Welcome E-Mail (Winter)

Below is an e-mail that I send out to all of my participants upon being assigned to their trip. This e-mail is not specific to each trip, but should answer a lot of the questions you may have.

Hello,

My name is Rob Schapiro. I am one of the two madrichim (counselors) on your Sachlav Birthright Israel trip ([Trip Number]). The other madricha (female counselor) is Lori Rosenfelder. You will likely be hearing from her soon. The following is everything you should know about your upcoming trip. I will try to list it in order of importance…

Flight Information

Depart JFK: [Flight Date/Time] EST
Arrive TLV: [Flight Date/Time] Israel Time
Flight Number: [Flight Number]

Return Flight
Depart TLV: [Flight Date/Time] Israel Time
Arrive JFK: [Flight Date/Time] EST
Flight Number: [Flight Number]

Yes, I know the times above are in military time. There’s a good reason for this. I had one participant during Summer 2008 who booked his departure flight from LAX to JFK that had him arriving 12 hours late because he couldn’t understand the difference between AM and PM and he ended up missing his flight to Israel.

Everyone needs to be at JFK at least four hours prior to the flight ([Meet-Up Time]) for ticketing. If you are traveling from the Maryland/DC/Northern Virginia or Philadelphia area, please contact me if you are interested in carpooling to JFK.

The flight to Israel is 11 hours. The return flight is 13 hours (as a result of headwinds). We will most likely be traveling coach on a Boeing 747. When we arrive in Israel we will be arriving in the evening and getting up early the following morning, so make sure to get rest on the airplane.

Trip Itinerary

The trip itinerary is available at: [Trip Itinerary Link]

Please be advised that it is subject to change.

Orientation Video

The following is the orientation video. Please watch it in full and send me back an e-mail when you have done so. Thank you.

Video Link

Note: The video does not play in Mozilla Firefox. Try MS Internet Explorer.

Waivers/Passports

Some of you have already sent in copies of your waivers and passports. Those of you who haven’t need to read this section.

The Sachlav office needs to receive a copy of your waiver and passport as soon as possible. The most preferred way of sending it in is to fax it to: 646-218-4698.

If you are having problems sending a fax, you are welcome to scan them and e-mail them to me at: RMSchapiro@sachlav.info. I will ensure that they arrive at the office in Israel.

Some of you, depending on where your passport is from, may require a visa from the Israeli Embassy. If your passport is not either a US passport or an Israel passport, I would strongly recommend that you call the embassy and find out details about acquiring a visa. If you fall into this category, we NEED to hear from you as soon as possible. We had a participant drop from the group (and not get a refund for his deposit) because he didn’t tell us about his passport problem until the day before the trip.

Embassy of Israel
3514 International Drive NW
Washington, DC 20008
(202) 364-5500

If you happen to have two passports, it is in your best interest that you use your US passport during your travel as it causes the fewest complications.

Health Insurance

Birthright Israel Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) dictate that everyone purchases health insurance for the trip. You will need to bring $30 in cash with you to Israel. We will collect it upon arrival in Israel.

Security

As a matter of security, our tour will only be visiting the areas considered “safe” for tourists. To date, there have never been any participants or staff harmed on a Birthright Israel trip as a result of security. We will have one armed guard/medic with our group at all times. He/she will be equipped with an M1 Carbine Semi-Automatic Rifle, a GPS, and a trauma bag at all times. During our visits to areas near the borders we will have a second security guard/medic with us.

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