Yuval's Post-trip Blog

I had the honor and the great opportunity to join the Temple Sinai mission to Israel as the shinshinit. For me, it was such a great opportunity that not every shinshin gets to have; join a group of kids which we've been throw this year together talking about Israel and escort their own personal experience of Israel made me very excited to go to the trip. 

The trip was absolutely amazing. I thought it was made well. The trip was interesting, enjoyable and so meaningful. Even for me, as an Israeli, the sights and the explanations were fascinating. I could really identify with the excitement of going to the kotel for the first time, riding a camel and the felling of Israel as home. I can really see the importance of sending kids to explore and get to know Israel. I understand how unique it is for Temple Sinai and I'm so appreciative for that and grateful to be a part of this place. The connections that were created on the trip were very valuable to me it was a real pleasure to get to know the kids deeply and to know that I was a part for their journey.

Thank you Temple Sinai for an amazing, meaningful, unforgettable experience!    

--

יובל ליפשיץ

Yuval Lifshitz

Our last day :(

This morning we started off with the usual breakfast, then headed to Holon to meet with a few doctors from the Save a Child's Heart organization. Afterwards, we headed over to the home where all the children stay the few months of their surgery. We played, talked and had a great time with the children and the volunteers. 

We drove down to Tel Aviv where we stopped at Rabin square. We learned about his assassination and also about the kind of leader he was. After Rabin square we headed over to the Karmel market for lunch and for some shopping time. We then went to the hall of independence and learned about how Tel Aviv became a city. After that we walked over to the beach and spoke about our time in Israel and how it affected us. We had some free time to take pictures and play frisbee. Then we headed back to Jerusalem.

-Jacob and Felix

Shabbat Shalom!

After a lunch spent in the aromatic and busy shuk, we hopped on the bus and drove to Modi'in.  The bus rides on this trip are always a mix of people sleeping and cracking jokes.  Once we reached our destination, the Yozma synagogue, we found out which Yozma teens' houses we would be staying at.  We then went to their houses to drop off our bags and have some down time with them before having to return to the synagogue for services.  Experiencing a service in a different country, with a different rabbi, and in a different language was certainly an interesting endeavour.  And although some of us tried to sing along to the songs, of which the lyrics we all know, the tunes were different, making the service one in which we relied mostly on our ears.   

After the service we had dinner at our respective houses.  During this time we got to know the people we were staying with better and we were exposed to a different culture.   I'm not sure about other people, but in the house that I stayed at we discussed politics, the differences in Canadian and Israeli culture, and of course, we played taki.  We all spent the rest of the evening  at Noam's house, one of the teens from Yozma.  We jumped on his trampoline, listened to music, ate food, and just talked.  It was a great way to get to know people, and I would say that we all made some great friends this week.  

-Simone 

Friday Morning

The weight of yad vashem is hard to describe; everyone experiences it differently. Some of us felt moved and motivated to do greatness while others felt grief. Me? Among other things, I was mainly hungry. After the countless images of starvation that our wonderful tour educator, Jeremy so vividly painted in our minds, I felt ashamed. Only when we walked out of the "memory of the jewish journey" (holocaust memorial museum) to go get lunch did I start hearing everyone admitting that they too were famished. The shwarma that I ate tasted better that lunch at the shuk (market) because it was then that I realized tasting a delicious shwarma as a Canadian tourist in the free land of Israel was what being a Jew at Temple Sinai was all about. What I'm trying to say if I'm saying anything is that after our final stop at the "museum" I didn't feel grief, sadness, Israeli pride, or hope, but the lesson or feeling that I most took away from this morning was that of gratefulness. 

-Gabe

All about Thursday

We woke up on this lovely Thursday morning, nice and early. After breakfast we hopped on the bus and headed to Genesis Land located in the hills of Judea. We briefly spoke to Eiliezer while awaiting our "taxis" who were taking us down to Abraham's tent. It turns out our taxis were Camels! So everyone got onto the camels in pairs and started our journey. Once we arrived at our destination, we were kindly welcomed into Abraham's tent. We were served dried fruits along with water, coffee and tea. Afterwards, we headed back up the mountain on the camels, and headed to our next destination, Masada! 

When we arrived at Masada we took the cable car up to the top, and made our way around the top of Masada to hear about it's history. Afterwards, we climbed back down! What an incredible experience!! We then had lunch, got back into the bus, and made our way to the Dead Sea! 

Once we got there and changed into our appropriate Dead Sea attire, we went down to the shore and covered everything with mud! From our toes to our hair, everyone got down and dirty in the beautiful and natural exfoliating mud. We took a bunch of photos along the way. We then went into the sea, and we were floating around, enjoying the company of our lovely Temple Sinai friends. After we had all dried off and cleaned ourselves up from the mud, we headed to Ben Yehuda street in Jerusalem. We are all looking forward to what the next few days will hold for us! 

