www.lya.org | Blogs | LYA Israel Experience 2023 Blog

No Place Like HOME

Thu, 2 Mar 2023 12:04:00 PM

As you read this entry our fellow travelers are back home sharing their trip with their family and friends. It is hard to encapsulate the emotions we all feel.

There is no place like HOME

We davened mincha Shabbat afternoon at Maayanot. Rabbi Shneor Broh spoke to our group. He explained that trees grow all over the world. Palm trees thrive in a warm climate like Florida, etrog trees grow in Italy and oak trees thrive in Massachusetts. A person is like a tree, and so too, people thrive in different places. Rabbi Broh told us that the best place for a Jew to thrive is in Israel. That does not mean that Jews are not successful in other places. History has shown us otherwise. It is great we are successful all over the world. But, where do we thrive? In our HOME.

We truly understand this now as we thrived in Israel, our HOME. We visited the places of our strong roots in Chevron and Kever Rochel. Our trunk became strong as we fortified ourselves with ancient history in places like the Kotel, Shiloh and the City of Dovid. We branched out into modern history in places like Akko and the Golan. We learned of the fruits of the heroism and sacrifices that Jews made for Israel during the Battle of Independence, Six Day War and Yom Kippur War. We no longer take this for granted and truly feel that we are reaping the benefit from their actions.

We came as a 7th & 8th grade class and now we have formed strong roots with our peers and have formed a cohesive group. We strengthened our trunks by encouraging each other on hikes, cheering each other as we climbed heights we never knew possible and assisting each other navigate through shared experiences on our travels each day. Our flowers have blossomed into fruits with all the knowledge we learned from Yoni and from our peers.

We each set a personal goal, a social goal, and a Torah goal for our trip. We tracked these goals as we progressed on our trip and plan to keep them as we return back to our regular activities. For the past 10 days we have been HOME. Israel embraced our group and we all flourished there.

We would again like to thank the staff of My Israel Connection for their hard work in planning our stay in Israel. From the moment we landed every single detail of our amazing trip was handled by MyIsraelConnection.com. Our trip is a huge success because of their dedication and devotion to their customers and the land of Israel.

Now, we plan to take all that we learned and experienced and bring it back to our families, school and community. We will continue to grow and make you all proud.

Farewell Dinner

Thu, 2 Mar 2023 12:03:00 PM

We enjoyed an amazing dinner at the Café Feinberg in Hedera. This is a beautiful dairy restaurant. Not only is the food delicious, but the presentation is beautiful. The restaurant manager accommodated all of our trip’s special food needs. They serve amazing bread, pasta, salads and pizza here. We also were served delicious sesame free, gluten free, dairy free, nut free and egg free food. Everyone ate very well.

The chaperones each spoke about how wonderful the trip was. When we say wonderful, we are not just taking about the places we saw, the weather and the sites. We are talking about the students and how wonderful they behaved and boosted each other up. Each student worked hard to take risks, accomplish new things and support each other. We all grew closer to G-d, Israel, our peers and learned so much about ourselves.

Then the fun part began. Each student and chaperone received a fun award for different things that happened on the trip. While awards were humorous, they were given in love. We presented Yoni with a collection of our thoughts. Each student wrote a beautiful message to Yoni thanking him for his amazing ability as a tour guide.

It was off to the bus for our final ride to the airport. There were so many people checking in. Thankfully the entire process took about an hour and half. On our flight we all slept very well, as we were tired. One of the flight attendants told Rabbi Kosofsky and Morah Kosofsky that our group was so well behaved. Have we told you that this was a consistent message we heard all over Israel?

Nili Spy Ring

Thu, 2 Mar 2023 12:01:00 PM

Our last tour brought us to Zichron Yakov, which was one of the first settlement in Palestine under the Ottoman Empire. Baron Rothschild, who is buried here gave money for the settlement. Today it is known for its famous wineries. We walked through a pedestrian walkway with quant shops and davened mincha at a shul named for Baron Rothschild.

Zichron Yakov is also the home of the Aaronsohn Family, who emigrated from Romania during the first Aliya in the late 1800s. This was a hard working family. The eldest brother Aaron was a scientist who made discoveries on wheat that revolutionized wheat growing then.

