POSTING 1

Shabbat Shalom from Eretz Yisrael!

We're here! And it was all so simple and straight forward. Well, almost simple. The bus that brought over half the group to the airport arrived on time -- but got stuck on ice going out the temple's driveway. Once we were at the airport, all was well -- in fact the airport was remarkably calm and not at all crowded. But apparently there was a snafu with our very own youth educator, Becky Oliver, who didn't get the proper boarding pass in Boston. This meant ultimately that she didnt appear on the Milan Tel Aviv manifest and THAT meant that she didnt fly into T-A with us which meant that she is arriving early Sat morning... We all feel badly about Becky's snafu... and not the least of it was a Shabbat dinner at the Carlton Hotel so big, so good with so many courses as to be ridiculously fabulous!

Flying away from the snow felt really good. Flying towards Israel felt inspired. It's like I mentioned to the group. Coming to Israel feels like visiting a part of one's home one didnt know about. It might look or feel strange at first, but slowly the haimishness, the familiarity takes over. The look of the people, the signs in Hebrew, the smell of the food, it all takes on an intimate quality.

The group has been bonding well. There's lots of kids and they are already in 7th heaven. The grown ups are good, too. All in all, our first night is triumphant.

Shabbat morning is free time: some will stay in bed, some will go to Shabbat morning services at the Reform temple in TA. Others will take a walk to old Jaffa, check out cafes, etc. The weather is supposed to be beautiful, which bodes well for us all. Stay tuned. Go to tbaisrael.blogspot.com for the latest updates.