My Bar Mitzvah Trip
By Joshua Aril Soudakoff
On Monday, June twenty-first, my family and I left Los
Angeles International Airport (LAX) for Toronto, where we stopped for an
one hour layover. After Toronto, we continued on to Ben Gurion Airport in
Israel. After landing in Israel in late Tuesday afternoon, we drove to
Jerusalem. When we landed, I couldn't believe that we WERE in Israel. It
just didn't feel like it. Yes, the scen ery and the people were obviously
middle-eastern, but it just didn't feel like we
flew halfway around the world.
In Jerusalem, we took advantage of the two days before my Bar Mitzvah to
get familiar with the surroundings. We went to Me'a She'earim. Me'a
She'earim is a very religious area in Jerusalem. My grandfather used to
live there before he moved to the U.S. My grandfather bought me a tallit
there for my Bar Mitzvah.
As I did some sightseeing around Jerusalem, I could tell that the media
was exaggerating about the conflict here. There were no ambulances racing
around, no police officers arresting people about. Just daily life taking
place.
On June twenty-fourth, I had my Bar Mitzvah. It was an amazing experience.
It took place in Jerusalem. More specifically, the Western Wall, or as the
locals call it, HaKotel Hama'aravi. About twenty people came to my Bar
Mitzvah. It was an event that I will never forget about.
After my Bar Mitzvah, we celebrated in my hotel, Sheraton Jerusalem Plaza.
We had a reception and the food was excellent.
We did some sightseeing before we left for Tel Aviv. We went to Ben Yehuda
Street, where we encountered many Israeli wandering around and purchased
things from the stores and restaurants situated on the street. We saw the
famous Chagall Windows at the Hadassah Hospital as the security were kind
to let us see it despite being closed due to construction in the hospital.
At night, Israel is very beautiful. We also strolled around the streets
taking in all the sights. We visited Yad Vashem, a large sprawling museum
about the Holocaust, along with beautiful scenery and statues placed here
and there.
We left on Sunday for Tel Aviv. On the way, we stopped in a town called
Petah Tikvah. The town is home to eight generations of family graves on my
mother's paternal side of the family. My great great great grandfather,
Yehoshua Stampfer, founded the town. I was named after him.
We arrived in Tel Aviv in the afternoon. We discovered that our hotel was
situated right by the beach. We settled down that night. The next day, we
went to Tel Aviv University and visited my second cousin, Tamar. She
showed us around and took us into the private zoo there. We took a van and
drove around Tel Aviv, Jaffa, and Bat Yam, where my grandfather grew up.
We went to the Diaspora Museum. It was a very good museum. Over the next
few days, we just spent our time on the beautiful beach. The Mediterranean
Sea is very warm!
After Israel, we flew to Switzerland. We stayed there five days. We
enjoyed ourselves and admired the beautiful mountain scenery. It was very
weird when we went into the Alps and stood on the Top of Europe' near
Interlaken. There was thick snow everywhere and I had to remind myself
that it was July, not January as I played in the snow.
We left Switzerland and headed for Milan and Rome, Italy by train. We met
our private deaf tour guide, Terry Giansanti who planned our trip in Rome,
Pompeii, Pisa, Florence, Sienna, and Venice.
In Rome, we had the opportunity to meet another tour guide, Roy Doliner,
an sign language interpreter, who resides in New York and Rome. He showed
us around Ancient Rome. The only difference between him and other guides
in Rome was he told us about Jewish History in Rome! He took us to the
Roman Forum and
explained the history behind it, which involved Jewish people. He also
took us to a kosher restaurant in the Jewish Ghetto there. After a great
meal, he led us to the Sinagogia di Roma, or as we call it, The Synagogue
of Rome. For a week, we toured most of Italy. We visited three synagogues,
one in Rome, one in Florence, and one in Venice.
We went on a plane for Amsterdam, Holland. After landing in the Schipol
(Amsterdam Airport), we went to our hotel. We stayed in Holland for five
days. It was a fun experience. We visited a synagogue in Amsterdam, ate in
a kosher restaurant there, and saw the Anne Frank House. It was really
cool to see places that I'd only read about come to life.
We left Amsterdam for Heathrow Airport in London, England. There, we saw
the JDA (Jewish Deaf Association) building and visited the Jewish area in
London. We also did some sightseeing there during our one week's stay.
Finally, after five weeks, we flew home non-stop to Los Angeles. We were
sad to leave all of the exotic places in Europe, but at the same time, we
missed our home and our pet dog, Oggie.
Overall, it was an amazing experience. I would love to go again and again
and again and f) well you get the point. My favorite part about the whole
trip was that we got the chance to see an Jewish aspect from almost each
country we visited. I don't think that many Jewish people have this
opportunity to see the world from Jewish eyes, not as any other tourist.