Life was extremely difficult under Turkish rule at this time. The Turks continuously made decree and decree about living conditions. The Aaronsohn siblings and their peers, who were very proud lovers of Israel decided to do something about this. Their idea was to clandestinely contact the British and get secrets to them about the Turks. Their hope was that the British would conquer Palestine. (One wonders if they knew how the British would act later on in the 1920s if they would still feel this way). The spy ring called Nili was born. Nili is an acronym for the Hebrew words: נצח ישראל לא ישקר. This is a quote from Shmuel I -The victory of Israel will not be false.

The Nili group had many false attempts contacted the British. Eventually they were successful and contacted British ships using codes from their home, which was Nili’s base. We walked through the underground bunker used for meetings. When the family put out a white sheet for laundry and opened a lit window, it was a signal it was safe to meet.

For months Nili’s group sent coded messages to the British. Unfortunately, one of the spy members, Avshalom Feinberg was murdered by Bedouins. He was disguised as one on a mission and was caught as an imposter. His cousin went to look for him and was caught with all the names of the Nili spies in his pocket.

The Aaronsohn family was arrested. The Turks were not known for their wonderful treatment of prisoners. The Nili members were tortured. One daughter, Sara, a very proud member, refused to give up any information under extreme torture. On her way to be executed, Sara asked for permission to go home and wash up. Interestingly, the Turks being Muslim wanted Sara to be clean of her dirty clothes. Sara went home and took out a hidden revolver and shot herself. Sadly, she died 3 days later.

The youngest Aaronsohn daughter, Rivka, had been sent to America and was not part of the Nili spy ring. Years later she donated the family land and turned it into an interactive living museum that tells the story of her brave family’s quest for freedom in Palestine. At the time of the spy ring the residents of Zichron Yakov were not supportive of the family. Now the Aaronsohn family’s story is being told in a way that brings great pride to their dedication to Israel.

Acco

Thu, 2 Mar 2023 12:00:00 PM

Our next stop was Acco. Acco was originally built during the Crusader time period when they ruled over Israel. It was a large fortress built to protect the Crusaders from the Muslims. We lifted a cannon ball from this time period. They are quite heavy. Under the British Mandate the fortress was turned into a prison for Jews that the British felt were dangerous.

Many of the Jews that were arrested were young men who had escaped Nazi Germany with one desire - to live in a Jewish homeland. The pictures we saw of the prisoners showed the average age was 18-22. Under the British Mandate there were three groups resisting the British. The Hagana was the main group who cooperated the most with the British and showed the most restraint. The 2^nd group was Esel, who were middle of the road. Esel was clear that they would fight the enemy, but not with Jews in other political groups. Rivkah Kulek spoke about her grandfather, ob”m, who was a member of Esel and fought for Israel. He spent time in jail at Latrun. The 3^rd group, Lechi never cooperated with the British. These 3 groups at times did not cooperate with one another. The British handed out sentences based on which group one was attached to.

We saw the horrible prison conditions that the British had for all prisoners. They slept in small cells and were only allowed very little sun light. The outside was allowed to send in food and provisions. The 3 resistant groups did work together to mastermind a breakout of the jail. They were able to get explosives in to the prison. In all 27 prisoners escaped.

We ended our tour in the execution room. There we heard the story of Dov Gruner, a Hungarian born Jew who escaped to Israel in 1940 and was executed by hanging at Acco. Dov was arrested while trying to steal much needed ammunition from the British. He was sentenced to hang. As the noose was around his neck, his last request was to sing the national anthem. Dov began the song in a loud voice, but was not given the chance to finish it as the executioner pulled the lever while he was in the middle of singing. The rest of the prisoners in the cells finished the song.

Yoni continued to tell us that once he was here with a group and the bus driver joined the tour. After Yoni finished telling Dov Gruner’s story, the bus driver said that Yoni told it very well, but was missing one piece. You see that day when the Jews were stealing the ammunition, Dov almost got away. Everyone was running to the trucks when the British approached and the Jewish fighters were jumping to get on. Dov never reached the truck. When asked how the bus driver knew this, he replied, “It was me who had my hand outreached for Dov to grab onto.”

