Jan 8, 2014 | Community Impact, JFed STL News, Miscellaneous
Michael Staenberg was raised in a family of modest means. But his parents didn’t use that as an excuse not to support their community. They felt lucky to have a roof over their heads and food on the table. “They taught us that it is important to give to...
Jan 3, 2014 | Miscellaneous
It has been a whirlwind couple of days in Jerusalem. After arriving late Wednesday night, we checked into our hotel and then got together as a group and prepared for Yad Vashem. People were moved by the personal connections some of us have to the Shoah and were...
Jan 1, 2014 | Miscellaneous
Happy new year! Shana tova! Or Happy Silvester, as they say in Tel Aviv. After a night celebrating the new year, we awoke bright and early to head to Mount Bental, on the border of Syria and Lebanon. Now a popular tourist destination, the mountain housed a...
Jan 1, 2014 | Miscellaneous
What a day! We started off with a long bus ride to Tzfat (two hours!) and spent more time on the bus later in the day, but that doesn’t mean we couldn’t have fun! The bus is always filled with chatter about what we’ve seen during the day or talked...
Dec 30, 2013 | Miscellaneous
We had a lovely night in the Bedouin tents! We received a warm welcome of spiced coffee, traditional songs, and an insight into the lives of the Bedouins before enjoying a communal dinner. After cookies and sweet warm tea, we cozied up in our tent to hear more about...
Dec 29, 2013 | Miscellaneous
It’s been an eventful few days! We spent Shabbat exploring the gorgeous Ein Gedi nature reserve. The bravest of us went for a swim in the waterfalls, which were cold and wonderfully refreshing. We had time to relax before Havdallah and the bus ride to Eilat. On...
Dec 27, 2013 | Miscellaneous
After a long day of traveling, it was amazing to see how many of us were not only willing but excited to wake up at 4 am this morning to hike up Masada. With the promise of a beautiful sunrise awaiting, we loaded the bus with our luggage while the moon still shone...
Dec 26, 2013 | Miscellaneous
Well, after almost 24 hours of travelling, we have finally arrived in the holy land. It’s been quite a day. Things begun normal enough, with everyone getting to know each other with some ice breakers before we boarded our flight in NYC. But we hit a little bit...
Dec 22, 2013 | Miscellaneous
The recent decision by the American Studies Association (ASA) to boycott Israeli Universities has set off the most recent round of debate about whether boycotts are an acceptable reaction to policies of the Israeli government that are perceived to be unjust. I think...
Dec 16, 2013 | Miscellaneous
Less than 10 days to go until we leave for the Holy Land. If you have been following the weather in Israel, you know that Jerusalem was blanketed with snow and that some roads are just now opening up after being closed for a couple of days. Because of that, the...
