After explaining to us our Aliyah, we break out into three groups; Those who have had bar mitzahs in both Israel and the United States are in Group 1. I fit into group 2-those who have never been mitvahed in Israel and the third group has done neither. We discuss a fascinating package from Deuteronomy about what to expect from G-d. I facilitate and get some great answers. An olympic caliber swimmer named Jeremy from Tampa waxes poetic about knowing the lord is omnipresent and is elected to be our spokesman.
Practice is held without me-David Wyde giving a god lesson on playing the French to Max one of our juniors. The team is so strong.
We fast forward to 1 pm and the buses are ready to roll to the caves of Beit Guvrin and later the Tank Museum at Latrun. Going southeast increases the temperature into dangerous territory with a real feel north of 115. Water consumption is heavily policed. Everybody must hydrate double what they think they need. We traverse the caves of Beit Guvrun and it is much cooler but dangerous. Thankfully,railings are available in just the right places.Just like the City of David tunnel challenge, nobody is hurt.
We move on the Tank Museum in Latrun and you leave with a sense of admiration about what the Israeli Army has accomplished against incredible odds. We get some good photos on the tanks.
It's back to the Kfar for a big end of day Havdalah and barbecue. The pool feels wonderful after a long hot day. I had strategically decided to wear a Rutgers race shirt and the big R helps me meet a number of New Jersey people one of whom is on the squash team and hails from Scotch Plains!
I also renew my friendship with Joe the volleyball coach who I had a great time with on the flight to Israel. He introduces me to the women's volleyball coach Andrew Brown who went to Montclair High and was a friend of chess grandmaster Mac Molner There is never many degrees of separation among Jews We are a tight community.
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