Birthright

Recently I went on a birthright trip to Israel. I took a lot of nice recordings over there and am going to be putting them up in batches over the coming days or maybe all in one shot right now because I have a cold and nobody will see Avatar with me. A lot of what you might hear on these will be inside jokes, but it might just be nice to hear foreign people speaking English, water in motion, or rocks beneath feet. To those of you who were on my trip and are going to be listening to these clips, I hope they serve as reminders of an amazing experience and as accompaniment to whatever pictures you might have. Why am I writing this as if people I don’t send the link to are actually visiting?

[Note: most of these clips are unedited]
[Note: I still can’t find anybody to see Avatar with me so I’m putting all of the clips up right now]

Starting things off with a Shehechiyanu blessing (:14)


The sound of a stream [or a crowded mens’ room] on a lovely nature hike (:20)


The sound of a waterfall on a lovely nature hike (:28)


Our amazing guide, Kineret, tells the story of Eli Cohen (7:14)


Bus count-off blunder and then a smooth one (1:02)


Serenaded by Israelis at a Messibamba (:46)


A man named Avraham from Detroit talks about Kabbalah but sounds like this guy I used to know who listened to Phish a lot (5:48)


My new friend Shlomy talks about the week’s Torah Portion, the story of Joseph (3:17)


Adam Rubin says a beautiful Kiddish before eating at one of Israel’s finest hotels (:53)


Introducing the Disco Chicken (:24)


Kineret was late so she had to sing a song (American Pie) (2:48)


A young man embarrassingly asks a previously answered question (:12)


Story about the Tikvah [turn your volume up] (1:00)


A recording of an especially moving recording of the Tikvah from the House of Independence (1:49)


Return of Disco Chicken with slight technical difficulties (1:15)


A Bedouin demonstrates horse and camel rhythms with a coffee pot (:29)


Yours truly getting crunchy with the aforementioned Bedouin who is now playing the Oud (5:32)


Dogs on a starry night (1:22)


Our group singing the Tikvah at Mount Herzel (1:18)


Jerusalem Bells (:26)


Church choir at the Holy Sepulchre (2:42)


“Thir-teen” and Michelle’s laughter (:18)


Shlomy says nice words on our final day (1:12)


Shlomo thanks Doron, the tale of Schnitzy, farewell to Disco Chicken, and “Thanks for flying Shlomy” (2:10)