Shalom from the North of Israel. Yesterday we left Tel Aviv having enjoyed a beautiful Shabbat there.  While in Tel Aviv, we were inspired by a sunset Kabbalat Shabbat Service overlooking the Mediterranean Sea on our own.  We then enjoyed a remarkable Shabbat Dinner.  Shabbat Morning began with a service at Bet Daniel Progressive Synagogue….then on to the famous Bahai Temple in Haifa.
 
Sunday, we stopped in Jaffa near Tel Aviv as we bid farewell to our first hotel.   We left Jaffa for the ruins of Caesarea, and then to the ancient fortress of Akko, as we traveled North.  We then ended yesterday in Rosh Hanikra–seeing the caves at the Sea and Lebanon Border.  Overnight last night and tonight in a Northern Kibbutz hotel, today’s itinerary had us in the Golan Heights for a Jeep ride and a float down the Jordan River  We were inspired by the synagogues of Joseph Caro (writer of the Shulchan Aruch), and a few mystics in the sacred town of Tsfat (some call Safed), and finally to an overlook where we saw Syria in the distance…but the near distance.  Israelis and we are worried for the  safety of the civilian population in Syria–and have no idea how to think about the horrible choices in Syria for the future.   Getting to know the topography of the land reinforces the understanding of just why the Golan is so important to Israel, and why it is so strategically suicidal to consider that Syria may someday, again, control this region overlooking many kibbutzim and Israelis down in the valley.
 
Tomorrow, we will see some wonderful sights on the way to our final hotel in Jerusaelm.  It is there that those first-timers on our trip will realize the haggadah’s ending, for “Next Year in Jerusalem” is tormorrow.  Can’t wait.
 
Faithfully,
Rabbi Sandford Kopnick

Shalom from Tel Aviv…

We all arrived safely on Thursday.  We ate well and walked along the Sea Shore outside of our hotel.  We are 16 Valley members and have welcomed our tour guide, Guy, and our Driver, Avi, to our mighty band.

As we gathered Friday Morning to an expansive breakfast of great Israeli foods, we prepared for our tour day which began at a munitions factory outside of Tel Aviv.  There, a secret bullet-making operation helped arm the Haganah as they fought the British for the establishment of the state of Israel.   We then learned about the Palmach at a newer museum.  Lunch was near Kikar Rabin (Rabin Square).   This was our first chance for falafel and schwarma (yahoo!), and we then learned from Guy’s perspective of the significant impact of Yitzchak Rabin’s assassination on this small country.

After a stop at an open air market, it was back to the hotel to prepare for Shabbat.  We will enjoy a service at the sea shore, where a few other Valley Temple members will join us (they are here for business), and then on to a festive meal in our Tel Aviv hotel.  Tomorrow, we will enjoy services at the Progressive Movement’s Bet Daniel, and then back on the bus to see Haifa.

We have a great group and are blessed to be welcoming our first Shabbat in Israel.  I hope you all will be with Carolan this evening for Tot Services at 6:00 or our Family Service at 7:30.

The group joins me in wishing you a heartfelt Shabbat Shalom from Tel Aviv
Faithfully,
Rabbi Sandford Kopnick