Arrival

Our arrival in Israel was uneventful, which is the way you want arrivals to be. As we walked to customs we noticed a very large mezuzah on the doorway that welcomed us to Israel. Thank you Lilia Luzhanskiy for giving Ezra a heads up. This picture is for you. We cleared customs quickly, after we were shown how to use the high tech machines that read your passports and spit out an entry visa. Good thing too or we might still be waiting in line:)

First things first was davening shacharis. All the students were confused. Didn’t we just daven shacharis? No, that was yesterday. You really feel special davening in a special shul in the airport. How many other airports in the world have a shul with a minyan?

After a delicious breakfast and exchanging money, we met our tour guide Yoni Berg who welcomed us to Israel. Mickey Katzburg was on hand to meet our group as well. LYA has been working with Mickey since 2000 to organize trips. Mickey and his team are the main reason our trips are so successful. Morah Kosofsky brought a special gift for Mickey that we presented at the airport. She created a scrabble board with interconnected words in Hebrew that show Mickey how much LYA appreciates his dedication to our school. Mickey also had a gift for the Kosofskys. It was a special sefer with the works of Rabbi Drukman, of blessed memory. Mickey was one of the people instrumental in the publishing of this book