This past week our school took us to the Golan, in the north of Israel. It was gorgeous. On the way there, we stopped at The Reuben and Edith Hecht Museum at the University of Haifa. It’s an archeological museum that spans from the Chalcolithic period until the Byzantine period. Reuben Hecht donated his personal collection to enable the creation of the museum. From there we headed to Avenei Eitan, a robotic farm. It is one of many farms in Israel that uses a robot to milk its cows. There are about 60 cows to one machine. We had the opportunity to taste fresh chocolate milk (in Israel they call it “shoko, שוקו”). It was delicious! Afterwards we were taken on a boat ride around the Kinneret, it was quite cold but stunning. We slept and ate at a youth hostile up in the Golan, called Keshet. 

 

On the second day of our trip, we visited and explored an active archeological site. This site houses an ancient shul, that even though it is fenced off our tour guide managed to find a way for us to climb through. A scenario, I would label as “only in Israel.” Walking through the remains of this holy place, I could almost here the songs and prayers of the ancient people who had stood there before me. It was truly an inspiring experience. After that we went to Tel- Saki, the site of one of the most critical battles of the Yom Kippur war. We walked through the bunker where about 20 soldiers had to hide for 24 hours with no food, no water, and no room to move. As I watched the Israeli flag wave in the wind I felt the sadness of the deaths of the many soldiers that was the result of the war; and also the pride of being a Jew and being part of a nation that will stop at nothing to have our land truly be ours. A bit of a scary factor that the tour guide pointed out was that we were about a 10 minute walk from the Syrian border.

 

 

From there we headed to a three hour hike, in which we climbed up and down one of the many mountains that surround the Golan area. It was a challenging and great experience, and the views were breathtaking. That night we went to kibbutz Elrom, a battle heritage site. We watched a film which told us the story of the battle of the Valley of Tears-when the Syrian Army tried to penetrate the Israeli frontline during the Yom Kippur War. 

 

On the third day of the tiyul we started off hiking the Palmach trail up to the tegart fort. The fort was used to command the main road to the Upper Galilee and the routes to the Jewish settlements. The Palmach understood it’s importance in bringing safety and protection to those settlements. The Palmach climbed up the path we climbed in the middle of the night attempting to take control of the fort, 28 soldiers died that night. We did the hike in silence, trying to imagine what they went through. 

 

After that, we headed to rafting on the Jordan river. It was quite a חויה/chavaya, an adventure. Once we were about 50 minutes into the river, (the whole thing was about two hours all together) we saw a raft that was calling for help. It was a group of girls from a different group whose raft had begun to deflate. They had been there for an hour by the time we got to them. We attached them to our boat and in their broken English and in our broken Hebrew we became friends, and we helped them to the end of the river. After that, we headed back to Jerusalem! 

 

Friday morning I went to a mesibat giyus, technically translated to mean a recruitment party. It’s the party that many Israelis throw before they go into the army. This specific one was for a former Saint Louisan who is going into the army on the following Sunday.

 

On Mondays at school we have classes in the morning, then we are divided up and go to different organizations to volunteer, and then we have the night off. I had the great opportunity of volunteering at Kfar Yeladim, a home for disadvantaged children. This week was my first week. My friend and I worked with a group of about 15 girls between the ages of 6-8. We helped them with their homework, played games with them, and danced with them. It was a phenomenal experience, the girls were so happy to have us there. I’m looking forward to going there weekly. Later that night I was supposed to meet with a friend on Ben Yehudah and then go to my basketball game, because I’m on the school team. When I was about ready to leave school and take a bus to Ben Yehudah, I received a message from the school that we were on lockdown. Lockdown means we all must return to the school. Since there were two separate terrorist attacks and 4 people were stabbed the school wanted us to be kept safe and in our dorms. The following day we were told stay in the Malcha area, where we live, but not go any further. Israel doesn’t stop moving that’s the most amazing thing, everyone continues with their regular lives. I know there’s a group of young teens from Bnei Akiva who are riding the light rail between certain hours to keep the spirit up and to show that we live on.

 

That’s how the whole country is-extraordinary.