Day 30: Zip Lining in the Gush
We started off today with a look into Israeli culture and society by visiting an army base. We got to see all the different cars and tanks they use as well as tour the armory. After the army base, we went to Ma'arat Hamachpela in Chevron, the burial place of avraham, yitzchak, yaakov, sarah, rivkah, Leah, Adam, and chava. After saying a few prayers as well as Kaddish, we left for the Gush--one of the most beautiful regions of Israel. We stopped at Kfar Etzyion and saw a video about how the people of the gush regions fought to defend…
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Day 28: Save a Child’s Heart, Ashdod, and the Talent Show
After picking everyone up from their respective locations, we went to the fields in Leket to pick potatoes for poor families who cant afford food. We picked over 1600 lbs of potatoes which went to feed over 200 families this week! What a chesed everyone did today! Our sweat and hard work went to help so many people attain one of their basic needs: food. Then, we drove to Holon where we had a delicious falafel lunch at the Weitzmann Institute garden of science. There, we got wonderful guided tours by some of the phd students. We got to see…
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Day 28: Dialogue in the Dark
After picking everyone up from their respective locations, we went to the fields in Leket to pick potatoes for poor families who cant afford food. We picked over 1600 lbs of potatoes which went to feed over 200 families this week! What a chesed everyone did today! Our sweat and hard work went to help so many people attain one of their basic needs: food. Then, we drove to Holon where we had a delicious falafel lunch at the Weitzmann Institute garden of science. There, we got wonderful guided tours by some of the phd students. We got to see…
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Days 22 & 23: The Dead Sea and Ein Gedi
This was a day that many people were looking forward to...swimming in the Dead Sea! We drove up from Eilat in the morning and made it to the Dead Sea before the day started getting really hot. We split up into a boy group and a girl group and got in! At first the water was unbearably hot, but as soon as you got further out, it cooled down. We all had so much fun floating in the Dead Sea, especially those of us who had never been there before. After swimming in the Dead Sea, we shopped around in…
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Day 22: Fun in the Red Sea
Today was a really exciting day. We started the day off at the beach. We went to a separate beach (men and women have their own sections) and we got some good beach time while alternating groups went banana-boating, paddle-boating, and kayaking. After the beach, we went back to the Tayelet for lunch (everyone got to choose whatever food they wanted). Then, we went to the Eilat aquarium, which has an underwater observatory from which you can see what the underwater sea life looks like in reality. After a long day in the sun, we went back to the hotel…
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Eilat, here we come!
We woke up bright and early in the Bedouin tents (since it started getting hot around 6 am) and after a Bedouin-style breakfast (including freshly made pita), we made our way to the bus. We stopped at the place we were jeeping for davening because there was a conveniently located shul about 20 meters away. Once we davened, then it was time to jeep! We split up into our Jeeps and started out on a normal road. Then, all the sudden, we veered off course into the vast dessert. We bumped around through the dessert until we reached an overpass.…
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Day 20: Greetings from the Bedouin Tents
As we ventured into the Arab side of East Jerusalem, a few of us wondered what we were doing there. Turns out, when the Muslims were building a new entrance to the temple mount, they dumped all the soil they removed onto the site where the bus finally stopped. This soil was filled with ancient artifacts from the first and second temples, so the Jewish Israelis took it upon themselves to sift through all the soil in order to find as much a possible from the times of the temples. And we were there to help! After getting a short…
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Shabbat in Jerusalem
Out of all the shabbatot I've had in Israel, this was by far the most incredible. We started off at the Kotel. We weren't able to join a minyan, so we created our own. I've never seen such ruach as I saw that night. We sang and danced and our passion attracted people from other groups into our circle. And throughout the entire experience the Kotel was right there in front of us, reminding us who we are and why were here. After Kabbalat Shabbat, we walked to the OU center and were fortunate enough to have dinner with David…
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Day 18: The Jilaboun
And now a guest blog from camper Ari Margolies: I have been fortunate enough to be blessed with a healthy body and a working pair of legs but also burdened with slightly more lethargy and apathy then a physically fit teenage male should be expected to have. This has kept me, a self proclaimed "indoor person," fairly idle when it comes to physically arduous activities. Up until yesterday the thought never dawned on me that I would ever have an appreciation for the grisly outdoors. The fear of getting impaled on a sharp rock, slipping and falling off a cliff,…
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Day 17: Water, water, water!
