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Upcoming Events Shabbat Services Guided Jewish Meditationn 5/18, 6pm Men's Club Brunch 5/20, 9:45am Men's Club White Water Rafting 6/3-4 Trip to Spain 5/22 - 6/4, 2013
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Congregational Trip to Egypt and Israel 2011 
From Cantor Lori Wilinsky Frank: The trip was fantastic. Egypt was amazing and beyond all expectation. Despite the protesting that could be heard each evening from our hotel while we were in Cairo, we felt very safe on the tour. The Nile cruise was a great way to tour the region. The temples and tombs were awe-inspiring as to the size and artistry. The temples at Karnak and Luxor were a highlight as were the greast pyramids and sphinx. I especially loved the camel ride near the pyramids! We all shared a special moment as we sang Shehecheyanu in the Ben Ezra synagogue where the Cairo geniza was uncovered. We affectionately called this part of our trip "the temple, tombs and sleep deprivation tour 2011" because for the exception of one day, we had to be up at 6:30 a.m. each morning to tour. The food quality was inconsistent. Some meals were delicious, others awful and inedible. There was no in-between. We were a small but hardy group. Half of us got some sort of 24-hour intestinal distress before the week was up, but no one complained or lost pace. It was all too exciting to miss a moment. Except for the first 2 days of touring in which the temps reached over 100, the weather was perfect. Our guide, Mahmoud, was knowledgeable, informative and personable. He tried his best to shield us from the hoard of aggressive hawkers selling everything from scarfs to postcards that were constantly around us at every turn. That was really annoying. It was explained to us that they are more desperate since the revolution and with tourism down, they had gotten more aggressive. The police do not restict them as they have in the past. Our overnight flight to Tel Aviv via Istanbul was grueling and added to the sleep deprivation, but we rallied and the rest of our group joined us for an all encompassing tour of Israel. The pace was non-stop as we hit all the major landmarks and more including a jeep trip to the Golan Heights and Syrian border the day after the uprising, a visit and lunch in a Druze village and learning all about them, visiting Or Chadash in Haifa, the largest Reform congregation in Israel and joining in prayer together there (we also toured their bomb shelter that was designed to be a preschool and sanctuary), spending the day in Petra, Jordon, spending a moring at an archeological dig at Beit Guvrein and unearthing pottery, bones and bits of an ancient oven, sharing a shehecheyanu on Mount Scopus as we arrived in Jerusalem and praying at the Western Wall. A special highlight for me, personally, was when I had the privilege of chanting El Malei Rachamim and leading Kaddish in the Memorial to the Six Million building that houses the eternal flame. An unforgettable and powerful moment for every one of us. We were blessed to have a remarkable tour guide, Julie Baretz, who not only was informative about Israeli history, culture and politics but was also a wonderful storyteller who related the relevant biblical stories of each site as we visited and put everything we saw into context for us. It made every stop engaging and we learned so much. Our group of 21 bonded beautifully as we shared daily adventures and companionship. It was hard to say goodbye as the trip came to a close. It was truly an unforgettable and exciting experience beyond compare! Click here for photos. |
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Temple Adat Shalom · Fischlowitz Cultural Center 15905 Pomerado Rd. · Poway, CA 92064 · Phone: (858) 451-1200 · Email: info@adatshalom.com Reform Jewish Synagogue Serving North County San Diego - Poway, CA For questions and comments about this website contact Richard Stegman:  |