2023 Israel Study Tour: Day #9

Experiencing Jerusalem

Aviv M. and Dalia S.

On March 23, we started our early morning with a walk to Ezrat Israel (the unsegregated section of the Kotel) with two other schools, one from Portland and the other from Contra Costa. There we met with Rabbi Hanan, who led us through the Thursday morning prayers and the reading of the Torah. Everyone enjoyed meeting new friends from around the U.S., and some of us coincidentally already knew each other!

From there we went to the Jerusalem Archeological Park and learned about the detailed and complicated history of the old city and its layers of many conquerers.

We rode the bus downtown to right outside the Yad VaShem Museum and had a quick lunch before heading into a long, descriptive tour of the museum, explaining the whole, deep story of the Holocaust and the significance of different architectural and design aspects of the Yad VaShem buildings.

Afterwards we took a short bus ride to Beit Ha’am, the original location of the Eichmann Trial, to meet with Amos Hausner, Gideon Hausner’s son. He told us about the details of the trial and all about his father’s life. We even learned that Gideon Hausner was a real jokester! 

Then we walked to the Aryeh Levin square, a little opening in the Jerusalem cobblestone streets, to have another quick falafel snack and then get on a Zoom call to say hello to all of Hausner and our parents.

To begin our evening, we had a pizur dinner in the Old City. Pizur means “scatter," so a pizur dinner is where we can go anywhere for dinner with at least one other friend, allowing everyone to get a variety of foods. Our last activity to end the day was driving back to the Kotel to tour the tunnels underneath and learn more about the Kotel, which was very interesting for everyone.

In the end, we had a very packed, but super interesting and engaging day to bond and create memories with all of our friends!