Today was one of the most fun days we've had so far. We spent practically the whole day in the water, which was a welcomed escape from the heat. First we did a small water walk, and after that we did an hour long water hike at the Hatzbani River--a source of the Jordan River. This hike was especially refreshing because we not only walked by the river, but THROUGH it! When we were not in the water, we were shaded by the many trees surrounding the river. It was such a beautiful and relaxing hike. After the water hike,…
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Day 17: Water, water, water!
Today was one of the most fun days we've had so far. We spent practically the whole day in the water, which was a welcomed escape from the heat. First we did a small water walk, and after that we did an hour long water hike at the Hatzbani River--a source of the Jordan River. This hike was especially refreshing because we not only walked by the river, but THROUGH it! When we were not in the water, we were shaded by the many trees surrounding the river. It was such a beautiful and relaxing hike. After the water hike,…
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Day 16: 17 Tammuz
Because today was a fast day, we took it pretty easy. We woke up later than usual and went to Yad Vashem, the most visited Holocaust museum in the world. We broke into two groups and each group went with a tour guide. Because there were so many people in the museum, we wore headphones that made it sound like our tour guide was standing right next to us. We went through the museum, really feeling the weightiness of the day. The 17th of Tammuz was the day that the Roman's surrounded the walls of the second Beit Hamikdash. Not…
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Day 15: The Kotel
Today we did what we have been waiting a week to do: we went to the Kotel. But before we went to the Kotel, we built up a little anticipation. First we went to Ir David and walked through the tunnels of Hezekiah. The tunnels were used to transport water to and to provide ventilation for the Beit Hamikdash. Nowadays, people can go into them and hike through the water. It was pitch black so we could only communicate with our voices and it is one of the holiest places in the old city, so we sang the whole way…
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Day 14: YOM NCSY
So other than Tsfat being one of the holiest cities in Israel, it also happens to have some of the best shopping in Israel. Luckily, we were able to get a few hours of shopping in around the artists' colony. Before that, however, we had the incredible opportunity to spend time with Ethiopian children in the mirkaz klita or immigration center. This is a place where Jewish Ethiopian families who just made aliyah can learn about the Israeli culture and language. These families come from such small, poor villages in Ethiopia and Sudan that they don't even know what indoor…
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Day 1: Arrival in Italy
The first day of such an incredible trip like this is always exciting and exhausting. New friends and new experiences filled the day as we all met each other in the airport. We got through security extremely smoothly (for having a group of 44 teenagers with us) and left on our journey at 7:15 pm. 8 hours later, we were finally standing (although after an 8 hour trip some of us were barely standing) on Italian soil! We got ALL of our bags...a true summer miracle...and acquainted ourselves with the bus we would get to know quite well over the…
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Shabbat in Tsfat
This Shabbat was not only special because it was our first one in Israel, but we had the privilege of being in the holy city of Tsfat, one of Israel's four holiest cities. We started off with a Kabbalat Shabbat full of singing and dancing, everyone danced and sang with immense kevana which added to the Shabbos spirit. We then had our our first Shabbat meal in Israel filled with zemirot and good food. The next day, some of us prayed in the hotel with the group and some of us walked to different shuls in the old city of…
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Day 12: Rafting, Rambam, and Rabbi Akiva
Today we drove out to Tiberias and built rafts on the Kineret. The Kineret is Israel's only fresh water source and is in the process of drying up every day. The water shortage problem in Israel is very serious and it's important to be aware of the fact that we cannot take even water for granted. For the raft building, we were provided 8 long logs and 4 big crates that we tied together with string to make rafts. These rafts were able to hold 5-6 people on them and we took them out into the water to test their…
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Day 11: Surf School
Today we got to experience Akko. First, we had the privilege of touring the Beit Knesset Tunisai (Tunisian Shul) with the man who built the synagogue. This synagogue was truly incredible because etvery inch of it was covered in mosaics that either our tour guide or his friends created. These mosaics beautifully told the story of the Jewish people. Then, we visited the old British prison in the Akko Citadel. It was used in the early 1940's to imprison freedom fighters from the Hagana, Etzel, and Lechi organizations. This prison was the site of a major breakout that freed many…
