Bethlehem, The West Bank

Too exhausted to write now...will write in a few days but in the meantime wanted to post a few pictures from our most recent trip, only 15 minutes from Jerusalem, but into another world..


This is the wall- the separation barrier between Israel and the Palestinian Territories. It was quite high with graffiti all over it, in English and Arabic.

Our host family that we stayed with in their house, they were a lovely Palestinian Christian family and were very warm to us.


The border - I thought this picture was really telling of what goes on in Bethlehem; an Israeli army vehicle is patrolling the area, while a busload of tourists is coming in to the West Bank.

Hiking in Maktesh Ramon

Last weekend we went with a small group from HUC of about 10 students hiking in the Negev, in Maktesh Ramon which is a giant crater. It was awesome; it felt like what I imagine Mars to look like! We did 3 separate hikes, one of which was very steep. Evan was very proud of Jenny for getting to the top with no problems! We slept overnight outside, in sleeping bags, without a tent. We made a fire and had a great night roasting marshmellows and telling funny stories and singing. The only part that wasn't so fantastic was waking up at 4 am and feeling so cold- amazing how the desert can be so cold at night and so hot during the day. It was a great hike- and we hope the beginning of many more hikes during this year. On our way back, (we were in a car we rented with our friends Brad and Claire) and as we stopped to use the bathroom we saw a sign for a winery. Becoming oenophiles that we are, we called the number, spoke with a man who opened up the tiny winery on his kibbutz, Sde Boker for us. It was a great end to a wonderful weekend. We were eager, however, with our aching muscles to fall into sleep in our bed the next night!

HUC Tiyul to the Galilee/Golan

About two weeks ago we took our first tiyul (trip) with HUC which included about 70 people. There were 53 students, some 15 "signifcant others" (Jenny is in that category) and a few of the professors and scholars came with us. In 3 days we saw a lot of the northern parts of Israel. Some of the highlights included: staying at a hostel right on the Kinneret (also known as the Sea of Galilee) and taking a 6:30 am swim in it. We visited Metula, which is on the Israeli-Lebanon border. So crazy to be so close to where the war took place last year and to see Lebanon and the UN border patrols and their vehicles so up close. (see picture below from Metula). We met with a psychologist in Kiryat Shmona who talked about her work last summer with trauma victims, many of whom had very close encounters with the Katusha rockets that the Lebanese launched all over the north of Israel. We also visited Har Ben-Tal, which is a beautiful viewpoint and from it, we could see Lebanon and Syira. We've always known how small Israel is but it is crazy traveling around and seeing it first-hand.

On the lighter side, aside from security issues, the theme of the tiyul was the "New Jew," which included learning about the Jews that started coming to what was then Palestine around the 1880s who established the kibbutz movement. We visited Rosh Pina, the first modern settlement in the Galilee and established by a group of Jews from Romania in 1882, which is a very quaint little town now. We also traveled through the Golan Heights and visited the Kinneret Cemetery, which is one of the most beautiful cemeteries we've seen. Situated on the shores of the Kinneret, many people who helped establish the kibbutzim were buried there. Evan led a service there with two of his fellow students. We also had fun rafting in the Jordan River; 6 of us in rafts with two paddles. It was good fun and Jenny's rowing skills have certainly improved! We also visited Tel Dan and Tel Hai; Tel Dan has a lot of hiking trails along with important archaeological remains that we learned about with HUC scholars.

We have two more upcoming tiyullim later in this year.

So much to say and so many pictures

The past few weeks have been such a whirlwind. The Jewish holidays were really wonderful and very special- and so nice for Evan not having to work. A few highlights of our last few weeks to get you up to speed:

*Friends visiting. We've been so lucky to have so many friends visit with us over our first 3 months here. In September, Stephanie and Steven (Steph worked with Evan at Central), visited and stayed with us. Check us out below in our all-white gear for Yom Kippur. Steph and Steven are living in London so it was great comparing our experiences living and working abroad. Then Becca's parents were here- Abbe and David (see picture)- who now we consider not as Bec's parents but as our friends! We had so much fun with them at Rosh HaShana and Yom Kippur and more. We also had Michele and Ira here for a lovely evening on our mirpesset (balcony).

*Israeli friends - We reconnected with Aya and Elezar, our Israeli friends from Eisner Camp and the newest member of their family - their daughter Yarden who is 6 weeks old and so very cute. Elezar invited us to his parents succah in the Old City which was quite an experience. More about that in a bit. We also saw our Israeli friends from Kibbutz Yagur when they visited Jerusalem and they came to hang with us also on our mirpesset (it's the place to be!). In this picture you'll see Evan with Madene and Iftach (his host family) and Miriam and Mody (my host family) with our laundry hanging in the background!