Checked In!

I left Adalia's at 8 a.m. this morning for the King Solomon Hotel.  Altho check-in for my group was not until 2 pm, my room was ready and I was able to check-in right away and unpack!

I was greeted with a lovely welcome bag from the GEM AISH team filled with candy, notepad, books, and maps. 

The King Solomon is in a great location, across the street from Yemin Moshe, to the right is Liberty Bell Park, and to the left is the YMCA and the King David Hotel. 

If you walk a little further, you come to the new Mamilla Mall, which is a walk-thru magnificent pathway of shops, cafes, and art that lead right to the Jaffa Gate!

From the Jaffa Gate I was able to walk leisurely through the familiar stone paths past the Cardo, the Hurva Synagogue which has been completely and beautifully restored and rebuilt, the Rova, the Old Quarter Cafe, the Moriah Book Shop and to the AISH Center where I took a free "Essentials" class on Torah and Science.  Then I made my first visit to the Kotel.  It was bustling today, Monday, since this is one of the three days that we read Torah.  There were many Bar Mitzvahs being celebrated on the men's side, and women were camped out on their side with babies and strollers and children, talking, praying, and standing on chairs peeking over into the men's side.  My first prayers today were for my father and my three daughters.  

I walked back through Mamilla for my first delicious latte in an outdoor cafe enjoying a view of the walled city and the warmth of the sun, and then back to my room to get ready to meet our group for the first time at 6 p.m.

Our group leader is Necha Golda Dubinsky.  This is her 11th time leading a GEM trip.  She and her husband live in the 'Rova' which is an old neighborhood around a beautiful plaza right in the Jewish Quarter by the Cardo and the Hurva Synagogue.  We have a small, intimate group.  Sara and Sara are from New York, Esther and Avigail are from Miami, and me.  We had a wonderful getting to know each other dinner at the Ticho House learning why we came on this trip, why study is important to us, what we hope to gain.  Each of us had a very interesting story.

After dinner we walked up Ben Yehuda and all the shops were bustling, down King George and back to our Hotel.  Tomorrow we have a very full and exciting day!

Traveling like a local...

From day one, Adalia suggested that I travel like a local this time.  So we checked the bus schedule and walked to the Central Bus Station.  Then I was on my own. I found bus #486 on platform 5 and left for Kibbutz Ein Gedi Spa at the Dead Sea.  (What a bargain, 63 shekels round trip!). (OK, so I had to stand for the first half-hour because the bus was packed, but all part of the fun.)  The road out of Jerusalem gave way to the beautiful stark Negev landscape filled with caves, and dotted with camels, palm trees, and views of the Dead Sea.

I arrived at Ein Gedi by11 a.m., and rented a towel and a locker.  First stop, sulphur pools for a ten minute dip.  Then a tractor pulls a train to the Dead Sea.  Very low key, comfy chairs, a little overcast, but  quite delightful. 

I don't know what they put in the rolls, but nothing tastes like the sandwiches in Israel with a slice of turkey, fresh red tomatoes, and the crispiest cucumbers.


The 4:30 bus arrived at 5:15 and by 7 we were back in Jerusalem.  I was supposed to meet Adalia at an evening class "somewhere by the Moriah bookstore up the steps and go right and go right and up more steps."  I went thru the Jaffa gate and since it has been a while, followed a boisterous, singing group of teens on their way to the kotel.  Then I was on my own to twist and turn thru alley ways (in the dark) and steps and mazes and ask people who said "yashar" and finally, like always here, arrived at the class.  A very young rabbi who grew up in San Diego was teaching it...Yoni Ha-Levi.  He said he was raised at University City Chabad.  He was so wise and personable.  I also saw the daughter and son of my friend Rhonda.  What joy she just have to know her children are together studying in Jerusalem!  I also got to see my first view of the kotel at night...

After class, Adalia and her roommate Verity and I walked to a wonderful sushi cafe where we met Jack Wachs, Verity's boyfriend.  Jack has an illustrious past and fabulous stories and is the son of Rabbi Wachs from Philadelphia.  Jack has a car so he drove us home the scenic route taking us through the streets of Mea Shearim with commentary where the sidewalks were still full and the shops were still open late into the night.


Now it is 1:30 a.m....way past my San Diego bedtime, but still too happy to sleep.  


Here is a wonderful quote to take to heart from one of Adalia's books....

"A long life is not good enough,

but a good life is long enough."

Arrived!

Through the clouds we descend, and then you see the Mediterranean coast  and you know you are  home again....

I took a Sheroot (a shared van) to Nachalot and met beautiful Adalia who opened her heart and her apartment to me.  She is studying with Shirat Devorah and lives with lovely young women with hearts of gold. 

Adalia has checked the egged bus schedule to Kibbutz Ein Gedi tomorrow and the Dead Sea   and a day of relaxation while she is in class. Then I will meet her in the Old City tomorrow evening for a class she attends.


And while walking I see that I am really home....

Reminisces and Readiness

I have been very calm about this trip to Israel til this moment.  This past year has been a year of reaffirming, rebuilding, and trusting.  My constant mantra has been "Adonai li v'lo ira: G-d is with me I shall not fear."  

The last time I was in Israel was during the Intifada when no one was visiting and I joined a small group from Silicon Valley in support.  The little shop owner on Ben Yehuda Street read my palms and noted that they did not match.

My first trip was a federation mission after Nadine was born.  Then an educational trip for Hebrew school teachers.  In 1993 I volunteered with Sar-El.  And the best---in 1992 the San Jose community received a grant for a teen community mission that would begin in Poland and include a 6 week hi adventure and educational trip throughout Israel and I was asked to lead it.  I can still remember rappelling down Negev cliffs, drinking tea with Bedouins, rafting down the Jordan, hiking near Eilat, and especially standing hand-in-hand at sunset at the edge of the Mediterranean singing "Eli Eli" (Oh Lord, my G-d, I pray that these things never end, the sand and the sea, the rush of the waters, the crash of the heavens, the prayer of the heart).  

So this is trip # 6.  A GEM trip for women sponsored by Aish Ha Torah. In 1982 while working at the JCC in Bensalem, Pa., two young men stopped in the office and gave me a pamphlet called "The Forty Eight Ways."  Now I am coming full circle by participating on this wonderful learning experience.   

www.aish.com

Now I have landed in Atlanta....next stop Tel Aviv.

Thank you Apple Geniuses!

Thank you to my friends at APPLE for working it out so I can TAKE my computer to Israel!!!!!   I cannot tell you how much I enjoy my trainers and all the geniuses at the Fashion Valley Apple Store!  They are always smiling...and why not?  They get to play with all the Apple products all day.  Here is my best news...when I arrive home, my upgrade is due for Verizon...so I can trade in my blackberry for one of the two things I covet:  an iphone  (the other is an ipad). They will repair my computer when I return (7 day turnaround) so I can blog, facebook, etc to my heart's content on my trip!

SAMECH

The SAMECH is the hebrew letter connoting the value of 60.

Here are some more meanings:

This year we celebrate 60 days of Adar, 60 days of happiness.

And to end my 60th year, I have manifested my dream, my yearning, my longing, and on Friday I will travel to Jerusalem for the 6th time, and enjoy a study and learning experience from www.aish.com/gem 

This year in Jerusalem....

Regrets + Disappointments

Here is a wonderful insight I heard....


A regret is something you did that you wish you hadn't
            or something you didn't do that you wish you had...


A disappointment is something you did that just didn't turn out exactly the way you may have planned.

Fortunately, I have many more disappointments than regrets, and actually not that many disappointments after all....