Saturday: Our Farewell Dinner

Before leaving the hotel, we had a session where each of us got to share what our favorite mental snapshot of Israel was. It was clear that, as promised, this had been a life-changing trip for everyone, young and old. A few minutes later, we celebrated Havdallah. Unfortunately, it was too cold to do it outdoors, so we did it in a meeting room of the hotel. Nevertheless, it was our spirit that brought meaning to the service much more than any venue could.

Our last meal together was a festive one, held at a restaurant called Olive and Fish, just around the corner from our hotel. We loaded the bus with all of our luggage and then went to dinner. We were originally seated at the end of the main dining room, but after taking one look at us, the manager offered to move us upstairs to half of the private dining room (separated by a curtain from the other half which was waiting for a group that hadn't arrived yet). I made my final executive decision of the trip and approved the move upstairs.

Though wine wasn't included with our meal, we quickly decided to use our excess shekels to order some. We toasted our fearless guide, Muki, and our driver, Moshe, for never making us fear.

Sometime between the appetizers and the main course CJ threatened to start blowing the whistle that he had been given earlier in the day by a group having a Shabbat children's program at HUC. At that point I decided that it was time for he and I to take a walk. We went across the street to Liberty Bell Park, so named because of its replica of the American Liberty Bell.

We concluded our meal with mint tea and a delicious chilled chocolate mousse cake. We said our goodbyes to Vicky, who had previously arranged to stay an extra five days in Israel, and boarded the bus for Natbag, the Hebrew abbreviation for Ben Gurion Airport.