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Israel 2024
  • Michael Matatia
  • Michael Matatia

Israel 2024

27-päiväinen seikkaillu — Michael Lue lisää
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  • Matkan aloitus
    19. marraskuuta 2024
  • Michael MatatiaIsrael 2024Matkaaja

    Arad

    20. marraskuuta 2024, Israel ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    2 hour drive from airport. Saw Daniel G at airport, he is redeployed start of December, hoping we get assigned his base, although close to Gaza. Arad very diverse many Orthodox, but lots of Muslims why can't things be peaceful and seemingly cooperative like this. First meal yummy olive pizza. Lots o bakeries and fruit stores. Feeling blessed to be here Our hotel we arrived at dark but looks like we will have a spectacular view of the dessertLue lisää

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  • Michael MatatiaIsrael 2024Matkaaja

    Masada

    21. marraskuuta 2024, Israel ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C

    Masada, nice sunrise approaching there Not planned hike from the west side, which was neat because this is the path the Romans built to attack. Nice hiking up on shady side. Many groups at top, but only one English speaking group which shows the limited foreign tourists. Quite warm after the sun came up,. I could of done my morning davening there, many men in the ancient synagogue having morning minyon. Thought we would have lunch at top but we finished up and had lunch on our hotel balcony that overlooks the desert.Lue lisää

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  • Michael MatatiaIsrael 2024Matkaaja

    Shabbos in the desert

    22. marraskuuta 2024, Israel ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C

    Wonderful shabbos. Shabbos is welcomed through the by playing Shalom alechem. Through public speakers. Went to yeshiva...packed 400-500 attending, and singing everything, the harmony of so many Jews almost rivals the kotel. Town quiets down with a rare car passing. This really enhances the shabbos dinner. Had shabbos dinner at our friend's beautiful home. Shabbos day Minyon was 7:30a...and there actually was an earlier service. Only about 100 and less festive compared to Fri night Returned home for kiddish late breakfast early lunch and went for a giant walk around the rim of the crater. Then returned home davened Mincha then had food and some beer in the lovely back yard of the house. Did I tell you a highlight....a chicken purched for the night outside our door in the shade awning. Tonight weather permitting a desert astronomy tour...weather permitting, may not happen due to some clouds moving in.Lue lisää

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  • Michael MatatiaIsrael 2024Matkaaja

    Astronomy in the crater

    23. marraskuuta 2024, Israel ⋅ 🌙 16 °C

    Went on a semi private astronomy tour. At first mundane talking about the constellations...but later great. Also by coincidence a meteor that broke apart giving a dramatic cascade was seen. The presenter said one of that magnitude is rare, perhaps 5 a year. We then used the scopes to see Saturn, Mars and Jupiter. The most exciting was seeing a nebula and a double star. On the way home got gas....non USA CC cant use chip, need to swipe, then you need to enter a code 123456789, to accept card....and make sure you use the green for gas, yellow is diesel.Lue lisää

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  • Michael MatatiaIsrael 2024Matkaaja

    Ramon crater hike

    24. marraskuuta 2024, Israel ⋅ 🌬 19 °C

    Although we got to sleep late after star gazing in the desert, we got up early and hiked down the entire crater. Scenery was great, we were the oldest by far the trail. Interesting rock formations, sedimentary and metamorphic, I need to read about the geologic history. At the bottom a trail directional pole. We could not help but think those young people should not be in Gaza but on this hike.Lue lisää

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  • Michael MatatiaIsrael 2024Matkaaja

    Colorful sands park

    24. marraskuuta 2024, Israel ⋅ 🌬 16 °C

    After the hike and eat ng, we went to an artists area, just a few stores were open. Actually weather drastically changed, had our first rain. Cooper too Then went to colorful sands park. After we went to a nice restaurant, seemed to be Russian Jews. Had a kabob and meat dumplings . Yum. Went home to pack for our next move to Zimrat.Lue lisää

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  • Michael MatatiaIsrael 2024Matkaaja
    1

    Zimrat via Reim

    25. marraskuuta 2024, Israel ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C

    Left Mitzpe Ramon, on way stopped at Reim, that is the Nova tribute. I will not even try to express in words of the overwhelming sadness seeing the loss of all these innocent lives. Pictures will not convey either. Perhaps it gives purpose to the artillery we hear or the fighter jets. Also sponsored letters written in a Torah being scribed by a sofer. We are staying tonight in Zimrat., actually in the Shuva community. It is next to a lemon orchid.Lue lisää

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  • Michael MatatiaIsrael 2024Matkaaja

    Baba Sali of Netivot

    25. marraskuuta 2024, Israel ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C

