Day 8 in Israel

"Akharon...akharon.." - the very last day! Our delegation began the day by visiting their matched schools. Some of us spent two hours in the classroom developing a relationship with all the students. In particular, Sandy brought letters from her grade 6 class at Temple Sinai to Tzviya's grade 6 class at Idanim School. She received beautifully composed letters in return to bring back to her class. The bonus for her was watching Tzviya teach a lesson on georgraphy of Israel. Sandy is doing the same in Rochester. The two teachers decided to teach the map together on both sides of the ocean. 'Debby visited Nitzanim School where the teachers hosted a lunch in her honor, where she received as a gift a book on Jerusalem inscribed with a message of peace from the school, and a framed collage of the students' work. These quality experiences repeated themselves in each and every school.

At 10 a.m. we met at the municipality to board a bus for Pinat Shorashim at Kibbutz Gezer. All agreed that founder and educator, David Leichman, offered a brilliant, inspiring, and provocative 3 hour tour of this biblical garden aimed at educators and demonstrating the integral connections between Torah, the land of Israel, Hebrew, and the people Israel. We ate a picnic lunch and continued to enjoy the 80 degree weather.

Sad, sated and tired we returned to Modi'in and Aviva's school library to meet with our host teachers for a summary evaluation of the week in Israel. By everyone's definition we reached our goals for the week and shared how and what we will take back with us and immediately institute in our schools and classrooms. We look forward to hosting our Israeli delegation in December, many of whom were our hosts in Israel. We are committed to showing them the level of hospitality shown to us - without end!!!! We thank our hosts, we laud the itinerary, food, education, information, and profound kindnesses given to us since the moment we landed here. We especially thank Hana and my own host and adopted sister, Aviva (and her beautiful family), for their enthusiasm and persistence in making the Education Bridge work so well here in Modi'in. Toda raba!!!!!!!

Off to the airport in 2 hours (and more shopping). L'hitraot,
Jan