Day 6 - Shabbat

Day 6:


The rain was coming down relentlessly from friday evening, however we were determined to get to the kotel for friday night. We were told to wear all of the warm cloths that we had. We ran straight off the bus in the rain to the yeshiva which overlooked the kotel. Rabbi Shaw said it was the best positioned shul in the world, overlooking the western wall. We started to pray but it was very boring and people were falling asleep. However, it was livened up when Rabbi Shaw said "get rid of all the chairs, let's start dancing!". The atmosphere changed and it started to feel like a party. After a long time singing and dancing, we were told that we were going to eat upstairs in a room which also overlooked the kotel. The food was amazing. The ruach in the room was unbelievable and hard to replicate.
 Avi Friedman led us in the group chanting and Adebayor was in our hearts. What we didn't know was that we were having our sikkum in the yeshiva - with the rain still pouring down, emotions were running high, as we discussed what we learnt over the last 5 days. Suddenly, an unbelievable miracle happened. During the worst storm that Israel has had in 2 and a half years, God gave us 20 minutes of clear, starry sky to allow us to go outside and speak our hearts out at the empty kotel. With no one else there, it was completely silent and the relationship between us grew stronger. We were all eager for our chance to talk to God and we had never felt closer to Judaism. To be able to have our own private time at the kotel on a friday night was incredible.


As we started to walk home, the rain came back and we were getting soaked. No one really cared though, because we had so many emotions going through our minds. We had deep chats in our group about the emotions that we were feeling and the conversations will be kept for years to come. The streets of jerusalem were empty as we slowly made our way back to the Hotel. Rain turned to hail but that didn't stop us!!


On Shabbat morning we had a long lie-in and shul was delayed. Either way, the first 3 boys into shul were radlett boys- doing us proud!! Jonny Midgen and Aaron Conway shared 'Ein Kamocha' duties which borught much pride to everyone from Radlett!! The service was tuneful.


After a very funny lunch with lots of chillies making people cry and throw up, we had a very relaxing shabbat afternoon of rest. Then when it was time for havdalah, we all got back as a group and sat in a circle around Rabbi Shaw. He told us some inspiring stories about jewish people, their experiences and how they relate to our own lives. It was a beautiful wya to end an amazing shabbat singing together in a circle around the havdalah candle as one group.


It was a shabbat we will never forget!!


Jonathan Midgen & Eli Persky

Day 5 - Friday

Day  5:

We were off to visit some of the world’s most brave men and women -  The Israeli defence force.

We had brought chapsticks and blankets, for the long cold nights they spend protecting every individual men and women of Israel. It really makes you feel incredibly protected and safe; you can live every day being happy because of them. When we handed the brave soldiers their gifts, they were entirely grateful that we were giving something back to them.  We had a scrumptious dinner containing schintzel and burgers which we enjoyed thoroughly. We took a brisk walk to Machne Yehudah where there are markets to buy the essential. We spent approximately 90 minutes pondering over the items in the market such as Brazil nuts and Rav Nachman kippot.

Furthermore Joseph got defacatated on by an Israeli Bird (pigeon) and the Radlett boys played a game to try and find the most unusual object in the market. Boaz got a fish head, Eli got a price sign and Grossman got a chicken’s derrière.

Many people tried to buy things from market stores and tried to haggle the price down consequently the market people spat at us. A fair few people bought Israeli trousers and bought some cheap food to eat. Israelis used imperative to draw forward possible buyers and therefore many tribe youths bought market objects. Having arrived to the hotel we became elated about the prospect of spending a Shabbat in Israel so we were given an hour to prepare for debatably the best Shabbat of our lives.

By Alex and Georgia 

DAY 3 & 4

Day 3:

Day 3 was by far the most emotionally and spiritually challenging day of the trip so far. We awoke to a beautiful day with the Israeli sun glinting off the white stoned buildings, this was stark contrast to the day which lay ahead. All groups boarded the bus together and we started the short drive to Yad Vashem. Upon arriving the group fell silent and we prepared ourselves emotionally for the day ahead. The setting was serene, the architecture and sculptures of the complex were truly astounding and we began the day with an essay in memory of the children who perished in the holocaust. Rabbi Shaw illustrated excellently the stories and meanings behind each piece of sculptured history bringing some chanichim to tears.

