Shai and Daphna Ronnen love their family.

The Tel Aviv couple demonstrated family bonding in a way that moves the soul. These are my Rotary hosts in Tel Aviv; we’ll part company for a few days until we meet again at the Rotary District 2490 conference in Jerusalem.

On Friday, as the sabbath (or “shabat) is set to begin — the Ronnens bring their three children over for dinner. The children — Hagit, Gil and Guy — are the parents of four children among them, with another one due in July. They meet every Friday for dinner at their parents’ home. They sing the same three songs they’ve been singing for years, and which the Ronnens’ grandchildren sing right along with the adults.

And they did the same thing they always do this past Friday, with three visitors from Texas: myself, Aida Almaraz and Fernando Valle, all of us taking part in the Group Study Exchange tour of Israel.

It was a beautiful sight, to be sure. I don’t know yet whether this kind of family togetherness is the norm or the exception in Israel. I sense it is far more normal in Israel than it is in the United States.

It felt good — no, great — to be a part of it, if only for an evening.

As you know, I’m writing this blog while traveling through Israel as part of a Rotary International Foundation Group Study Exchange. I’m traveling with four fabulous young professionals from West Texas; we’re moving through the country with another great group of young folks from The Netherlands.

A big part of the program’s success is the friendships it develops between the GSE participants and the hosts who put them up in their homes and care for them.

This is my way of setting up a marvelous moment I witnessed this morning in Be’er Sheva.

We drove from Eilat in southern Israel to Be’er Sheva, where we had spent the first few nights “in country.” Our bus pulled into a gasoline station, where we were to change buses for the ride to Tel Aviv.

Out of a car came a couple, Shlomo and Liora Blieberg, who had hosted several members of our GSE team when we arrived on May 10.

Aida Almaraz of Amarillo spotted them first and fell into Liora’s arms, saying something like, “I feel like I’m seeing my own mother.”

Then someone stuck his head into the bus to tell two more members of our team, Fernando Valle of Lubbock and Shirley Davis of Levelland, that “there was someone out here they need to see.” Fernando hollered “Papa Shlomo!” Shirley came running out of the bus giggling like a schoolgirl at the sight of this marvelous couple, embracing them both tightly. Shirley had sprained her ankle early in the trip and Shlomo, a physician, took very good care of her.

We had been away from them only for three days!

The point, I suppose, is that the beauty of a trip such as this are the relationships we can develop in such a short period of time. Staying in people’s homes, partaking of the contents in their refrigerator, sitting around the table talking to each other like family makes us, well, like family.

That moment this morning was one for the books.

And, oh yes: I embraced them, too.

The southernmost point in Israel is close to the country’s former enemies: Jordan and Egypt.

It’s so close, in fact, that you can drive to either country in a matter of minutes. The nations all have gone to war during Israel’s 61-year history. But now they’re at peace.

But what’s the treaty worth? A video telling the story of a December 2001 interception of a vessel loaded with weapons of terror, to be used against Israel, tells quite another story.

Israeli commandos departed from Eilat to intercept the freighter that was headed for the port of Alexandria, in Egypt, where it was going to disgorge its contents to be used by terrorists against Israel.

So, here’s the question: If Egypt has a peace treaty with Israel, why would it allow the cargo vessel to dock in Alexandria and then watch the distribution of the weapons to terror merchants waiting in the shadows?

Commerce, it seems, overrules bilateral treaties any day — and that makes the peace agreements worth little more than the paper on which they are printed.

The judge in the Israeli courtroom made quite a point about how his government does not integrate religion into government affairs.

Our Group Study Exchange delegations — our West Texas team and our Rotary partners from The Netherlands — all noticed the same thing, however, as the judge made his point in his Be’er Sheva courtroom.

It was the presence of the menorrah engraved in the wall behind him. The menorrah, of course, is the enduring symbol of Hannukah, one of Judaism’s most revered religious holidays.

I couldn’t help but think what might happen in a Texas Panhandle courtroom if a judge engraved a carving of Jesus being crucified. Given that our Constitution speaks directly against such a practice, a judge shouldn’t be so brazen.

It apparently isn’t so obvious for an Israeli judge to speak so directly about the secular nature of his government while sitting under such a recognized symbol of his own religion.

You have to love a kid who wins a Rotary-sponsored speaking contest and then declares to a visiting newspaper editor that he wants to come to Texas and “see the world.”

Nir Lifsitz spoke to the Rotary Club of Be’er Sheva/Omarium Tuesday night about the environment and the need to protect the planet. He gave his five-minute talk in Hebrew — which, of course, was “all Greek to me.” But my Rotary host, Alon Bendet, asked me immediately after the competiton, and before the results were announced, which one I thought won. I said the young man mentioned here was the clear winner. Alon agreed.