Rabbi Kosofsky led us through “Kel Malai” for the Jews who lost their lives. It was a truly moving moment, one we will never forget.

Tunisian Shul

Thu, 2 Mar 2023 11:50:00 AM

Our next stop was to the Tunisian Shul in Acco. This shul was started by Sephardic Jews of this North African Country in 1955. Upon entering the shul it is not clear where to look first. The entire, and we mean entire shul is full of mosaic pictures. From floor to ceiling, from right to left there are mosaics everywhere.

One can learn the entire history of the Jews here. There are mosaics of each stories of Torah and Navi. There are mosaic maps of every time period, including where holy people are buried. There are maps of Europe as well. Mosaics include information about kosher animals, Israel’s flora, zodiacs and holidays. There are mosaics for the 12 tribes and famous sites in Israel. In addition modern history is represented.

It is amazing to look at the detail. The women’s section has stories of Sara, Rivka, Rochel and Leah as well as the blessings of mitzvoth associated with women. The ceiling of the women’s section is a beautiful chupah scene.

The 6 aron holds many Torah scrolls and behind the scrolls are even more mosaic tile pictures. The doors of the aron are made of sterling silver with intricate designs. We took many photos and were continuously in awe at every turn. Some of us decided that focusing on davening would be challenging while in the shul.

Rosh Hanikra

Thu, 2 Mar 2023 11:48:00 AM

Our last day in Israel and we were allowed to sleep in. We had a 6:30 a.m. wake up! After a beautiful tefillah and delicious pancake breakfast, we packed up and boarded the bus. Our first stop was Rosh Hanikra. Here we are at the Lebanon border. Here is where Avraham came down into the land of Israel from Charan. Thankfully we did not have to climb down since there are cable cars.

Rosh Hanikra is also on the border with the Mediterranean Ocean, which the rabbis of the Talmud called the Yam Hagadol, The Great Sea. Standing here we understood why. One cannot see the end of the sea, giving the impression of how big it is. The water has formed natural grottos and we enjoyed walking through them. It was a hot and calm day, so the water was not crashing in the grottos.

We walked through man made tunnels from Alexander the Great’s day. He did not want his troops to have to climb over mountains, so he had tunnels carved out. Later the Ottomans added a bridge to the tunnels and trains went through this area bringing supplies. Under British rule the bridge was blown up on March 14, 1938 on Night of the Bridges. That night the Hagana blew up 3 bridges around the country to slow down the British supply chain.

Amazing Bus Driver Dakar

Thu, 2 Mar 2023 11:43:00 AM

Meet our amazing bus driver, Dakar. He lives in Holon, which is the 3rd largest city in Israel. This is the pace where we experienced Dialogue in the Dark. Dakar is the proud father of 4 children. Dakar used manage a warehouse for many years. He switched occupations and became a taxi driver. For the past 5 years he has been driving a bus. In Israel many of the bus drivers, like Dakar, own their own busses and work independently.

Dakar keeps a very clean bus. Each day we made sure to leave the bus in the standard that Dakar keeps. Dakar told us how happy he was to take around a group that is spending time learning about the history of Israel. He told us we were a nice group. Each day on the trip, we read a news announcement and said Tefilat Haderech. Dakar really enjoyed this part. He made a special request of Morah Kosofsky that on the last day, Chaim Cowen, read this travel prayer. Chaim was happy to oblige.

Katzrin

Thu, 2 Mar 2023 11:34:00 AM

Welcome to Katzrin. I am so excited you are here. Together we will make olive oil, bread and visit my home.

Elisheva greeted us and took us back in time to the year 500 (Jewish year). After we looked the part, wearing period clothes and head gear, it was off to make olive oil. Elisheva showed us the different steps to making the oil. Katzrin was known for its olive oil and wine production.

Making olive oil is hard work. First you put the olives in the yam (base). Then 3 people push the mamal (stone) in the boreg (press). Pressing of the olives occur when the group pushed in a circular motion, Round and round they went and liquid is collected in a jar. That liquid is not oil yet. The liquid must be put into another press and left there for a while.