We then entered our first memorial of the day. This was the minimalistic and powerful Children’s Memorial. Upon entering inside we found six slowly burning candles reflected carefully and meticulously reflected to provide an endless sea of lights. Each light told a different story, a journey through the toughest time a child could imagine, this along with the monotonous voices of one man and one female reading the names of children, ages, and place of death. The most striking element was the unfinished names, the Shlomos, Avis and Chaims each with their stories never finished and their lives never fully documented.  To hear all the names documented you would have to stay in the room for a year and a half.

Then came the Garden of the Righteous, where trees were planted to commemorate the actions and endeavors of those non-Jews who preserved the lives of a race which was persecuted and victimised over a six year span. Amongst those who featured in the garden were the heroic saviours of Oskar and Emille Schindler who preserved the lives of ten thousand of our race. Rabbi Shaw then explained how each leaf in the Garden represents the lives saved by their actions.

After an emotional morning, we then met our tour guide and attempted to visualise the number 6 million. Trying to visualise 50 apples was difficult, and so we came to the realisation that six million as such an incomprehensible number and we must find one key to unlock the number, this may be a painting, feeling or a shoe. In doing this we can finally comprehend the atrocity that is ‘The Shoah’.

Entering the museum and seeing the concrete, triangular building was intimidating as the concrete was so impermeable which reflects the cold hearts of our oppressors. The triangle represents half of the Mogen Dovid which symbolises half of the European Jewry that perished during the holocaust. The guide led us through the highly emotional museum where we saw and heard many tragic stories. The thousands of shoes collected by the Nazis after their owners had been murdered reduced some of the group to tears and it made us all feel connected to the Holocaust.

In the afternoon we went to Beit Hayeled which is a home for underprivileged children. The boys spent a few hours playing competitive games of football while the girls painted t-shirts and shaved balloons. We all connected really well with the kids and had a great time.

Late in the evening we had our Sikkum. This was one of the most spiritual and emotional evenings of the trip. Staying up until 3 am with almost all of the group sobbing, we discussed Yad Vashem and the Holocaust for almost 3 hours. All of us bonded so well by opening up and becoming extremely vulnerable. We laughed, cried, hugged, sung, and then cried some more.

At the end of Sikkum we listened to a song called Shema Yisrael, a song about a Rabbi who travelled around all the orphanages in Europe after the holocaust to find Jewish children. To think that he dedicated his life towards bringing all of those Jewish children home made us realise the importance of every Jewish life.

By Lucy Freedman and Boaz Levy J

Day 4:
Boys:
First thing on the Thursday morning the boys awoke and put on their tefillin, had a breakfast and left to go to the Yeshiva Eretz Hatzvi, where our youth leader Joseph went a few years ago. We paired up with boys from the yeshiva who had similar backgrounds to those that we do. Mine was a HABS boy named Alex. We talked about the difficulties of conversion in Judaism.

Afterwards we all joined up to have a group discussion with a Rabbi named Rav Aviad and then had another debate with a Rabbi named Rabbi Noel, where we discussed the status of non-Jews in Judaism and whether or not they can go to heaven (they can!)

After leaving the Yeshiva we joined back up with the girls and drove to the old city of Jerusalem, where we walked in the pouring rain to the Jewish quarter. We then headed to to the Western Wall where Emily and I got blindfolded as it was our first time in Jerusalem. We walked down some steps to a balcony overlooking the Western Wall where they took our blindfolds off to reveal an amazing thing – our first ever view of the Kotel. It really was an amazing sight to behold.