    We stayed near Zimrat/Shuva , went to Netivot. The Rabbi Sali tomb was there. He was a famous kabalist. Seemed to have a synergy with the Rebbe since many pictures available for both Our place was close to Gaza, heard Artillery every 20 minutes, some shooked the windows. Also heard machine gun fire. Besides that our room overlooked a lemon orchard. Had more rain, street drainage not an Israeli specialty. The Bomb shelters which are all over in this area are beautifully painted. As soon as we headed a few miles east, away from Gaza they no longer had bus station bomb shelters.Lue lisää

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  • Michael MatatiaIsrael 2024Matkaaja

    Be'er Sheva

    26. marraskuuta 2024, Israel ⋅ ☁️ 12 °C

    Traveled to Be'er Sheva, large mall here with lots of Judaica, so we spent a few hours shopping, bought some art, jewelry and ...
    We roamed through this rather large city. Nice section in city with restaurants and stores in an area blocked from street traffic. Had great falafel again. Weds should be special heading back to the Gaza border to visit a kibbutz and a rehab center for injured. Our friend Josh's son was kind enough to arrange these tours. Heard today about a cease fire with Hezbalah, now we need to get all our hostages back safely from Gaza.Lue lisää

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  • Michael MatatiaIsrael 2024Matkaaja

    ADI Aleh Negev Hospital

    27. marraskuuta 2024, Israel ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C

    This a rehab hospital (10 miles from Gaza) for all ages and ethnicities. Had a 2 hour tour of the most amazing facility. Funded by government, and charities . The facility caters to all physical disabilities, but what makes it unique is it's focus on growth and improvement motivation through many offerings, here is a list of some:
    -Amazing gardens, they have 36 ground caretakers
    -Horse stable's
    -Aviary ....tookee
    -Full court basketball arena
    -disability play grounds
    -sensory gardens
    - so much more...
    The pictures are limited since you can't take face pictures but you will get the idea

    The miracle that happened here, is on Oct 7 many were killed in this area...over 50. Yet the terrorists passed this facility. Also since it was shabbos, and the shift change happened at 7a many due to shabbos take special busses to respect shabbos. These 2 busses filled with nurses and doctors arrived 4 minutes before the terrorists came here. Had they been later they surely would have been murdered. Unfortunately one nurse that went off shift was driven off the road and killed

    We are pictured with Yaakov, son of a friend in Israel.

    If impressed please donate to this important charity.    Lue lisää

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  • Michael MatatiaIsrael 2024Matkaaja

    Karem Shalom kibbutz

    27. marraskuuta 2024, Israel ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C

    If you look on a map this kibbutz is 200ft from Gaza and 0.5 km from Egypt. This area is closed, due to the attacks it is largely controlled by the military. A few select families were able to come back. We managed to get an invitation to this area. Yair was our tour guide, he is an police explosive expert. He told the us the story of the kibbutz and his story being one of the first responders. He and others fought off the terrorists but he also was severely injured in his arm and hip. I recorded the audio of his experience, I have still pictures that correspond to the audio. I will post the audio when I return. As an example one of the miracles is you will see a bunker door that was exploded open ...the mezuzah, that has been removed, was undamaged despite blast damage right next to it.

    You can see Gaza through the cement portal.
    Kibbutz info in Hebrew
    https://youtu.be/0Miyr2BXEKU?feature=shared

    Audio link and transcript of the attack description:
    https://recorder.google.com/a8a037bc-60c0-45ca-…    Lue lisää

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  • Michael MatatiaIsrael 2024Matkaaja

    Jerusalem

    28. marraskuuta 2024, Israel ⋅ ☁️ 15 °C

    Arrived in Jerusalem mid day, crowded street where our hotel is, had to leave Sue with car while I brought the bags up to the 7th floor. Shh keeping a secret that it has a shabbos elevator. Went to the Jerusalem market, got ripped off at a Halavah stand that through in more than we wanted....but Sue is not too upset, it is one of the better vendors.

    I tried to donate blood, but for some reason my iron was too low...so I was rejected. I give frequently and this only happened once before.

    The stores here are hurting due to lack of tourist, they really need your help, please visit.

    Friday we will shop for Shabbat, then welcome shabbos at the kotel. Shabbos day will go to the grand synagogue of Jerusalem

    Sunday we start our volunteering with the IDF, it may be a while between posts due to base restrictions.    Lue lisää

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  • Michael MatatiaIsrael 2024Matkaaja

    Shabbos in Jerusalem

    28. marraskuuta 2024, Israel ⋅ 🌙 12 °C

    Fri night went to the wall to welcome shavbos. always a joy filled experience. I love how different sects all daven together. Went to the Great Synagogue for shabbos day, they have amazing music and choir. Long 4 hour service but worth it Kiddish was amazing, not the food but the behavior of the congregants fighting for food position.