Elisheva explained that olive oil is the least dense of all oils and will float to the top. She explained that we Jews are compared to oil. We are crushed, but we release oil and that is then used to light up the world. She also explained how the 1st drop is called katit (pure). She blessed us that our actions should be like the 1st drop that comes out of the press, pure and golden.

Elisheva put us all to work. No rest for anyone and everyone tried all the steps. After the olives are pressed, the sediment is left on the press. We each picked up handfuls of the dregs to put in baskets. These will be used for creams and dried to light fires in the home on Shabbat. Our hands were quite messy, but the oil left made them feel very soft.

Now it was off to bread making. After making the brocha of hafrashat challah, we rolled the dough into a round shape. It was baked on a taboon and eaten with fresh olive oil and za’tar. Yum! Elisheva showed us the process of turning wheat into flour.

We now went to visit Elisheva’s modest home. She has two kitchens, an outdoor for summer and indoor for winter. It is here that she cooks food for her family each morning and stores it on a hanging shelf in her dining room. The children also sleep in the room on mats and up a ladder we climbed to see her bedroom.

After a lovely visit in her home, we went to see their synagogue. The shul is set up with benches around the walls all facing the center, as most shuls did that the time. There is no women’s section, since at that time period women did not attend services.

Elisheva taught us so much about the past, but left us with this thought.

Take the good things form the past, but don’t live in the past. Wise words form a wise woman.

Oz 77

Tue, 28 Feb 2023 4:36:00 PM

Our next stop on our very busy day was to Kibbutz El Rom to view a movie about a strategic battle that was fought in what is now known as the Valley of Tears during the Yom Kippur War. The Kibbutz itself was founded in 1971 just 2 years before the battle with 60 members. Today it is a thriving Kibbutz with over 500 members. Kibbutz El Rom is best known for its studio where it adds subtitles to Israeli movies and shows. On their farms they grow apples, grapes, cherries, and berries. Kibbutz wine has won many international awards. They are also the highest kibbutz in the world at 3,000 feet above sea level. Kibbutz Elrom is located in the Golan and is known for its agriculture and studio, which adds subtitles to the majority of films in Israel.

We entered the movie theater and saw a newly produced movie about the bravery of the 77^th tank battalion led by Avigdor Kahalani. The story is told through the eyes of the members of the battalion, which makes it very emotional. Ten days before the Yom Kippur War, the 77^th battalion was called up to the Golan to secure the area. According to their intelligence, it appeared that the Syrians would attack in the evening. Bombs actually began to drop at 1:55 p.m. on Yom Kippur. The Israeli forces were actually meeting to plan their strategies and were caught off guard.

Avigdor Kahalani was a survivor of a fire during the Six Day War and now led a battalion of tanks outnumbered 1 to 10 in the Golan. Just look at these numbers:

Israeli forces: 110 tanks but only 11 in Kahalani’s region 2500 infantry

Syria: 210 tanks and 10,000 infantry

Kahalani understood that his battalion was holding down the security of all of Israel. If the Golan fell then many Israeli’s were at risk. Through real footage we heard the commands and the emotion that was occurring during the battle. Oz 77 held off the Syrians for 3 days. The end of the battle was miraculous as one of the Israeli tanks had no shells and Kahalani did not give up, but ordered his men to advance.

Advance they did and thank G-d they won. Many Syrian tanks were actually found abandoned after the battle. Israel lost 840 soldiers and 3,000 were wounded on the Yom Kippur war. Some things cannot be explained without the intervention of G-d. Hashem is constantly watching over His people and land. After the movie, we visited Valley of the Tears where the battle took place. There is a memorial for the soldiers. It was very fitting that we davened mincha here. We thank the soldiers and members of the 77^th battalion for their bravery for the land of Israel.

Rabbi Akiva & Rambam

Tue, 28 Feb 2023 4:36:00 PM

Our last stop on a very busy Tuesday was Tevarya. We have now visited all four holy cities of Israel. Yerushalayim – home of Beis Hamikdash, Chevron – resting place of our patriarchs and matriarchs, Tzefat – city of kabbalah and now Tevarya – place where the Talmud Yerushalmi was written. At first one may think that the Talmud was written in Yerushalayim, since that is part of its name. However, the Romans did not allow Jews to live in Yerushalayim and Jews moved up north to the Galillee. The rabbis wanted our thoughts to always be focused on Yerushalayim, so the name reflects Yerushalayim.

