Let us know about any unusual, special, or unique experiences traveling through Israel this summer. Share your most meaningful or memorable site in Israel, or a funny exchange with a local Israeli. And don't forget to send pictures!



Email info@israelhighway.org and your "travel tale" may be featured in an upcoming issue.

Camping in Israel
Is It like Dwelling in the Sukkot of Old?
by Israel HighWay Staff

Upon leaving Egypt, the Children of Israel were instructed: "In booths [Sukkot] you are to dwell for seven days ...so that your generations will know that I caused the children of Israel to dwell in booths when I took them from the land of Egypt...." (Vayikra 23:42-43)

For 40 years the Israelites camped out in the desert. What do Israelis do today when they want to camp out, particularly on the Sukkot holiday when all Israeli schools and many offices are closed and the nation goes on vacation?

Issue of the Week is continued below

New York Jewish Community Sending $9.3M to Battered Northern Israeli Town

The Jewish community of New York City has announced a $9.3 million donation to the northern Israeli town of Kiryat Shmona, battered by rockets during this summer's war, according to a statement released Tuesday. The donation from the United Jewish Appeal-Federation of New York will go to programs for children and elderly residents, fund a trauma center, and pay to bring volunteers from abroad to help renovate bomb shelters. The contribution is part of $300 million pledged by American Jews to help Israel recover from the war, according to Michael Jankelowitz, a spokesman for the Jewish Agency. (AP/International Herald Tribune)

Olmert to Rice: Hamas Must Release Kidnapped Soldier First
by Attila Somfalvi

Prime Minister Olmert told U.S. Secretary of State Rice during her visit Wednesday that Israel would not agree to release Palestinian prisoners prior to the return of kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit. According to Olmert, releasing prisoners first would bring about heightened demands from Hamas. (Ynet News)

Treasures Looted by Rome "Are Back in the Holy Land"
by Dalya Alberge

A collection of sacred artifacts looted by the Romans from the Temple of Jerusalem and long suspected of being hidden in the vaults of the Vatican are actually in the Holy Land, according to British archeologist Sean Kingsley. He claims that the trumpets, gold candelabra, and the bejeweled Table of the Divine Presence were among pieces shipped to Rome after the looting in 70 CE of the Temple, the most sacred building in the ancient Jewish faith. After a decade of research into ancient texts and archeological sources, Kingsley has reconstructed the treasure's route. It left Rome in the 5th century and was taken to Carthage, Constantinople, and Algeria before being hidden in the Judean wilderness beneath the Monastery of Theodosius. (Times-UK)

Brother of Israeli MIA Visits High School

Students at the Davis Renov Stahler Yeshiva (HALB) were treated to a moving presentation, as Gadi Goldwasser spoke about his brother, captured Israeli soldier Ehud. Ehud, known by family and friends as Udi, was abducted by Hizballah terrorists on the last day of his reserves duty in the North. He was taken together with Eldad Regev, and their capture is what sparked the Israel-Lebanon war this past summer. Because the captives are presumed to be alive, the Goldwasser family is persevering in efforts to keep the captives' story in the news and to place pressure on the international community for their unconditional release. The stories Gadi shared with our students touched many and especially motivated students to become more involved in the captives' cause. (DRS Address.com)

Listen to Gadi Goldwasser

St. Louis Teens Get Taste of Israel during War by Jill Kassander

Teens visiting Israel often describe it as an experience of a lifetime. This summer students visiting Israel developed a more intimate understanding of what it is like to live in the country in recent times. Kim Weitkamp (pictured with an Israeli friend at an army boot camp), a junior at Fort Zumwalt South High School, participated in the B'nai Brith Youth Organization program. Their group was supposed to spend a week in the Golan Heights but had to leave early because of the fighting.

"I was not concerned," Michael Naclerio said. "I felt pretty safe, I gauged the responses of our tour leaders who were fairly nonchalant. I compare it to tornadoes in St. Louis. We just do what we have to do when they come around, and then go on. That's what they do in Israel. Life goes on."

See Also: Volunteering in the Midst of War
By Malka Abramoff

My summer was no ordinary summer. For two weeks, I volunteered for the Israeli army and experienced first-hand what young Israeli men and women go through everyday. Before the combatants were drafted to war, there were approximately 250 soldiers at my base. Once they left, less than 50 remained. Soldiers I knew, young adults with whom I had spent my days with, were being drafted not knowing if and when they were coming home. All of this, to protect mine, theirs, yours-our country. These 18-21 year-old combatants had to leave everything behind to protect their land. While twenty-four young Jews and I from the Sar-El organization volunteered to be in the army, Israelis have no choice. (Lightning Strike, Krop High School, Miami Fl)

