I was struck by the pre-war photos, the familiarity of the faces in those photos. The pictures that show what each person really looked like, before the horrors of the war, before they disappeared. Those people look familiar. They looked like people I know, or could know.

Shidduch: an arranged match of a man and woman, for the purpose of marriage.

Each night, some members of our group would head down to the very lovely lobby at the Inbal Hotel in Jerusalem. There, we’d meet for cocktails and to talk about all the things and places we’d seen and learned, the people we’d met.

There is a special quality surrounding religious holy sites, regardless of the religion. Is it echoed off the spirituality of the religious visitors? Does spirituality surround and sink into the walls of places of prayer, after decades, or hundreds or thousands of years?

Very very early breakfast before sleepily boarding our bus. We were headed to the IDF base for a narrative description about IDF training, and a description of the three years of service every Israeli does after high school. This is the kind of experience I’d never have on a standard tourist trip.

Lunch was a seemingly impromptu stop (although I doubt anything on this tour will be truly impromptu – I am fairly sure that this stop was chosen for it’s lack of shopping opportunity) where we quickly munched on falafel, shwarma, and schnitzel.

Here in the absolutely gorgeous David Intercontinental Hotel in Tel Aviv. We landed late afternoon, it was pretty much already dark, in the middle of an unusually fierce (for Israel) rain storm. Given the recent severe draught conditions here, I suppose many people are looking at this storm with much gratitude.

Fitful sleep over the Atlantic… (what a surprising sort of opening sentence for a Jane post! Jane has, sadly, not crossed the Atlantic in such a long time!).