First Days in Israel

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Well, we took off Thursday night from JFK on El Al. They did ask us about the extra bags of clothes we were taking over for tzedaka (charity) but then sent us through with a smile after making sure we were who we said we were. Met up in the airport with Peter from the Rye Community Synagogue, as we are three temples sharing this tour. The rest of the Rye group was on the plane; I sat next to the rabbi my friend Dan. The third group, from Barnert temple in Franklin Lakes, NJ, went on an earlier flight. The flight itself was full; and as uncomfortable as a 10 hour flight is expected to be. Did see a fun movie, then slept a bit. Landed around 2:30 pm at Ben Gurion airport in Lod, and by the time we got to the hotel in Tel Aviv it was 4:30 pm. The new terminal at the airport was magnificent -- no more getting on to buses from the plane to the old terminal.

Our guide, Zvi Levran, met us at the hotel. Then it was rush, rush, rush to get out by 5 pm so we could make it to Beit Daniel for the Kabbalat Shabbat service at 5:30 pm. One elevator was being repaired in our hotel (Carlton) so we had trouble getting up to our floors and back down, but all worked out. We went to the synagogue and were warmly greeted; I've been there before. Wonderful singing and a great talk by the assistant rabbi, Galia, on the Torah portion. Of course, it was all in Hebrew! At the Aleynu prayer, she had the children come up and open the Ark, and then gave them a candy on the way back to their seats. Reminded me of our temple, Beth El. After the service, Tanya came up to greet me. She's a rabbinic student, Israeli, who I met in California at a conference a month ago when she was studying in the U.S. for a semester. She will be ordained at HUC-JIR (the Reform rabbinic school) this year. She immigrated from Moscow 14 years ago. More another time about her.
After the service, two members of the congregation spoke to our group for a few minutes about the Progressive movement in Israel (the equivalent of Reform in the U.S.) Bruriah Barish, the temple president for well over a decade, also greeted us. Amazing woman who I have met before.
Our group was definitely jet lagged, so after a fantastic buffet Shabbat dinner at the hotel (all kinds of salads, meats, and amazing veggies) and a 1/2 hour orientation with Zvi, we all hit the sack. By 11 pm I was asleep.
Oh - my brother Dan surprised me by coming up from Kibbutz Yahel in the Negev to meet me at the hotel for dinner! What fun! We will see him at the Kibbutz again late sunday afternoon.
Shabbat morning, Feb. 19, was a great hotel breakfast. Israeli breakfasts at hotels are a buffet -- salads, fruits, all kinds of soft and hard and creamy cheeses, blintzes, pastries, etc. A feast. then we had a Shabbat creative service out on the beach facing the Mediterranean Sea. Fantastic! Rabbi Dan led the prayers, and I did a small d'rash (discussion) on the Torah reading. It was especially nice to have all the secular Israelis walking up and down the beach and playing games in the sand just a short few steps from our prayer circle. A few came over to look in on what we were doing. The Tel Aviv folks are mostly secular, so seeing me -- a woman in a kippah and a tallit -- was a bit unusual. As we were finishing our pryaers, up walked the retired Conservative rabbi from Fairfield, Connecticut who had been out for a walk on the beach with his wife. Small world! the weather has been outstanding -- about 75 today.
I'll write some more tomorrow about our afternoon of touring around Tel Aviv area. Check back!

Warmly,
Rabbi Debby Hachen

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