Israel Part 3: Volunteering starts and trip to the Golan

Since my last post, much has been going on. After my stay at the hospital because of a stomach flu and recovery at my relative’s house in Mazkeret Batya, I made it back to my apartment - finally!! I was happy to see all of my friends and they were happy to see that I was feeling much better. That Friday night, we did a guys Shabbat dinner involving steaks, potatoes, and other tasty dishes. I used my mom/grandma’s recipe to make cucumber salad. I think it came out pretty well. The whole dinner was great and we enjoyed hanging out for a few hours.



Two days later (Sunday), our volunteering started. We were assigned volunteering placements based on where we were needed and what our interests were. This first week, I was assigned to a few places. The first of which was Ackim - soccer with handicapped adults. While they may have been handicapped, they didn’t play like it. Our job is to play against them to help them train as a team. They have really great enthusiasm for the game and always play hard. I had a fun time playing but felt like I would rather spend my time with kids.

Monday and Wednesday of that week, I volunteered at Ben Guryon Elementary School. We usually either sit in the classroom and help with whatever the teacher needs or pull kids out and work with them on English. The kids love having us there and always want to hang out with us. That being said, they are disrespectful to their teachers and rarely focus in class. This is something that bothers us as volunteers because we know that a classroom should not be like that and the students will not learn if they don’t listen to their teacher. We hope to be able to teach some of the kids to be respectful and pay attention. Despite this fact, we all enjoy spending time there.

I also volunteered at the Arab Kadima - a place for Arab children to go after school to do homework, play sports, and other various activities. I really like it there and am starting to build connections with the kids. They even give us food there!

Izy playing guitar at the Arab Kadima

Lastly, I volunteered at the Ramla Library - where children from the community come to do homework after school. We usually hang out in the kids area which has a bunch of tables to work at. When those with English homework arrive, we go over to their table and help them with anything they need

A highlight of this week, besides the fun volunteering, was going to Kosher McDonalds for the first time since my last Israel trip (about 5 years ago). At the time, I wasn’t keeping kosher and it was not as special. This time, I keep kosher and was very excited to go. My friend Ilana from Paris also keeps kosher and could not wait to have McDonalds. So we walked over to the Ramla mall and enjoyed our food like no other. I had a big mac with fries while Ilana had her favorite - chicken nuggets. Everything tasted as good as or better than what I remembered. We decided to make a tradition out of this by going every so often (usually when we have cravings).



This first week of volunteering also included me and a couple friends switching into a new Ulpan. We decided to join the other Oranim group in Ramla who were 3 months ahead of us. This Ulpan was definitely challenging as we skipped over a lot of material - but I was happy to be learning new things. My Hebrew is coming along well - to the point where I can make basic conversation and understand some of what the kids say to me. By the time my five months are over, I hope to be able to carry on a full conversation with an Israeli.

The following Friday, my roommate Ben and I were invited to a host family who lived near Ramla, in a small community. Everyone there was really nice and the food was great. They had three kids - one our age, one in high school, and one around elementary age. They also invited some of their kid’s friends over. All together, there were about 10 of us. Most of the kids spoke Hebrew to each other the whole night while the Mom tried to translate for us. While we definitely felt like outsiders, it was nice to get out of Ramla and eat some good food.

On Saturday, Ben and I headed over to Tel Aviv to hang out at the beach. It was a glorious day and it felt amazing to be there. The water was pretty cold but I still loved it. We got some lunch at Aroma - the Israeli Panera - and walked around the area. Before heading back, we both got some delicious gelato. I had a great time and am waiting for the next opportunity to go back.


Ben at the beach




Our second week of volunteering was a short one because we were going on a trip to the North from Wednesday to Thursday. My schedule this week was very similar to the previous one. The only difference was that I was assigned to go to a middle school named Idanim. At the middle school, we were given low level English kids and told to work with them in the library. The teachers usually don’t tell us anything in particular to work on so we just have to look through their books and find some assignments. For the second period, we went into an older English class. The kids there were very disrespectful and all the teacher would do is yell at them - which clearly wasn’t helping. I was given a student who had very low English but really wanted to learn. These are my favorite kinds of students because they actually try even though they are way behind. As a group of four, we had mixed feelings about the school but were happy to have helped some kids.

On Wednesday, we left for the North. We had to get to the meeting place at 6:50am. Not fun. We took the 2.5 to 3 hour bus ride up to the Golan Heights with a stop for breakfast. Our first activity was a hike near the Gilaboon stream - going through deserted villages, an old Syrian army emplacement, and waterfalls. It was a hike that I did on my last Israel trip, and that I really enjoyed doing again. We went down to the waterfall and some went swimming. We went into a little cave for a quick rest, and finished with a big uphill climb that took all of our energy to complete. The hike took about 3 to 4 hours total and we were all pretty exhausted and gross - a perfect time to go to a mall!!








We were exhausted

They took us to a local mall for lunch where I ate for the first time at Burger Ranch - the Israeli version of McDonalds. The food did not compare to Kosher McDonalds. We then moved on to Mount Ben Tal - a common tourist attraction where you learn about the battle for the Golan during the Yom Kippur war. We went into a bunker that was used during war time and enjoyed the great view.


Heading into the bunker


We went to our hotel and had some time to shower before dinner. After dinner, we did a little icebreaker activity with the other Oranim groups that were there. The rest of the night was our own free time and we had the option of going to hang out at a dance room that the hotel set up or just hang out. Most of us wound up outside talking.

Day two started with us going to Rosh Pina - one of the oldest Zionist settlements in Israel. We saw an old synagogue and some other sites. We then went to a local Kibbutz, right near the Syrian border and next to a military base. We listened as a security guy from America talked about how he is in charge of recognizing when missiles are launched and when an attack is coming. He then alerts the military and makes sure the Kibbutz is safe. Lunch was at another mall this day and I ate at Aroma (I talked about this place earlier) with some friends.



Next stop was the Banias Nature Reserve for a “nice walk” as our tour guide put it. It really was a nice walk and not even close to the hike we did the first day. Here is a quick summary of the Banias:

The Banias springs begin at the foot of Mount Hermon where the water rushes with great force though a canyon-like channel, losing 190 meters in altitude over the course of 3.5 kilometers to form the Banias waterfall, one of the most beautiful in Israel.
Nine kilometers further, the Hermon River meets the Dan River and the two flow into the Jordan River at an altitude of 80 meters above sea level.

We walked around the area and saw some amazing sites. It was a nice way to end the trip as we headed back South after the walk. I have many pictures of both hikes and can only include some on this blog but will post all of them on Facebook soon.





I am now in my third week of volunteering and things are starting to become routine. I have been given a very similar schedule for this week but plan to ask for some changes for next week. Both Purim and Pesach are coming up and I am interested to see what they are like in Israel. For the first time, “Next Year in Jerusalem” might come true!!!