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Thursday, December 9, 2010

Hurry Up and Wait...

For this post, I think I'll review the day, chronologically, in reverse.

At the moment, our little group is sitting as patiently as possible in the "holding pen" at Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv.  It is now 10:35pm, local time.  Our flight doesn't leave until 11:50pm.  We've been at the airport since 8:15pm.  We've already walked the terminal, shopped to get rid of our remaining shekels, and "people watched" all the people there are to watch.  And so we wait...

Our farewell dinner at Maganda Restaurant was "ehhh."  The closure was wonderful... the food... not so much.  Prior to our dinner we gathered on the promenade on the edge of the beach for a very emotional closing ceremony, during which I awarded Allen with the first-ever "Golden Camel Award".  He'll explain when we're all home.  Suffice it to say, he EARNED it!

Our last touring stop was a mitzvah opportunity through an organization presently called, "Leket Israel", formerly called "Table to Table."  This organization uses volunteers and very generous food-producers to gather fruits and veggies from the fields to distribute to hungry Israelis in need throughout the country.  This is a wonderful organization, and we were honored to have picked (LITERALLY) over a ton of oranges in less than two hours.  We worked hard, sweat much, and laughed often.  It was a great way to end our touring -- even if the poor planning had us spend the rest of the day a bit dusty and dirty.  Live and learn... a small price to pay for doing a mitzvah!!!



We picked oranges after lunch -- at a burger bar nearby the Weizmann Institute of Sciences, where we had spent much of the earlier part of the day.  After a little introduction to this remarkable learning and research institute, we also had the chance to tour part of the home was occupied by Chaim and his wife.  We were supposed to eat lunch on the campus of the Institute, but we ran into a few problems.  FIRST, the cafeteria we wanted to eat at was closed for two weeks for remodeling.  SO, we walked to the secondary restaurant.  HOWEVER, because the first restaurant is closed, the second restaurant was struggling to feed the overflow crowd.  We were denied entry so they could accomodate the dining needs of the Institute's students, faculty, and researchers.  Off to the bus for option #3... burgers.

The highlight of our touring today was actually our first stop...

Unfortunately we are boarding now, so I'll have to save that for later...  Sorry...

Rabbi Jeffrey Astrachan

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