Later on, we went to the Kotel tunnels, where we got shown a model reconstruction of Mount Moriah, which was eventually turned into the Temple Mount by King Herod. We entered the tunnels and started to descend under the houses of the Arab quarter. We then carried on through the tunnels to a video of how they made the Temple – the stones at the oldest part of the wall weighed over 100 tonnes. Once we got to the bottom of the stairs, we sat down opposite what is the closest place we can get to the holiest place in the Jewish world – the foundation stone. It was amazing to be so close to that place and we were all given a time slot to pray there. It got very emotional.

In Sikkum we talked about Jerusalem and how it had affected us. Although we were all tired as it was a late night and there was lots to take in, we got some really good open points across. It was an amazingly emotional thing for me as my first time in Jerusalem as I felt for the first time connected to my religion.


Day 4 - Girls:
On day 4, we all awoke in despair to see that the beautiful weather from the previous day had disappeared to leave us listening to the rain pour down outside our windows as we got dressed. The girls began their day, after sprinting through the downpour, at the sem where we we're told in the lobby that we were to be paired up with a girl studying there to discuss for an hour a topic of their choice. At first most of the girls were nervous as we had not had an experienced anything like this and had misconceptions on how the sem girls would act and teach. Surprisingly for us, the girls were not only friendly but extremely eager to share and discuss opinions with us. I thoroughly enjoyed learning with Nicole, the girl I was paired with, as we also spoke about ourselves and how we applied judaism to our lives which was appropriate for the topic she had chosen which was a extract from a book a rabbi had written about how we incorporate G-d into our every-day lives. Many of us left with emails and phone numbers of the girls we had spent this hour with, and there was a unanimous feeling among us that it had been an amazing experience.
Shortly after this everyone split up into communities and we arrived at the Kotel where we pelted through the rain into the Davidson Centre. A guide led us into a room and turned on a projector to reveal a 3D animation of the Old City of Jerusalem. We learnt a lot about the various excavations and other aspects of the architectural features that had been found as part of the Kotel, such as Robinson's Arch.   
Overall it was another emotional day full of exciting learning experiences and challenging situations where we had to, once again, lean on each other emotionally as a community and group which I feel really captured the essence of the trip so far. 

Day 1 & 2

DAY ONE:

Hi mums, dads, sisters, brothers and any random stalkers  :)

Welcome to the first day of the RADLETT ISRAEL TOUR BLOG!!!! Everyday we’ll be writing you guys an update of everything we’ve been doing in Jerusalem so you don’t worry about us too much.

So we all met up at Norrice Lea Shul and the 17 of us (including Dan and Zisie) then we waited for Joseph. And waited, and waited. He didn’t show up. In fact we had to wait a whole day until Team DJ joined up together again. So instead we had a group photo or two. Then we decided it would be a good idea to synchronise our cameras and then play some games. We tried Wa! but that was too mainstream so Dan introduced us to Suitcase Wa! and of course, that didn’t go to plan as well.

After a quick drive to the airport and we passed the security we were ready and waiting to fly. After about half an hour in to the flight my iPod ran out of battery so i started fiddling with the screen in front of me, and I discovered that we could watch some movies during the flight. Such a selection, The Devil Wears Prada, Up and The Blind Side were just some of the choices, in the end I went with Black Swan (sorry mum) and when that finished i was struck with the best idea yet, a video diary. So now once or twice a day I’ll be reviewing the highlights and funny moments of the day as well as asking the madrichim, chanichim or just any strangers about any thoughts on the day.

We than touched down in Israel which was greeted from applause by all chanichim and the odd madrich. Then after going through security and a small journey aboard the coach we stopped by a promenade which overlooked Jerusalem. We had a truly breathtaking view of the old and new city and we were welcomed to Israel officially. Then our stomachs were satisfied with late night pizza and drinks before heading to the hotel. After a quick orientation with our rooms we headed down to our ‘sikkum’ rooms for a debrief on the day. We discussed our favourite parts of the day and what we were looking forward to from the trip. We delved into our ’60 for 60’ books to read our first extract (It was read in memory of a yeshiva student who sadly passed away in a terrorist attack). We then had a look at all the photos from day one and then headed to bed for a long needed sleep .

