Last days in Israel

Tuesday we went to some important places in Jerusalem. It started with a trip to Har Herzl, the Mt. Herzl Military Cemetery. Here's a photo of Isaac putting a rock on the grave of Theodore Herzl, founder of Zionism:

While Isaac and Abba went to Yad Vashem (Israel's Holocaust Memorial and Museum) after that, Mommy took Jonah and me the Israel Museum. We saw this ancient inscription from Maresha, the place where we got to do an archeological dig on Monday (the inscription was found a long time before we got to the dig!)

We also went to "Big Bambu" an exhibit that was a structure made out of bamboo that you could climb. We had been there before but Mommy hadn't. She really enjoyed it, and so did we!

 From there we went to Hebrew University, Givat Ram. Did you know that Albert Einstein founded the campus there? We saw a photo of him. We also played on the grass:

Wednesday was our last full day in Israel. We had breakfast at the King David Hotel. It was FANCY! Then we got to swim in the pool:

After lunch with the whole family (including Granny and Zayde) at the King David, Jonah and I shared a dessert.

 Then we went back to Modiin to pack up and leave for the airport. Here's Isaac on the plane:

 Jonah watched movies on the plane:

 So did I. I watched Muppets Most Wanted, Robots, Spiderman 2, and Mailman Pat.

We were happy to arrive back in the States at Newark Airport. (I'm happy even though I'm not smiling in this picture.)

 

We went to visit Bubbe and Grampa for Shabbat. It was a wonderful summer!

Thank you for reading my blog!

Walking in Tunnels, Archaeology and more!

Friday was super fun. We went to swim at Netanya and then saw Granny & Zayde for lunch.

Jonah also played in his favorite fountain in Netanya:

We had a wonderful Shabbat in Modiin. (Thank you to cousins Aaron and Ronda for lunch!)

Yesterday we met up with Granny and Zayde again. Here we are at the City of David museum:

After that we walked by this wall, which dates to the time of the Jebusites (before King David!)

We were preparing to walk through Hezekiah's tunnel, an ancient tunnel from the 8th century BCE. We each got headlamps from our awesome tour guide, Joel Weinberg, our Aunt Judy's brother.

Walking through the tunnel was fun. It was cold water, and at points it was above my waist!

From there we walked through an underground ancient sewer system, and we came out just at Robinson's arch, right near the kotel! We got a tour of the Southern Excavations, including these steps, the "Ma'alot" referred to in the "Shir Hama'alot" that we sing on Shabbat. Isaac and I raced up and down them.

We also went to the Western Wall Excavations, underground, and walked the length of the original retaining wall of the Second Temple. We were down far enough that we even saw the bedrock!

I love the cardo part of the old city. It has great hiding places! (The girl in the photo is Ziona. Her parents, Baruch and Allison Speiser, used to live in Highland Park and we got to see them in the old city.)

 I also love kissing really big mezuzas! (This one is at the Zion Gate.)

Today was a great day, too. First we went to Beit Guvrin as part of Dig For a Day and we got to dig like archaeologists in a cave:

 After digging, we put dirt in one bucket and "finds" in another bucket:

Then we sifted the dirt:

We found pottery shards, bones, and old wood, which we were told is very unusual. We also got to crawl through other tunnels, which was fun. They let me pick out some pottery which they aren't keeping, so I can take it home.

In the afternoon we went to the Ayalon Bullet Factory, where they made bullets in a secret underground factory from 1945-1949. It was really cool to see how they hid the whole thing from other people. They had a secret passageway under the laundry machine.

After that we went to the Weitzman Institute. I climbed a tree:

Jonah put a rock on the grave of Chaim Weitzman and his wife, Vera. Chaim Weitzman was the first president of Israel.

We only have two more days in Israel. I can't believe our summer trip is nearly over. Thanks for reading, and keep your eyes peeled for another blog post in the next few days.

Losing teeth, seeing family and more!

I lost a tooth when Tisha B'Av was ending. I was so excited!

I usually get $1 coin from the tooth fairy in America. Here I got the equivalent in shekels, which was 3.5 shekels. I haven't decided how I will spend it.

