My (first) Trip To Israel

In June of 2009 I took a 2 week trip to Israel with my father and his synagogue. This trip was a great spiritual journey, as well as one of the biggest social highlights I have ever experienced. Israel has a variety of cultural, religious, historical and architectural delights, and we were fortunate to see a good many of them on our visit. Anyone who has been to the Holy Land will always have a link to the people, culture, history and the land, and I am no exception. Although we took over 1,000 pictures, I have managed to post a few of my favorites here. This page by no means covers our whole trip, and is somewhat out of order for convenience sake, and represents only the highlights of those two weeks. I hope you enjoy them.

Our trip started in Jerusalem, The holiest city in Judaism, and a significant spiritual center for Christians and Muslims as well. Jerusalem is home to several important religious sites, including the Western Wall, Al Aqsa Mosque, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and Dome of the Rock. An estimated 2 million visitors come to the city each year. It is a great cultural mix of east and west, and as we found, 4 days was not enough to even scratch the surface of experiences.

Jerusalem is one of the oldest cities in the world, and has been important to almost every major religion in the world. The city itself spans almost 4000 years, but the "Old City" dates back primarily to 2 important eras - the buildings of Herod, and the Crusader fortifications. Although we were not able to visit the Dome of the Rock, we walked the Via Dolorosa, and experienced Shabbat and reading Torah at the Western Wall.

We were fortunate enough to spend Shabbat in Jerusalem, as well as hold our own service at the Southwest corner of the Wall. Participating in reading Torah at the wall was one of the spiritual highlights of my life. It was almost unimaginable to realize that generations and generations ago, my ancestors built the Temple, and that no one in my family until my father and I had been able to return. Additionally, we were able to take a tour of the excavations of the Wall, touching the very corner stone foundation from Herod's building efforts.

We spent several days in the Jerusalsm area seeing religious, architectural and historical sites. Among the places we visited was the "security wall" dividing the West Bank, and the battle sights of Ammunition Hill and the Yom Kippur war in the Golan Heights. We also had a chance to walk Jerusalem and see some of the modern city. We also visited the Palmach Museum, which is dedicated to the legendary special force that helped Israel become a Nation...one of our friends was amazingly fortunate enough to find a picture of his uncle from the time of the Israeli War for Independence.

One of the areas we visited was the Dead Sea area, along with a trip to the Herodean mesa palace of Massada, where we had a chance to read the book of Isiah in the same room where the Dead Sea Scrolls for that very book were found! We also had a chance to "swim" in the Dead Sea, and visit the biblical oasis of Ein Gedi

After spending time in the Jerusalem area, we headed towards the Sea of Gallilea where we visited the tomb of Rachel and the Golan Heights area. We stayed at one of the many Kibbutz' in the area, and toured some of the land fought over in the Yom Kipur war, as well as visiting the ancient Roman city of Beit She'an. We toured some of the Golan heights in off-road jeeps (watch out for the mine fields!) and spent one of the best days of the entire journey in the spiritual center of Safed, which has perfectly preserved examples of both Sephardic and Ashkenazic synagogues.

After the Golan Heights, we headed towards the Mediterranean, working our way down the coast from the Rosh Hanikra border with Labanon, to the Tel Aviv & Jaffa area. We were at Rosh Hanikra only 2 days after the fateful "prisoner exchange" of Israel soldiers with Hamas terrorists. Unfortunately, Israel exchanged several of the Hamas killers for two soldiers that had been killed by Hamas. The prisoners went from Israel to Lebanon, and the soldiers bodies were "returned" at this border point. Needless to say, this event was a national day of mourning, and effected us all - especially our guide Ilan, who had served in the same unit as the two killed soldiers. This event, more than anything, cemented in my mind Israel's position as a beacon of sanity in the middle east region. Despite the recent events in the Gaza Strip, Israel is the best hope for keeping this entire region peaceful in the long term. Coupled with an independent Palestinian state, these two factors remain the cornerstones of long term peace for the Holy Lands.

As we made our way down the coast, we went from Rosh Hanikra to the beautiful city of Haifa. This is truly a multicultural place, and is the world headquarters of the Ba'Hai religion. We also visited the Crusader city of Akko and saw the Herodean port city of Ceasarea, which are some of the best preserved ruins in that part of the world. We also stopped at the Shrine of the Book, where the Dead Sea scrolls are kept, and visited the Israel Holocost Museum - Yad Vashem (Hand of God) before spending time in Tel Aviv and the ancient city of Jaffa.

Going to Israel had an effect on me that I could not have imagined before the trip. Not only did I meet some incredible people (both within our group and in Israel) but I also formed a connection to a land that I know I will revisit. Not a day goes by that I don't find myself somewhere back in Israel - whether it is walking the top of Massada, sitting in the plaza by The Wall, walking through the numerous ruins or the streets of Tel Aviv, my heart is definitely in Israel. I hope you have enjoyed these pictures.

Copyright © EAK Adventures 2009