Israel Tennis Team Wins after Moving Game from Yom Kippur
by Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram, winners of the Thailand Open

Yesterday we had issues with the final, because originally the tournament wanted to have the doubles played after the singles, and we knew the singles started at 2:30. So there was a chance our match would conflict with the start of Yom Kippur. We had big discussions with the tournament staff until late in the night to convince them to play the doubles first. It was a great effort by everyone on the tournament staff to accommodate us. I think sometimes an issue like this is a little bit more important than business. Still, we want to thank the tournament staff again for their understanding. It was a little messy coming into the final under these circumstances, but we came out really strong mentally. It's tough when you're the favorite - the pressure's on you. We knew it wouldn't be easy. But a final is a final. We started out playing pretty well, lost our rhythm a little, but came back strong in the Match Tie-break. (Jerusalem Post)

Jewish Rap Star Remedy Brings His Message to Youngsters
by Beverly Bidney

When Ross Filler found out the horrific truth about the Holocaust, along with the knowledge that a great-uncle and his family perished in it, the artist did what came instinctively: He wrote a song. What made Filler's song different wasn't that it was a rap. What set it apart was that it sold a million copies. Filler, aka Remedy, is the only Jewish member of the rap group Wu Tang Clan, and his song Never Again was recorded on the group's 1998 album Wu Tang Killa Bees: The Swarm.

Remedy, 34, recently performed Never Again and other songs for students at Temple Beth Emet's Judaica High School in Cooper City. "Remedy has a strong Jewish identity," said Cantor Jan Sheer. "It's good for the kids to see you can be Jewish and still be cool and that Judaism can work in your life."

A staunch Zionist, Remedy believes everyone who wants to go to Israel should go. To that end, he works with Birthright and other Jewish organizations to encourage Jewish youths to experience Israel. (Miami Herald)

Bnei Menashe: A Miracle of Biblical Proportions by Michael Freund

More than 215 members of the Bnei Menashe of northeastern India will board a charter flight next month, and finally begin the long journey home to Zion. It is a voyage that began many centuries ago - 27, to be exact - when the Assyrian empire invaded the Land of Israel and cast most of our people into the darkest recesses of the exile. It was the ancient equivalent of a Holocaust, a devastating blow in which the overwhelming majority of the world's Israelites - ten out of twelve tribes! - suddenly and mysteriously vanished.

Many thought they were gone forever, as they marched off into the mists of history, with little or no apparent hope of return. But now, after so many years of wandering and dispersion, the descendants of these "lost Jews" are finally, triumphantly, coming back.

The 7,000-strong Bnei Menashe community resides primarily in the northeastern Indian states of Mizoram and Manipur. The Bnei Menashe observe the Sabbath, practice circumcision on the eighth day, keep the laws of Kashrut and scrupulously uphold the rules of family purity. (Jerusalem Post)

Homemade Genocide in the Muslim World by Ben Dror Yemini

Dozens of publications and websites are dedicated to the purpose of portraying Israel as a state that ceaselessly perpetrates war crimes. The tragedy is that in Arab and Muslim countries a massacre is happening that has no connection to Israel, Zionism, or Jews. It is a genocide of mainly Arabs and Muslims, by Arabs and Muslims. In the Iran-Iraq war of 1980-1988, between 450,000 and 650,000 Iraqis, and between 450,000 and 970,000 Iranians were killed. During Saddam Hussein's reign in Iraq, between 200,000 to 300,000 Kurds were killed in a genocide throughout the 1980s and 1990s. From Jordan to Zanzibar, there have been smaller confrontations that have cost the lives of tens of thousands of Muslims and Arabs, killed by Muslims and Arabs. What would have happened to the Palestinians if they were under Iraqi occupation? Or Sudanese? Or even French or Soviet? The genocide that Israel is not committing hides the real genocide, the silenced genocide that Arabs and Muslims are committing mainly against themselves.

A Nation of Holocaust Deniers? by Azadeh Moaveni

It's pretty vile having a Holocaust denier as a president. I feel partly responsible, because I didn't vote in the election that brought President Ahmadinejad to power. Who knew the man stood any chance of winning? Most Iranians don't share Ahmadinejad's anti-Israel worldview. They have no blood feud with Israel, and would cheerfully accept better relations if it meant their daily lives would improve.

It's worth remembering that under the Shah, Iran had relations with Israel and no one much minded. Besides, Iranians are no dummies. Millions of middle-class Iranians travel to Turkey on vacation and see the shiny cars, international banks, and consumer bounty that come along with a policy of accommodation. They want that for themselves. Sadly, their government wants to share its bounty with Hizballah.

Azadeh Moaveni, author of "Lipstick Jihad," was born in California but chronicles the cultural conflicts of Iran. (TIME)