Israel Unplugged

WOW! Days two and three on the ground in Israel have been packed! The entire group visited Independence Hall and really got wonderful framing for our experience together in Israel - especially after a brief history lesson on the streets of Tel Aviv. Check out the pictures below! After Independence Hall everyone had some free-time shopping and browsing Nachalat Binyamin. YAY Seattle for jump starting the Israeli economy!! During the lunch hour, our group toured the Hiriya Environmental and Recycling Center in the Ariel Sharon Ayalon Park and learned about JDC - the Joint Distribution Committee (see photos). For our afternoon breakouts, the group visited the Yitzhak Rabin Center and Museum, walked through Tel Aviv's gorgeous Bauhaus architecture and experienced the Palmach Museum. Dinner was free and our afternoon activity included a performance by NaLaGaat Theater Company - the ONLY deaf and blind acting troup in the world.

I am writing you from Tel Aviv. One of the great opportunities we have during this trip is to see some of the projects we help make possible in Israel – and experience first-hand the impact we can have through community support.

After a long day traveling from the Pacific Northwest to Israel (with a stop on the east coast), our Seattle group can finally say, "Israel Unplugged has officially begun!"

97 participants have descended upon Israel and are now lodging at the waterfront Carlton Hotel - Tel Aviv. Our first 8 hours together have been exciting! Travelers checked into their rooms and were immediately off and running! Participants enjoyed two hours of free-time on the Mediterranean coast where everyone strolled, swam, shopped and snacked (or napped). Travelers were welcomed to Tel Aviv (translation Hill of Spring) by Assaf Zamir, Deputy Mayor of Tel Aviv at our welcome reception, followed by our first dinner together as a community. Jacquie Bayley, Israel Unplugged Chair, shared her excitement about our journey together and prepared all travelers for a fabulous 8 days in Israel. This was followed up by our first speaker of the week, Rachel Korazim, PhD - who compared Jerusalem to Tel Aviv through works by Yehuda Amichai and Naomi Shemer.

Boker Tov! 5 a.m. on Sunday morning at SeaTac is a surprisingly vibrant hour! Everyone is bright-eyed, friendly and excited, especially the 60 seattlites traveling together to Israel this morning. We can't wait to meet the other 40 traveling on their own, in Tel Aviv! So far, so smooth, everyone's had their coffee and can't stop talking about how excited they are to see Israel, especially the first timers. There is a collective feeling that on some level we're truly going home. Here we go, all on board and time to power down and begin the first flight to JFK.

This Sunday, May 23, the largest local trip to Israel and one of the largest in the country, Israel Unplugged, will be heading to Eretz Yisrael! 100 members of the local Seattle Jewish community will be traveling on an eight-day exploration of Israel's culture, politics, history and people.

"This trip is one-of-a-kind," according to Jacquie Bayley, our trip's volunteer chair. "We are doing things you can’t do traveling alone."

We leave for Israel in 123 days!!

For those of you already registered for our trip, we are thrilled to be traveling with you this May. If you who still need to register for Israel Unplugged, please do so as soon as possible. Our spaces are filling up fast.

Register for LAND here.