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Israel 2025
  • Michael Matatia
  • Michael Matatia

Israel 2025

A return to Israel Read more
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  • Trip start
    December 4, 2025
    Michael MatatiaIsrael 2025Traveler
    1
    11

    Prep for the trip today

    December 4, 2025 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 3 °C

    Went to Synagogue and had a little workout in my building to prep for the long flight. Had my normal great sunrise while walking to synagogue. All packed and excited! It was a challenge packing for normal travel and all that we need with Sar-El while on base in Israel.Read more

  • Michael MatatiaIsrael 2025Traveler

    Tel Aviv

    December 5, 2025 in Israel ⋅ ☁️ 30 °C

    So lucky we made it to tel Aviv on time. I'll plane landed on time 1:30p Luckily I pre-arranged a taxi through GETT which is there which is Israel's version of uber. We got to the hotel and have a beautiful room overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. We got good exercise on Shabbos, With it being on the 5th floor. We were able to find food at a local market. We found cold cuts, wine salads and some fish. All the makings of a good Shabbos meal ran back to the room. Quick shower and just made it to synagogue on time. We had Shabbos on the rooftop overlooking the sea on a beautiful warm night. You can see the daytime view of what we have in the picture

    We were so surprised to run into a few people that we know from our previous trip to Israel. It made us feel like it was returning home. Shabbat day after services we went on a long walk along the beach. It was like the middle of summer. A very large group of Israeli folk dancers along the way. The Israeli Israelis activity level is amazing. So many runners, paddleball players, volleyball players. It's like most people stay very active.

    Motzie Shabbos went downstairs for the hotel's happy hour. We met a few people that we didn't know from Sar-el. Two were particularly interesting. One gentleman was originally from Cuba, he was not Jewish and he told us of a story that when he came over from Cuba, this Jewish family posted him. Found him a job and he was so thankful that he's very dedicated to Israel and volunteers regularly. Another woman that we met was from the Philippines. She as well had an extraordinary story in terms of her learning about Jewish culture. She is dating a Jewish man from Ireland and she is thinking about conversion a level of knowledge. Impressed me so much. I really felt it was meant to be for her to go through a conversion. Speaking with these two people who are not Jewish and so supportive of Israel was so emotionally moving for me. There are many Jewish people that can learn from their example.
    After the happy hour we headed over to the bank, I had the pleasurable experience of having the ATM eat my bank card so this morning I'll head over there in hopes of retrieving it. You can't have everything. Go perfect on a trip to Israel    Read more

  • Michael MatatiaIsrael 2025Traveler

    Jerusalem 1/2 day visit

    December 7, 2025 in Israel ⋅ ☀️ 16 °C

    We moved to Jerusalem, to be closer to where the Sar-El congress will start on Monday. Just enough time to roam through the old city and the Kotel. Took a short stroll through east Jerusalem , that thrilled Sue. At the Kotel entered prayers for many and came across a couple getting engaged, that ended in lots of song.Read more

  • Michael MatatiaIsrael 2025Traveler

    Ammunition Hill and Air Force

    December 8, 2025 in Israel ⋅ ☀️ 13 °C

    The start of the Sar-El Congress started today, so it's a 3-day program with volunteers from around the world. We started it at Ammunition Hill with an amazing history of the 1967 war and the freeing of Jerusalem and the amazing miracles involved with reuniting Jerusalem as one and taking the temple mount.

    After this we visited the Air Force museum we had a briefing from a pilot flew sorties during Rising lion to Iran. We then toured historic planes from propeller planes that were used in the 1948 Independence to Jets that they captured from Arab enemies and even a Russian Mig. Israel is great at doing improvements to Jets and changes hey showed changes to make it better, It was really a fascinating tour. Now we're headed to the Dead Sea. We will have some live entertainment tonight and I'll leave update this posting or create a new. Sound.

    I will also want to when I get home moe pictures and videos of pilots interview. I just need to make sure I don't have any pictures of the pilots that should not get published.    Read more

  • Michael MatatiaIsrael 2025Traveler

    Masada and Dead Sea

    December 9, 2025 in Israel ⋅ ☁️ 11 °C

    Went early to Masada, although we have been there before it was inspiration going there with Sar-El. Given the very large group we all took the cable car up. Had some great inspirational songs at the top. Had a nice call out for y contributions (amongst others) to recruit for the congress. Had some great history from our guide, Listen to some of the audio clips.
    Mid-day returned to the hotel and had a nice swim in the Dead sea along with a trip down the water slide. Then we had some great classes, insights into the conflict, social media war against lies, and a program to document all the hostage and fallen soldier stickers.

