8th Grade Israel Solidarity Trip 2024: Days 2 and 3

Days 2 and 3 - Friday, May 10th and Saturday, May 11th

We started Friday with Shaharit on the Haas Promenade looking out to the old city What a great view! We discussed how for thousands of years people have been longing for Zion and how we were now there. Yoni shared a poem with us, written in the 60s by Yehuda Amichai about a poet staring at the old city, so close yet so out of reach. 

We then went to the newly renovated Tower of David museum, with exhibitions with different artifacts and mosaics from all the periods of land of Israel which included the Cannanites, First Temple, Second Temple, Roman, Mameluke all the way up to our times and all about the importance of Jerusalem to different religions and people. We also climbed to the top to see another amazing view of the old city. 

After that we went to Shuk Machane Yehuda. There we experienced the hustle and bustle of a Shuk before Shabbat. We got to choose our lunch and split up throughout the market. We got Sabich, Schnitzel, and Açaí for lunch. We walked around tasting and buying many yummy Shuk treats and a LOT of candy for Oneg Shabbat. Then we met back up to walk over to Bet Ha’Am to meet up with Amos Hausner, Gideon Hausner’s son. He told us about his father, and his involvement and big part in the Eichmann Trial. He also shared with us about his experiences during the trial as an eleven-year-old, and told us how his relationship with his father changed during and after the trial, and about the book he recently published with his sister on the subject.

For Shabbat, we went up to the Kotel. At first we went to Ezrat Israel side and had a small Kabbalat Shabbat service just ourselves. Then, the girls and boys separated as we went up to the main Kotel area. Many of us managed to touch the wall and say a few prayers. It was very powerful and we can’t wait to put some notes into the wall in a couple days! 

Our Shabbat day started off with breakfast, and a walk to Shira Hadasha Congregation in the German Colony in Jerusalem. It was very interesting during the two-hour service, (which included many new tunes) to see how although men and women sit separately, the women still lead services and read Torah.

After services, we walked back to the hotel, where we ate lunch. We then got an hour and a half of downtime before family members came to visit us in the hotel. Some families hung out in the hotel, some went on a picnic and some of us spent time playing card games in the lobby or resting all Super fun!!

Later in the afternoon, we walked to a nearby park. There, our tour guide, Yoni, did a couple of activities with us. One of the activities included placing us on a figurative scale between two options. It was meant to see how we felt about our identities, and our connections with Israel, America, and Judaism. Yoni then had us read a short text about optimism and hope. He also talked to us about Parashat Kedoshim, holiness, and our roles as Jews. After the activities, we enjoyed snacks and candy, and free time We actually split into two groups, one of which sat on the grass and talked, and the other which did parkour on the rocks around the park. After about an hour, we walked back to the hotel for dinner and when Shabbat was over we gathered in the lobby for Havdalah. We lit a candle for Havdalah and used mint for Besamim. We went through the prayers and drank grape juice, we ended our day with a quick walk to Ben Yehudah and stopped at an ice cream/crepe place and enjoyed smoothies, froyo, ice cream and crepes. Our last stop was Superpharm (local CVS-style store) and got some stuff. We walked back to the hotel doing fun riddles. We ended our day watching the Eurovision finals. It was intense and involved a lot of politics. But Eden, Israel’s singer, got the people’s vote and came in 5th. We were very excited!!! Go Israel!!