Month: May 2019

May 22, 2019 1:00 am in New York, 8:00 am in Israel

Somewhere between Spain and Italy–39,000 feet at 606 MPH

Dear Family and Friends,

It’s 1 am by my internal clock but the sun is up outside the plane. According to my Garmin I’ve had one hour of sleep which would not be bad at the present 1 am EST time, but we are 2 hours and 30 minutes from our destination. The staff will be serving breakfast soon, as I can smell the coffee brewing in the galley.

Entry into Israel through Israeli airport security was a new experience. We arrived at 1:40 and at 2:00 we began our passport checks for our 5:30 flight which included a series of 20 questions about who we are, employment status, our reason for going, where in Israel we would be going, were we taking any gifts to anyone, did we know anyone personally in Israel, did we pack our cases by ourselves, were we going or had we been in any surrounding country. Since I have a new vary large visa in my passport from my trip to Egypt, I got a second set of 20 questions about why I went to Egypt, with whom did I go, my reason for going, where did I stay, do I know anyone personally in Egypt, did I correspond to anyone in Egypt, etc. No wonder you are suggested to arrive at the airport 3 hours ahead!

Our group is not the only group on a religious pilgrimage. There are about 50 Hassidic Jewish men (some with wives and families) in our section of the plane. Before the flight they met as a group to pray for the trip and they have had evening prayers and morning prayers on the plane. Evening prayers were with long coats and top hats and morning prayers with prayer shawls, arms and head wrapped in scripture. Since about 6 am a group of 10 or more have been in the isles and exit areas praying. Taking turns until all have prayed. I’ve never felt so protected in a flight and it was as smooth as silk.

Getting ready to land. I’ll post this when I reach wifi.

Ellen and Linda