In June I led an Etz Chaim family trip to Israel. Three families and I left on June 9th for an adventure of a lifetime. Everyone, except me, was a first timer. We toured the country from north to south, east to west. It was my 12th time in Israel and was amazed at how many new things I did from visiting an army base on the Lebanon border and speaking individually with the soldiers and then planting a kiwi tree right on the border to wine tasting at a pomegranate winery outside Sefat to repelling in the Ramon crater to climbing Masada at sunrise. We walked through tunnels, crawled through caves, rode jeeps, made colored sand art in bottles from naturally colored sand, rode camels, floated in the Dead Sea, swam in the pools of Ein Gedi, had lunch in the home of a Moroccan family and many other amazing adventures.

We spent time in all of the places with which Etz Chaim has a strong connection. On the first Friday morning we went to Or Hadash, the Reform community in Haifa. Not only did Rabbi Nof speak to us and give us a tour which included their bomb shelter, but we then had the enjoyment of watching him lead the gan (preschool) in their Kabbalat Shabbat experience, using his guitar and puppets. We loved watching the kids sing and dance and most of us sang along with many of the songs. That evening we went to Kehilat Ra’anan, our sister congregation in Ranana. We went to Kabbalat Shabbat services and then each family went to the home of one of their families for dinner and conversation. I went to the home of Judy Katzin and David Kaplan, both of whom grew up at Etz Chaim and both sets of parents were founding members of Etz Chaim. Judy and David are founding members of Kehilat Ra’anan. Three of their children came home for Shabbat dinner so it was wonderful to reconnect with them. Both of the boys had their girlfriends there so I felt like I was able to continue a longtime relationship with the family. The Lucanskys went to Rabbi Kohlberg’s home which was wonderful for them since she was going to be the Rabbi for Lian’s bat mitzvah the following week.

Our first night we had a bar-b-que on a beach in Haifa and were joined by Sara Paparin, Marilyn Streit’s daughter, her husband Tal and their two children. I had not met Oz, the baby, before but I had a grand time playing with him and his big sister almost three year old Dasi. Bobbye and Gershom Lichtenberg, former Etz Chaim family, also joined us that evening. The next night Bernie Lucansky and I walked to their apartment from our hotel and had dinner at a cute little schwarma stand down the street. What a walk! It took about 30 minutes walking down a very steep mountain. We opted to take a taxi home at the end of the evening! It was so nice to see them in their new surroundings. They love living in Israel and it was nice seeing them so happy.

While in Jerusalem we spent a morning at Yad L’Kashish and everyone now realizes why Etz Chaim has such a fondness for their program. We all did lots of shopping and also brought back items for the new Holocaust museum to sell in their gift shop.

One of the highlights of the trip for me was Lian’s bat mitzvah on the roof top of our hotel, overlooking the whole city. It was a beautiful service on a beautiful day in a beautiful city. There were many other special events and the families will share their memories at Shabbat services on August 28th. I hope you will come to hear about the trip. There is a bulletin board in the hall with some of the pictures I took during the trip.