We Made It!
After a long 10 hours of traveling and going through customs, we finally made it to Israel! Once we got off the plane and through customs, we grabbed our luggage and met our Israelis. Then, we were on our way to the beautiful Tel Aviv! We grabbed a quick lunch at the Sarona Market and then started our full Birthright experience. We officially rang in our Birthright journey on the beaches of Tel Aviv by singing Shehecheyanu. It was a special moment because this was the beginning of new adventures and new friendships. After we checked into the hotel, we rested and then got ready for our first Shabbat. Our first Shabbat was on the roof of our hotel and it overlooked the sunset over the Mediterranean Sea. It was pretty special and breathtaking bringing in Shabbat with a view like that.
After Shabbat services and dinner we made our way back up to the roof for ice breakers. We ended our first day by getting to know each other! The rest of Shabbat we had the chance to relax one the beach. It was a great way to adjust to jet lag and just relax. The rest of the day we talked about Jewish identity and broke out into groups to discuss what is important to us within our Jewish identity. We ended Shabbat with former Reverse Mifgash participants telling us about the amazing experience they had coming to DC, through the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington's unique program that brings Israelis to DC for 10 days. We concluded Shabbat with a beautiful Havdallah service on the roof. After that, we made our way out for a night out in Tel Aviv to enjoy Israeli food and Israeli culture!