[Staff Guest Post] Recipe for a good time:

Posted on December 10, 2013 by Arlene Harel

Tags: alumni, Aviva Golbert, break / hofesh / vacation, Chanukah, childhood / children, Dead Sea, faculty / Pardes teachers, family, fun, hiking, holidays, Pardes Staff, pictures / photos, Rabbi Zvi Grumet, Rav Meir Schweiger, recipes, tiyulim

by Arlene Harel (Year '85), staff member since '03

Take 5 Pardes faculty, add in 6 staff members, mix with 4 spouses, sprinkle in 11 kids, stir well and dump them all near the Dead Sea at Nachal Og. What do you get?? The First Annual Pardes Faculty/ Staff Hannukah Hike. Why should students have all the fun on Meir’s tiyulim? Now it was our turn.

First big decision: Should we start the hike where we need to go up the ladders? Or start the hike where we will be going down the ladders? As we all know, Pardesniks are always reaching for higher heights, so we decided to climb up the ladders.

Yes, Zvi Grumet’s 3 year old made it up the ladders. Yes, Aviva Golbert’s 4 year old LuLu made it up the ladder. But… would we “more mature” hikers make it up to the top?? After some pulling, some pushing and words of encouragement, we all lived to tell the story. I’m already looking forward to next year…

Things I learned on the hike:

• Start early, avoid the crowds.
• Coffee is essential before a hike like this.
• Israeli kids are great hikers, no matter what kind of shoes they are wearing.
• Bring more food than you think you need, or hope your friends do.
• Karen makes the best potato chip/tuna-fish hors d’oeuvres.
• Meir is the best trip leader in Israel, maybe in the world.