8th Grade Israel Trip 2019!

Today we woke up at our beautiful hotel and then after a delicious breakfast drove to Herzelia to visit Beit Hagalgalim, which means house of wheels. Beit Hagalgalim is a center for people (specifically young people who use wheelchairs) to meet and connect with people who have similar experiences navigating throughout the world in their day-to-day lives. While we were there, four people (Vicki, Dalit, Shimi, and Orion) led us through four different activities: listening to and learning about how Vicki communicates to people using a computer, drawing with our non-dominant hands and our mouths, going around the neighborhood in wheelchairs and experiencing what it is like to go to a supermarket with a wheelchair. Afterward, we had a delicious Pizur lunch in Old Jaffa. Then, we boarded the bus towards the Holon Children's Museum, where we split off into two groups: Dialogue in the Dark and Invitation to Silence. Dialogue in the Dark was an interactive experience through seven differen...

Greetings from the Holy Land, It is us, two of your beloved eighth graders, Abe and Naama. We write to you today to quench your thirst on the whereabouts of the class of 2019. Before we begin to describe the pleasant twists and turns that have befallen us throughout this rare sunny day, we would like to take a moment to express our gratitude to the lively Ramah staff that have accompanied us on this trek. We would also like to thank our amazing CCJDS chaperones and our fabulous bodyguard/medic. And of course our fearless bus driver, Samuel, who has guided us through the cat-filled streets of Israel. Alright, now to the agenda of today. Many of our peers, including me (Abe), began their day early in the morning. Pick up from Jerusalem was at the early hour of 7:30 which was in stark contrast to the 11:30 hashkama (wake up time) of the previous day. The miserable Jerusalem kids somehow persevered through a one hour drive to Tel Aviv where they met up with t...

Greetings friends and family! The last two days have been beautiful, full of great weather and memorable experiences. On Friday, we woke up in the north, at Kibbutz Ashdot Ya'akov, packed a lunch and enjoyed a beautiful view of the Kineret during our tefillah at the top of Mt. Arbel. Afterward, the whole group hiked down the steep mountain, supporting each other along the way and sharing stories about their homes. Following our morning of scenic views, we took students to meet up with their host families for the weekend. Eden and Liz even had a chance to meet up with alumna Ariel Goldman (class of '16) in Tel Aviv. She greeted us in her Class of 2016 Israel Trip sweatshirt! We both enjoyed seeing her and learning about her fascination high school experience living and studying at Naale Elite Academy, an international high school in Israel.  She's sends a big "shalom" to her classmates and everyone back at CCJDS. Today, we met back up with our amazing group of ei...

Happy Thursday!! We started off the morning with a hearty breakfast at Kibbutz Ashdot Ya'akov followed by an informative tour and brief history of the kibbutz. Then we drove up to Har BenTal in the Golan Heights overlooking the border to Syria and saw absolutely nothing because of the fog. Despite weather challenges, we managed to explore the bunkers used in the Yom Kippur War and learn some fun facts about the Golan Heights. Did you know there are 40,000 cows living in just this part of Israel? That’s what we thought. After this, we drove to Tel Dan to stop and take part in arguably one of the most important parts of our day; lunch. Sadly, lunch had to end, and our hike began! We trekked through a slippery trail surrounded by vibrant wildflowers and learned about Israel’s primary water source. On a more somber note, we then visited the memorial of the tragic helicopter crash of ’97 involving two IDF transport helicopters and seventy-three casualties. One of which hit particul...

Happy Hump Day! Although we did not ride camels today, we did get to enjoy several other interesting and fun activities. First off, we packed up the bus, ate a lovely breakfast, and headed off to the gravesite of David and Pola Ben-Gurion for a scenic and spiritual Tefillah. After, we drove from the desert to the lush green hills and valleys of the north. For lunch, we did a supermarket sweep -- the teachers divided us into groups of five, gave us 135 shekels, and sent us off to purchase a picnic lunch for our group.  Following several Mekupelet candy bars and containers of hummus, our adventure brought us to the mystical city of Safed or in Hebrew:  צְפַת. We explored the famous alleys and heard stories of the majestic blue city, which is so high up in the mountains it seemed as if we were walking on the clouds. The Abuhav Synagogue had multi-colored paintings which seemed to tell stories through the pictures. We learned about art in Safed through the perspective of Shev...

Happy Tuesday! Today we woke up at 6:30 and had an amazing breakfast. Then, we went to Shvil hasalat, an amazing produce farm where we toured greenhouses and ate lots of good fruits and veggies such as tomatoes, cucumbers, strawberries and more. It was pretty incredible to see the fresh produce being grown in the desert and Israel's drip irrigation, a system invented in Israel. This tasty experience allowed us to see first hand how Israelis have made the "desert bloom." Following our organic appetizers, we had a falafel lunch and visited a makolet. As our lunch came to an end, some rain came through so we ran to the bus. Our ride through the desert got even more exciting when it began to snow! Yes - snow in the desert! We soon reached our destination, a space museum and visitor center, the Ilan Ramon Museum and Memorial in Mitzpe Ramon. There, we learned about the first Israeli to ever go to space, Ilan Ramon. We learned his sad story about his trip home from ...