Reflections on the Boston Haifa Connection

My desire to go to Israel had only recently been ignited by my two children. While in graduate school, they had both made a number of trips to Israel and I wanted to experience what had driven them to this passion.  I saw being part of The Boston Haifa Connection as a way to explore and share this with Matthew and Emily and also bring it to the children in my classroom.

So by early December of 2008, with funding assistance in place from CJP and Temple Beth Shalom, my colleague and I filled out the forms and our tickets to go to Israel were purchased.  We could not believe it and were so excited! 

Israel was breathtaking!  The places we visited in Jerusalem, the people and the food were much more than I imagined they could be.  Everyone on the trip was friendly and so much fun to be with and I made wonderful, meaningful friendships that are still in place. 

After three days of touring Jerusalem including a day to Masada and the Dead Sea, we made the bus trip and spent six days in Haifa.  So much happened while we were there!  We visited gans (Israeli preschools) that served children who were Jewish, Ethiopian and Arab.  We saw schools that were based on the educational philosophy of Rami Katz and a school on an organic Kibbutz which followed the Waldorf school model.  We also spent time in special needs gans dedicated to serving deaf children and mentally challenged students and were also privileged to spend time in two art enrichment gans.

During the evenings, along with our Haifa teacher hosts, we enjoyed shopping, special dinners, and even the opera (of course sung in Hebrew).  The culmination of our visit was an overnight hospitality visit at one of the teacher’s homes.  During my visit, which I shared with another Boston teacher, I was treated to a delicious Shabbat dinner, a day trip to Tiberia, the Jewish National Forest (which was wondrous) and an incredible lunch at an Arab restaurant near the Sea of Galilee.

The Boston Haifa Connection has changed my life!  I remain actively involved in the program as an ambassador from TBSCC to the connection.  I look forward to learning and sharing with everyone taking part in the program both in Haifa and here in Boston.  I truly hope that I can return to Haifa in February of 2012.  I now share with my own children their passion for Israel.  What an incredible thing to have in common with them!

Faye Sienkiewicz