Hi everyone!
Our names are Arielle Kaden and Jason Roth, and we are the Diller Blog Editors for this 2011 Israel Seminar. We are really excited to be in charge of this part of our trip and you will be hearing from one of our 19 fellows every day we're in Israel.
Now, let's get down to business...
We're writing to you from Murray Grove, a retreat center in Lanoka Harbor, NJ. We really enjoyed staying at this center. This area can be described in three words: trees, ticks, and our favorite, mosquitoes. As Aliza says, we really can't be "princesses", so we've tried to embrace the nature. Despite the bugs, we are in a beautiful sunny place and have loved being with each other.
Over the past 40 hours we've done a myriad of things: we've eaten a ton, gotten to know each other better over our group bonding, explored our American-Jewish identities, and swayed around the campfire! We baked potatoes and onions, observed Shabbat, and Jake, Sarah, and Ethan practiced being the leaders of the day. Jess Steindler lead us in song and Daphna lead a wonderful Friday evening service.
We learned more about our upcoming trip to Israel and are all counting the minutes untill we leave! Over all it has been a really fun retreat. It's hard to believe that this is our last one just as an American group. While we are sad we're leaving eachother, we can all say happily: Hapa'am haba biyerushaliyim (next time in Jerusalem)!
Arielle and Jason - OUT :)
Shalom and Yom Tov!
Our names are Arielle Kaden and Jason Roth, and we are the Diller Blog Editors for this 2011 Israel Seminar. We are really excited to be in charge of this part of our trip and you will be hearing from one of our 19 fellows every day we're in Israel.
Now, let's get down to business...
We're writing to you from Murray Grove, a retreat center in Lanoka Harbor, NJ. We really enjoyed staying at this center. This area can be described in three words: trees, ticks, and our favorite, mosquitoes. As Aliza says, we really can't be "princesses", so we've tried to embrace the nature. Despite the bugs, we are in a beautiful sunny place and have loved being with each other.
Over the past 40 hours we've done a myriad of things: we've eaten a ton, gotten to know each other better over our group bonding, explored our American-Jewish identities, and swayed around the campfire! We baked potatoes and onions, observed Shabbat, and Jake, Sarah, and Ethan practiced being the leaders of the day. Jess Steindler lead us in song and Daphna lead a wonderful Friday evening service.
We learned more about our upcoming trip to Israel and are all counting the minutes untill we leave! Over all it has been a really fun retreat. It's hard to believe that this is our last one just as an American group. While we are sad we're leaving eachother, we can all say happily: Hapa'am haba biyerushaliyim (next time in Jerusalem)!
Arielle and Jason - OUT :)
Shalom and Yom Tov!
