton one another. There was also a frog. We learned about how Saul chasedDavid in Ein Gedi with 3,000 soldiers but they couldn’t get him. David sawSaul sleeping in a cave and cut some of his robe to symbolize that he couldhave killed him but didn’t.

~Mallory

Dead Sea -

When we arrived at the Dead Sea, we were all ready to go in because we hadour bathing suits from before. Before we could get in the water, we had tofill out a science paper to test out the water, because we will be comparingthe data with the Reali School’s freshwater data. When we got in the DeadSea, some people had cuts and so were a little scared to go in. When youfirst walked in, you couldn’t feel the sting that much, but we did havewaterproof band-aids. Everyone was screaming because we were so excitedthat we could actually float. Words of advice; try to keep your mouthclosed if its near the water and don’t get the water in your eyes. Actuallyfloating in the water is an unreal experience that I will never ever forget. Definitely a highlight of the trip.

~Rachel

Slang word of the day: Sof ha-Derech (the very best!!)

Interesting fact: The Dead Sea is the lowest point on earth.

*-- Susan WeintrobHead of School

Ronald C. Wornick Jewish Day School800 Foster City BoulevardFoster City, CA 94404650-378-2602www.wornickjds.org

Thursday, February 18: Day 4

Susan and Irit write: What a busy day we had today! We did the first of two tzedakah activities we will do in Israel. As Vanessa writes, we participated in the amazing work of Kibbutz Schiller in providing needy families with fresh produce. From the kibbutz, we traveled west to Beit Guvrin, an archeological site that relies on volunteers like Wornick students to dig, sift and find artifacts from the Talmudic times. We had some great fins, including a full rim and bottom of a jar, not touched by human hands in 2 millennia.

We then traveled south to Maktesh Ramon, the largest Maktesh Ramon, took a night hike hear the cliffs of the Maktesh h. In the morning, we took off road jeep rides in the Maktesh —a highlight for our kids!

We arrived at the Bedouin camp, we learned about one of the cultures of Israel and the Middle East: the Bedouin, who until the last 50 years, were nomadic, lived in tents, and traveled on camels. Now Israeli citizens, most Bedouin live in towns and all their children go to school and many on to universities. The Bedouin who spoke to us had a degree in musicology from Hebrew University and had recorded traditional Bedouin songs.

Our student blogger today is Vanessa.

Shalom. We went to a Kibbutz and picked Clementines. The Clementines, that we picked was for an organization called Table to Table. Table to Table give these Clementines to families in need. This was pretty cool.

After we did that we went to an archaeological dig. This was fun because we found many different things like bones and pottery. It was 2,000 years old. We dug up things that weren’t touch for a long period of time.

On the next day, we went to a Bedouin camp, which we did many cool things like we rode a camel. I was a bit terrified when the camel went up and when the camel went down. Riding the camel was really fun. Madeleine and I were together on a camel, and we were both first terrified, but then we got use to it. We called our camel Moo-Moo.

We slept in a Bedouin tent. It was different because we slept on mats instead of beds, sat on the ground when we ate dinner and had Bedouin hospitality.

All of us are having a blast! Israel is amazing. We have taken many pictures and they look amazing.

Well that’s it for today but we will keep you updated!

Lehitrayot!

Slang word of the day: Fannan (cool!)

Interesting fact: 80,000 Beouin live in Israel.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thursday, February 18: Day 4

Susan and Irit write:

We all feel we have been here in Israel together for so many days. This is an intense and very rich trip together. From jeep and camel rides in the Negev (dessert) to the difficult yet rewarding ascent on foot to Masada, the students are taking risks—trying activities they thought they couldn’t do and feeling very proud afterwards. In our processing time together this evening, one student said, “I thought that Israel wasn’t really that important ut I have discovered that I am really connected.” Another commented that the 24/7 time spent together as a class was very special and made the trip even better. The years at Wornick have created so many articulate students—we are proud to be learning ad traveling together.

We met with 2 Ethiopian families and learned how they left Etheopia, traveled on foot and waited in refugee camps until Israel, on a non-stop flight cycle, brought almost 40,000 Ethiopian men, women and children out of the Sudan in 36 hours. The prophesy that the Jews would return on the wings of eagles was certainly fulfilled in this case. The students had prepared questions to ask, and they surprised themselves at how much Hebrew they understood!

