March,
2010
Dear
Tehiyah Community-
Last
year we wrote this for our school’s inaugural trip to Israel:
Our
eighth-graders are soon to embark on a journey that is more than
physical, to a country of extremes that offers contradictions and
reassurance, to a place incorporating the past but of the present,
one (like its sabra fruit) bristling with excitement, offering
challenges and sweet rewards.
Our
emissaries from the epicenter of diversity will encounter a land of
multiple climates and ecosystems that pale in their variety and
number when compared to the sheer number of opinions, ethnic
backgrounds, and religious beliefs they’ll encounter in
Israel. They will learn that there are many Israels, just as there
is more than one way to be an American, or a Jew.
Over
the course of two weeks, making their journey by plane, bus, camel,
and foot, sleeping in hotels and tents, engaging with Ashkenazim,
Mizrahim, Israeli Arabs and Druze, they will be our representatives,
trekking from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv, Beit She’an to Tzfat
(maybe we’ll finally learn how to spell that!), the Dead Sea
to the Golan.
Their
journey is no ordinary trip. The words "new," "fun,"
"exhausting," "remarkable," and "meaningful"
and "together" will be intensified and understood in very
different ways. They’ll float, climb, and reach, as they
better understand and strengthen their identity.
We
look forward to their journey, and to savoring through them this
remarkable opportunity and experience. They’ll be sharing
their Israel moments with us in real-time. Please join us here to
absorb some of what can appropriately (even outside the Bay Area) be
called their Israel "aura," as they convey to us their
energy, and their spirit, their impressions and their humor, their
surprises and their insights, through words and pictures.
What
can we add?
That
last year’s trip proved to be as exciting and fulfilling as
we’d hoped? Talk to any of last year’s graduates and
you’ll hear directly how our wishes were fulfilled.
But
we hope for even more.
We
hope to share a bit more with them even during the trip and, with
their earlier departure, we plan for more time to share in their
experience upon their return.
The
itinerary changes (including Yom
ha-Atzma’ut in Tel
Aviv, a visit to Akko/Acre, more time in Tzfat/Safed and Caesarea,
and a second encounter with our Brandeis Hillel Day School eighth
grade peers during one Shabbat
in Jerusalem, following the successful evening last month) will
surely enhance the experience for all and will enable our travelers
to view Israel from additional perspectives.
Our
wishes for their safety remain a constant. To the second cohort of
this unique trip, we wish them well and already look forward to their
safe return (and their stories, too). We wish them a safe journey to,
and a safe return from, that unique land where even the gas stations
have signs that offer the prayer,
!
About Oranim Educational Initiatives 
