Saturday, February 21

After months of planning and a delightful blessing at services on Friday night, we are finally here. We boarded a van at 3:30 Saturday afternoon, and off we went to Laguardia. Our flights were pleasant and we arrived in Tel Aviv at 6:30 p.m.

After meeting our Tour guide, David, and collecting our luggage, off we went to a fabulous dinner at a Yemenite restaurant, Maganda. We all regretted eating on the plane as we watched plentiful plates of chumous, falafel, pita, salad, shishkabab and bakalava arrive at our table. After dinner, we checked into our hotel, the Carlton and several of us took a late night walk along the Promendae by the Mediterranean Sea. The weather is cool but quite pleasant. They say it will be warmer over the next few days.

On a side note, we were saddened to learn about the bombing in Jerusalem that claimed the lives of several young people. One member of our group commented that he better understood Israel from this introduction. It is sad, and we mourn, but life must go on so as not to let the terrorists win.

What a blessing it is to be here and to share this trip together. It is off to a wonderful start and we look forward to all that is ahead. (Our days are quite full so we will have lots to share.)

L'shalom,

Rabbi Melinda Panken

Greetings from Israel.

Yesterday we had a very interesting meeting with Major General Shlomo Gazit at our hotel in Tel Aviv. General Gazit is affiliated with the Jaffee Institute. He described the challenges facing Israel from both military and political perspectives. Then with went to the Palmach Museum in Tel Aviv. This museum opened 4 years ago and it traces the role of the Palmach leading up to Israel's independence. From there we went to Caesarea and toured the ruins. We visited several newly opened archaeological sections which were fascinating. Then we went to Zicron Yaakov for lunch and then continued to Acco, the Crusader city north of Haifa. We ended our day at Kfar Blum, our Kibbutz for two nights. After dinner we met with Judy Kreyden, a 75 year old dynamo who spoke about life on the kibbutz. Judy taught English for many years, got her PhD in English and then moved to Israel from Milwaukee more than 20 years ago. She was hilarious.

Today, we went on a jeep tour of the upper Golan Heights with Roi. He took us on a tour that Disney should copy. Then we met our tour guide Dovid at the Dan Nature Reserve. We toured the reserve for about an hour and then continued by bus to the northernmost point in Israel staring Syria in the face at the base of Mt. Hermon. We then headed south along the Syrian border to Katrin where we had lunch and toured a museum about the Gamla rebellion. Then onto Safed, the city where Kabbalah began. We were able to get a little shopping in and then ended back at the kibbutz. Now it's time for dinner and an evening of music.

Regards to all and wish you were here,

The Magnificent Seven

Wednesday, February 25

Today was a fascinating day. We got true insight into many aspects of Israeli culture. This morning we went to an Arab village called Kabul where we met with Arab students in small discussion goups. Each member of our group sat and talked to five students (students who excel in their English class)about life as Israeli Arabs. These students shared their feelings about inequality with us as well as their antipathy towards Jews and the Israeli government. Though it was hard to hear their true feelings on many of these subjects, we preferred to know honestly how these teens viewed us and Israel. Regardless of their feelings, they all expressed an interest in visiting us in New Jersey and in finding other teens from America with whom to develop e-mail/pen-pal relationships.

From there we visited graves of some famous talmudic rabbis dating from the days of Rome and continued on to the Carmel mountains where we visited a Druse village. Hayil, our host, took us into a Druse home, where we were given homemade pita, salads, baklava and turkish coffee. He shared insight into theh Druse culture, explaining how the Druse religion is a combination of Judaism, Islam and Christianity (contratry to Webster's definition.) They are a religion that has no interest in defining themselves as a nation and as a result, serve in the Israeli army and respresnt their people in the Kenesset. He expressed a great appreciation for the democratic life they experience in Israel. They are one of the earliest religions to give women equal rights as teachers and religious leaders.

We left the Druse village to begin our ascent to Jerusalem. We travelled along a highway so new it isn't even printed on maps yet. Along the highway we skirted the West Bank and saw the newly installed fence. The majority of the border that Israel has erected is actually a wire fence. In a very limited area where the highway is right next to the border of the West Bank, cement barriers are erected to prevent those travelling the highway from being targets of snipers. We were all surprised that, contrary to the portrayal of the international press, the fence is not entirely a wall.

We arrived two hours later at the Haas plaza on Mt. Scopus where we stopped to view the Old City of Jerusalem. We recited some psalms, sang the Shehechiyanu, Yerushalayim Shel Zahav and made kiddush as the sun set on the golden walls of the city.

After checking into our hotel, we met my brother (the other Rabbi Panken) for a private tour of HUC-JIR and then a tasty falafel dinner and shopping on Ben Yehuda Street.

Today was one of the most informative days of our trip so far. Tomorrow we are off to the Dead Sea and Massada -- it supposed to be 80 degrees! We will be thinking of you.

Lailah tov,

Rabbi Melinda Panken

Thursday, February 26

Well,Thursday was our relaxing day. After a trip to Masada to see Herod's fortress and the remains of the last Jewish community to hold out against the Roman's we single handedly bought enough Ahava products to keep all of New Jersey well cleansed for at least a year. Then off to the Dead Sea, where we enjoyed some time in the hot baths and then a bit of floating in the Sea itself. The water was a bit cold but if you floated for a bit you could find a nice, sunny, warm spot. After enjoying some tme in the sun we returned to Jerusalem for a lovely dinner at the Anna Tiko House, the first house to built outside the Old City and then some shopping on Ben Yehuda Street.

Friday, February 27

Friday morning, we spent time at Yad Vashem, learning about the Holocaust and participating in a Memorial service commemorating the 6 Million Jews killed by the Nazis. We visited the Valley of the Lost Communities and the Children's memorial as well, each one more moving than the next.  We then went to Har Herzel where we visited the graves of Theodore Herzl, the founder of modern Zionism, Yitzchak and Leah Rabin and Golda Meir.  We took a few moments to stand at the grave of Hannah Szenesh, a young Israeli resistance fighter and poet, and we sang her words, Eili Eili together. We continued with a tasty lunch of falafel and then toured the area of Eastern Jerusalem to see some of the neighborhoods that are on the border of the West Bank.  We returned to the Hotel where we are preparing for Shabbat. we will be visiting a Reform synagogue in Jerusalem called Mivasseret Tzion where we will worship together and then enjoy home hospitalty Shabbat dinner.  We will miss being with you for Shabbat but we will be thinking of you. I look forwward to hearing about the Yoshe service when we return.

L'shalom and Shabbat Shalom from Jerusalem,

Rabbi Melinda Panken