Tucson Hebrew Academy’s 10th annual eighth grade class trip to Israel took place May 9-21. Fifteen students, with chaperones Sigal Nadler and Rabbi Billy Lewkowicz, enjoyed a wealth of hands-on experiences, including visiting the Western Wall on the Friday evening before Yom Yerushalim, dancing in the streets of Safed, rafting down the Jordan River, visiting Independence Hall, riding donkeys in the ancient village of Tzipori (where the Talmud was written), floating in the Dead Sea, meeting teens at Kibbutz Yad Mordechai, hiking in the Golan Heights and finding pottery shards from the time of the Maccabees at an archaeological dig. While riding camels at Masada, says Rabbi Billy, they looked up at the stars, remembered God telling Abraham, “Your children will be as numerous as the stars” and realized they were the fulfillment of that prophecy.
