Mosh (Marvin) and I went to Israel for two weeks in May and would like to share some of our experiences in case something like our trip appeals to you. Although there are many wonderful tour packages available, we wanted to travel at our own pace, meeting with various friends and family, expressing our personal support at this difficult time and hearing their stories and experiences.
If you’ve never been to Israel, you may want to utilize one of the many great touring companies whose packages include travel to museums, monuments, and important historic sites such as the Kotel, the Old City of Jerusalem, Lake Kinneret (also known as the Sea of Galilee) and more. Short missions relating to Oct. 7 are also an option, and personal tour guides are also a good way to see the country. A few years ago, we hired the services of a young lady who’d spent a couple of her younger years at Akiva School in Nashville, and who’s now a professional tour guide who specializes in Jerusalem and the surrounding area.
Meeting Israelis is very easy, particularly if you travel on Israel’s excellent buses or trains. Most people speak English and it’s easy to start a conversation while the kilometers roll by. Since we’ve seen many of the amazing sites in Israel on previous trips, we confined our time on this trip to meeting with people and chatting with all kinds of folks in addition to our friends and family. We spoke with soldiers, young mothers, senior citizens like us, students, and many others. It seems that everyone in Israel has a story to tell – you just have to ask – and they, in turn, usually ask about you.
A couple of experiences stood out on this trip. One was a visit to Hostage Square in Tel Aviv where the families of hostages, keeping cool in open tents, are eager to talk about their loved ones in Gaza. They’re very appreciative of their visitors, particularly those of us who’ve come from far away. The square has a simulation of one of the tunnels in Gaza that you can walk through and experience how confining they are. There are also many artistic creations that express the hopes and dreams, as well as the sadness, of the hostages and their families. This visit is a must. We did not go down to see the settlements near Gaza that were attacked on Oct. 7, but you can join a group tour to go there, such as from Jerusalem with Colel Chabad.
Another special place we visited was the Israel Guide Dog Center for the Blind in Beit Oved. It is a most inspiring and beautiful place. You can arrange a free tour of the facility in English where you will see dogs being trained, mommy dogs feeding a new litter, various outdoor places set up to sensitize both dogs and new clients to smells and the feel of things like herbs, fish in a pond, etc. You get a chance to talk to trainers and to hear why this is such a satisfying job for them. Some dogs are trained for the blind, some for soldiers with PTSD, and some for children with autism. The last thing the tour guide, Lisa, told us was that these dogs do more than their jobs – they do Mitzvot every day. For more information, check out their website: www.israelguidedog.org....#####
Since it was already hot in May, we wanted to find volunteer opportunities that weren’t working in agriculture. Mosh’s cousin in Jerusalem, who made Aliyah in November, volunteers in at least three indoor, air-conditioned places every week – all run by Colel Chabad in Jerusalem, so we went with her to two of them. One was Pantry Packers, where we packed packages of different grains—oats, barley, split peas, lentils, etc.—for families in need. We spent about two hours there packing barley. You can register to volunteer on the Colel Chabad website.
The other Jerusalem project we participated in is called Aruchat Esser (the 10:00 lunch at school), also sponsored by Colel Chabad. We made dozens of tuna sandwiches for school kids in need while two other groups made either hummus or chocolate spread sandwiches. The program is in memory of a young IDF soldier, Liel Gidoni Z"l, who used to bring extra sandwiches to school when he was young for friends who didn’t have any. Liel was killed defending Israel in Gaza in 2014. This is what he always told his troops every morning: “Smile, because a smile is happiness and happiness gives us the strength to continue!”
We spent one Shabbat with my cousin who lives in Jerusalem in the Givat Shmuel neighborhood. From his balcony, you can see Bethlehem. Lag B’Omer started at the end of that late Shabbat, so as soon as Shabbat was over, we heard happy, raucous singing from a Chasidic Shul across the street from their house. It sounded like the band was right in our bedroom! The music didn’t stop until midnight — proof that even in these difficult times, Israelis are celebrating holidays, as well as weddings and b’nei mitzvah.
