By Caryl Auslander

Today we left Tel Aviv and traveled all the way to the northern part of Israel, about three hours in all. We made it to the Golan Heights, a strategic Israeli location overlooking Syria. Atop Mount Bental, in the Golan Heights, we met Lieutenant Colonel Eyal Dror, a current reserve officer in the Israeli Defense Force (IDF). Between the years of 2016 and 2018, Eyal established and commanded Operation Good Neighbor. 

Operation Good Neighbor helped rescue and heal over 3,000 Syrians as a result of their Civil War. Eyal Dror carried out roughly 700 humanitarian aid operations along the Israeli-Syrian border during this operation, a very dangerous task due to the many terrorist groups operating in Syria at the time. He shared a message of hope as he spoke of Syrian families saved by Israeli soldiers and doctors, and how it changed their opinions about Israel and Israelis. 

We left the Golan Heights and headed to an amazing restaurant called Beef, and the place was aptly named - we experienced a feast of various meats such as steak, lamb, and even a spicy Moroccan meat dish called merguez. All the food was delicious and like all of the meals on our trip, followed the laws of Kashrut. 

We then got back onto the bus and headed to Kibbutz Rosh Hanikra. This was special for us, as our tour guide was a good family friend, Idan Zaccai. My husband, Steve Auslander, met Idan on his first visit to Israel in 2013. They remained friends and since then Idan has Skyped with Steve’s 5th grade students and shared about life on his kibbutz. It was special to walk the grounds of the kibbutz of which we had heard so much. 

Kibbutz Rosh Hanikra borders Lebanon, which is run by a terrorist organization, Hezbollah. Idan shared stories about going to bomb shelters as a kid, and we all had the opportunity to travel into one of the many shelters located on the kibbutz. Despite being so close to Lebanon, and therefore Hezbollah, he says he feels completely safe. It is such a different way of life.

(Lebanon is on the other side of this mountain)

Finally, after departing from Rosh Hanikra, we checked into our hotel in Shavei Zion and walked to dinner where we met friends from our partnership region - our sister city relationship between Indianapolis and Akko/Western Galilee.  For some, it was a warm reunion with good friends, and for others, it was a wonderful first meeting. Partnership2Gether is all about people to people, creating connections between communities. The connections and friendships are genuine, and it makes it so nice to come to a different county and know you have friends waiting for you on the other side of the world.