    Off to the IDF    Lue lisää

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  • Michael MatatiaIsrael 2024Matkaaja

    On base תֵּל הַשּׁוֹמֵר

    1. joulukuuta 2024, Israel ⋅ ☀️ 18 °C

    On this base, I have limited to no pictures due to security issues. Even photographing a box can give away deployment info. Here is base info

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tel_HaShomer

    Lots of hard work organizing medical supplies. Important to be self motivated since after you finish a job there is lots more to doLue lisää

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  • Michael MatatiaIsrael 2024Matkaaja
    1

    Meeting with IDF spokesman Major Baruch

    2. joulukuuta 2024, Israel ⋅ ☁️ 8 °C

    Hard work continues. Food is fairly good. Every time I build a surgical box, I say a prayer for a successful outcome from its us I really have a feel for an operations line job now. My boss, who barely speaks English is great, maybe the language barrier is why.

    We had a group meeting with Major Baruch who is the spokesman and Alison for many of the USA news outlets. Here is a link to the recording, this is long but interesting:

    https://recorder.google.com/016a6f4f-24d0-48d8-…

    We learned from the IDF that hamass was refocusing forces at Jabalia, which explains why when in Shuva we had such heavy, window shaking artillery, some we were the closest area.

    On e more funny thing, one of the managers is named Machiach, so we are constantly hearing go see Machiach and other references to his name. So Machiach is here. 😉    Lue lisää

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  • Michael MatatiaIsrael 2024Matkaaja

    IDF SAR-EL details

    3. joulukuuta 2024, Israel ⋅ 🌙 18 °C

    Met with the CEO of Sar-el who gave a good prospective on the program, it's goals, and the importance to Israel. He had a good way to put it, we are not tourists but people who are part of society. He described it that we are doing Aliyah for the time we serve. He also said Israel will never be the same after Oct 7th....A looming sadness.

    CEOs talk:
    https://recorder.google.com/089eaab3-4e68-4de3-…

    In the evening we spent time with an IDF soldier, that went over the IDF values, which can be found here:
    https://www.idf.il/en/mini-sites/our-mission-ou…
    She then talked about basic training and career choices. Also discussed Nadav a fallen soldier who left a fairwell message for friends and family. See the picture of his message.

    More details...
    Davening here is at a new level. That is true for the kotel as well, but davening hearing jet sorties and trucks rumbling give a real feel as to what I am davening for . Morning there are only 3 of us that do tefiilin in the small synagogue room. Mincha when the IDF supply chain is in we get about 13 for minyan. Maariv is sort of on your own.

    So this group is about 33 people, more women than men, this proving women are better than men. Everyone comes from all over, here are some: Idaho, California, Minnesota,Florida, Texas, Lynn (us), england, South Africa, Poland, Israel, Ukraine, Canada , Australia, Chile, Germany... I would say 15%-20% are not Jewish which is particularly heart warming. Another person want to convert and is very Torah knowledgeable.

    As far as the important food. Three meals, morning fairly typical breakfast that is dairy, lunch is the big meal and always meat, dinner is dairy and fairly light. Lots of protein and carbs, they love potatoes, pasta and rice.

    In my work group was an IDF young woman, who was in a bombed shelter where most occupants were killed. She obviously suffered brain injury. In the USA they likely would give an honorable discharge. In Israel they gave her a supply roll she could train for thus giving her the dignity to continue to contribute.

    We work all week doing seemingly crazy things, discard this to count that, package and seal another thing. In the end on Weds we completed 102 field surgical supply units. They go to what we know in the USA as MASH to units. It gave me a real feeling of accomplishment. At this one base 32 volunteers each providing 4 work days gives the IDF from giving 130 person work days. This does help the IDF keeping soldiers available to protect.

    Benny was Michael's group lead, pictures added.    Lue lisää

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  • Michael MatatiaIsrael 2024Matkaaja

    Tel Aviv, the most amazing shabbos!

    7. joulukuuta 2024, Israel ⋅ ☁️ 21 °C

    So we are in TelAviv wondering what to do for Shabbos. We came up with the idea of having a Shabbos dinner at our hotel. We spoke to a few of the people that were with us at Sar-El and they seemed interested. I spoke to the Manager and he gave permission. You need to understand that I have a problem. I feel compelled to invite people for shabbos. It even went as far as inviting some people in the halllway of the hotel. I also went to daven Maariv at the local Chabad. (It was crowded there with many young people. Not used to seeing Rabbi Eli with a machine gun.) At the service I met an IDF soldier who said he did not have a place for shabbos. (I made copies of shalom alechem in hebrew and visited another chabad to get extra benchers.)Surpassing we had 13 people, including the IDF soldier and the people from the hallway. We had people from around the world and from every religious level, including 2 that were not Jewish. One person particularly identified as Jewish, but has done few mitzvahs. We also shared Torah learnings from this week’s Parsha.

