Welcome To Berlin!

After more than 5 years our journey is finally beginning!  I feel such a huge sense of responsibility as dear friends from the TAE community have been making the trek to Europe all week long, with our largest group traveling together today.  

Here are some of the 12 of us who flew together from Los Angeles to Frankfort before connecting to Berlin.  

After landing in Frankfort we added our names to the welcome book signed by so many.  How cool to see   Temple Adat Elohim in a book in Germany!

I have to admit there was a strange feeling landing in Berlin and walking off the plane.  Here we were, 12 of us from the Adat Elohim community choosing to come to Germany, a place where 85 years ago Jews were trying to get away from this place.  The irony was not lost on any of us.  Of course we recognize that today Germany is one of the most important allies to Israel and friendly to the Jewish community. How powerful it is already to be here.

Walking off the plane it was clear right away that Germany seems to be quite a polite country.  This was made evident in the fact that everyone followed the directions at the baggage claim.  

Now I think we can ALL agree that this would not be a sight we would see at LAX!  Thankfully all of our luggage arrived, and after a small snafu with our transfer bus not showing up at the airport, we made our way to the hotel, checked in and a group of us walked to a local Italian restaurant for a nice dinner.  On the walk I noticed the really cute “walk” signs at the crosswalks.

After a delicious dinner we walked back to the hotel in order to try to get some rest.  For many of us we have been up for more than 24 hours (some of us do not sleep well on planes).  We ran into two other TAE travelers who had just arrived to begin their adventure.  Tomorrow is a free day as our tour does not officially start until Tuesday evening.  I am looking forward to exploring some of Berlin with Leasa who traveled here before during college.  I am so excited to share these moments with our group of 34 from Temple Adat Elohim.  And I hope you will be along for the journey virtually with us.  There will be many moments of heaviness and sadness as we recall the atrocities of the Holocaust, something that we always thought could never happen again, and yet, with the dramatic rise in antisemitism in the United States and made most evident with the heinous attack on Israelis in Amsterdam last week, somehow this event does not seem so far fetched.  We will dive into World War 2 history and also experience the beauty and culture that these cities offer today.  Mostly we will create memories and connections that will bond us for life.