    Evening amazing speaker, that. I will post in a separate footprint.    Read more

  • Michael MatatiaIsrael 2025Traveler

    Hostage Horen & Arab IDF Cmdr Haddad

    December 10, 2025 in Israel ⋅ ⛅ 10 °C

    We had two speakers this evening Eitan Horen, who only speaks hebrew but had a translator. He was one of the last hostages released and this is his second public lecture.

    Audio files link:
    https://recorder.google.com/35098398-8131-4b5c-…

    Israeli Commander Yosef Haddad, is a very pubic figure that argues on behalf of Israel and disputes the lies from the world. He gives interesting insights into the war and IDF team work.

    Audiofile link:
    https://recorder.google.com/7ee6d40f-4493-488b-…
    Also see related pictures
    Finally here is a great lecture on how to fight online antiamitism
    ;
    https://recorder.google.com/652aa775-2849-4364-…    Read more

  • Michael MatatiaIsrael 2025Traveler

    Back to Jerusalem

    December 10, 2025 in Israel ⋅ ⛅ 10 °C

    Big storm moving in….Geshem! Dead sea area prone to flash floods so we headed out early. The sky was amazing.

    Went to Mount Herzel, where many soldiers and deceased Prime are buried. This concluded the Sar-El congress.Read more

  • Michael MatatiaIsrael 2025Traveler

    volunteering tieing tzit tzit

    December 11, 2025 in Israel ⋅ 🌧 10 °C

    Went to Kollel Eretz Hemdah which sponsored a tzizit tieing for the IDF. They are tied to a high tech t shirt, colored green. They trained us and we went to work, I learned so much about tzitzit. Another fascinating thing is that it was at the Harvard University of training for the BaisDin, the. jewish judges, I met the Rosh Kollel, named Rabbi Carmel. He shared a book written by one of their scholars. Here is the Web Site. https://www.eretzhemdah.org/

    Earlier saw Daniel G, orginally from Acton Chabad. He moved to Israel and is now married. They have 6 kids. It was so nice catching up with him.

    After volunteering we saw someone who lived part time in the Chabad Swampscott community. He has a beautiful home and loves Israel.

    Amazing rain and flooding throughout Israel.    Read more

  • Michael MatatiaIsrael 2025Traveler

    Shabbos and off to first base

    December 12, 2025 in Israel ⋅ ☁️ 12 °C

    Friday went to shuk, even at 10am it becomes a zoo, but a fun one. Had amazing Yotam's donuts, may be the best we had, and a great way to welcome Chanukah.

    Friday night welcomed shabbos at the Kotel. Frankly while not the best place to Daven, the sight of all types of Jews dancing and singing make up for that.

    Shabbos went to the local Chabad, luckily I have no issue navigating Hebrew siddur , although I found Sue a Russian classic Chabad siddur. Unfortunately had an attendee sit straight across from me, hacking sneezing.....I did want to be rude but I moved. Sermon in Hebrew so I have no words of wisdom to share. Mincha we went to the great synagogue of Jerusalem then walked through a park where all the local birds and parrots go to sleep for the night. Saw the USA embassy where it should be....thanks Mr. Trump.

    We packed up and had a light dinner at B-fresh. Loved the matcha shake, and yogurt with fruit. Then went to the Russian section, see the picture with the pretty lights.

    In the morning we raced to the airport for our base assignment. We are going to Eliat , a Navy base. 5.5 hr ride. I am excited to see a Navy base My friend 2 weeks ago, on an airforce base put tires an F35 and c130, that was used in the recent Lebanon operation.

    Note the picture of the lush field on our trip south, those heavy rains, geshem, works!

    Will update with a posting about the base, if permitted to communicate.    Read more

  • Michael MatatiaIsrael 2025Traveler

    Zis Navy base in Eilat

    December 15, 2025 in Israel ⋅ ☀️ 12 °C

    Arrived yesterday. Put to work quickly for the first day of Chanukah celebration, tempered by the Australian massacre. Sue and I made popcorn for soldiers and their families that were allowed to come on base. After we helped clean a very large mess. A large kitchen that was oily from the donuts, snitzel, hot dogs, hamburgers and of course falafel that was served. They were so appreciative of our help

    Went to on base synagogue to daven, just one young soldier and myself .

