After a false start, our 40 students took off from Newark to beautiful Tel Aviv, Israel. We wasted no time in engaging with the country, starting off with the Mount Barkan lookout, which offers stunning views of Jordanian and Israeli countryside. Continuing our drive north, we went to Lake Kineret, the largest freshwater lake in…

Shalom shalom!!!We are having an incredible time in this land of milk and honey. The Israeli soldiers finally joined our trip!! We are ecstatic to have them with us.  Below you can see some olive oil tasting! Sindianat HaGalil is a unique non-profit organization led by Arab and Jewish women working to create social change…

Our first full day together was a blast! We began the morning with a drive to Tel Dan. When we arrived we had a conversation about Jewish collective memory, and learned a bit about the history of Tel Dan. We visited Tel Facher and learned about the 1967 war and the heroic Israelis who gave…

Shalom! We’re now in day 2 of our trip and having an INCREDIBLE time exploring the beautiful Jewish homeland.  We landed bright and early yesterday morning and met up with our tour guide, Adam, and our 6 Israeli participants. We got to know each other a bit, and kicked off our trip with a visit…

Shalom parents and friends of TL-48-20!! We have landed in beautiful Israel and have hit the ground running!Here are some photos from today’s tour of Zichron Yaakov, an original village founded by Jewish immigrants in the 1880’s.  Will send more as we continue on 🙂—Romi & Ethan

We had an on time arrival to Ben Gurin Airport, where we were greeted by our friendly and welcoming Birthright staff and introduced to our amazing tour guide and bus driver. We took a ride up to Zichron Yaakov to see one of the early Jewish settlements in Israel. Then we went to our hotel…

Things are going really well and the bus is having an amazing time. We started off in Jerusalem and shared both Shavuot and Shabbat together. The group shared some personal stories, what Shabbat meant to them, and their hopes/expectations for the trip. All the boys on the trip spent time with the Rabbi at the…

We started off the day with a view of the border with Lebanon. We then went to the Jordan River where we took an exhilarating ride on rafts with our friends. We ate lunch at a mall, getting to shop and see some sights. Then we went on a beautiful hike alongside a mountain in…

Shavua Tov from Israel’s north! Birthright so far has been an amazing adventure. After arriving early on Thursday morning, we met our tour guide, Oren, and boarded our bus and headed to Caesarea where we toured the ruins of this ancient seaport. From there we headed to Zichron Yakov for lunch and finally to our…

Today was an incredible and jam-packed day, and I’m not just saying that because it was my birthday!  We started out waking up earlier than we did yesterday, and took a beautiful bus ride to the Golan Heights for our Jeep tour!  The terrain ended up being a lot more rough than I expected but…