End Of The Decade--Part 11 2017 Trip To Israel

In October of 2017, I joined a friend of mine, Joe Saxon and members of Temple B'Nai Torah on a dream fulfilling trip to Israel.  Although my wife did not go on the trip, she played a major part in getting the arrangements made.  Hopefully, if there is a return trip, she can accompany me.
Sadly, Joe Saxon passed away a little over a month after returning home.
The top picture was taken near our hotel in Tel Aviv.  The bottom picture is member of the Israeli Army (IDF) posing for my camera at Yad Veshem, the holocaust memorial and museum in Jerusalem.

Memories Of Joe

2017 would have been the most wonderful year for Joe Saxon, he traveled to Italy, then Israel, he traveled with his son to LA to watch the Seahawks beat the Rams, he found out that he was about to become a grandfather for the first time, he celebrated his 80th birthday, then one week after his birthday, he died.
Joe and I had been friends for several years. He was a customer at The UPS Store where I work.  We shared an interest in sports and Jewish culture. 
For the past several years, I was his guest annually at the Fred Hutchinson Awards luncheon.  I got to meet such baseball greats as Cal Ripken,Jr, Carlton Fisk, Dave Winfield, and Rod Carew.
We would go to temple together on Shabbat and the High Holidays.

Joe would make friends with practically everyone he met.  I always looked forward to his coming to the store.  Joe was not a drinker, but when we went out for dinner, he would always order a Long Island Ice Tea, which he thought did not have much alcohol (he was wrong), 

Joe had an amazing sports memorabilia collection with stuff that he obtained from auctions.  He would bring various sports artifacts to the store for us to pack and ship.

This fall, we both fulfilled a personal dream with our trip with our temple to Israel.  It was only a few weeks later on December 9th that I got a call from his son.  I thought that maybe they were calling to invite me to watch a Seahawk game with them, but it was dismal news that Joe had died. 

I will dearly miss him.

Israel--Wrapping Up A Fabulous Trip

It's been over 10 days since I've returned from my trip to Israel and well over 20 days since the trip began. I've constantly posted pictures since the trip's beginning and continued posting well after my return and yet, I feel that I have so much more to share.
 My friend Joe and I traveled with our temple in Bellevue, because of the small number of us who were able to make the trip, we were joined by the Temple Beth El from St. Petersburg, Florida.  Within the two groups, there were contrasts.  The Florida group was lead by their charismatic and learned rabbi (bottom picture on right), we were lead by our Cantor David Serkin-Poole.  Each made valuable contributions to our visit.  The Florida group was all couples, along with a daughter and seemed to know each other well, while our group mostly left spouses at home and were getting to know each other.  Joe and I flew over and back on Air Canada's 787 (middle picture). 
It was on this trip that we realized how perilous this country's existence can be.  While we visited the Golan, we could see beyond the borders of Syria and Lebanon, both generally hostile countries toward Israel.  The trip gave us context into the media's coverage of the country. 
The two great cities Tel Aviv and Jerusalem are so close, yet so different.  Tel Aviv, is the stylish, cultural center of the country, it is where the State Of Israel was born and is recognized diplomatically as the "capital"    Jerusalem (top picture), little more than 50 miles away is so different.   It is the spiritual city.  It is the hub of three major religions, Judaism, Islam, and Christianity.  The Arabs and Jews often coexist in harmony. You can often hear the Muslim calls for prayer throughout the day.  Arabs are often working alongside Jews.
Our guide Shari (bottom picture left) did an outstanding job teaching and reporting and helping us get to know the country that we love. 
There is a lot to be proud of in the State Of Israel, the country was developed from a desert to a fertile country and seems in many ways so peaceful, but being a young country, with so many security issues (you see soldiers both men and women throughout the country) there are so many questions.

Yad LaKashish

One of the last places we visited was Yad LaKashish, an innovative workshop for senior citizens, based in Jerusalem. 
Instead of resting in retirement homes, this program allow seniors to learn and perform crafts which allows them to feel a sense of purpose.  Their craft are sold at a gift shop and can also be purchased online.

Jerusalem At Night

Taken from our hotel in the Dan Panorama.

Israel Founding Father Dies

Shimon Peres, who served as foreign minister, defense minister, prime minister and most recently, president of Israel, has died at 93 after suffering a stroke. Peres helped build the Israeli armed forces, then sought peace with it's Arab neighbors. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1994.