Living the Dream

Oh, Apparently It's New Year's Eve

Happy New Year!!!

Dec 31st

Post-Birthright Analysis: Orthodox...

(Editor’s Note: In the coming days, LtD will feature several different “Post-Birthright Analysis”...

Dec 31st

Hospitals

One more comment about our time in Beersheva: While in the city, we spent a little bit of time in a...

Dec 31st

On Hearing Missile Sirens

Now that we’re definitely out of Hamas missile range, let us say this about our experience...

Dec 31st

Day 15: Out Of Rocket Range

After hours of intermitten missile sirens, we headed north this afternoon (our departure had nothing...

Dec 31st

Us: So you are in favor of a 1-state solution or a 2-state solution?
Abed: A 1-state solution would be preferable. But at this point, I'll take any solution.

Dec 31st

The Native Question, Revisited

One of the themes of our trip to Israel has been the question of who’s more native: Israelis...

Dec 31st

Spotted: An Obama Supporter

We’ve found our first Barack Obama supporter here in Israel. The man: Abed, a middle-aged...

Dec 31st

Long Night

The sirens went off several more times over the course of the night, causing everybody in the house...

Dec 31st

Day 14: Stressed, But With Family

Today started innocently enough, with a late wake-up and an afternoon trip to “Mini...

Dec 31st

Missile Siren Update

After a brief scare, everything is back to normal here. We spent almost 20 minutes in the...

Dec 30th

Missile Siren

A shrill missile siren has interrupted our evening. In Israel, every area has a bomb shelter, and...

Dec 30th

Party Canceled Due to Rocket Fire...

Tough day for us and all of southern Israel today. From a Washington Post article: Israelis...

Dec 30th

Standing in front of Mini Israel, a park with minature...

Dec 30th

michaelmcgee: Thanks for a hell of a season NU...

Dec 30th

#20 Northwestern vs. #23 Missouri GO WILDCATS!!!

Dec 29th

Link: Israel Hits Gaza For Third Day

Dec 29th

Israeli Spending

One Israeli mystery solved tonight. For more than a few days, we’ve wondered about the...

Dec 29th

Israeli Security

One of the first things you notice about Israel is its intense security. Every bus station, shopping...

Dec 29th

Aunt Ann And Obama

Like all of the other Israelis we’ve talked to, she doesn’t like the U.S....

Dec 29th

Day 13: Mall Time

After a late start, we took a short train ride to Beersheva, a Jewish city of 200,000. There we...

Dec 29th

Group member putting a rock on grave of Theodore Hertzel,...

Dec 28th

Post-Birthright Analysis: Why Did They...

(Editor’s Note: In the coming days, LtD will feature several different “Post-Birthright...

Dec 28th

Oppression Of Bedouins

Mazen also spent a significant amount of time talking about the Israeli oppression of Bedouins. He...

Dec 28th

New Perspective: Arabs More Native Than...

For the past week and a half, we’ve been bomboarded with evidence showing that Jews have been...

Dec 28th

35 KM From Gaza

As I type, we’re staying in an Arab city 35 km away from the Gaza Strip. Our host, Mazen,...

Dec 28th

Brian and Adam, 4

Dec 28th

David and camels

Dec 28th

Day 12: The REAL Bedouin Experience

After spending some time with our friend in Jerusalem (catching up, playing piano), we boarded a bus...

Dec 28th

Roy: "We Need You To Be Ambassadors"

One of our closing activities last night touched on the Israeli/Arab conflict. Organized by Roy, the...

Dec 28th

Updated Gaza Casualty Count

225+ dead, 600+ wounded Palestinians, including many civilians The Israeli death toll of the...

Dec 28th

First Night On Our Own

We’ve left the Birthright group and are safely at a family friend’s house in a Jerusalem...

Dec 27th

Rabbi's Warning

Before leaving for the airport, the Birthright Rabbi gathered all of the people that are extending...

Dec 27th

Link: Israel Attacks Gaza; More Than 155...

Dec 27th

Day 11: The End

Quiet final day in Israel for Birthright Mayanot Bus 15. The only real event was a long lunch with...

Dec 27th

Shabbat With An "Ultra Orthodox" Family

We came to Israel to interact with Israelis. Today, Birthright gave us one of our first...

Dec 27th

Rami: "They Hate Us"

Tonight we had a long discussion with Rami, one of the Israeli trip organizers, about the...

Dec 26th

Sabbath And Upcoming Independence

Now we’re preparing for the Sabbath. We’ll be spending the evening at the Kotel...

Dec 26th

Day 10: Nearing The End

We spent this morning volunteering at a soup kitchen in Jerusalem and then looking around the...

Dec 26th

Quotes From The Trip Journal

“Today Moshe made a joke about birds in a tree. Nobody got it. Business as usual.” ...

Dec 26th

Israel Moves Closer to Gaza Invasion

Dec 26th

Notes From Gil Hoffman, Political...

Israelis originally were skeptical of Barack Obama, but have grown to love him. They think he...

