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    Dear EURO 4G parents,
We cannot believe our first wonderful week of the program is already behind us! What a jam packed week. We met Monday at JFK in AMERICA, and landed in MADRID, SPAIN Tuesday morning! Our first day was filled with swimming and water sports on Pantano De San Jaun, followed by a tour of the bustling city of Madrid and its world famous palaces! On Wednesday, we made our way to TOLEDO, and after getting our disposable cameras (a picture a day so we can capture these priceless moments together) walked through the picturesque old city. First stop was a Spanish musician showing us the traditional tunes of Toledo and then to the ancient Sefardic Jewish museum and ancient shul. We made our way through the old Jewish quarter with exclusive access to hidden Mikvahs under private homes! After, we had our first advisor led chaburas, and on to CORDOBA! Thursday we toured Córdoba’s Jewish quarter where the Rambam grew up! We brought Jewish life back to the Rambam’s shul for the first time in 500 years by singing there together. Then, we travelled further down Spain to GRANADA on 17 Tammuz to tour Alhambra palace, the place where Ferdinand and Isabella signed the decree for the Spanish Inquisition. We reflected together on how they tried but thankfully failed to keep Jews like your incredible daughters from coming back to Spain after all these years. And finally, today we crossed the boarder to our next country GIBRALTAR! We are having lunch in an authentic European cafe, tour of the rock of Gibraltar monkeys included! And off to get ready for our first incredible Shabbos together! Thank you for entrusting us with your most precious gems. This group is so special and each of your daughters makes that true. Read below a reflection from our very own EURO 4Ger, Deena Lesnoy! Week one of Euro 4G was an absolute blast! Here’s the run down; Day one, we met our summer family at the airport and we got our super cute ‘best summer ever’ shirts. Then we hopped on the plane to our first stop in Spain! After a 6 hour plane ride we landed in the beautiful capital city of Madrid! We met our amazing tour guides: Eli, Eric, and Amikam. We started off our awesome adventure with water sports!! We went kayaking, stand up paddle boarding, boating, and swimming (with HUGE fish)! Then we went on a walking tour of the beautiful Madrid where we saw a massive, stunning palace. We said Tehillim for the people who died Al Kiddush Hashem during the Spanish Inquisition and appreciated the incredible fact that we are still here today. Then, we headed off to our first hotel in Madrid. We ate dinner while having a bonding night activity. Wake up the next day was bright and early at 7:00am and we headed out to our next stop in Toledo. Surprise! We got disposable cameras to make awesome memories with! We met another amazing tour guide, Alexandro, who knows everything about Toledo... we even got to learn some Spanish from him. We saw gorgeous panoramic views of the city, walked through stunning Toledo and literally went into people’s homes to go down to their basements! Why? To see actual mikvah’s from Spain’s Golden Age, before we were exiled. Wow!! We saw a live performance on the Santur, which is an ancient instrument. Next, we visited the Sephardic shul, which is of 3 shuls that are left in all of Spain. Then, we took a lunch break and had our first Chaburah! (Which was amazing!) We reloaded the busses and drove to our next beautiful hotel in modern Cordoba. Then we had OUR FIRST NIGHT ACTIVITY! Speed dating! And before we knew it, it was time for bed. The next day was a fast day but that didn’t stop us from having a packed, epic day of touring. We drove to ancient Cordoba, which is the Rambam’s hometown! We saw a statue of the Rambam and visited his shul. There, we sang Acheinu together which was such an incredible experience! It gave me the chills!! We were onto our next stop, Grenada. We saw not one, not two, not three or four, but FIVE palaces!! We stood in the very room where the edict was signed to kick the Jews out of Spain. And as we stood there, one of the largest groups of Jews to visit since we were exiled, we showed them that they couldn’t keep us out. We headed back to our hotel for an amazing pizza break-fast dinner. We ended off the night creating our first (and best) cheer of the summer! Tomorrow we are off to Gibraltar, crossing the border by foot!! BEST SUMMER EVER! Wishing you a beautiful Shabbos from Gibraltar! Shayna Gewirtz EURO 4G Director |
