LYA Students Return From Israel

Exploring, discovering, hiking, connecting and inspiring. These are verbs that describe the LYA Israel Experience, 2013. Eight 7th-grade and 8th-grade students spent ten amazing days in Israel at the end of February with chaperones Rabbi Chaim and Rochel Leah Kosofsky.

After landing in Israel, LYA students began their trip in Hebron, at the Cave of the Patriarchs and Matriarchs. In addition to praying at the site where their ancestors are buried, students chanced upon a Sephardic bar mitzvah that was taking place at the Cave. The bar mitzvah was celebrated with great fanfare, including singing, and candy showered on the celebrant as a sign of sweetness. From there, the LYA students visited the grave site of the matriarch Rachel.

“Beginning the trip in the place where our ancestors are buried emphasized the connection of this land with the Jewish people,” commented chaperone and trip organizer Rochel Leah Kosofsky.

“It is an amazing way to learn about our ancestors,” remarked eighth-grade student, Zelda Meyer. “Now that I was in Israel at the place where our ancestors lived, walked and paved the way for us, I really feel it as a whole different experience.”

A highlight of the trip was visiting the Western Wall in Jerusalem. The Western Wall is the only remaining wall from the Second Temple Era. LYA students spent a memorable Friday night at the wall with approximately 5,000 people, including many soldiers and tourists.

“Standing at the Western Wall changed my perspective of myself as a young Jewish woman,” reflected eighth-grade student Rochel Wolff about the experience. “I had the opportunity to actually pray and stand in front of the Holy Temple. How inspiring is that?”

Students spent time touring the Southern Wall excavations and viewed the many archeological finds from different eras, including walking underground along the Western Wall and walking through an ancient water tunnel.

“There are so many wonderful things from the trip, but one highlight for me was wading through the Hizkiyahu tunnels,” remarked seventh-grade student Esti Garfield.

King Hizkiyahu lived during the time period of the Assyrians and, fearful of a siege around Jerusalem, he wanted to ensure a steady water supply. He had his workers dig water tunnels through rock underground. His workers began digging tunnels at two ends and met in the middle. It was into these pitch-black tunnels with knee-high cold water, that the LYA students spelunked.

“The sounds of the tunnels and the fun we had will stay with me forever,” commented Esti.

The LYA group spent an adventurous day in the south climbing Masada, swimming in the Dead Sea and hiking in Ein Gedi, a desert oasis. Their visit up North found the travelers discovering mystical Tzefat, the tombs and souvenir shopping of Tiberius and dressing up in ancient Talmudic costumes while riding donkeys. A theme that recurred on the hikes was the scarcity of water, how vital the winter rains are to the region, and the importance of using water efficiently.

While the focus of the trip was touring and learning about the Land of Israel, the LYA students also volunteered on the trip for Leket Israel. This is a national food bank and Israel’s largest food rescue network, founded by American Joseph Gitler. The agency collects foods from catering halls, restaurants and bakeries for distribution to soup kitchens. In addition Leket Israel works with over 300 farmers and picks 150,000 pounds of produce weekly. The volunteers focus on the 20% of produce that is not picked or sold.

The farm LYA students picked on is leased from a kibbutz by an American patent attorney and its sole purpose is to grow food for the needy in Israel. LYA students worked hard and picked 400 kilos of oranges.

“At LYA we teach the students that we are leaders who give back to our community”, remarked Kosofsky. “It was a great feeling to know that we had helped people in Israel.”

While in Israel, the trip blogged about their experiences and shared photos on facebook and connected the trip with their families and friends back at home. To view the blog log onto www.LYA.org.

Now that the students are back they will spend time bringing Israel back to their community. They have written about their experience in Hebrew and will begin to prepare mini-lessons to teach younger students at LYA about what they can expect to see when their classes will be on the LYA Experience.

“I am lucky to have gone on this amazing trip”, remarked eighth-grade student Aviana Schwartz. “I will cherish the experience and I will now bring Israel back into my school, my community and my learning.”