Dec 26th

Day 9: Christmas At The Western Wall

We spent our rain-soaked Christmas day at Jerusalem’s Jewish Quarter. After a brief Judaism...

Dec 25th

“What is peace? Is it what John Lennon said ‘Nothing to...”
— Rabbi S. Braun of Mayanot...

Dec 25th

Merry Christmas?

Apparently it is Christmas Eve in the U.S. You certainly wouldn’t know it here in Israel

Dec 25th

Moshe: One State Solution is Impossible

In the middle of today’s emotional day, I managed to squeeze in a conversation with tour guide...

Dec 25th

Link: Gaza Rocket Fire Intensifies

Dec 25th

Day 8: Hardest Day of the Trip

Very tough day today. We began with a taste of modern Israeli life, visiting one of the biggest...

Dec 25th

Yad Vashem (Memorial and Name)

Yesterday we publicly denounced a superficial discussion on the Holocaust. Today, we were reminded...

Dec 24th

“I do not know what a Jew is, we only know what human beings...”
— French pastor Andre Trocme, in...

Dec 24th

The Holocaust Talk

Tonight the staff subjected us to a small group discussion on the Holocaust—we’ll be...

Dec 23rd

Floating in the Dead Sea, the “lowest point on...

Dec 23rd

Camel riding

Dec 23rd

Day 6: Back to Civilization

Another packed day today. After starting with camel riding at the Bedouin camp, we visited the...

Dec 23rd

Masada: The Jews' Last Stand

We spent most of the morning at the ancient fortress of Masada, set on a mountain high above the...

Dec 23rd

Day 5: The Desert

We left Tel Aviv early Monday morning, headed for the desert. After a beautiful hike through the...

Dec 23rd

Busy Next 2 Days-- No Internet

Tomorrow we’ll be hiking and rapeling, then heading to a Bedouin (nomad) camp in the dessert...

Dec 22nd

Dec 22nd

In Israel, instead of Christmas Trees in the public plazas,...

Dec 22nd

Happy Hanukkah!

Dec 22nd

Birthright/Orthodoxy and Sexism, Part I

So we had a couple comments over the weekend about “sexism” on our trip. Let me...

Dec 22nd

Day 4: Finally Out Of Lavi

Said goodbye to Kibbutz Lavi for the last time and soon arrived at the day’s first activity: a...

Dec 21st

Who's More Native?

Highlight of the afternoon was a visit to Tel Aviv’s Independence Hall, the site of...

Dec 21st

New Friends

Our group met up with eight Israeli soldiers this morning. The soldiers will be joining us for the...

Dec 21st

First Shabbat

We had a relaxing and enjoyable Shabbat at the beautiful Kibbutz Lavi, where we’ve been...

Dec 21st

Grave of the famous Rabbi Avi

Dec 20th

Tzfat Cemetery, resting place of many important people in...

Dec 20th

Holy City of Tzfat

Dec 20th

Dec 20th

Hamas Declares End of Truce

Dec 20th

Day 3: Tzfat

Our third day in Israel was spent in the holy city of Tzfat. The city is “holy” mostly...

Dec 19th

"Don't mess with me..."

The highlight of Day 2 was a visit to a kibbutz near Israel’s border with Lebanon. There, a...

Dec 19th

Day 2 Summary

Hour-long hike along the Gillabun River in the Golan Heights, capped off with a beautiful view of...

Dec 19th

Internet problems...

We’ll post as soon as we can

Dec 19th

First Night

We pulled into Kibbutz Lavi at about 8 p.m. tonight (Wednesday). We’ll be staying at the...

Dec 17th

First Glimpse of Palestine

As we rode a bus north to our first hotel, Rabbi Klein interrupted David and I’s...

Dec 17th

“Don’t believe everything I say.”
— Mosha, giving the group his...

Dec 17th

Moshe

Upon arriving in Tel Aviv, we met our trip guide— Moshe Friedman. He’s a New York...

Dec 17th

Rami (Trip Coordinator): Welcome to Israel! Mosha (Trip Guide): No, welcome home! Applause erupted...

Dec 17th

Tel Aviv, from the plane

Dec 17th

“I could only bring four pairs of shoes. I wanted to bring...”
— A member of a different...

Dec 16th

And We're Off

Pulling out of the homestead now. Trip motto: “Get into trouble, but not too much...

Dec 16th

30 Hours...

We are so not ready

Dec 15th

Trip E-Mail

Dear Friends, As some of you know, David and I leave on Tuesday for Israel/Palestine, where we will...

Dec 15th

Watch

George W. Bush at a press conference during his last trip to Iraq as president. “If you want...

Dec 14th

Breaking News: LtD to Return Dec. 16

After nearly two months of break, Living the Dream will return to action on Dec. 16. Some of you...

Dec 10th

Beginning to Come Back to Life...

If you’re still foolish enough to be checking, you might have noticed that the number of posts...

Dec 7th

“Living the Dream: For some reason… this kid hands out...”
— Northwestern OTR We’re...

Dec 7th