But as we were taking a break, Nir approached me and asked me about Rotary in Texas. We visited for a few minutes. “Have you been to Texas?” I asked. “No, but I intend to come, because I want to see the world,” he answered with the same self-confidence he demonstrated in giving his talk. How do I know of his self-confidence? His body language spoke universally.

“What is the capital of Texas?” he asked. I told him Austin. “Why isn’t it Dallas?” he wondered. Well, he knew about Dallas because of the Cowboys and the Mavericks, so he figured that Dallas needed to be the capital. I reminded him that Dallas isn’t even the largest city in Texas; Houston and San Antonio are larger.

He also figures that it’s a daunting challenge for American students to learn the capitals of all 50 states. He rolled his eyes and wondered how any American kid can accomplish such a thing.

I was ashamed to admit that many of them never learn the capital of, say, South Dakota (which is Pierre, by the way).

Still, I have a hunch that the young man will knock the socks off most Texans he meets when he finally arrives.

Hospitality — and the warmth it delivers — is universal.

I am leading a team of young professionals on a four week journey through Israel. It is sponsored by Rotary International’s Foundation. My Rotary district, 5730, selected me to lead this team of young folks. I accepted this assignment with a full heart.

And this heart of mine nearly exploded with joy when we arrived in Tel Aviv on Sunday. The welcome we received from our Rotary hosts in Israel was overpowering. The district governor, Yael Lazarus, was on hand, along with the man who coordinated the Group Study Exchange with our district, Menashe Livnat and the the GSE team from The Netherlands that is touring Israel side by side with our team. GSE pairs Rotary districts that exchanges teams of four young professionals who will learn from their colleagues. At precisely the time we’re touring Israel, a team from that country is touring West Texas — for the same purpose.

My team comprises Katt Krause, office manager for her family’s landscape construction business in Amarillo; Aida Almaraz, a caseworker at Boys Ranch; Shirley Davis, a math prof at South Plains College in Levelland; and Fernando Valle, a professor of education at Texas Tech.

They are four outstanding individuals who have coalesced into a team. We’ll be showing our West Texas culture to our Israeli hosts throughout the next month, all the while learning about this ancient land, which of course is rich in its own history and culture.

We are staying with host families who have opened their homes to us as if we are family. “We have one rule,” Sari Bendet, our first host told us. “Our refrigerator is always open to you.” Message received, Sari.

I’ll be writing journal entries for the print edition of the Globe-News. My blog entries likely will be of a more personal nature — such as sharing thoughts about the hospitality of our hosts.

Our journey is off to a wonderful start.

I ventured to City Hall this morning to pay a bill and noticed some campaign signs sprinkled around the complex.

Signs for two Amarillo school board candidates caught my eye: Mary Faulkner and John Ben Blanchard.

Why take note of those? A little word on each of them. It said “re-elect.”

Hmmm. Faulkner and Blanchard do serve on the AISD board of trustees. They’re incumbents — having been appointed to their posts by their colleagues on the board. But they haven’t been elected to anything. Thus, the term “re-elect” smacks of, well, misrepresentation.

They’re both fine school board members. They’re smart and dedicated to the children of the school district. But they ought to know better than to suggest that voters have a chance to re-elect them a body to which neither of them has been elected in the first place.

The words “retain” or “return” are more accurate and, yes, more truthful.

President Obama promised the most transparent administration in U.S. presidential history.

Why not, then, show us those pictures of that ill-advised fly-over in New York City?

Most of us know the story: The Boeing 747 used as Air Force One flew low over NYC for some picture-taking. The White House, the Pentagon or someone wanted to take pictures of the airplane flying over the city’s impressive skyline. In this post 9/11 world, of course, the event stirred up intense anxiety in New York.

The president said he was angry about it.

But now we learn that the fly-over cost about 300 grand — of public money. But the White House says it won’t release the pictures taken during the ridiculous demonstration.

Why not? It’s our money. We deserve to see the pictures.

It is true that in the grand scheme of things, this isn’t all that big a deal. But the president has relied heavily on symbols, first during his winning campaign and in the first months of his administration.

His refusal to release the pictures is, well, symbolic of the same old secrecy that plagued his immediate predecessor’s presidency.

OK, I did it.

I voted early today for the Amarillo City Commission. The election judges at City Hall were just as nice as those who work on Election Day. I went through the drill, again just as I do on the actual voting day.

But I’m still holding my breath, more or less, with my choices for mayor and city commissioner. The reason I like voting on the final day of balloting is because I don’t want any unpleasant surprises to erupt prior to Election Day.

At least I have a good reason. I’ll be unavailable to vote this Saturday. I had to do it early because I want my voice heard on this critical election. City Hall, of course, is where officials make decisions that have a direct, tangible impact on our lives.

But I’ll monitor the election results from afar this upcoming weekend — and hope that my candidates don’t make me regret casting my vote for them.