This Time Tomorrow!

Our bags are packed and weighed. We had a beautiful farewell blessing on Friday "near" the sukkah as it was too rainy to be in it! We will wave goodbye to Cedar Village tomorrow morning and at this time tomorrow evening we will be winging our way to Israel!

Countdown!

We have one week to go and we are so excited! Today we had a visit from Congresswoman Jean Schmidt who shared her memories of visiting Israel and talked with us about how important Israel is both to visit and to protect.

Preparing!

Although we know that the B'nai Mitzvah will depart for Israel in just over one month, the words will not seem real until we climb onto the bus and head towards the airport. Right now we are consumed with getting ready. We have been meeting with the residents, helping them prepare. We've doing weekly fitness walks and Hebrew classes. We've raised money and prepared gifts to take with us for the children in the youth villages. We are in countdown mode, that is for sure!

Celebration and Transformation

In 2007, Cedar Village became the third senior care facility in the nation to undertake a ten-day mission to Israel.  It was an extraordinary undertaking to take seniors, with an average age of 85, traveling internationally and maintaining the same intense schedule of missions done with younger participants. From the top of Masada to floating in the Dead Sea and from a visit to Yad Vashem to a private audience with the U.S. Ambassador, the team from Cedar Village was in constant motion and had constant learning.

Just weeks from now, Cedar Village will become the first anywhere to undertake an entirely new kind of mission—a B’nai Mitzvah Mission to Israel.  What does that mean?  Cedar Village is currently in its thirteenth year and as we thought about the significance of that year in Jewish tradition, we recognized that is the time that young people have a Bar or Bat Mitzvah, confirming their commitment to their faith. Why not, we thought, make the ceremony of Bar of Bat Mitzvah, B’nai Mitzvah, available to our residents?

On October 12, nine residents, both from our Health Care Center and apartments, will begin this unprecedented journey.  And on October 15, at Robinson’s Arch in Jerusalem, they will take part in the B’nai Mitzvah ceremony.  Some of the participants did not have the opportunity to do this when they were young people, others will be doing it for the second time.  All will have a chance to say the blessings over the Torah, to read or chant a section and to deliver their own words of commentary.

The B’nai Mitzvah ceremony will be broadcast live, via U-Stream, to families here at home and will be recorded for future viewing.  It will be followed by a special luncheon which will certainly celebrate this incredible achievement.

Of course, this is not all that will happen during the Mission. There is a full schedule for the rest of the trip including visits to the Knesset, Masada, the Dead Sea, Yad Vashem and more. Residents will be in Jerusalem, Haifa and spend two nights on a kibbutz.

Throughout the mission, we will be sending photos and blogging daily. Why?  Because this mission is not just about those who are a part of it, rather it is for everyone at Cedar Village. Those who cannot travel are still engaged and involved in the experience and they will have the opportunity to participate to whatever extent is possible for them.