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Andy and Sara

Meisner at

their hotel in

Akko

Andy and Sara at Darna Restaurant in Jerusalem A view of the Old City market

Andy's first float in the Dead Sea

Couple decides to celebrate their marriage in Israel.

T

his year I was blessed to meet and
marry my soul mate, Sara. With
my Hebrew name of Avraham and
hers of Sara, we like to think ours
is a special match for the ages.
This summer, Sara and I took our
honeymoon in Israel, which was an
incredible opportunity for spirituality,
celebration and visiting some of the
country's most beautiful destinations.
Like many newlyweds, Sara and I
went through a laundry list of options
for honeymoon destinations, including
Thailand, Spain or the Caribbean. But it
was Israel that we kept coming back to as
our first choice.
Sara, who works at a communications
company in Birmingham, studied in
Tel Aviv for a semester during her
undergraduate years at University of
Wisconsin-Madison, so this wasn't her first
time in Israel — though it had been many
years since her last visit.
This was my fourth visit to Israel, having
first visited in 2005 on an economic
development mission for legislators through
the Jewish Community Relations Council.
But, we had never been to Israel
together, and we were very excited to

44

September 20 • 2012

ANDY MEISNER I SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

make our first family trip to the homeland.
Sara and I flew into Ben-Gurion
Airport and rented a car, beginning an
exciting adventure and a very thorough
introduction to travel by car on Israel's
well-maintained roads and highway
system. For what its worth, the Israeli
roads were great and drivers were no more
aggressive than your average city dweller
in a medium to large American city.
We started our visit in the holy city
of Jerusalem, where we took in a very
meaningful Shabbat at the Kotel, listening
to tour groups from around the world
singing and welcoming the Sabbath.
Every Shabbat is special, but a Shabbat
at the Kotel with the sun setting and sky
turning intense colors of red and purple is
particularly memorable.
Jerusalem is a great place for walking,
which we did throughout the Old City and
the downtown area. We ate like kings
and queens, especially enjoying our visit
to a Moroccan place called Darna with
amazing tagine. The German Colony is
also a bustling neighborhood with great
nightlife and beautiful, historic homes.
Our next planned stop was the Dead
Sea, so we punched in our destination to

the handy GPS system on our rental car
and headed south. As we continued down
the smooth highway, we could begin to
feel the temperature outside rising as the
terrain grew sandy and expansive. We saw
camels and camel crossing signs, which
was fun.
I'm sure this description is familiar to
many who have had the opportunity to
travel to Israel and hit some of these sites.
Hearing all about it during my entire life,
however, did little to prepare me for the
feeling of floating in the Dead Sea and
observing the incredible crystal formations
of salt.
The same can be said of our iiext stop
at Masada. You hear all about it, but until
you're there you don't fully appreciate the
power, feeling and history of everything.
What came next was a fairly long drive
north to the city of Safed, in the Galilee
Hills, where we enjoyed a couple days of
rest and shopping in the Artists' Colony.
Safed is old, beautiful and mystical,
credited as the home of Jewish mysticism,
or Kabalah, which is in the air as you walk
through its ancient streets.
We loaded up our purchases into the
rental car and headed west to an also

ancient city called Akko. In downtown
Akko we witnessed the incredible
processional of a new bride-to-be that
included video cameras, lights and some
guy with a boa constrictor on a little
wagon that seemed to be part of the
celebration.
Having gotten a great blend of
sightseeing, spirituality, food — and
plenty of time driving — Sara and I parked
the car for the second-to-last time and
finished our honeymoon in the homeland
with a few days on the beautiful beaches
of Tel Aviv. Walking up and down the
beaches of Tel Aviv, we saw an incredible
and diverse blend of people living and
partying together.
As we departed from the hotel for
our return to the airport and back home
to Michigan, we realized we had a very
meaningful and memorable trip, and
highly recommend Israel as a honeymoon
destination for anyone out there looking
to celebrate a new life together. E

Andy Meisner, 39, is Oakland County

Treasurer. He and his wife, Sara, live in

Huntington Woods and attend the Woodward

Avenue Shul in Royal Oak.