Kilometers For Koby Daily Blog - by Lee Lasher

Kilometers For Koby Daily Blog - by Lee Lasher

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Lee's Blog Day 1

Today was Day 1. We have a great group of interesting people from various countries and backgrounds. We hiked approx 15 kilometers in the area of Tel Dan in Northern Israel.

The land was lush with greenery and wild flowers. We hiked through farms, fields, hills and flowing water along the northern border of Israel. The entire day was surrounded by breathtaking scenery.

We started the hike by viewing ruins of an ancient Canaanite city from around the time of Abraham (approx 3800 years ago) and finished almost 8 hours later at a memorial for 12 soldiers killed in a Ketusha rocket attack in 2006 at the entrance to Kfar Giladi.

It was tiring but with each step I knew I felt more connected to the Land of Israel and People of Israel because I knew I was here to support the amazing work of KMF & Camp Koby.

This years' Camp Koby is slated to host up to 500 children in a series of 10 day sessions during the month of July.  Each session includes tours, swimming, sports, daily therapeutic activities including arts and crafts, music, or drama, and group discussions dealing with emotional issues related to grief. The American style sleep away camp provides kids whose parents or siblings were murdered in terror attacks with a safe, fun and therapeutic environment where they feel comfortable expressing the grief and anxiety that accompanies the sudden death of a parent or sibling.

The Koby Mandell Foundation is named after Koby Mandell and Yosef Ishran two 8^th grade boys murdered by Arab terrorists near their home in Tekoa. 

Lee's Blog Day 2

Well, today began with our first emergency. No, not medical emergency, but someone forgot their blackberry charger......Thanks to Dovid Kupinsky of KMF who is looking after all of us the "emergency" was resolved by a late night stop to the mall to get a new charger.

Everyone stays  connected here even when hiking in some of the most beautiful scenery in the North......

Today we did a grueling 20 kilometer hike in  Harai Naftali and Nachal Dishon. I really don't know how I/we did it. We had some steep ascents and descents but our hiking poles really helped. 

It's hard to describe how beautiful the scenery was. It looked like the American West with gorges, and running rivers. We had to cross 4-5 ponds by maneuvering on stones or walking through the water. Along the way we saw incredible flowers including one that looks like a purple sea urchin. The day ended with a very good bottle of local Pinot Noir and lots of Advil. This country, our country is so beautiful. Let's try to work together to keep it.....

Lee's Blog Day 3

Today we hiked to Har Meron where no doubt Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai walked and meditated and this clearly influenced the day, a spiritual one indeed but I'll get back to that. It was an 11-12 kilometer hike often climbing up and took "only" 8 1/2 hours. It's amazing how the body adapts and I can keep doing this each day,   but it is exhilarating.

We started the day (like each day) with someone giving a beautiful prayer asking our Creator to keep us safe, keep Israel & the Jewish People safe and united.

The scenery was again gorgeous.  Today I resembled the Adirondack's or the mountains of Vermont and Maine.

In one section of a dense pine forest we walked in total silence for 45 minutes. We listened to the birds sing, and to our hearts beating and I must say I had many deep thoughts. I thought about family, friends and how we all have the power to help each other our Communities and Am Yisrael. We must use that power.

I also thought about the pain of the families who have suffered from a terror attack and how KMF helps them truly heal. Anyone supporting KMF is part of that healing. With that in mind later in the day as I walked with Sherri Mandell we talked about the weekly Mother's Group and innovative Healing Programs like psychodrama. One Mother who lost a child said recently "I live with a cork inside of me, when I come to the weekly program I can take the cork out."

Right now we are in a beautiful moshav called Amirim and just returned from a wonderful gourmet dinner. At dinner a young guy with no kippa came up to us and said that he had just gotten married on Sunday and was having small honeymoon.  Since he saw our kippot  he asked if we could make sheva brachot for him (I'm not making this up). The women in the group danced with the bride and then we finished our meal and recited  the sheva brachot (I had bracha #2). The wine was poured into the 3 glasses and then 2 were given to the bride and groom. They, and we, were so thankful to have done this mitzvah. It was a magical ending to a magical day. 

