Program Updates

When I was a shaliach in America, I was often told that we shlichim get to know the country even better than the native Americans - and I think the same applies to your daughters here in Israel who are making so many trips all over the country and learning so much that they are going to find themselves better informed about Israel than many Israelis themselves!

Last week, on the Thursday, having finished their studies on the previous day, the girls went for a trip to the Northern Galilee to spend a few days there, including the Shabbat.  On the way to the Galilee, we stopped at the town of Zichron Ya'acov , a town which is part of the Haifa district and was one of the first Jewish settlements in the country.  It was founded in 1882 by Baron Rothschild.  Whilst there we visited the Museum of the Aronson family and were very inspired to hear the story of Sarah Aronson. She was one of the leaders of the Nili spy ring, which was founded during the First World War when the Ottoman Empire ruled Israel .  The group helped the British to fight the Turks and transmitted information about the Turks to them.  Sarah was captured by the Turks and tortured, and she committed suicide to avoid giving information on Nili's activies.  A real Jewish heroine!

We visited many towns and settlements in the Galilee .  At Kefar Kedem we were taught about the lives of the Jewish people in the days of the Talmudic period and the girls relived this period, riding on donkeys and baking their own pitot, just as our ancestors had done in olden times.

Towards evening, we saw for the first time in the programme the beautiful Kinneret and the girls went on boats on the lake and enjoyed themselves.We then made our way to Tzfat, which was to be our home base for the next two days.

On the Friday, our tour guide, Mordy, took us to Tel Chai and told us the stirring story of Trumpeldor.  He lost an arm whilst fighting for the Russian army in 1905, then settled in Palestine in 1912 and established a Jewish unit to fight with the British against the Turks in the First World War.  In 1920, he was killed whilst defending Tel Chai, which was under attack by the Arabs, and when dying, made the famous declaration, "it is good to die for my country". The group visited Kfar Giladi, which is close to Tel Chai, where there is a monument to the soldiers who died there in the Second Lebanon War two years ago, and the group spoke of the brave soldiers who fought and died at this site nearly 100 years ago and also very recently.

Our final stop before making for Tzfat was at a village called Peki'in, where a most unusual woman told us very proudly that her roots in his village went back 2,000 years!

We spent a beautiful, spiritual Shabbat at the holy town of Tzfat , with a great deal of singing and dancing and a marvelous atmosphere.  On Motzei Shabbat, we returned to the Ulpana and on Sunday, we spent half a day in Mevo Modi'in, a village where HaRav Shlomo Carlebach lived and where his followers live today.  We met some special families who lead a very natural life style, farming, eating health foods and meditating.  The girls engaged in arts and crafts.  At the end of our visit, one of the leading Carlebach followers ,Ben Zion Solomon, performed a concert specially for us, singing and playing the guitar.

In the evening, the eve of Yom Yerushalayim, we joined the Ulpana for special celebratory prayers followed by dancing.  It was the girls' last night at the Ulpana and they bade farewell to their new Israeli friends.  I'm afraid that nobody got much sleep that night since they found it hard to say "goodbye" to one another and many tissues were in use.

On Yom Yerushalayim, the girls joined a massive procession of thousands of partipants marching to the Kotel, singing, dancing and waving flags as they went along, rejoicing in the unification of Yerushalayim.  I am sure that every year, on Yom Yerushalayim, your daughters will remember this special occasion.

Finally, as the visit gets to its last lap, the girls have started their religious studies at the Seminar,Midreshet Moriyah, where they will be spending a few days including Shavuot.

This Shabbat, the last but one as you know, is a free Shabbat and the girls will spend it with their families. My next update will be written as the programme draws to a close.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zichron_Yaakov
http://www.tourplanisrael.com/?CategoryID=260&ArticleID=332
http://www.k-k.co.il/index.html
http://www.jafi.org.il/education/noar/sites/telchai.htm
http://my.area.co.il/view.php?siteid=173300
http://www.ou.org/chagim/yomyerushalayim/default.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mevo_Modi'im