WAO’s Unforgettable Mission to Israel 2006

04.05.07

Members of the WAO mission with winners of a photography contest at ORT Kiryat Motzkim. The Womens America ORT Mission to Israel has been hailed by participants as an unforgettable experience. Between the 1st and 10th of March 2006, a group of nearly 50 women got the opportunity to go beyond the names and numbers that represent ORTs operations in Israel, and truly feel what ORT is all about. The group visited a number of schools on the mission including ORT Kyriat Motzkin, a Jewish school near Haifa where the WAO presented digital cameras to the winners of the schools photography competition and participated in small discussion groups on what its like growing up in that area, their concerns for Israel, their interests and passions. The mission also took the group to the amazing and vibrant ORT Ronson, a Druze school in Dalyiat El-Carmel, where ORT brought together students teachers from different religions and backgrounds (and even poets and a rabbi) to participate in a forum on co-existence. Click here to view the live journal for the mission. In between these unique ORT events the group also managed to pack the days full of touring, visiting the Golan heights, the quaint neighbourhood of Neve Tzedek in Tel Aviv, the fascinating tunnels under the old city in Jerusalem and not to mention a once the lifetime experience of visiting Tel Nof Air force base, where they climbed the control tower to meet the young Israelis whose job it is to send jet fighters up into the skies safely. There is no doubt that true bonds were made among the group and that they were united in a many special ways through a commitment to Israel, a Jewish identity and most of all through ORT a sincere dedication to which was shared by all.