Each city is compared to 4 elements. Tevarya is compared to water, because of the Kineret. In addition water is like Torah and the Talmud was written in Tevarya. Tzefat is compared to wind. As Miri answered Tzefat is on mountains and it can be windy. Tzefat is also the home of Kabalah which is spiritual. Chevron is compared to earth because of the burial site that Avaraham bought. Earth is also consistent and permanent like our patriarchs and matriarchs. Yerushalayim is fire because of the korbanot. Fire us passion and our connection to Hashem is one that should bring out the passion in us.

Our first site was to R’ Akiva, who we have heard about since we were children. We learned that R’ Akiva was a simple shepherd, who began studying Torah at the age of 40 and became a very famous Rabbi and teacher of 24,000,000 students. R’ Akiva is best known for his mantra of Ahavat Yisroel, to love everyone. Yoni reminded us that Rabbi Akiva was always an optimist. He always saw the positive side of things. In fact when Rabbi Akiva walked by the Temple ruins, he smiled because he knew that just as the prophecy of destruction occurred so to the prophecy of the rebuilding will occur.

Our last stop was the grave of Rambam, Maimonides. Rambam is someone that we know very well. Each day at school we begin hearing the daily Rambam from Rabbi Noach Kosofsky. It was very meaningful to daven there. Rambam is well known for many things, but one of his greatest works is called Yad Hachazaka, which is a series of 14 books. The numerical value of yad is 14. As one ascends to his grave, you pass 14 pillars with the names of the books recorded. Israel has updated his grave site with an updated floor and benches.

Legend is that Rambam who died in Egypt and his body was put on a camel. The camel kept walking until he came to Tevarya. Actually Rambam had been in Israel before and his father was buried in Tevarya and therefore Rambam asked to be buried in Tevarya.

Next to Rambam is the grave of Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai. He is a rabbi who lived before the destruction of the 2^nd Temple and he is credited with saving Judaism. As Yerushalayim was under siege, he snuck out of the city to meet the General Vespasian, who granted him 3 requests. One was to save the wise men and the city of Yavneh. Rabbi Yochanan understood that the destruction was inevitable, but he knew Torah study must go on. The fact that we are here today is due to his vision. The Shaloh, Yeshiah Halevi Horowitz is buried here as well. The Shaloh lived in Europe and went to Israel in 1621. Rabbi Chaim Kosofsky writes a weekly Dvar Torah for LYA’s email from the teachings of the Shaloh.

Gamla

Tue, 28 Feb 2023 4:31:00 PM

We hope the snow was not so bad. Here we are enjoying some beautiful weather and it is 75 degrees. We are wearing hats and drinking lots of water. We began our day with a hike at Gamla. This was actually more of a walk than a hike. As we walked we enjoyed the beautiful view.

Gamla is the perfect place to bird watch. It is a popular place to see the griffin vulture, which is actually called a nesher. We actually misinterpret the nesher as an eagle. Unfortunately, there were no birds out today, but we did see a cool waterfall.

As we continued our hike, we came to a beautiful edge that overlooked the city of Gamla. Gamla got its name from a gamal, camel. The mountain top literally looks like the hump of a camel.

This city was a busy place during the 2^nd temple era. Gamla was also home to many Zealots who encouraged the people to rebel against Rome. About 4 years before the 2nd Temple was destroyed the Romans came and attempted to conquer it. It took the Romans three tries and unfortunately many people died in Gamla. In the distance we could see the ancient synagogue.

Jeeping

Tue, 28 Feb 2023 4:27:00 PM

At the bottom of the steps in Tzefat 3 jeeps awaited our group. Our guide for this fast moving part of our trip was Yoav. After we were all seated and as comfy as one can be in a jeep, we were off for a fun and scream filled ride. As we passed people we waved and as we passed cows we mooed.