    What a work out, Sue did food service prep and serving. I along with a South Africa woman. Completely cleaned and reorganized all the fruit veggies and halav/dairy products
    Shelves were quite dirty. Half way through our great organizing a trick came in. The local cadets then made a organizational mess of our hard work. We went through all produce chucking the bad stuff. No inventory management, to optimize age of produce. Lots of heavy lifting of eggplant tomatoes, squashes... Etc.

    Mon night had a lovely group discussion on anti-Semitism.
    Sar-el hoping to leverage sar-el to help through training and lecturing in USA and worldwide eventually.

    Third day, Tues. Some observations. Navy folks are very laid back in am, not us sar-el folks. Bathrooms are weird....ratio, let's of showers 5 and only 2 toilets, lots of sinks. One toilet near the mess hall for tons of soldiers. So many little things broken, from handles, lights, curbs etc.
    What gorgeous sunrise over the Jordon mounts, wish I could take pictures.

    The navy boats here are relatively small, like double the size of what the USA calls a pt boat. We received a tour, they have men and women boats due to the close living quarters. We toured everything from engine room which was prstinely clean, tactical systems

    Sue's roommates are all from Australia/south Africa , she finds understanding all their terms is a challenge.

    No on base pictures permitted but the ones I posted are given ok to publish. Picture of some of the work we did, like organizing and cleaning giant frig....it felt like pesach.

    We were given permission from the base commander for a 4 hour base leave to tour Eilat. Very touristy town. Pictures is a cappuccino made by a local barister named Ori that also works on the base..

    Weds some warehouse cleaning while Sue chopped veggies. I am doing lots of lifting, I am sore and tired. I look forward to the 3 day break coming up.    Read more

  • Michael MatatiaIsrael 2025Traveler
    12

    Return to Tel-Aviv

    December 19, 2025 in Israel ⋅ ⛅ 12 °C

    Long bus ride from base back to Tel-Aviv. It is amazing how close you get to folks when you work close and hard with others. Some goodbye pic posted. Also civilian staff and IDF was so nice.

    We are also planning another group shabbos this evening, so far up to 10 people. So lots of shopping today.

    Thursday evening, did wash, and l lead candle lighting for the hotel. We had a dessert frenzie in Tel-Aviv. Note the cute mezuzah.

    Friday went to Carmel market to buy for a shabbos of 10 people. We will once again host this in the hotel lobby and have Jews from all over the world.

    While going through Tel-Aviv, we got to see the horrible damage caused by Irans response to Rising Lion, just realize the miracle that no one died in this horrible attack.

    Saturday night update: Once again we hosted a shabbos meal. We had 12, all Sar-El volunteers, but from all over the world and various religious level. It was very meaningful as each person shared their experiences. Wish I had pictures. One person from Australia had a wonderful voice, which added so much to a great Shabbos.    Read more

  • Michael MatatiaIsrael 2025Traveler
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    Chatire base, Negev desert

    December 21, 2025 in Israel ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C

    This is an ammunition processing base.

    Lovely sunset and sunrise. Spotted an Arabian Wolf this am, see pic. We are outfitted with our work gear and work starts at his am.

    We are sorting piles of debris into metal, cardboard and other. We process 155mm Shell casings and need to make sure no explosives nor scorpions or snakes are hiding in the spent tube. It is Dirty grueling work...but very much needed.

    It is now Weds evening nothing new to report, just the same project lots of hard and perhaps dangerous work. I came across some live ammo amongst the debris. I got hit by a metal strapping and cut by it so I needed to contact my Dr to see if I needed a Tetnus booster, luckily I am still covered.

    We left on Thurs , before leaving I got one picture approved. As described we separated materials, since the ammunition related has sensitive info but I was able to get a picture (approved) of the separated wood. Imagine a mound like this full of steel armor, plastic, explode storage boxes, cardboard all mixed in a pile similar to the one pictured.

