Journey- to- Wellness

Journey- to- Wellness


JOURNEY TO NASHVILLE
Hi I thought it was time that I better write this blog. It was a great trip and I want to say that I am so grateful that the security hadn't reached that super alert stage yet. And There Iwas in Nashville surrounded by Israeli and Jewish dignitaries. We had plenty of security
I left Sat July 22. I flew out of LAX with about a dozen of my friends from our region The flight was OK I was walking around a lot visiting It was hard to sit for me
When we arrived we went straight away to the hotel THe Gaylord Opryland It was magnificent 5 STARS all the way. I will figure out a way to get my pictures on line
We checked in and rested and then had some dinner and then we were ready for the Grand Ole Opry. The Opry is world famous for country western music and southern type humor and entertainment and every Friday and Saturday night the show is broadcast on country western radio stations daughter thought I was going to the Opera and wanted to hear about it. I guess a lot of the younger generation isn't that familiar with hillbilly and country stuff
The show was great It was very long and we were tired but we hung it out The performers were great A lot of them really old like pushing 100. Then there were a lot of young ones Most of them I had never heard of but we got to see Jodie Dee Messina,
Jean shepherd, Hank Ketchum and the Riders of the Night and Vince Gill(he was fabulous) all the performers were great and there were probably 100 of them. Each one came out did song or two and then on to the next. The music was awesome you were either clapping your hands and feet or crying. It was a great experience and I am so glad I went
The next morning a friend and I went on a tour of the hermitage which was Andrew Jackson's Plantation It was really beautiful It was kept really well and the furnishings were incredible and the most beautiful gardens
Then it was time to come back and the start of the 92 NAtional HAdasah Convention. We had 90 delegates from So California so we were really proud
The first sessions always startsout out very jouous with music and dancing and it is very uplifting. We were all welcomed by National president June Walker who said that we must all step up to their advocacy for Israel during the current crisis in the middle east. The whole world is a narrow bridge she said isn't that the truth

Afterward all the Regional Presidents came to the stage one at a time with their signs proclaiming that Hadassah and their region stands with Israel in solidarity It was quite overwhelming
The rest of the afternoon we were entertained by the Israeli muscians as We Stepped to the rhythm of our Lives.




IN the evening Israeli Ambassador to the US Daniel Ayalon took the stage He proclaimed the delegates the real Zionists and thanking them for empowering Zionism as well as strong US-Israel relations. He said Israel will and the US must put up an iron fist against Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran will stay strong, defend our country and develop it. He encouraged Hadassah delegates to aid Israel as it tries to develop anmd grow new communities in the Negev and Galilee.
I know Hadassah will paeticipate in the challenge


We also heard from Professor ShlomoMor-Yosef, Director General of the Hadassah Medical Organization (HMO) who described how an always heroic medical team is going far beyond the call of duty. The HMO is the largest teaching and research hospital in the world with the most advanced technologies and procedures. It is the main project of Hadassah. HMO trains medical personal from all over the world, treats patients from allover the world (even the Arabs)
they turn no one away. In this time of war they have been sendingmedical units out into the battlefields and in times past they sent medical teams to Katrina and to diaster areas and third world countries all over the world.
It is part of the HAdassah Tikkun Olam Heal the world.
Many of the other MEdical personal wee there to describe new advances in their areas such as research in cancer and metabolic diseases.

Another highlight of the evening was the Holecaust Memorial in Whitwell Tenn,In 1998 undert he guidance of Linda Hooper , Princial of the WHitwell Middle school in the middle of Appalachia where there wasn't a Jew for hundreds of miles and no one in Whitwell even knew a Jew , they started a project on diversity. The students started to learn more about the Holocaust and wanted to do a tribute to the 6 million jJews who were killed in the death camps in World War II
having no idea what 6 million represented they wanted to collect 6 million something so that it would be tangible. They decided on paper clips. Paper clips were invented by a Norgwegian Jew and Norwegians wore them on their lapels to show their solidarity with their Jewish neighbors during WWII. They wrote to government people and clelbraties and people allover yhe country . They received over 20 million paper clips.
Today a WWII -era German rail car filled with 11 million paper clips(representing 6 million Jews and five million gypsies, homosexuals and other victims of the Holcaust ) prominently sits in the schoolyard of Whitwell Middle School. The power of one little schoolillustrates an unforgettable lesson on changing the worldone classroom at a time.. At any one time there are busloads of tourists to see this incredible Memorial.
They mad e a movie out of the story of Whitwell Middle school and their tremendous project
I believe the women of HAdassah link their hearts to our students to create a worldwhere acceptance, tolerance, and love are the rule and not the exception, said the principal.

I am going to stop here I am very tired right now I hope you enjoy and learn from this reading
In love & health
Karen