Class of 2011 signing off from Israel...

At Ben Gurion Airport

See you all soon!

May 15th, 2011

Today we woke up at 7:00 AM and took taxis to Yad Vashem, the Holocaust memorial museum. It was so powerful. There was so much information that if we read everything, it would have taken us over a day!!! There were many videos of Holocaust survivors playing everywhere. It was designed extremely well. We then visited Herzl’s grave on Har Herzl. Before we left, we took a walk around Har Herzl visiting the graves of soldiers that died during Israel’s many wars. Asaf (our tour guide) told us many stories about how the different soldiers lived and died heroically. One of the graves that we visited was that of Michal Levin, an American who made Aliya, joined the Israeli army, and died in the second Lebanon war. We finished up there and then took taxis back to our hotel where we ate dinner. After dinner we watched a movie about Michal Levin and his life which was quite fascinating and moving. Finally, we took our last walk down Ben-Yehudah Street. We all got t-shirts, belts, jewelry, and so much more. Overall, we had a very productive day filled with learning and laughs.
- Ariel

We will miss you Jerusalem!! We will miss you Israel!! Thank you Rabbi Potok for being such an awes person this whole trip!!! GREEN.
With love,
The 2011 OHDS 8th Grade (Ariel, Sofia, Shira, Orli, Miriam)

Yad Vashem, Har Herzl, and the Knesset

Touring Yerushalayim

A view from Har Hatzofim


Sifting through remains from the Temple Mount






Stopping by the Gilad Shalit tent




Strolling through Macheneh Yehuda

May 12

Thursday we woke up around 6:45, davened, ate a yummy breakfast and headed to Haas Promenade, an overlook of the holy city of Jerusalem. We then took a stroll; A long, long, long stroll to the Old City where we went to a roof top to see the awesome view of the Old City. From there we went to the City of David and Hezekiah’s Tunnel. Some were hesitant at first to go in to the water tunnel and would have rather gone into the dry tunnel but in the end we were so happy to be waste deep in freezing cold water. What an experience! After that we took a walk to the Jewish Quarter where we had a scavenger hunt. We then saw the cool, amazing, outstanding, breathtaking Wall! That’s right, the Kotel!! For the first timers, it was amazing and beyond what was expected. For the old timers, it was still beyond cool. After that, Asaf (our counselor) took us into a “not open to the public” archeological dig where we learned so much about the first and second temple. After our tiring day of walking, we took a monit (taxi) back to our hotel for some R and R.
- Sophia, Miriam, and Ariel

The City of David and the Old City

Dead Sea and Ein Gedi

From there we went to float in the awes Dead Sea where we covered ourselves in the mineralisious mud and salt.




After a quick dip in the Dead Sea, we drove for about five minutes to Ein Gedi. At Ein Gedi we took a short hike to a spring/waterfall and swam in the water like fish in the deep blue sea. The waterfall was really pretty.



Then we finally changed in to dry cloths and had a yummy in my tummy lunch. After lunch, we went to visit a Kibbutz in Ein Gedi and got a tour of all the landscaping from Sofia’s cousin.






Before we headed to Jerusalem we stopped at a Ethiopian woman’s house to hear her story of coming to Israel through the Sudan. It was a fascinating story.


Then we arrived in Jerusalem! We checked in to our hotel, finally took showers, went out to dinner on Ben Yehuda street, and ate ICE CREAM. A LOT OF ICE CREAM. GOODNIGHT NOW :D. -Sofia and Miriam

Camping out in the Negev

Today we got dropped off in the desert. The car drove away and left us there to be eaten by hyenas. We became one with nature. We were surrounded by miles upon miles of beautiful land. After settling into the campsite we began to prepare our own dinner, which happened to be one of the best dinners we’ve had to so far! We played many teambuilding games that really helped us bond and become more of a wholesome class(lolz).















After our awesome dinner and games, we gathered firewood and made a campfire where we told scary stories, ate yummy roasted marshmallows, and just sat and listened to the nature around us. We then fell asleep in the beautiful desert under thousands of stars. Some of us were lucky enough to see shooting stars :D.





We were woken up at 4:00 AM! AM! Then we rolled up our sleeping bags, and we left on our morning hike to see morning sunrise. It was unreal and outstanding! We got to a beautiful site where we each found our own hilltop and had a moment alone with nature. We hiked back and got picked up by our van again to go to breakfast.

Riding Camels