A day to give back, remember, and watch

We'll start off with a reflective posting on Sunday's tour of Jerusalem's Old City by our own Max Liebersohn, followed by an update from Yona:

Coming from Philadelphia, the connotations I couldn’t help associate with the term Old City were of the Old City I knew, with its red cobblestones and colonial-era buildings. I knew that the Old City in Jerusalem would be different, of course—old in Jerusalem goes much farther than America or many other countries, to say but the most obvious disparity. However, the limestone underfoot provided familiarity for me. I was surprised by the enclosed quality of the city; one may find spots in Philadelphia’s Old City where one feels surrounded by the past, but in Jerusalem walls surround you on every side, and one might see it as a single structure; but it’s hard to say where this structure ends, as private residences certainly exist but the preponderance of limestone connects them all. At times it felt like a wonderful maze.

Yet I thought the city seemed somewhat stuffy. I sought a truly open area and could only look to the sky. Maybe it was being part of a tour group; maybe it’s indicative of differences between the American and Israeli perception of space.
--Max Liebersohn


Today's update is posted by Yona Gorelick, Engagement Associate and Taglit Staff Extraordinaire:

Monday

We slept in this morning: wake-up wasn't until 8 a.m.!

We did a tzedek project, packaging food at Hazon Yeshaya. The organization is, I think, the largest distributor of food to the needy in Israel. It's got a $14 million annual budget, 96% of which comes from private donors. In addition to serving hot meals and distributing food staples for people to use on their own, Hazon Yeshaya runs a free dental clinic for individuals living below the poverty line and offers job training in multiple fields. They have a 90% success rate getting graduates of their job training programs off of welfare.

We prepared packages containing oil, sugar, canned goods, and other essential items. We formed an impressive assembly line and bucket brigade of sorts, transporting bags from the assembly station all the way into another building. We worked at a record pace, more than filling two crates the size of small cars with the bags of food. All the while, members of Bus 830 sang ("Sweet Caroline" and "Men in Tights" were especially popular-or maybe they're just the two tunes that are still mercilessly lodged in my brain!) and joked around. Several students remarked upon how good they felt about the invaluable service they had performed. It was wonderful to have an opportunity to give back while we're enjoying the incredible gift of a Taglit-Birthright Israel: Hillel trip.

Upon leaving Hazon Yeshaya, we made our way to Yad Vashem, Israel's Holocaust memorial museum. Our guide was exceptional. English was his 4th language, and he introduced our group to both personal stories and universal, almost unanswerable questions. Students had the opportunity throughout our time at the museum to share personal connections they had to the material we encountered.

Back at the hotel, we had a delicious dinner & a few minutes to rest before our evening program. We visited Ma'ale, a Jewish film school in Jerusalem. A young filmmaker introduced three short films to us (including what he called the first Israeli Western, which he had directed), and we got a close glimpse of various aspects of life in Israel through the camera lenses and the group conversations we had after each film.

Tomorrow morning we're heading south, visiting Masada & the Dead Sea, and spending tomorrow night out in the desert! The group energy is high and we are squeezing every bit out of our time here in Israel.

We have decorated the bus with colorful, handmade Hebrew-word-of-the-day posters, erasable marker creations on the windows, tiny Israeli flags and some tinsel from the U.S. Our count-offs are getting faster and more enthusiastic, and we've added a seven-word sentence to make sure our new Israeli group members are present: "Kvutzat Taglit Shmona-M'ot Shloshim Hi Sababa Tutim!!" The sentence more or less translates to "Taglit group 830 is cool strawberries!" We're encountering new things every day.

Signing off for now!