The Satell Travelers Blog - Live from Israel

Day 10                  Saturday, June 27, 2009

Theme: Defining Moments - Overcoming Challenges
locations: Masada; Dead Sea; Jerusalem
overnight: Prima Kings, Jerusalem [ get map ]

Sydney Shuster:

The second Shabbat morning discussion we held as a group was not a Torah portion discussion.  Because we were so close to the end of our trip, the group split into pairs to reflect on emotional developments and other feelings during the trip.  Through this collection and sharing of our memories and experiences, we grew closer to our partners and discovered more about ourselves.  For some, this trip was a fond return to a country they loved, and for others who had never been to the country before, it was a discovery of a new home and Zionism.  We were allowed a chance to look within and really examine our connections. The Fellows could piece together what we witnessed for a full picture of the country and our connection to it.

Brendan Bailes:

Khaled Abu Toameh is the West Bank and Gaza correspondent for the Jerusalem Post and U.S. News and World Report.  He previously served as a senior writer for the Jerusalem Report, and as a correspondent for Al-Fajr.  He began by explaining his identity as clearly as possible: he told us he was a Muslim Palestinian Israeli Arab.  He was born in the West Bank and he now lives as an Israeli citizen.

Robyn Freedman:

After Shabbat officially ended, we had an exciting late-night excursion.  The Kotel tunnels are the tunnels that run beneath the Western Wall and Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem. Our tour followed the western wall under homes in the Muslim Quarter as we walked down 2000 year old streets and passed just meters away from the Holy of Holys. In this tour, we also walked over glass that showed how far down the tunnels went and saw moving models that showed how the temple mount has changed over the past thousands of years. It ended in an enormous aqueduct found within a convent that the Romans built thousands of years ago.

The Service Learning and Leadership Institute, a division of the Jewish Community High School of Gratz College, is committed to educating and empowering Jewish high school students to become socially responsible leaders. Institute students translate Jewish values of education, spirituality, and service into a meaningful way of life and a powerful Jewish identity.