Well… I’m (nearly) all packed and ready for my first congregational trip to Israel with Congregation B’nai Shalom. We are a group of 17 heading out tomorrow evening and expecting to land in Tel Aviv on Friday afternoon, in time to celebrate Shabbat in Jerusalem.
Our group ranges from age 7 to mid-70s. Many have never been to Israel and, of those who have, most haven’t been for over 20 years. It has been about 8 years since I was last year – the longest gap of travel to Israel that I’ve had for a while. For our group this is a great adventure as we prepare to see, experience, and taste the great variety that exists in Israel. Our tour company owners are chefs, so we know we are going to eat well, and we have some quite special fresh food experiences lined up.
– We’ll be traveling as far South as Arad and traveling North all the way up to the Golan Heights.
– We’ll be meeting up with Israelis, Bedouins, and Arabs, and learning about Israel from many different perspectives.
– We’ll be grappling with the political, historical and ecological complexities that we find as we journey together.
And we’ll be recording our experiences here on my blog as often as we can.
I hope that you’ll join us on our journey. Feel free to leave messages here on the blog or email me with private messages (such as those you would like us to offer a prayer for healing for, or a brief prayer message that you would like me to place at the Kotel (Western Wall).