-Sydney

Our Day in Pictures!

 Even camel is smiling!

 Off to see Abraham.

At the top of Masada. What really matters to each of us?

Say camel!

Judean hills, here we come!

Say G'vinah!

 We finally made it to the Canada Centre in Metulla for an amazing night of ball hockey and skating with an amazing and diverse community of Israel youth.

 On ice in Israel!!!!

 New friends! Common language=hockey!

 What would Moses do?

 9 Sinai teens + 9 Yozma teens = home-cooked meal in the forest of lentil soup and pita

 At the shores of the Kinneret

 The other team's meal. Who will be our next Top Chef?

Shwarma & Falafel. Yummmmmmmm!

From the South to the North to the South

Tuesday 

After a good sleep and nutritious breakfast, we headed out for a long bus ride towards the North of Israel. Looking into Jordan most of the way, passing by the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea, we finally made it to the Kineret Cemetery. Many people who shaped how Israel is today were buried there. From the cemetery, we continued to Tiberius. We ate delicious schwarma and falafel and then visited the grave of Ram Bam. The group travelled by bus to the high altitude city of Tzfat. We proceeded to climbing over a construction sight and then made our way to a couple of orthodox synagogues. Full of excitement, we headed off to Metula. We played ball hockey and went ice skating with Israelis from various religions (I.e. Druze, Jews, Muslims, Christians). We can't wait for the rest of the trip!
-Yafa


Wedneday

At 6:00 a.m. we woke up in a kibbutz in the north of Israel with one of the best breakfasts we've had the entire trip. We then hopped right on the bus for a three hour drive; or should I say a three hour nap. On the bus ride we slept, played bus games and after a long, long drive we finally arrived at our first stop. The first stop was an archeological dig site where Jews lived over two thousands years ago. After an interesting story, we finally understood how so many artifacts were preserved after such a long time. We proceeded to dig and dig and dig and dig some more. Apparently, this site is the most abundant dig site in all of Israel; with these odds it's no wonder we all found a series of broken vases, plates and even some animal bones. It was incredible to think that we would be the first people touching these artifacts in over  2000 years (WOW!). In the afternoon we reunited ourselves with the Yozma teens (the Israeli teens we met a few days earlier). We got to know them so much better and it was such an incredible afternoon filled with leadership activities; we even got to herd sheep and goats. The sheep were so cuddly, soft and really needed to be sheered. Today truly was an incredible day!
-Aaron

Pictures from the Morning

Our first glimpse of the Kotel plaza.

The Southern Wall steps. Ascending with a Psalm of Ascension

On the women's side at the Kotel.

Our Morning in the Old City

This morning we started off with an early start with the help of our jet lagged body-clocks. We then embarked to the western wall where we visited the archeological centre and discussed the history of the area with our tour educator, Jeremy. After some reflection on our 'gifts' we can offer to the world, we wrote our own wishes and/or prayers to put into the wall. This was the first time at The Wall for a lot of us, making it a very special experience. At the wall we inserted our wishes and had a moment to feel the wall and have a moment of thought. We had a tour in the tunnels under the old city and the exposed lower part of the wall and then headed for lunch in the old city where we enjoyed some nice schwarma. Jerusalem and its history is incredibly interesting and it is mind blowing to think that where we stood were visited by Jesus, Muhammad, the Romans, Sultans, Abraham, and many more. 

-Miles Hoaken

WHAAAAAT a great time!

Time Travellers

Saturday was, for most, the longest flight of their lives. The morning sunrise greeted us from the plane as we descended through the clouds for our first glimpse of the Holy Land as a group. After a cheerful welcome from Jeremy, our tour educator, we headed to Jerusalem. From the Goldman promenade, our opening "shehecheyanu" was accompanied by the sights of new and old Jerusalem and the sounds of the Muslim call to prayer. We were already singing with the land!

We got back on our mini bus to explore the Old City and most importantly, have our first, authentic falafel lunch. Toronto's Israeli food will never compare!

We climbed the stairs to a rooftop at the center of the four quarters. The domes we had gazed from afar were now just before us. Christianity, Judaism and Islam represented by golden, black, grey and white domes. Only in Jerusalem!

From here we explored the Christian story. While not our own, realizing that visiting the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is the spiritual goal of millions of faithful made our visit very interesting. A favorite moment was descending to the cistern below the Coptic Church for a musical, echo delight. We heard our own voices reverberate again and again off the walls of this ancient site.

As jet lag set in, we spent time in a park playing games and having fun, lead by our shin shinit, Yuval. We had a blast! As the sun set on this very long day, some of us are already asleep and the rest not far behind. What a great first day!

Welcome to the 2015 Temple Sinai Teen Israel Trip Blog

Countdown to Israel:  12 days!

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