    I can’t even put into words this experience,. We had great conversations. I challenged all to pick one ting that they wanted to thank Hashem for from this week. Everyone shared their love of Israel and each had a unique story. One person even stated that the dinner has motivated him to do tefillin for the first time later this week before the next Shabbos.

    The IDF soldier had one of the more moving speeches. He talked about how excited he was as a new soldier. He states all soldiers go through difficult times. He termed it as having Shaichor, which means black in Hebrew. He said our stories of volunteering had removed his Shaichor. He expressed sincere thanks for our support and volunteering.

    Our after services Shabbos walk was throughout Tel Aviv and a visit to Hostage square…..due to shabbos no pictures.    Lue lisää

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  • Michael MatatiaIsrael 2024Matkaaja

    Ovda airbase assignment

    8. joulukuuta 2024 ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C

    We were assigned to an Air Force base

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ovda_Airbase
    This base is just north of Eliat., it took a 4 hr bus trip to get here. On the way down passed the Ramon crater. We traveled south, further south than I ever ventured in Israel. The base is in the middle of nowhere. Lovely sunsets that I can't take pictures of. However pictured is the front entrance and on the way saw a solar furnace generator plant.

    The IDF soldiers are so young, hard to believe these kids work with the most sophisticated weapons. Many secret projects and missions come from this base.

    Lots of different small job, such as:
    - boxing uniforms
    - warehouse organizing, got to use an electric forklift.
    - boxing supplies
    -working stocking the Air Force store
    -removing and organizing palates

    In the first evening we had an IDF reprentative for air defence. See recording:
    https://recorder.google.com/bdd8536f-e6e6-429a-…

    Tues night we worked out then had a soccer match
    https://recorder.google.com/bdd8536f-e6e6-429a-…

    Today went on base tour, got to see and question about an F16 in a secure bunker Then we worked with head Rabbi to clean a warehouse that had sukkah and other materia tossed around like garbage. Sue was very moved by organizing and rolling the sach.
    It was such a mess. I was frustrated by a second Rabbi that joined that whatever junk I showed him, he would say 'no garbage, no garbage ', I finally picked up some broken glass, he looks angrily at me and says no garbage, and then smiled and said garbage.

    A bunch of cadets passed their flight controller training, so we stopped working went to the roadside and clapped for the them. They blew kisses and we argued who appreciated who more

    Just got a tour of their flight controller simulator. It is a room with 360° monitors that can display any airforce base runway. It is so cool, so many scenarios can be demonstrated to trainees. The IDF seems to share so much info with us, rarely will they not answer a question
    Tomorrow is our travel to Tel-aviv day.    Lue lisää

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  • Michael MatatiaIsrael 2024Matkaaja

    Rishon LeẔiyyon

    12. joulukuuta 2024, Israel ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C

    We left 8am Thurs to head to the Tel-Aviv bus station The bus system is amazing and on 6 shackles you can go amazingly far

    Settled in about 3pm Thurs into a charming hotel that used to be city hall which was renovated into a hotel before the war. Unfortunately few tourists here, mostly displaced residents from war zones. Ran into lady who lost a cousin and spouse to the war. She is living here and teaches science at Ber Sheva.

    Thurs evening was lots of fun. We had schwarma and schnitzel sandwiches. Then we went back to the hotel to me two good friends from my previous job at NMS communication. It was great catching up with them. However it was sad to hear one of the managers grandson died in the war. After meeting them we went out for late night drinks and had beer. We got talking to the manager and was so appreciative of our volunteering that he gave us shots, Sue having Arak and me the managers favorite a version of Jonnie walker. The setting was in a lovely park pictured. We headed home before midnight. Back at the hotel we met Vic. Vic loves creating music, and was kind enough to play his guitar in the lobby We stayed up fairly late.

    Fri am we went food shopping, so much easier than last week's 13 people so nice it was just the two of us

    we planned our shabbos, there are 7 in a 200 yard radius. We decided to try the balli saline Sephardic synagogue and then the great synagogue for shabbos day.
    More details to follow. The exterior of both are pictured.

    Shabbos we met people displaced from their home due to the war. One who lived 200m from the border described how their cousin and husband were killed. Another older woman from the south. Her family came in to celebrate shabbos. So touching hearing the grandmother teach the pre-bar mitzvah to bench after the meal .
    I feel awkward when folks are so appreciative of our visit even though we are not helping them directly.    Lue lisää

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