5/12/12
The courtyard of our hotel in Haifa is filled with the
sounds of happy children! We’ve just completed Havdallah in the presence of
many guests including Paulina and Lior, two of ORT students, and their teacher,
Tammy! We were in the middle of a deep philosophical discussion (really!) when
they arrived. Let’s just say that the reunion proved to be more compelling.
There were shouts and lots of hugging. It’s a miracle that no one got knocked
over!
Our Shabbat experience was truly memorable. Everyone took
Mr. Kudlat’s challenge seriously: To make the most of our first Shabbat in
Israel. We focused on three different aspects of Shabbat: oneg, kedusha, and menucha.
Oneg: Oneg means “joy” as in “oneg Shabbat.” Well last night
we were welcomed to Ohel Avraham, a Reform synagogue connected to the Leo Baeck
school in Haifa. Many students reported that it was the most spirited Shabbat
they’ve ever experienced. What they don’t know is that this has as much to do
with them (their engagement, enthusiasm, and willingness to participate) as it
had to do with being in Israel. The service had lots of music, including
guitar, and some special moments including some of our students going to the bimah to light Shabbat candles, as well
as the rabbi publicly thanking us for being there. Lastly, the bar mitzvah boy
invited all 75 of us to his service on Saturday morning! Unfortunately we were
unable to attend but wished him and his family “mazal tov!” After the service
we stayed for the oneg.
But the oneg continued
from there. We returned to the most intensely lavish Shabbat dinner imaginable.
I’m pretty sure that every vegetable within a 5 mile radius of Haifa was
roasted, seasoned, and presented on platter. Imagine entire cloves of roasted
garlic, red and yellow peppers, eggplant, hummus, salad, spicy carrots, beets,
cabbage and so on… And this was just the appetizer. There was chicken, beef,
stew, soup, and at least 1,000 kinds of desserts.
After dinner we returned to the courtyard by our rooms and
sat on the “magical stairs.” The stairs are magical because they bring out the
spiritual side of our kids. Which brings me to kedusha.
Kedusha: Kedusha means holiness. There was plenty of this to
go around this Shabbat. Truth be told, while there was a different atmosphere
in Haifa, as well as Rosh HaNikra, most of the kedusha we experienced came from
within our students. We started the morning with an optional discussion based
on a plastic bag full of prompts such as: “What is one part of this trip you
wish you could’ve experienced with your parents?” “What is there too much of in
Israel? What is there not enough of?” “Having seen some of the places described
in the Torah, does this change your relationship to it?” and so on…
We also experienced Kedusha this afternoon at a beautiful
beach north of Haifa. At one point every kid was in the water at the same time—the
pristine Mediterranean Sea no less. We said the blessing for large bodies of
water and then everyone ended up singing our favorite two songs, “We Are Young”
and “Lean on Me.” Then there was lots of sun tanning and ice cream—also holy!
Menucha: Menucha means rest. We’ve been running up and down
the country all week and “rest” is an essential part of the equation for a
successful trip. We let the kids go to be early last night and also encouraged
them to sleep in a bit. This afternoon, we returned from the beach and had an
hour or so to just chill out. Then, before dinner, the entire grade gathered
for another optional discussion using the same questions referenced earlier
(they love to share their feelings!). One of the questions invited students to
share a spiritual moment from the trip. It took about 45 minutes for this one
as more than 75% of the kids wanted a chance to share and Rabbi Micah didn’t
have the heart to cut them off—thus we were late for dinner (aka Israeli
standard time).
Tomorrow we’re off to Tzfat, rafting down the Jordan, and up
to Mt. Bental to visit a very moving site. We’ll end up at a kibbutz by the
Kinneret. “See” you then! In the meantime, Shavua Tov!!