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Day 10: Rappelling
Wow what a day! We started off at Rosh HaNikrah, a beautiful site right at the Lebanese-Israeli border. We took cable cars down to the water and learned about Rosh HaNikrah: during World War II, the British drilled through the rock and built railroads to help them with the war effort. The Haganah used these railroads to sneak Jews into Israel. At the visitor's site, we got to tour the grottoes, where we saw the bluest, clearest water. After Rosh HaNikrah, we continued on to rappelling. This activity, for some people, was not just an activity, but a true facing…
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Day 9: The First Day in Israel
After our 3 am arrival, it was definitely time for shluffy. After a wonderful "welcome to Israel" breakfast at Achziv field school we left the beach front hotel (yes we could see the mediterranean sea from the hotel). Then we went donkey riding where we had an incredibly charismatic guide who informed us that the phrase of the day was "okay donkey." Then, we got an interactive lesson on how they used to make bread before the days when we just go pick it up in the grocery store. It was a painstaking and intensive process that we all definitely…
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Day 8: The Vatican and Eretz Yisrael
We woke up this morning to a special treat: Mrs. Lashak gave a fascinating class on the secret Jewish messages hidden in Michelangelo's art in the Sistene Chapel. This was particularly relevant today because we were going to the Vatican! After breakfast we departed for the Roman Colosseum. There, Rabbi Lashak told us about the inhumane brutalities that occurred there. We also saw the arch of Titus: a magnificent arch dedicated to Titus for his conquest of the Jews and the destruction of the temple. This arch represents so much horror for our people, that there is actually a rabbinical…
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Day 7: Pompeii and Naples
Today we left the hotel bright and early for a day trip to Pompeii and Naples. Pompeii is an ancient city that was destroyed by the eruption of Vesuvius in 80 CE. We toured around the ruins and could imagine what it was like living during those times. We saw the city center where all of the shops and public bathhouses were. We also saw castings of corpses that died in the eruption. Then, we drove up Vesuvius and had lunch overlooking the volcano. After lunch, we drove to Naples where we checked out the Italian shopping scene and learned…
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Shabbat in the Great Synagogue
What an incredible Shabbat! We got to the hotel last night and were greeted with a Shabbat treat: it was the nicest hotel we've ever seen! But that wasn't it...we davened kabbalat Shabbat in the most beautiful shul we've ever seen. We were intrigued by the unfamiliar tunes blasting from the shul's incredible acoustics. We then had an inspiring Shabbat dinner in the restaurant and finished it off with an amazing Shabbat singing. The next morning we returned to the Great Synagogue and then after lunch went back to the hotel for a long Shabbos napping session. Then we had…
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Day 3: Ferarris and Florence
Today we travelled to the bautiful city of Florence. En route to Florence, we stoppe in Maranello at the Ferarri meuseum and got to see 45 of the most expensive Ferarri cars in the world. Then, when we arrived in Florence, we sat and had a class in front of the synagogue which looked like an illuminated masterpiece in the Florence night. Then we took a city tour which included a visit to the magnificent Il Duomo, a huge church made of white, pink, and green marble made in the gothic and Renaissance style. We also saw he bible golden…
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Day 2: The Waterways of Venice
Rise and shine! After such a busy day, we got a good night of sleep and woke up early to daven at one of Italy's beautiful synagogues. Thankfully, we will be getting to see many more synagogues like this while we are here. It's amazing that we are able to daven in the same place that Jews have been davening for centuries. After lunch we took a water taxi to the island of Murano and watched the master glass blowers make their masterpieces. We watched one of the glass blowers create a vase and a horse figurine in under 2…
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ICE Blog #1
Due to some technical difficulties, the ICE program has not had access to internet, however I have been in touch with the group, so here is a quick update as to what has been happening on NCSY ICE 2011: The group landed safely in Milan where they immediately kicked into touring mode. They went on an exciting tour of the city and had an opportunity to shop around and take in the beautiful sights. Venice was the next stop where fun was had by all at a glass factory and riding on the gondolas. ICE also had…
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