DAY TWO:

After being promised a ‘sleep in’, we were woken at 6:45.... As you can imagine, we were absolutely thrilled. We head Joseph’s distinctive voice from the end of the hallway, telling us all to get up, and being so excited to see him, we all did.

When we joined the others downstairs, the boys were davening shacharit whilst the girls were having a ‘dmc’ (deep meaningful chat) with Aviva from Stanmore about the importance of trust within a relationship. We learnt a lot, and feeling stimulated we went to breakfast. Top notch. The croissants were divine, delicious enough for Joseph to steal 6 for the coach journey to Caesarea.

On the coach journey, after having all of 3 hours of sleep, it’s fair to say everyone had a shluf. When we all awoke we had arrived at our destination- S’dot team building activities. Although on paper this sounded quite dull and not dissimilar from things we had done in the past, it was not what we expected. We were given many challenges to face such as swinging like Tarzan across a muddy, wet puddle. Most of the group managed this beautifully, however there were a few special ones who fell in, making everyone, including Daniel Sher chuckle very much. Although a lot of fun, these activities proved to be quite different and involved thinking outside the box, however the bond of the group increased as teamwork was crucial in these activities, and we all got to know each other’s strengths and learnt to work as a unit. After these fun and challenging tasks, we were all blindfolded and taken to a room, where a candle lit Magen David sat in the middle of the circle in which we were told a beautiful and moving story about Israel and its history. It really made us appreciate how lucky we are not only to be on the trip, but to have Israel as the Jewish homeland.

Another coach journey, another shluf, but this time, the people awake were fortunate enough to experience many hilarious stories told by Joseph and Dan one of which included a ladybird and a humbug in a quest for love.

When we got off, we were surprised to find that we were at a beautiful beach situated in Caesarea. After the creative activities of the morning, we found many of the group members doing strange and creative pictures in the sand, which then sparked the idea to use our body parts to spell out the word TRIBE,(yep, that’s us) after failing RADLETT.

Then, we arrived at dialogue in the dark. The previously fun day took a slightly more serious tone to the day as we had an insight (without using sight) as to what it would be like to be blind. We were guided through various rooms and places, by a tour guide. All these places were very familiar to us such as supermarkets, bedrooms and it was surprisingly difficult to work out our surroundings. After an hour in the dark we got to meet out tour guide, who told us that she herself was visually impaired however if you want to do something, it shouldn’t matter what your disabilities are, you can achieve your dreams if you put your mind to it. She taught us that despite being at a disadvantage, there was a gift that she had a different outlook on life and showed us that we should be grateful for what we have. The majority of us found this experience deeply moving and were inspired by this concept. When we left the museum, we felt we had a different outlook on life, and appreciated our sight so much more.

Quick journey home, we had dinner (which was very yummy) in the hotel, followed by Sikkum where we discussed the day’s events and funny experiences. Then we read a passage from the 60 days for 60 years book, and discussed the meaning of it. We then moved over to watch day 2 summarised in pictures and videos which had us all on the floor laughing, especially at Daniel Sher who continually amused us in every single video that he had no idea was being recorded. Rabbi Shaw then gave us a brief talk about tomorrow’s events which will consist of visiting Yad Vashem, followed by volunteering in an absorption centre. Our blog tomorrow will tell you how it goes, but for now,
good night!
Love Tash Gman and Ariella Koorlander


Please note: The blogs are written by participants and therefore the views expressed are not necessarily those of Tribe's. 

Welcome to L2L Jerusalem Experience 2012 Blog!

Hello and welcome to the Learn2Lead Jerusalem Experience 2012 blog!

In a few days time your children and their leaders will be embarking upon a fantastic journey of self-discovery centred around the holy city of Jerusalem. Each day, one or two of the participants will blog about our experiences and emotions of they day so you can all keep up-to-date with the group. Don't be worried if you don't receive a blog every single day, if we have a particularly late night we will blog twice the next day to make up for it. Feel free to forward onto family and friends.

I'm really looking forward to seeing you all at 9:30am, Hampstead Garden Suburb Synagogue on Monday morning.

Have a great weekend, 

Ronen