100 from Seattle Traveling to Israel May 23-June 1; Largest Local Trip of Its Kind

100 members of the local Jewish community will be traveling to Israel on May 23 as part of the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle's community-wide trip to Israel. Israel Unplugged, as the trip is called, is an eight-day exploration of Israel's culture, politics, history and people. Israel Unplugged marks the largest trip to Israel from our area. It is also one of the largest of its kind across the country this year.

The participants range in age from 21-80, are from Seattle to Portland and consist of first-timers to those who have been 27 times.

"This trip is one-of-a-kind," explains Jacquie Bayley, the trip's volunteer chair. "We are doing things you can't do traveling alone." To date, some of those activities include:

• Meeting with Natan Sharansky, Chairman of the Jewish Agency for Israel, former refusnik denied permission to leave the Soviet Union, which galvanized the Soviet Jewry movement
• Meeting former head of the Israeli Navy, Ze'ev Almog, and tour of the Haifa IDF Naval Base
• Briefing and demonstration of new technology at Microsoft Research Center
• Briefings with US Ambassador to Israel James Cunningham, Rabbi Dr. Donniel Hartman and other leading educational and political figures
• Shabbat services on top of Masada
• Float in the Dead Sea
• Overnight at a kibbutz
• Wine tasting at the Bat Yaar Ranch
• Guided tour of Yad Vashem complex, honoring the six million Jewish and millions of other victims of the Holocaust
• Visit to Hadassah Hospital, one of the most advanced medical centers in the world
• Kayaking and rafting down the Jordan River

Participants on the trip will be posting on a blog called "Straight from the Camel's Mouth" about their trip. You can follow along at www.JewishInSeattle.org/CamelBlog.