Partnership Twinning Project

Elizabeth Carlson

Special To The Dayton Jewish Observer

Even several weeks later, I can close my eyes and feel myself back in Israel, a most happy visit. Hillel Academy Principal Tom Tudor, his son Jeff, Hillel Judaics Principal Josh Zwelling and I accompanied eighth-graders Tali Neiger, Malka Fox and Rachel Wynne on the trip, Oct. 16-23. The purpose of our visit, under the auspices of Partnership With Israel’s School Twinning Project, was for our teachers and students to get together with English teachers, principals and students at the Western Galilee’s Ort Roz school. We began at the school, meeting teachers and students who visited Hillel last spring, as well as others. They spoke English, but when conversations got involved, they turned to Hebrew and Josh had to translate for Tom and me.

We had an excellent guide and an armed security guard, for we were close to the border of Lebanon; but we felt perfectly safe.

The girls stayed at three different host homes with girls from Ort Roz they had met at Hillel last spring. Rachel Wynne said she enjoyed staying in Akko with these friends she had made.

“Staying with them was interesting because not all of the family spoke English,” she said. “It was fun going to school with them and meeting their teachers, but it was hard to be in classes with them because classes were taught in Hebrew.”

The adults went to the Palm Beach Hotel. The Mediterranean was just across the courtyard, blue and beautiful as always. I couldn’t sleep, however, because I was scheduled to teach at Ort Roz the next day and wanted things to go well. I had a 45-minute class with the eighth graders and about 20 minutes with the seventh graders.

I had decided to do a poetry lesson with American history as the theme, using such poets as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Emma Lazarus, Elias Lieberman and Katherine Lee Bates, also using Ray Charles’ famous rendition of America the Beautiful. Then I switched to our Native Americans, using the 15th-century Nahuatl poet-king’s A Song of Nezahualcoyotl.

Often, Native Americans would write their wishes for Mother Earth on pieces of bark, hang them on trees and let nature do the rest.

The Israeli students wrote their wishes for the world in Hebrew and I took the leaves back to Hillel, to be hung in the trees on our playground, along with wishes Hillel students wrote. I was most impressed that each class had appointed a student to thank me for teaching their class.

A boat ride on Thursday on the Sea of Galilee was followed by lunch at the cultural center there. Tali met her big brother Elan, who is in the army. He looked so healthy and happy.

“I am really worried about him,” Tali said, because he spends a lot of time on the Lebanese border.

Next came Jerusalem. Along the way there were camels, Bedouin tents, a donkey, flocks of sheep and endless sand and mountains. We walked around Ben Yehuda Street, finding souvenirs to take home. A trip to the Wall was next.

On Friday, we took a cable car up to Masada. “We saw a place where many people had lived and where they died, and it was really cool,” Malka said.

Shabbat dinner was held at Malka’s grandmother’s house. Sarah Dukes, who graduated from Hillel last spring, met us for dinner there.

We also met up with Dr. Larry and Meryl Weprin , their son Sam, as well as Dr. Joel and Marci Vandersluis. On Saturday night, we reconnected with the Kollel Torah MiTzion families who were in Dayton last year. Many people were out walking so late at night: musicians were performing on Ben Yehuda Street and we stopped to listen.

Tali said her favorite part of the trip was seeing her family: her grandparents, her aunt and uncle, her cousins and her brother.

We spent several hours on Sunday at Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Museum. It was very touching. One room was very dark but had “stars” in the domed ceiling, each to represent a child killed in the Holocaust.

Too soon it was time to go to the airport. We got through all the security, but when we were at the boarding area, my passport and boarding pass were gone. I really freaked out! They finally let me on the plane at the last minute because I had my birth certificate. At Newark, an Air Force ID card got me back into the country.

I thank the Hillel Academy Board of Directors, Jewish Community Relations Council Director Rena Neiger, Dayton Partnership With Israel Chair Irv Moscowitz, and the Jewish Federation for making the trip possible. It was the trip of a lifetime and I feel blessed for having been allowed to go. I even got my passport back!

Elizabeth Carlson has taught sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade English and social studies at Hillel Academy for 27 years.