First Day - Shehecheyanu! | Shorashim - Israel with Israelis

First Day - Shehecheyanu!

By Brandi Argentar

After a long trip from JFK, we finally arrived in Tel Aviv and became a full group, something we had been looking forward to for so long! 

At the airport, the Israeli participants welcomed the American participants with songs and cheers; they even dressed in their military uniforms.

We then formed a circle chanting and dancing to "achim" and "simcha" which means "brothers" and "happiness." This quickly broke the ice and we were off to the North of Israel. We stopped on our way to a beautiful lookout of Mt. Arbel and said the "Shehecheyanu" prayer to mark the beginning of our trip with tasty grape juice!

  

Although we were tired from our trip, we were ready and excited to begin our experience.

After a quick lunch and check in to Kibbutz Gadot, we went on a beautiful water hike in Majrase. This hike was much deeper than we thought, but we worked together and it was a perfect way to cool down from the summer heat.

     

We came back to the Kibbutz for dinner where we had our first taste of delicious Kibbutz style dinner and ate some new Israeli foods.

To close the night, the Israeli and American particpants played ice breaker games to get to know each other better. It was a great start to our trip! Laila tov (and happy 4th of July)!

Photo Credits: Image 1-@laurahierst, Image 2-@alexa902, Image 3-@thefilteredlife, Image 4-@ninagail22, Image 5-@chetberman, Image 6-@thefilteredlife, Image 7-@lauren_thehuman, Image 8-@chetberman, Image 9-@laurenthehuman, Image 10-@ecvixen