We were all excited as we went up to Jerusalem today (actually almost 2,500 feet-- from so far below sea level at the Dead Sea to more than 1,200 feet above sea level). We stopped at Har Ha-tsofim Mount Scopus for a toast of grape juice and a prayer together of Secheyianu for the 17 students who have never been in Jerusalem before. We sang “Jerusalem of Gold” together and many passing by not only smiled but also joined in singing with us! And now for our bloggers today. Get ready for a wonderful read.

Our student bloggers today are Mallory and Rachel

Jeep Rides -

Hi! This morning/afternoon we went on jeep rides! We toured in them around Maktesh Ramon. We went off-roading and the ride was really bumpy! All of us split up into 4 jeeps. The drivers all drove to one place that looked like a small cliff, and we thought we were going to stop on the edge, but he just kept on driving and it turned out to be a steep hill. On the way back our jeep sang (shouted) songs in Hebrew that we had learned in school. Maktesh Ramon is really big and the jeeps were such a fun way to get around!

~Rachel

Bedouin –

We drove from Maktesh Ramon to where the Bedouin live, in the Negev. As soon as we got there we put our stuff in the giant tent, and then went to go and ride camels. The camels were defiantly an unforgettable experience. The camel guides took us around for about 30 minutes. Most people were uncontrollable and others were really scared because they thought that the camels were going to bite them. In the end, everyone had fun, and would always remember this experience. After the camels, we went into a special tent and were welcomed by the Bedouins. They gave us sweet tea and bitter coffee as well as home made laffa over a fire (laffa is like pita). They made us a fire and ground fresh coffee, and made music out of the rhythm of the coffee grinding pot. After that we had dinner in a different tent. We had lamb, laffa, vegetables, rice, humus, fruit, and tea. The way we ate was as a group of 4 people, sitting on the ground in a circle, sharing out of a big pot. When we were done eating, we had a small campfire and went to bed, to be woken up at 4:30 am which was not exactly the “funnest” thing to do.

~Mallory

Masada –

We left the Bedouin tents at 5:20 am ish to go hike up Masada and see the sunrise. On the way up we went on the Roman path. We got up and went on a lookout at the highest point of the mountain. We saw the sunrise and it was incredible. We did Tefillah on the lookout and then walked to the northern side of the mountain. We saw the ruins of King Herod’s palace on that side. Also on the northern part were the Roman’s ancient open bathhouses. Then we walked to the southern side of the mountain and stood on the very edge (there was a small wall, don’t worry). We looked down to see the ‘Valley of te Bones,’ which is where the bodies of the Jews of Massada who committed suicide were thrown by the Romans. They (the Jews of Massada) killed themselves so they could die free and not become slaves of Roman’s or be killed by the. We shouted while facing the valley, “Am Yisrael Chai, the people of Israel live.” When you shout it after waiting about 3 seconds, you hear the echo of everyone shouting and it was so amazing. Then we hiked down the snake path. The walk took 45 to get down because there are so many curves. It was a pretty rigorous walk but I thought it was also really fun and hope to hike up it some day.

~Rachel

Ein Gedi -

We went to the springs of Ein Gedi and the water was cool, but since it was so hot outside it felt really good. The water was clear and it was really fun treading water while underneath the waterfall. The only sort of gross thing is that there was seaweed in the water and some people were putting it on one another. There was also a frog. We learned about how Saul chased David in Ein Gedi with 3,000 soldiers but they couldn’t get him. David saw Saul sleeping in a cave and cut some of his robe to symbolize that he could have killed him but didn’t.

~Mallory

Dead Sea -

When we arrived at the Dead Sea, we were all ready to go in because we had our bathing suits from before. Before we could get in the water, we had to fill out a science paper to test out the water, because we will be comparing the data with the Reali School’s freshwater data. When we got in the Dead Sea, some people had cuts and so were a little scared to go in. When you first walked in, you couldn’t feel the sting that much, but we did have waterproof band-aids. Everyone was screaming because we were so excited that we could actually float. Words of advice; try to keep your mouth closed if its near the water and don’t get the water in your eyes. Actually floating in the water is an unreal experience that I will never ever forget. Definitely a highlight of the trip.

~Rachel

Slang word of the day: Sof ha-Derech (the very best!!)

