You might assume that being back at home, in my own bed, with the soft sound of falling rain outside my window that I’d fall into a dead sleep without a care in the world. Well, you’d be very wrong.
After making sure the group arrived safely in Rome, jet lag and exhaustion got the best of me. I crashed around 9:30, knowing the group was going to the hotel, having dinner, and getting a few hours of sleep.
My eyes flew open at 2:00am and my heart was pounding. I immediately thought of “the kids.” I grabbed my phone and began to scroll through the 62 messages that were sent while I was “dozing.” Thankfully, my team in Israel was on top of everything.
To summarize, the group safely arrived in Rome. They were greeted at the airport, boarded awaiting buses, and were taken to a nearby hotel. Less than 6 hours later, they were back on the buses and returning to the airport. Aside from the usual bumps along the way (e.g. running late, a missing suitcase, delayed wake-up calls, boxed instead of sit-down breakfast, etc.), everything went according to plan.
They successfully got to the airport, checked in, and boarded their flight. A little more than 9 hours later, they landed in Boston.
We at Kenes Tours, Jewish National Fund – USA, and Alexander Muss High School in Israel are deeply relieved and are eternally grateful to everyone who helped make this happen. As I’ve repeatedly said, successfully completing this type of mission takes a village.
#missionaccomplished #baruchhashem
In the meantime, the situation is Israel rages on. The IDF found an ISIS instruction manual on the body of a terrorist; rocket alarms keep going off in the north; the death and injured tolls continue to rise; and on and on. The news is only bad.
I still feel sick, nervous, and worried about those who are there….those just trying to survive. I pray for their safety.
Through Jewish Eyes 