Yoav took us through some back roads and we raced over rocks, ditches and even huge puddles. We had a blast racing through the Galil. We made two stops along the way. One was at an ancient synagogue that is being excavated. Yoni explained to us that Sephardic shuls are set up with benches along each wall and all face the center bima. In ancient times there were no women’s sections.

Our second stop was at a memorial from the Yom Kippur war. There was a tank as part of the memorial, where we enjoyed climbing. We will write more about the Yom Kippur War when we are in the Golan.

Back at the hotel we prepped for a very important stop on our trip. After supper we zoomed into LYA and said hello to the students and staff. Everyone shared a special part of their trip that inspired them. It was so nice to see everyone.

Tzefat

Tue, 28 Feb 2023 4:20:00 PM

Next stop was Tzefat where Sara met her sister Batya, who is learning in seminary for the year. We broke into a few groups and went to lunch. We have been doing this on the trip. It is called Pizur, from the shoresh to scatter. (By the way, the students are really looking around at translating the words and phrases they see based on their shoresh knowledge.) Each chaperone takes a group to the food choices they’d like. Today we had shawarma, pizza and bagel groups. Following lunch we all enjoyed ice cream and popsicles. Thank you again to our friends Joanne Brown and Yael Neffinger for sponsoring this delicious treat.

Tzefat’s history dates back to the 16^th century and that is when Tzefat developed its spiritual personality. But before we go back to that time, let’s look at some more modern history. In 1947 when the UN voted for statehood for Israel Arab countries and Israel where preparing for an inevitable war. Tzefat was no different. Under British rule the Arabs and Jews were segregated. We viewed a staircase that had a spotlight on top. The Bristish would watch the stairs to make sure the Jews and Arabs walked on their correct sides. They would shoot at people in the wrong place or those who broke curfew. When the British pulled out of Tzefat in April of 1948 there was a battle to gain control of Tzefat.

Israel attempted to blow up a British police station, but 3 soldiers lost their lives in that attempt. Interestingly Israel; used the Davidka, a weapon that shot bombs to win the battle. They only had 3 of these weapons, but kept moving them around to give the impression of having more. The Davidka’s bark was worse than its bite. In 1948 the memories of the atomic bomb where very much alive and the Arabs believed the rumors that Israel had developed one and was shooting it at Tzefat. This assisted Israel in securing Tzefat before the War of Independence. We stood outside the Davidka and the police station as we heard of the miracles that Hashem performed for Tzefat.

Our 1^st stop was the Arizal Askanazi shul. The Arizal was a famous kabalistic rabbi who lived in Tzefat. There are 2 shuls that have his name. One is sephardi and one ashkenazi and the Arizal davened at neither one because they were not built when he was alive. Unfortunately the Arizal shul was closed. It is in the spot that the Arizal and his students would go to every Friday and greet Shabbat. They spent hours davening to Hashem in the fields that overlooked Tzefat. It was here that his students, R’ Shlomo Alkibetz composed Lecha Dodi and R’ Eliezer Azkari composed Yedid Nefesh.

We mentioned there that we daven nusach Ari in school. In 1948 a rocket was shot into this shul. B”H it was shot as ‘Barchu” was being said. The man standing near the bima bent and was not hit. The shrapnel flew in and lodged in the bima. You can still see the mark it left today as a reminder.

Next we stood outside the Kosov shul which was dedicated to the community in Kosov that perished in the Holocaust. This is also the shul where a famous story occurred when the Arizal was alive. In brief the Rabbi had talked about the lechem hapanim and how it was a gift of bread for Hashem. A simple Jew used to then put challah each Fri. in the aron and a poor Jew would take them each Fri. night. The simple Jew thought G-d took them and the poor Jew thought G-d gave them. Eventually the secret was found out. This is the basis for the PJ story Bagels for Benny.

We spent lots of money in Tzefat shopping in the candle factory and the artist colony. There are many nice gifts coming your way.

Mount Meron/Meron

Tue, 28 Feb 2023 4:11:00 PM

We made it up North and enjoyed the beautiful ways as we were driving. We are staying at a youth hostel in Ma’a lot. The people who work here are very nice. There is another Israeli school group staying here.

