Tomorrow morning, I move onto Boston to visit with some college roommates before returning home to Portland. Today I took the light rail up to Mount Hertzl where the National Cemetery and Yad Vashem are located. I choose not to go to Yad Vashem, the holocaust museum, because I have been there two times. I… Read More Last Day in Jerusalem

I have now been in my Airbnb for two days. The Melton tour people put up a website with additional pictures. I would like to include some of them in the blog. On my first day on my own, I was too tired to do much of anything. I just took the light rail up… Read More On my own in Jerusalem

Our first activity of the day was helping a farmer who produces lettuce. On the bus farm, our guide explain more about what is happening in Israel today. Recent survey has Bennett most popular. He recently served as Prime Minister, but lasted only a year. He is national religious right but more rational. At one… Read More Last day with Melton Solidarity Tour

I slept in till 9:30 this morning. I have been having trouble sleeping and last night I slept like a baby. I am now ready for a whole set of new adventures. I chose not to go to services this morning. I am enjoying a quiet time by myself. Yesterday, I didn’t explain why the… Read More Shabbat in Israel

After breakfast we headed to Moshav Gamzu to help with their grape vines. The Moshav is between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. On the way, we drove through East Jerusalem and the West Bank. After 1967, Israel significantly increased the size of the city limits of Jerusalem. The Palestinians in this new boundary were given permanent… Read More Day 3 in Israel

There are a few details that I left out of yesterday‘s post. One is that a number of the speakers were very clear that Israel will invade Lebanon this summer. They also reported that there’s been an update on the number of deaths in Gaza. There are many more Hamas deaths in the count. Maybe… Read More Day 2 – Israel

I am currently in a bus driving back to Tel Aviv. It is almost 9 o’clock at night. It has been an exhausting and emotional day. I’m going to try very hard to tell you what I have seen and heard. I’m going to put up a lot of pictures and I am going to… Read More First complete day in Israel.

Arrived in Israel around 3pm local time. Immediately visible were signs about the hostages. Upon arriving at the hotel in Jaffa, I got to listen to two speakers. One was a journalist for Ha’aretz, and the other was a captain in an intelligence unit who was in charge of interrogating Hamas captives and other residents… Read More In Israel

Today’s adventure was a trip to Worms to see the Jewish quarter. It is just an hour ride from Frankfurt. Worms had a flourishing Jewish community between the 11th and 13th centuries and was a center of Jewish scholarship. Located in the Jewish quarter is the synagogue, the yeshiva, a Mikveh and a community house.… Read More Worms