2023: Trip to Israel Highlights

Our congregational trip to Israel has come to a close and it was truly the trip of a lifetime! Our extraordinary multigenerational group included Isaians from all ages and stages: families with young children, Empty Nesters, grandparents, plus a group of twelve teens whose presence on the trip was heavily subsidized by the Joan & Ephraim Sales z”l Education Fund. Our ten day trip took us to Greater Tel Aviv, Caesarea, Ha’Goshrim in the Upper Galilee, Golan Heights, Tzfat, Jerusalem, Masada and the Dead Sea.

Guided by a fantastic educator named Muki Jankelowitz, we packed a whole lot of learning, meaning and fun into ten short days. We met incredible speakers including Dan Feferman on “Israel at 75” and Orly Erez-Likhovski of IRAC – Israel Religious Action Center. We toured the Ayalon Institute, a secret underground bullet factory for resistance fighters built beneath an unsuspecting laundromat. We snorkeled in the waters just off Caesarea above the ruins of an ancient Roman harbor.

From visiting the new ANU museum on Jewish peoplehood to the haunting, impactful Yad Vashem, to jeep rides through the Golan Heights to visiting an animal sanctuary for disabled creatures great and small, to swimming in the Mediterranean, praying with the Reform congregation Beit Daniel at their Pride Shabbat, floating in the Dead Sea, celebrating Rabbi Jaclyn and Josh’s ten year vow renewal and too many delicious meals to count, our trip was one for the books. But even amidst all the itinerary details, the most important and impactful part was being together, one Isaiah community, in our beautiful, dynamic homeland.