Yuval's Post-trip Blog

I had the honor and the great opportunity to join the Temple Sinai mission to Israel as the shinshinit. For me, it was such a great opportunity that not every shinshin gets to have; join a group of kids which we've been throw this year together talking about Israel and escort their own personal experience of Israel made me very excited to go to the trip. 

The trip was absolutely amazing. I thought it was made well. The trip was interesting, enjoyable and so meaningful. Even for me, as an Israeli, the sights and the explanations were fascinating. I could really identify with the excitement of going to the kotel for the first time, riding a camel and the felling of Israel as home. I can really see the importance of sending kids to explore and get to know Israel. I understand how unique it is for Temple Sinai and I'm so appreciative for that and grateful to be a part of this place. The connections that were created on the trip were very valuable to me it was a real pleasure to get to know the kids deeply and to know that I was a part for their journey.

Thank you Temple Sinai for an amazing, meaningful, unforgettable experience!    

--

יובל ליפשיץ

Yuval Lifshitz

Our last day :(

This morning we started off with the usual breakfast, then headed to Holon to meet with a few doctors from the Save a Child's Heart organization. Afterwards, we headed over to the home where all the children stay the few months of their surgery. We played, talked and had a great time with the children and the volunteers. 

We drove down to Tel Aviv where we stopped at Rabin square. We learned about his assassination and also about the kind of leader he was. After Rabin square we headed over to the Karmel market for lunch and for some shopping time. We then went to the hall of independence and learned about how Tel Aviv became a city. After that we walked over to the beach and spoke about our time in Israel and how it affected us. We had some free time to take pictures and play frisbee. Then we headed back to Jerusalem.

-Jacob and Felix

Shabbat Shalom!

After a lunch spent in the aromatic and busy shuk, we hopped on the bus and drove to Modi'in.  The bus rides on this trip are always a mix of people sleeping and cracking jokes.  Once we reached our destination, the Yozma synagogue, we found out which Yozma teens' houses we would be staying at.  We then went to their houses to drop off our bags and have some down time with them before having to return to the synagogue for services.  Experiencing a service in a different country, with a different rabbi, and in a different language was certainly an interesting endeavour.  And although some of us tried to sing along to the songs, of which the lyrics we all know, the tunes were different, making the service one in which we relied mostly on our ears.   

After the service we had dinner at our respective houses.  During this time we got to know the people we were staying with better and we were exposed to a different culture.   I'm not sure about other people, but in the house that I stayed at we discussed politics, the differences in Canadian and Israeli culture, and of course, we played taki.  We all spent the rest of the evening  at Noam's house, one of the teens from Yozma.  We jumped on his trampoline, listened to music, ate food, and just talked.  It was a great way to get to know people, and I would say that we all made some great friends this week.  

-Simone 

Friday Morning

The weight of yad vashem is hard to describe; everyone experiences it differently. Some of us felt moved and motivated to do greatness while others felt grief. Me? Among other things, I was mainly hungry. After the countless images of starvation that our wonderful tour educator, Jeremy so vividly painted in our minds, I felt ashamed. Only when we walked out of the "memory of the jewish journey" (holocaust memorial museum) to go get lunch did I start hearing everyone admitting that they too were famished. The shwarma that I ate tasted better that lunch at the shuk (market) because it was then that I realized tasting a delicious shwarma as a Canadian tourist in the free land of Israel was what being a Jew at Temple Sinai was all about. What I'm trying to say if I'm saying anything is that after our final stop at the "museum" I didn't feel grief, sadness, Israeli pride, or hope, but the lesson or feeling that I most took away from this morning was that of gratefulness. 

-Gabe

All about Thursday

We woke up on this lovely Thursday morning, nice and early. After breakfast we hopped on the bus and headed to Genesis Land located in the hills of Judea. We briefly spoke to Eiliezer while awaiting our "taxis" who were taking us down to Abraham's tent. It turns out our taxis were Camels! So everyone got onto the camels in pairs and started our journey. Once we arrived at our destination, we were kindly welcomed into Abraham's tent. We were served dried fruits along with water, coffee and tea. Afterwards, we headed back up the mountain on the camels, and headed to our next destination, Masada! 

When we arrived at Masada we took the cable car up to the top, and made our way around the top of Masada to hear about it's history. Afterwards, we climbed back down! What an incredible experience!! We then had lunch, got back into the bus, and made our way to the Dead Sea! 

Once we got there and changed into our appropriate Dead Sea attire, we went down to the shore and covered everything with mud! From our toes to our hair, everyone got down and dirty in the beautiful and natural exfoliating mud. We took a bunch of photos along the way. We then went into the sea, and we were floating around, enjoying the company of our lovely Temple Sinai friends. After we had all dried off and cleaned ourselves up from the mud, we headed to Ben Yehuda street in Jerusalem. We are all looking forward to what the next few days will hold for us! 

-Sydney

Our Day in Pictures!

 Even camel is smiling!

 Off to see Abraham.

At the top of Masada. What really matters to each of us?

Say camel!

Judean hills, here we come!

Say G'vinah!

 We finally made it to the Canada Centre in Metulla for an amazing night of ball hockey and skating with an amazing and diverse community of Israel youth.

 On ice in Israel!!!!

 New friends! Common language=hockey!

 What would Moses do?

 9 Sinai teens + 9 Yozma teens = home-cooked meal in the forest of lentil soup and pita

 At the shores of the Kinneret

 The other team's meal. Who will be our next Top Chef?

Shwarma & Falafel. Yummmmmmmm!