Perhaps the spirituality of the day was influenced by Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai or our own power.  Most importantly it showed again that "Am Yisrael Arevin' Z'Bezeh", "Every Jew is responsible or perhaps more accurately connected to every other Jew". This young couple were total strangers when they came up to us and then we were reciting  sheva brachot and became family......isn't that what KMF does for the families and children they helping and what we do by supporting Camp Koby?...

Lee's Blog Day 4

We continued our hike today from the top of Har Meron to the Tomb of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai. It was a "mild" hike now that we have become "expert" hikers :))  We arrived at the actual Kever (grave) by around 1pm a day or two after  Lag B'Omer celebrations when tens of thousands descend upon this holy spot.

We davened Minchah, had lunch and then continued on a grueling but breathtaking 3 plus hour hike through what looked like the jungles of Africa. Vines and trees, sounds of wild animals, amazing flowers, flowing river and pools of water filled with large fish in which we either swam in or walked through. We climbed up & down through narrow paths and over difficult stones. This was one of the hardest stretches of the week but also so one of the most beautiful.

When I remarked to someone in the group that I was upset that the  Holy Rabbi's tomb had not yet been cleaned up after the  Lag B'Omer celebrations (for those who know me mess & I don't get along so well :)) and then amazed by the beautiful hike right after and how better I felt she said "why don't you see both as connected and as one". What a great lesson on life and the difficulties we face. Don't see them as individual moments of pain or frustration but try to connect them to something positive and grow from them. See them as part of the larger picture of the amazing life we can all live and many blessings God has given us.

We did 13 kilometers today and so far hiked a total of 60 in 4 days. We drove to Neve Ilan near Jerusalem at night and tomorrow we hike the hills of Jerusalem. What a way to end this amazing trip for KMF.

Lee's Blog Day 5 - Final Day

Today was our last day of the hike and somehow we had renewed energy and were up early, excited  for more.

We started our hike from the area near Beit Meir. It began with  an extremely steep descent and those hiking poles came in very handy. It was the scariest part of  the hike so far and by some of the loud "colorful" comments from the group in the back (you know who you are) I thought we had joined a group hiking for the International Tourette's Syndrome Foundation :)).

We made it down and continued on the 12 kilometer hike taking us to Tzuba. Rabbi Mandell & I had another philosophical discussion about God, light, darkness, good, evil, 10 levels of creation from Kabala. I really enjoyed these conversations throughout the 5 days. From there it was another 7-8 kilometers to Ein Kerem, and the end of the hike. When we stopped for lunch we were joined by a reporter from The Jerusalem Post who filmed us for a  video news spot. I was interviewed and tried to express how incredible this hike was and how anyone who could possibly can should do it not only for KMF but for themselves. We had an emotional "farewell" discussion over lunch and talked about pain and growing from it and healing.

I am not sure how many people realize that families who suffer from a traumatic loss including terror attacks have to cope with the pain and loss for the rest of their lives. If we can help the healing process by supporting the great work of KMF how can we not do so???

Sherri made an extremely insightful comment about our group. It was amazing, she said, how "total strangers" had become so close in 5 days and were working as one unit. She wanted us to know that just as we could see how close our group had become we should understand that this is what Camp Koby does for the children it serves. The children come together with their pain and by becoming one close knit group they feel at home with each other and so can express how they feel about their loss. This is part of the healing process for them.

Dovid met us at Tzuba with ice coffee and chocolate rugalach and boy did it taste good. Dovid was a godsend on this trip, following us and providing water, lunch and for all our other needs. I hiked 72 kilometers (approx 45 miles) in 5 days. How? I am not sure but all I can say is that each of us is capable of doing more and reaching or exceeding our goals. I showered and made it to the Kotel for the swearing in ceremony of Yoel Felsen (Michael & Dena's son), who joined the Kfir Unit of the IDF.

I walked the land of Israel for 5 days to support The Koby Mandell Foundation and Yoel will be pushed to train in order to protect the land for 1 year. Each of us can do our part of Am Yisrael.......