While driving to our first destination, we drove through a Druse town. The Druse originally were Muslims and at some point they broke away and now have their own religion. There are Druse communities today in Israel, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan. Druse are extremely patriotic to the country in which they are living. In 1950 the then Druse leader approached the Israeli government asking that their boys please be drafted in the army. When conflicts arise in Lebanon and Syria, the IDF is careful not to station Druse soldiers there so they are not fighting with family or friends.

Druse are very secretive about their rituals and if one wants to be religious there is a 2-3 year initiation for the elders to assess one’s seriousness. Most Druse are secular, but this is not frowned upon in their culture. The Druse believe they are descendants of Yitro, Moshes father-in-law. According to their tradition, Yitro is buried in Tevaria.

Our first activity in the North was a beautiful hike on Mount Meron. Based on our hikes, this one was a 3 on our scale. The weather here is amazingly beautiful for this time of year. We stopped periodically to take in the breathtaking views over the Galil.

Along the hike Yoni shared with us information about the area. At the top of Mount Meron is an army base, so hiking up there is off limits. On this mountain they track bird migrations. All birds except one pass over Israel during their migration. Yoni asked us to guess the one and only bird that does not pass over Israel. We will give you a hint: this bird was eaten in the desert. Quail!! Interestingly the quail literally rain down in Egypt when they land. Wow, just like it says in the Torah.

We hiked in single file on Mount Meron. Rabbi Kosofsky shared with us that in Mishnah Rosh Hashana it speaks about how the people of Meron walked in single file. We were literally walking in their footsteps. At one of the viewing areas we could see Gush Chalev. Rabbi Kosofsky shared a few interesting stories that occurred there.

From Mount Meron is a bit of a drive to the grave of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai of Lag B’omer fame. It takes a while since we are driving around the mountain. In front of the grave Yoni shared with us beautiful stories about the Rashbi that show how he cared about average people and would go the extra mile to help them.

After living in the cave for 13 years, the Rashbi developed skin lesions. He went to the hot springs in Tevarya to heal himself. He wanted to thank the city. At that time after the destruction of the Temple, the people wanted to inhabit more of the city, but there were unmarked graves. The Rashbi located the graves and had the bodies respectfully moved to allow more people to live in Tevarya. This was but one example of how the Rashbi went the extra mile.

Kfar Chabad

Mon, 27 Feb 2023 4:23:00 PM

It is amazing to walk into a brick building in Israel. These buildings are definitely not the norm and stick out. The brick building in Kfar Chabad is one that we felt very comfortable at. It is an exact replica of 770, Chabad Headquarters in New York. The students were sure that when they walked inside, that it would look a bit different. Well, they were pleasantly surprised to enter and see that every detail is the same.

Kfar Chabad was established after the Holocaust in 1949 with blessings of the Rebbe, by some survivors and many refugees from Communist Russia. Both sets of Sara Wolvovskys great grandparents were among the founders. Sara was able to spend some time with her great-grandmother. Kfar means village and the residents began with farming. It was a poor community and the Rebbe continued to take a direct interest into Kfar Chabad.

Today Kfar Chabad has grown in size and there is even a Kfar Chabad Bet. Kfar Chabad is best known for the matzo bakery which we visited and Etrog orchards. After the Chernobyl disaster, Kfar Chabad was instrumental in assisting many children through their Children of Chernobyl program.

While we stood outside 770 Yoni told us his father’s story connected to the Rebbe. Yoni’s father, while not a Chabad chosid, lived near 770 and often davened there. One day he was running a bit late and as he is running in for minyan holding his talis and tefilin, he notices the people are parting in half. Wow, Yoni’s father thinks, they are moving for me to make it in to minyan. He opens the door and then notices someone is behind him also entering 770. Yes, you guessed it. It was the Rebbe himself. Yoni’s father opened the door to let the Rebbe pass. The Rebbe replied, “You must go in 1st since you are holding your talis and tefilin. So Yoni’s father entered before the Rebbe. As soon as the Rebbe passed, the chosidim crowded around his father to find out what the Rebbe had said to him. As you can imagine, he did not make it in on time.