Interesting fact: The Dead Sea is the lowest point on earth.

Susan and Irit write:

When we arrived in Israel, we met our two Israeli madrichim, Netaniel and Assaf. Both have finished the army. Netaniel is our madrich and Assaf is our medic and security. Both are terrific with our students and lead “peulot”—workshops with them. They led a workshop on Jewish identity in modern Israel. There were many points of view expressed by the students, typical of our community day school framework.

After our walk this morning (with the jet lag,the kids got up between 4:00am and 5:00am so we decided to take a beautiful morning walk along a jogger’s path), we went to Kibbutz Schiller, bought by a philanthropist who donates all food from the agricultural production to the needy. The interesting part of the kibbutz is that all food is harvested by volunteers. Our students picked 26 cartons of Clementines, 500 kilos! They will be delivered to families in the nest two days. Wonderful work for 2 hours. We continued our trip to the Ayalon institute –and a later blogger will fill you all in. Noga Kochavi, from the Reali School, has already called us to say how excited all their “ambassadors” are for our visit. There is equal excitement on the Wornick side.

And now for our first blogger of the day:

Our first student blogger for the day is Avi Horowitz.

Hey everybody! We got no sleep last night! We all were up at around 4:00 am, and our first thing, breakfast, wasn’t until 7:00. Since our hostel is right across the street from a nice park, Ms. Weintrob and Morah Irit were nice enough to take us out for a short tiyul (walk) at 6:15am. We got back right on time for breakfast! Thank g-d we were, because we were all starving! This morning, we had our first T’fillah in Israel! When we got the Barechu, Amidah, and Aleynu, we didn’t know where to face, because back home, we face towards Israel, but guess what…we’re here! It was pretty funny trying to work it out.

Today, we are going to Kibbutz Shiller, right next to Rechovot. We are going to be doing some good hands-on work, literally! We are pulling various vegetables out of the ground, and putting them in giant buckets. Those vegetables will be donated to people who don’t have any food.

After that, we are going to the Ayalon Institute in Rechovot. This is a secret underground bullet factory, which was in use by the pre-state Haganah. Boy, we have a jammed-packed day!

After that, we go to Tel Beit Guvrin. Now this is going to be fun! We get to do an archeological dig! With our own bare hands, we get to dig up artifacts from hundreds, even thousands of years ago! I hope we find some cool stuff!

But wait, THERE’S MORE! We finish off the day in the Negev Desert, at a place overlooking Makhtesh Ramon. Tomorrow, we will head there.

It is RRREEEAAALLLYYY hot today! Its in the 80’s and 90’s! We have really nice madrechim, and we are already having a blast with them!

We are having a flantastic time, and we’ll check back in with y’all manyana! Shalom, lehitrayot!

Slang word of the day: Giffa (meaning: gunk)

Interesting fact: 500 kilos of clementines picked in 2 hours by 25 Wornick students/staff

We began our Israel journey at 6:30 am!!! Students and parents gathered at San Francisco Airport to say goodbye. A few tears and many hugs later, 23 8th graders went through security to fly to Los Angeles, and then on to Tel Aviv. Two students had already gone to Israel and will meet us in Ben Gurion Airport. Many students were traveling over seas for the first time and many visiting Israel for the first time. Most tried their Hebrew out on the security staff and flight attendants. We are as excited as the kids as we began what we know will be a journey that these students will always remember. We were so impressed with the students’ friendship and kindness. And the fun begins!

Gianni Arrington, Rebekah Kirkwood, and Daniel Finnie are our first student bloggers

For many of us, it’s our first time flying to Israel, and we are all excited. At first,[before the flight] we all made videos for the Reali students in Haifa. According to the videos, they paired us with a student in Israel who will be hosting us. The first thing we had to do [to get ready for our trip] was pack, and most of us could not sleep because we were so excited, The next day, we had to get up early enough to be at the San Francisco Airport at 6:30. After being in the plane for an hour and a half, we landed in the LAX airport where we stopped to get lunch before we boarded our final flight to Israel. Can you believe it’s a 15 hour flight!? At the moment we have 10:32 minutes left of our long flight. Many of us have tried to sleep but it seems impossible. The next time we blog we will be in Israel having a blast!

Slang word of the day: yala (let’s go!!)

Interesting fact: 7 students have been to Israel before, for the rest—it’s the first trip!