Another update from the amazing group of women on the Buffalo MOMentum trip in Israel.  Thank you Julie Babat and Jennifer Dryja for sending such an incredible recap from Tuesday-Wednesday (Dec 10-11)!

Julie:
Shalom from Israel!  The last two days have been filled with awe and wonder!  On Tuesday we transitioned between our sister city in the Northwest and meeting the other three Buffalo women who just arrived, as we also joined all of the other women lucky enough to participate in the Momentum trip!  Wow is this named right!  It truly is Momentous!

While we were sad to say goodbye to our hosts in the Western Galilee, we were able to visit a school that impressed us all, Hofei HaGalil School.  We were treated to a concert from the 5th and 6th grade drum circle, chorus and band.  The children also prepared an art project to do with us as well as laminating it for us to bring home for everyone to see.  We were all incredibly impressed with how enthusiastic and excited all of the children were to be our hosts.  The children gave us the tour of their amazing school as we all wondered why our children did not get to be outside and running around and moving during their school day like these children.  Many of us saw what our childhoods looked like.  Children who could speak to adults and find games out of virtually anything including the school’s amphitheater stairs!  This school is a wonderful place and it was such a blessing to be able to spend part of our day there.

After a lively lunch and presentation we were off again and headed to Tel Aviv to begin the Momentum Women’s Year Long Journey.  Even as we pulled up to the hotel,  you could feel the expectations and excitement throughout our bus!  As we pulled up to the sign of hundreds of women coming off the busses in an organized chaos of hugs and shouts to friends, the excitement only grew!

Jennifer:
After a 24 hours journey to our home land, 2 of my dearest friends and I walked off our plane ride and were welcomed with beautiful song and cheering by our Israeli family – a family we have never met in person but who have always been in our heart.

Our native Israeli sisters, who were also Momentum participants, took our hands and showed us the Artisan Market by the Carmel shuk.  We were introduced to the jewelers and atists who founded the market 50 years ago.

To bring our day to an incredible end, we were thrown a welcome party!  A party where our Jewish souls were full of song and dance; stuffed with the  most decadent authentic food from our ancestors; conversation that welded us closer and drinks that erupted our laugh.  We were welcomed on this journey of Jewish awakening like the Jewish queens that we are.

Julie:
We are incredibly lucky to have Adrienne Gold from Toronto as our experienced leader!  Adrienne is a truly talented speaker who drew all of us in.  She was uplifting, inspiring, funny, and set the tone for what will continue to be an epic journey to our homeland.

Tonight was about Shifting Paradigms – the power of learning and growth.  One of the biggest take-aways was to see the good every day and every moment.  Realize when something is aggravating us or we are being unkind and change how we react, how we respond and choose the good and kind response.  And when we find we don’t respond in the manner in which we would like, then switch our brackets from one side to the other.  And say something like Baruch HaShem instead! We laughed when we found how often we said Baruch HaShem all day today!

Jennifer:
Stuffed from the fresh mangos and creamy hummus of breakfast we were energized!  We began our day at the Tel Aviv Exchange.  Adrienne focused our day on giving us the ‘Courage to Act on Our Calling’.  We are not expected to see the end result of change, but we are mandated to participate.

Julie:
We had many amazing sessions and one particularly inspiring and energetic speaker Michal Barkai!  Michal imparted to us the importance of courage and perseverance.  To continue to knock on doors, to open new doors and to find the courage to keep going even when you think there is no way to continue.  To fight for change.

We had time for a short tour of the Carmel Shuk before another engaging sesion with Zeev Ben Shachar – another exceptional presentation about  making a difference and using the appropriate lens for viewing news and media and making a change in your world.

We also toured the Birthright Innovation center prior to leaving for a tour of Old Jaffa.  We were all blown away by the innovations that we saw that came from Israel.

The rest of the day was spent touring and having dinner and moving again to the North of Israel, where we settled into our hotel for the night… ready for another day right and early tomorrow!

Shalom from Tiberius!

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