Thursday, July 7, 2011

TJJ - The Jerusalem Journey Week 1

Each week I will be sending you a message and update from TJJ – The Jerusalem Journey. I can’t even begin to tell you how incredible all of the teens on this program are. For the most part I didn’t know most of them well before getting to Israel, but I knew as soon as we met each other at JFK that this was a very special group. As soon as we landed in Tel Aviv, we headed up north, where we have been for the past three days. We visited the Rosh Hanikra, where we discussed the challenges that Israel faces with its neighbors. We also broke the group up so that each smaller group could learn about and discuss the IDF and the MIA’s. We went rafting down the Jordan River, a three hour hike along a river and went biking around Mount Carmel. By the time you read this we will also have traveled to Tzfas. We are headed there tomorrow morning (Erev Shabbat) for a special program.

Another aspect to this trip is the learning sessions that take place. Since the teenagers are from public schools, we want to make sure that they learn important and essential Jewish values and lessons. Each morning we spend 30 minutes studying the text of the siddur and demonstrate how each prayer is incredibly relevant. Each evening there are smaller learning groups that are led by each of the advisors on the trip. They are intentionally smaller so that each student can develop a meaningful relationship with the staff.

Finally Shabbos is coming and I am so excited to be able to share a shabbos in Israel with the teenagers. Stay tuned for next weeks update.

Inspire yourself to inspire other’s…

Josh