    On leaving we had a long delay because one jacket was missing amongst the volunteers.    Read more

  • Michael MatatiaIsrael 2025Traveler
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    Netanya

    December 25, 2025 in Israel ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C

    Great unwind time. Lovely city north of Tel-Aviv with a beautiful cliff coast. For Friday night we went to Chabad. Interesting they did not have the blue chabad siddur, but many rebbe pictures. All hebrew of course. In the morning they had services at 7am and 9am, but we elected to go to closer one since it was stormy shabbat morning. It was one that used english for the sermon and other non davening. I unknowingly joined a smaller service that was all Hebrew, but the good side is I got an aliah. The kiddish had a lovely couple. celebrating their 60th anniversary and was one of the founders of the synagogue in the late 60s, They gave a talk he was a survivor of the holocaust and they moved from Toronto to Israel. Thier story was inspiring expressing the challenges to doing alliya to Israel.

    After the service we went for a walk on a semi rainy but extremely windy day. gusts had to be over 50mph. amazing number of surfers and wind surfers. waves had to be 8-10ft.

    Found this link from a handout at synagogue, seems like we can all use good news. You need to have translation enabled.
    https://verygoodnewsisrael.blogspot.com/

    Sunday after doing wash we went to JNF botanical gardens. See pics.

    Picking up rental car Monday to head to Golan Heights.    Read more

  • Michael MatatiaIsrael 2025Traveler
    1
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    Rosh Pina

    December 29, 2025 in Israel ⋅ ⛅ 11 °C

    Under a two hour drive from Netanya to Rosh Pina. We had torrential downpours but some amazing clearing sights. Lovely homey place we are staying at. Went to Safed, actually ran into a couple we know from Australia. Had amazing rainbow and sunset. Bought some me other Israeli whiskey...not M+H.

    Went on an amazing hike Tues, saw large plantation of olive trees, that hosted cattle, flowers, bee hives and great views.    Read more

  • Michael MatatiaIsrael 2025Traveler
    11

    Metula to Katzrin

    December 31, 2025 in Israel ⋅ ☁️ 11 °C

    We left Rosh Pina in the am, but we visited the arts section, historic synagogue and cemetery before leaving the area. We also saw some ruins that were built byJewish settlers that lived here in the early 1800s. We also bought a neat stained glass synagogue .

    We went north Metula a small town basically surrounded by been on that was devastated. citizens could only move back this past year. Note in the pictures total destruction of the lebanese villages, One picture some military movement across the boarder, but I realized this is the Israel occupied zone, so likely a military convoy. From here we headed south to Katarina.

    We rode through beautiful valley farm land. From ther we entered the Golan Heights that still has minefield warnings.

    The town of Katzrin in the Golan Heights had amazing history and artifacts .
    The Old City (Ancient Katzrin)
    * Built: The village was established in the 4th century CE (Byzantine period) as a Jewish farming community.
    * Destroyed: It was destroyed by the massive Golan Earthquake in 749 CE. While briefly resettled later by Mamluks, it was largely abandoned for centuries.
    * Today: It is an archaeological park and open-air museum. You can walk through reconstructed stone houses, see an ancient olive press, and explore the ruins of a grand 6th-century synagogue

    For dinner went to an amazing Hu.mus restaurant, that was colocated with a gas station.

    The next day we were to head north, had horrible fog and came across a bad 1 car accident, stopped to help and got to call their equivalent of 911. We elected to turn around and went to a nice winery instead.    Read more

  • Michael MatatiaIsrael 2025Traveler
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    Tiberias

    January 2 in Israel ⋅ ☀️ 16 °C

    Came to Tiberias mid day for shabbos. Here the car failed to restart, AVIS never picked up emergency phone, making us somewhat helpless. Found local Avis, and hiked across town, eventually resolved the issue. Our hotel was an old school built at the turn of the century, we are sleeping in an converted classrooms. Our future shabbos table can be seen over Galalie. Also pictured is the old Chabad we will go to . Hope to walk around Rambams tomb shabbos, how much more enriching can a Shabbos get?Read more

  • Michael MatatiaIsrael 2025Traveler
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    Hertzliya

    January 4 in Israel ⋅ ☀️ 8 °C

    The end is near, but we have one last destination. Hertzliya is north of Tel-Aviv, very modern with a lot of high tech startups. We are staying in a nice hotel overlooking the Mediterranean Sea.

    Explored entire city today, including ancient Roman citadel ruins.

    Went to airport, but the Greece RE radio outage playing havoc on flights, we may be bumped spending longer in Israel.    Read more

    Trip end
    January 6, 2026
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