Yesterday my Granny and Zeide arrived in Israel. I was so happy to see them! We met at the home of my cousin, Ronda Israel. Here is a photo of us there:

 Jonah lost a tooth last night. It is the THIRD tooth he has lost while we have been in Israel.

Today we went to Latrun, the tank museum. We got to climb on the tanks, which was REALLY fun!

We saw a sad movie about soldiers who had been killed or injured defending Israel. There was a very big wall of names for all the soldiers in the armored corps who had died. It had 4,970 names and they need to add more because of the war this summer.

After that we went with Granny to see her good friend Chana in Tel Aviv. Here we are at a cool gaming store called "Freak." I got Star Wars figurines there:

Tomorrow we are going to Netanya to swim in the ocean and meet friends for lunch. Then it will be Shabbat. Shabbat Shalom from Modiin!

Tzfat, Ein Yael and more!

We enjoyed a wonderful Shabbat in Tzfat. My mommy said it was the Yahrzeit of the ARI (Rabbi Isaac Luria), so that made it extra special. I spent a lot of time playing with my new friend, Miriam. Her mom owned the apartment we stayed in.

Yesterday we went to a cool place with animals. I LOVE animals! Here's Isaac and Jonah with the "asses"

Here I am with peacocks, peahens and peachicks walking around freely behind me

I also saw sheep:

...and goats:

Today we went to Jerusalem. We went to a place called Ein Yael that has re-creations of things from ancient times.

We got long sticks of bamboo to make a pan flute:

We cut the bamboo into pieces and tied it together to make our pan flutes:

Here what the flute looks like when it is done:

I also wove this cool thing out of natural wool string that was dyed colors made from natural sources:

Ein Yael was a really cool place to visit!

Tonight is the start of Tisha B'Av, the saddest day in the Jewish calendar, commemorating many tragedies for the Jewish people, including the destruction of the first and second Temple in Jerusalem. I will write more another time.

Castles, Chocolate, Ancient Toilets and More!

Yesterday was a lot of fun. First we went to Kibbutz Naot Mordecai to get shoes. They make the shoes at the kibbutz and have a factory outlet store there. It was the sixth factory we've seen in Israel. Here's Jonah and me with our purchases:

Then we went to Nimrod's Fortress, a castle up in the upper Upper Galilee. It had an amazing view of the valley below!

We found secret passageways, places where they'd shoot arrows from, and this cool ancient toilet:

The fortress was destroyed in an earthquake. Here is the remains of a tower with my Abba walking next to it.

Here he is on top of it (with Jonah)

Inside the castle we found an underwater cistern and water pool area:

 Here's me taking an ancient "bath"

After Nimrod's Castle, we went to Mt. Hermon, the northernmost part of Israel. We took a chairlift up to the top of the mountain:

 Here is a view from the top:

Our tour guide was really smart. He told us about various plants that grow on the top of the mountain, including these tiny sour cherries that Isaac and I liked to eat:

We saw down into Syria from the mountain. There are two roads below. On the left of this photo is Syria. On the right is Israel.

There were a lot of soldiers up there. This one let us take a photo with him and his big walkie-talkie that Isaac got to hold!

From there we went to Kibbutz Dafna's Shulman Chocolate Factory. We got to make delicious chocolates there. Here's me in my chef's hat:

 Isaac got white chocolate squirted all over his face:

We made ganache balls rolled in coconut or sugared peanuts and we made characters with white and dark chocolate. I made a monkey:

 Jonah made a dog.

 Isaac made a pirate squirrel.

Today we went to Beit She'an, which had a great amphitheater that had room for 700 people! In this photo I am standing on the stage.

Again we found a room for ancient toilets.

Here are more ancient toilets from the other end of the site. I love finding ancient toilets. They are so cool!!!!!!!!

Beit She'an was really amazing:

After that we went to Gan HaShlosha, or Sachne natural water park. It has a river running through it with multiple pools. It was awesome to swim there!

Isaac is here in the blue swim shirt:

 Here's Isaac and Jonah:

 Here's me, my brothers, and Mommy in the river. Abba took the picture.

Some people believe that Gan Hashlosha was the original Garden of Eden. I don't think that is true, but it is a really beautiful place.