March, 2011

Dear Tehiyah Community-

Our greetings for this, our third annual Israel trip, are unvarying:

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 our graduates from the past two years and you’ll hear directly how our wishes were fulfilled.

But we hope for even more.

As was true last year, we are planning to communicate a bit more with them even during the trip and, to share their experience with the entire community upon their return. With a departure later in the school year, we have more time to share in anticipation of the journey with class buddies, as well.

We are excited about the itinerary changes from previous years, including Erev Yom ha-Atzma’ut celebrations in Kiriyat Shemona,, a visit to the innovative, experiential Palmach Museum in Tel Aviv, spending more time with our peers in Ma’alot-Tarshichah (including planned home visits), and additional interactions with Arab and Jewish Israeli peers (details TBA).

The group will enjoy the third annual Israel meeting with our Brandeis Hillel Day School eighth grade peers during one Shabbat in Jerusalem, following the fun pre-trip local Mifgash (encounter) we had in March it will surely enhance the experience for all and will enable our travelers to view Israel from additional perspectives and, jointly, through the prism of Jewish Peoplehood.

Our wishes for their safety remain a constant. To the third cohort of its unique trip, Tehiyah sends its fare well wishes; we 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 gas stations have signs that offer the prayer,

Tzetchem l’Shalom u’Vo’akhem l’Shalom

May you go forth in peace and return in peace!