By the time that most of you are finishing the last of your Thanksgiving leftovers or hugging your final houseguest goodbye, David Jacobs and I will be headed to JFK airport to begin our two-week adventure to Poland and Israel. We are traveling, together with 35 Jewish Community Center professionals, representing 15 JCCs throughout North America, to learn about new directions and exciting opportunities in Jewish travel. The Jewish Community Center Association (JCCA) has developed an innovative new program, JCC Boarding Pass, designed to help communities like ours explore Israel and Jewish life around the world, tailored specifically to our own needs and interests. On this trip, David and I will sample the unique experiences that JCCA can provide for upcoming Mandell JCC journeys. Our days will be busy, that is more than likely an understatement, but we want to see and do as much as possible while we are there. We are both looking forward to getting to know our colleagues from across the country; sharing their ideas and maybe even making a a few matches with other communities for future travel. I am certain that we will work hard, and am also fairly confidant that we will laugh plenty too; after all if we have fun, you will too. The details of our itinerary will be revealed as we go along, too much information now and you would have no incentive to continue reading! If you are new to "blogging”, let me offer an introductory disclaimer: this is a stream of consciousness medium, there are bound to be typos and grammatical errors. This is a virtual postcard to let you know where we are and what we are doing. We will share all the highlights and promise to offer up a few "lowlights" as well. Keep in mind that our posts are going to be written on little sleep and without any "proofreaders," our messages are intended to be more personal than corporate. Think of it like a postcard from a traveling friend, thus our blog title, Postcard from The Mandell JCC. Feel free to Email us at the blog address below with questions, comments or criticism (be gentle) and we will do our best to get back to you when technology allows.
In the meantime, we are both very busy reading up on our destinations, finalizing the complicated process of ensuring that our technology will function in both countries, and attempting to pack for 14 days in varying climates in one 50 lb. suitcase (that is somehow is going to weigh under 40 lbs for one leg of the air travel). I unfortunately did not have time to learn any conversational Polish or Hebrew, but I'm sure there is an "App" for that, so I should be fine if I find myself separated from the group and in need of assistance. David has downloaded Simon Sebag Montefiore’s book “Jerusalem – The Biography” for the long airplane and bus rides; my prediction is that we will be too busy talking to our colleagues to do much reading…or we will be napping.
There a few ways to "follow" this blog, all will get you to lthe same place, http://www.blogger.com/www.postcardfromthemandelljcc.blogspot.com (find us directly at that address). We will post links daily on our website and Facebook page, and "tweet" it out there at the same time. Easier still is to enter your personal email address in the empty space bar on the blog site or become a "follower" and you'll automatically be sent any new posts. We will do our best to update you daily, including photos and videos when possible, and introduce you to all the exciting people and places we visit. We hope all of you will be with us "virtually" for this trip.
Next time, pack your bags; we're doing this together...
Talk to you from JFK,
Jill and David
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