Among the relatives we visited was one of my cousins who lives on Kibbutz Na’an near Rehovot. She lost one of her sons the first day of the war. He was helping to protect a neighboring kibbutz near Gaza. It is never too late to make a shiva call and to hear about one of our family’s war heroes. It was a bittersweet visit for sure, but an important one for us and for her and her family.
Since we keep Kosher, eating out in Israel is always a treat for us — although you do have to check if a restaurant is Kosher, since not all are. Some food highlights of our trip were eating Kosher Vietnamese food in Netanya; eating yummy Israeli breakfasts every day with fresh bakery bread or rolls, labanah with zatar, salads, and good Turkish coffee; eating at a Moroccan kebab restaurant with so many salads and fresh pita before the meal that we hardly had room for the kebabs; and walking through the Sarona Indoor Market, Tel Aviv's latest culinary center. This crowded place was buzzing with energy — full of soldiers and people of all ages. At Humus Eliyahu, we had amazing falafel wrapped in huge laffa, filled with eight giant falafel balls, fried eggplant and other salads. It was so big that I never thought I’d be able to finish it — though somehow, I did! Our friends bought some exotic flavored vinegars in their favorite boutique that also sells different liqueurs — just one of the mall’s interesting shops and restaurants. And don’t miss the iced coffee in Israel (or ice café), which is a delicious frappuccino-style slushy coffee and is absolutely delicious and refreshing!
Since we didn’t get to Machaneh Yehuda (the big shuk — outdoor market) in Jerusalem this time, another shopping trip found Mosh buying new crocheted kippot in a small, family-owned Judaica store on Rehov Weitzman, the main street of Kfar Saba, north of Tel Aviv. There are many other small shops on this street, including a very modern natural-food store with all kinds of seeds, salads, dried fruits, and nuts. While we were shopping, one of the owners brought us a glass of ice water since it was hot outside. Only in Israel!
Public transport in Israel is excellent and will take you almost anywhere you want to go. If you prefer driving yourself using Waze (an Israeli invention, after all), there are many car rental facilities available. Road signs are in Hebrew, English, and Arabic. The trains between cities are punctual, quiet, roomy, and inexpensive. You can go to Tel Aviv or Jerusalem by train straight from the airport. It is only 11 minutes to Tel Aviv and 26 minutes to Jerusalem.
We went by train from Netanya to Jerusalem, Jerusalem to Beer Sheva, and Beer Sheva back to Tel Aviv and farther north. They have an app that is easy to use, and you can buy tickets at the train station. Although we traveled with just a small carry-on suitcase each, they were packed full and quite heavy. There were always soldiers and others on the trains who offered to help us up the few stairs inside the train cars. In cities, buses are plentiful and can get you everywhere.
The Jerusalem main bus station is opposite the train station, so you can take a bus or light rail to anywhere in the city if you arrive by train, but check with the locals about how to use the app or the rechargeable ‘ravkav’ that you can buy at the airport when you arrive. If, however, you are tired or have a lot of luggage, taxis are everywhere. The taxi pre-paid app is called Gett and is used much like Uber and Lyft apps here. It is worth using Gett because otherwise, taxi drivers expect cash.
There are so many wonderful, meaningful things to do in Israel, even with the country at war. We actually didn’t feel the war, except for the signs everywhere with pictures of the hostages. If you haven’t been to Israel since Oct. 7, do consider going. The indomitable spirit of the Israelis is amazing! No one knows how the current situation will end, but they tell you there is nowhere on Earth they would rather live. Even our friend who has 10 grandsons in the army right now said she will never live anywhere else.
On our last night, while shopping with our friends at a beautiful modern mall in Kfar Yona, a town of about 25,000 next to Netanya, we stopped at a gourmet shop called House of Cheeses, where we looked in awe at a wall of fancy Kosher cheeses – one big wheel after another. We continued on down to the last store in the mall: Golda’s, the biggest ice cream chain in Israel with 130 locations. Since we hadn’t had any ice cream yet in Israel, we feasted on decadent ice cream instead of a regular supper! What a delicious way to end our trip!
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