April 22- last day of a great trip

April 22

On our last day we started with tree planting in a JNF Forest. We each had in mind someone that we were planting our tree in memory or in honor of, which made it even more meaningful. Then we went to Latrun, where there is a Soldeirs' Memorial and Museum for the Artillary (tank) Division. Our Israeli counselor, Guy, served in the Tank Corps and he shared with the students some memories of his commander who was killed in the Second Lebanon Campaign. He also answered many questions that the students had about operating a tank. There were many tanks that the children were able to climb on and one was the kind that Guy had trained on.

After that we drove to another forest and memorial for our closing educational lesson with our guide Tuvia. Many of the students shared personal feelings about their trip to Israel and it was very moving. Then everyone shared words of thanks to each other- all 46 stduents and five staff, and the genuine warmth and friendship expressed was very special.

We had a final Bar B Q dinner at the Alexander Muss Campus, with visits from two more shlichim families who lived in our Akron community-first Maya and Lior with their son Eli and then Maayan and Gur with their three children. We started our visit two weeks ago with a visit with our shlichim (Lihi and Aharon) and now we ended our trip with visits from 4 more shlichim all of whom did so much to bring Israel to our Akron community and still feel a warm connection with Akron.

It seems that two weeks has flown by. We did, saw and learned so much! As we loaded the bus to head for the airport to fly home, we were sad to say goodbye to all of our new friends from the Donna Klein School and sad to leave a place where we felt so at home- Israel. Each student really had a chance to make their own personal connection with the land and people of Israel and to have some very meaningful experiences. Tuvia asked them each to think of three meaningful experiences that they had during the two weeks and I am very happy to be able to share them with you:

My three most meaningful experiences on this trip:

Justin Bober
• Meeting new friends because I love meeting new kids and hanging out with them
• Praying at the wall because I felt like I had a spiritual and powerful connection with G-d and also I got to be able to pray for my family at the holiest site for the Jewish people
• Being able to experience this trip with friends which is a very rare moment in life to do

Lani Skelley
Every moment of this trip was so amazing it is hard to choose just three. But if I had to I would start with Ein Gedi. Ein Gedi was my favorite place that we went. The waterfalls, animals, and nature in general were all beautiful. My second choice would be Yad Vashem. I was most nervous to go there and almost didn’t but now I am so glad I did. It made me very proud to be a Jew . Last but not least, making new friends. Making friends can be hard sometimes but the Donna Klein kids just clicked with us. It only took three days for friendships that could last past this trip to form. Overall I will never forget my 8th grade Israel trip.
Alyssa Katz
• Praying with beautiful scenery in the back ground:
We had lots of different places to pray. We prayed in the desert. We prayed in the mountains. We prayed next to the ocean. We prayed in beautiful synagogues.
• Meeting more Jewish kids our age:
We met lots of kids, both Israeli and American. I made some really nice friends.
• Being in a land for the first time that I have been learning about for a long time. I also thought
it is really cool to see monuments. We have seen in lots of pictures throughout the years and now we saw it all in person.
Alisha Crane
I really liked seeing things my sister told me all about from her Israel trip! It will be fun talking with her about the trip when I get back. It would be great if my parents would take us on a family trip together, especially since we have nice family in Israel.
I liked trying new things like kayaking, visiting Israeli family I haven’t seen in five years, being with forty more eighth graders than usual, and walking through tunnels.
On many occasions I pushed myself to new limits, especially on the hike and home hospitality with strangers. I was determined to do as much as I could and I did!

Jonathon: My three most meaningful experiences were: When I went to the wall and all of the guys were dancing with rabbis and Israeli soldiers. My second one was when we went kayaking and my group was with people from the other school. Their names were Harrison, Jared, Eli, and Mrs. Young. We were in first place. The final one was climbing Masada to watch the sunrise. It was very beautiful and I got it all on video in HD. I will miss everyone from the other school and our guides Tuvia, Guy, and Ainav.

Jillian: My three most meaningful experiences we did on the trip were: Being in Jerusalem for Shabbat and going to the Kotel. My second one was being on my own and meeting a whole new group of people that was really meaningful (plus the kids at the other school are all really nice!) Then climbing Masada was so cool. We got to learn about everything that happened up there. When we were up there we saw fighter jets fly over and tip their wings to salute Masada because of the tragedies that happened there. And if I could add a fourth thing it would be planting a tree in honor of my family. I had a great trip and I will miss everybody!!!