By Jaime Grabell

We finally made it! Our dash to New York was complete.

We started our New York adventure by having a meeting with the American Jewish World Service. We learned about their work with Darfur and we were able to connect it to our Jewish teachings. We also learned how we can get involved in helping this situation. The meeting inspired me to get involved and help out.

We then walked to dinner and then to see the Broadway show, “Avenue Q”. It is a wonderful musical that is very funny and has much wisdom in it. Billy had asked us to consider the question, what does the play mean when it asks what does it mean to go outside your apartment? This message could be taken in two ways. One could mean to literally leave your apartment to go to college. The other could be interpreted as opening yourself to the world outside what you are used to. We should take a couple of risks and experience the world. This is very similar to the journey we are on this summer. Following “Avenue Q”, we walked through Times Square, saw the lights and went back to our hotel.

The next day we learned one key thing, timing is everything. First thing in the morning, we took the subway to Battery Park and got on a ferry for Ellis Island which had no line to get on. On the way, we passed the Statue of Liberty.

Billy had asked us to try and put ourselves in the shoes of our ancestors and what they thought when they saw the Statue of Liberty on their journey to America.

At Ellis Island, we learned how our ancestors got into America and all of the processes they had to go through.

When we took the ferry back to Manhattan, we were shocked to see an enormous line to get on the boats to Ellis Island. After our boat ride we were very hungry and what better way to take care of your hunger than to have some New York pizza.

Following lunch we went to Wall Street and heard about how the New York Stock Exchange works and the relation it has to the American Dream.

From there we walked to Ground Zero, which basically looks like a construction site but to most of us we were able to see beyond that to the true significance of this area. While we were there, Ezra told us his experience of being in Manhattan on September 11, 2001. We understood how the ideals of the American Dream are tied to Ellis Island, Wall Street and Ground Zero.

We then went to our hotel and changed for Friday night services at Bnai Jeshurun. These services were very different than what I am used to at home but very fun to experience. After services we went to a New York deli for dinner.

Saturday was a jam packed day. We began by having brunch and then to Central Park and listened to a man who goes by the title, “That Guitar Man in Central Park”, play guitar for a while as we relaxed in the park.

After that, we went downtown and walked through and experienced the Lower East Side, Chinatown and Little Italy. It was really neat to see how each community backed into each other. We then had time to shop on Canal Street.

After shopping, we caught the subway to Greenwich Village where we had dinner and some free time to walk around the Village.

On Sunday, our time in New York ended by going to the United Nations. We learned about all the work they do around the world and then also spoke about why some people are against the United Nations.

We all agreed that the job they do to make sure there is dialogue between countries is important. We then spent the afternoon driving to Boston.