Pictures:1. Nettie Steinman and Anice Stark (part of team at Koach L’tet community work)
2. Norma Ehrlich, Gail Ravit & Rosalie Whitehill enjoy Eretz Museum Glass Exhibit
3. Members of group in Tel Aviv
4. Anice Stark introducing journalist Amotz Asa El
5. Rosalie doing her Israeli dancing on the promenade
Jan. 20 – by Rosalie Whitehill (Plainview, NY)
Shalom Friends and Family,
Today we started volunteer work – I am at the same school I had participated last year – about a ¾ mile from the hotel – and a great walk – in perfect walking weather – short sleeves and sweater again. I was so delighted and surprised when some kids called me by name – came running over for hugs (girls)….and the boys just smiled! We spent 3 periods with the kids, with only 2 different classes today. I was with 6 kids from last year. The teacher at the school was well prepared and had a lesson she wanted the kids to complete. But, first we had fun introducing ourselves and had the kids spell their names in Hebrew and English – YES, I can still write Hebrew! They will sit in the same seats tomorrow and hopefully I will get to know their names – the groups I worked with today were all boys – you know how kids tend to group themselves with the teacher askes them to make groups. I don’t expect that in 15 times I am with the youngsters that I will really teach that muck English – but they will get lots of encouragement and building a little more self esteem and be the help in English that they need. I keep saying ‘lo ivit – no Hebrew’ as I want them to speak English as much as possible. And…make sure that they can say ‘rega Rosalie’ (stop Rosalie) when they don’t understand something. We all told about ourselves. They want to see pictures – so lucky that I brought some this time. Tomorrow I will bring potato chips – they pretty much like chips (which are really French fries) so I want to show them the difference. The teacher, Liat – who has been working with the CAARI program for over 10 years – explained how may of the kids are from troubled home – in addition to the low socio-economic status. It is very meaningful to be with them – I gave them all these tiny little erasers that you put at the end of pencils and they were delighted – and so was I! What a fulfilling morning for me!!!!!
After lunch, we went to the Palmach Museum in Tel Aviv and some went to the Eretz Museum (our group is large so we had to split the group and we will do the reverse tomorrow) I had been there before and came out crying this time as this time as well. I think the Palmach and Yad Vashem are the two museums that pack the most emotional punch I have ever experienced. As its name indicates, the Palmach is the story of that special group of young people who were originally organized by the British to help fend off Rommel in Egypt and wound up in the think of the fighting in the War for Independence. Our wonderful guide, Neil, gave us the background before we got to the Museum – his store of knowledge never ceases to amaze me. The Museum is underground and you walk through a series of rooms where the history of the Palmach (1941-1948) is told through dramatic presentation – lasts about 1 ½ hours. Having lived through the birth of the State of Israel, I was so affected – I remember listening to the votes being tallied at the UN and the horrible war that followed patrician. When the State of Israel came into being the Palmach became part of the IDF. The Museum is like no other I have ever been to…..and my sentiments were shared by those I spoke with – a real highlight of a trip to Israel. Although, I should add that I think Israel does museums better than any other – perhaps a slightly prejudiced view……so come and judge for yourselves.
After dinner tonight we will have a speaker, the former editor of the Jerusalem Post – one of the daily English language newspapers – who is on sabbatical to write a book. He will update us on Israel – that should be something – so much going on here.
Continuing to love it here – as it seems to get better each day!
Love you – Stay well!
Rosalie
continuing to love it here…..as it seems to get better each day.
love you……stay well.
Rosalie
After lunch, we went to the Palmach Museum in Tel Aviv and some went to the Eretz Museum (our group is large so we had to split the group and we will do the reverse tomorrow) I had been there before and came out crying this time as this time as well. I think the Palmach and Yad Vashem are the two museums that pack the most emotional punch I have ever experienced. As its name indicates, the Palmach is the story of that special group of young people who were originally organized by the British to help fend off Rommel in Egypt and wound up in the think of the fighting in the War for Independence. Our wonderful guide, Neil, gave us the background before we got to the Museum – his store of knowledge never ceases to amaze me. The Museum is underground and you walk through a series of rooms where the history of the Palmach (1941-1948) is told through dramatic presentation – lasts about 1 ½ hours. Having lived through the birth of the State of Israel, I was so affected – I remember listening to the votes being tallied at the UN and the horrible war that followed patrician. When the State of Israel came into being the Palmach became part of the IDF. The Museum is like no other I have ever been to…..and my sentiments were shared by those I spoke with – a real highlight of a trip to Israel. Although, I should add that I think Israel does museums better than any other – perhaps a slightly prejudiced view……so come and judge for yourselves.
After dinner tonight we will have a speaker, the former editor of the Jerusalem Post – one of the daily English language newspapers – who is on sabbatical to write a book. He will update us on Israel – that should be something – so much going on here.
Continuing to love it here – as it seems to get better each day!
Love you – Stay well!
Rosalie
continuing to love it here…..as it seems to get better each day.
love you……stay well.
Rosalie
January 20 – “Our First Day” – by Anice Stark, Toronto, Canada
Our friendly taxi driver picked us up at 8:30 – he remembered us from last year and knew where to take us. We arrived before 9 AM so we knew to wait for them to open. While we were waiting some kind gentleman stopped to ask what were doing there. We told him we were volunteers for Koach L’Tet. He said they were no longer there, but he didn’t know where they moved. Fortunately, one of our group, Joe Fried, had a cell phone, we called Susan, Susan called Neil, Neil called Nati at Koach and found out that they had moved (Nati forgot to call Neil and Susan to tell them when he spoke to them last week!) Neil quickly came for us and off we went to the new home of Koach in Petah Tikva! It seems to be a larger area, and some of it was set up but there was a mound of clothes to be sorted, so that’s what we began to do with 3 immigrants from Russia, who were also volunteering. We speak English, but we managed to understand what they want us to do. We have lots of work for the next few weeks. This will keep us busy!
Our friendly taxi driver picked us up at 8:30 – he remembered us from last year and knew where to take us. We arrived before 9 AM so we knew to wait for them to open. While we were waiting some kind gentleman stopped to ask what were doing there. We told him we were volunteers for Koach L’Tet. He said they were no longer there, but he didn’t know where they moved. Fortunately, one of our group, Joe Fried, had a cell phone, we called Susan, Susan called Neil, Neil called Nati at Koach and found out that they had moved (Nati forgot to call Neil and Susan to tell them when he spoke to them last week!) Neil quickly came for us and off we went to the new home of Koach in Petah Tikva! It seems to be a larger area, and some of it was set up but there was a mound of clothes to be sorted, so that’s what we began to do with 3 immigrants from Russia, who were also volunteering. We speak English, but we managed to understand what they want us to do. We have lots of work for the next few weeks. This will keep us busy!