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Meeting Rabbi Schwartz
Hello to all of the participants of our trip (and your parents),My name is Rabbi Yehoshua Dovid (YD) Schwartz and I'm a Rabbi at UIUC's campus working with the Jewish Education Team (J.E.T.). My...
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Meet Marci Fiedler
Hi Bus 683 and parents!I'm thrilled to be staffing my third Birthright trip this summer. Israel is like a second home to me, having spent significant time there growing up and living there as a young...
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Bus 683 Day One
It has been an exciting time heading to Israel. Our Shorashim / JET group met on June 17th at 3 p.m., and began the experience of getting to know the 40 or so people signed up for the trip, including...
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Day 4 Yad Vashem and Old City
Friday morning we woke up at the Jerusalem Gold hotel, had breakfast, and went over to the Holocaust museum of Israel called Yad Vashem. We spent about four hours learning at the museum which included...
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Bus 683 Day Two! Golan Heights
On the second day of our trip, we Americans learned how we take air conditioning and easy sources of water for granted. We woke up bright and early at Lake Kinneret (the Sea of Galilee), and set off...
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Bus 683 Day Three! Tzfat and the Old City of Jerusalem
On Thursday morning, we packed our bags, and descended from the Galillee region to our first city, Tzefat. The trip to the ancient city of Tzefat, the fourth most holy city in Judaism and the center of...
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Shabbat in Jerusalem
Saturday began on a super high note due to the fact that we could all sleep until 10:30am. We arrived downstairs to read/discuss the weekly Torah portion about Balak (the king) and Bil'am. Balak hired...
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Bus 683 Day 6 From Jerusalem to Tel Aviv
Sunday was an extremely full day. We started off in Jerusalem. After breakfast in the hotel, we journeyed across town to the Jerusalem YMCA. In Jerusalem, the YMCA is an institution that supports...
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Bus 683 Day 7: Tel Aviv, Qiryat Gat, and Bedouin Tent!
The day began once again with a bright and early 7:30 breakfast. Although the quality of the food was somewhat questionable, we dared not let it tarnish our eager minds and hearts. Baruch hashem we had...
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Bus 683 MASADA!
The day began with a rude awakening in the dark. Prior to the sunrise we reluctantly shuffled around the large Bedouin tent which we had spent the last few hours attempting to rest our eyes. With sweet...
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