Thursday morning began Thursday night… we awoke from our naps in our Bedouin tents at the superhuman hour of 4 in the a.m. and, after a brief breakfast of Bedouin tea and biscuits, boarded the bus for Masada.

We begun our climb up the Roman path around 5 o’clock and trekked upwards! When we got to the top, it was just starting to get light, and we davened Shacharit as the famous Masada sunrise came up over the mountains. We then toured around the plateau and learned about the significance of the place for our people, then headed down the snake path to a great breakfast brunch at the visitor’s center.

After that, we had some fun in the Dead Sea, floating and bobbing around, even reading the paper, and then headed back to Yerushalayim for dinner.

Sounds like a full day, true, but we were not done there! We then went to Gan Sacher to spend some time with our fellow NCSY trips JOLT, BILT, and TJJ AP over BBQ, sports, and hanging out – it was great!

In our rockin Chabura, we try to understand the struggles of daily life which we all go through. We analyze the struggles in order to turn the difficulties of life into a productive means to self growth. One way that we do this is by sociologically analyzing the life of Matisyahu in order to understand religious struggle and responsibilities as a role model.

Wednesday, we headed south and hiked Ein Gedi! It was also the first time we got to see the Dead Sea! (Though we didn’t get to swim in it right then and there…) Ein Gedi was really hot, but beautiful, a lot of fun, and really cool! After that, we got to see the famous Ahava Dead Sea mineral lotions and cosmetics factory and shop in their factory store. Then it was on to a Bedouin village where we got to ride on camels, enjoy some traditional Bedouin hospitality, and then sleep in Bedouin tents! TJJ Ambassadors was also there, so we got to spend some time with fellow NCSY friends! Then it was off to (attempt to) get to bed early ahead of our 4 a.m. wake-up to hike Masada!

We are currently in the midst of the saddest day of the year, the 9th of Av. We read the megilla of Eicha together by the scenic tayelet that overlooks the Old City of Jerusalem, where we could see where the holy Temple, the Beis Hamikdash once stood, and where there is currently a Muslim shrine where it would be. Understanding the destruction is the key to understanding what we ate lamenting on this day. It’s a depressing observance, yet an inspiring one, because even though we are sad, we are not sad alone. We talked about the meaning of the day, we sang together, and then we headed back to the bus in pensive silence, having gained new perspective on where we go from here.

It was a great day – we fulfilled the mitzvah of planting trees by planting them at Naot Kidumim and recited the tefilla for planting a tree along with that. We then went to the Moshav and heard from Hal Levy’s uncle, Rav Michael. He connected with many of us and after hearing him speak we went to either play sports or get a bracha from the Rav! We later ate a delicious lunch from “holy bagel” and continued our journey by visiting the Belz shul, a 14 story building, the biggest shul in the world. We learned about the customs of the chasidim of Belz and had our questions about the chasidic movement and the Belz customs answered. We capped off the Belz shul visit by visiting the biggest bait keneset with a aron kodesh holding over 80 Torah scrolls. We returned to the hotel and heard some inspirational words from Rabbi Gavriel Friedman, also known as “Rav Gav,” who spoke to us about true love and relationships. It was a great day!

Hi There!

It’s been a few days!  That’s because for the past few days we were away on an off Shabbat!  Most of us went away for the weekend to visit family and friends in Israel, and for those of us who didn’t have somewhere specific to go, we had a really nice and chilled out Shabbaton at the Jerusalem Gate hotel together with our fellow NCSY trips TJJ Ambassadors and TJJ AP.  Now we are back and trail blazing and touring around Israel, together again!  More updates coming soon about our BEST. SUMMER. EVER!!!!!!!!

Tuesday began as a normal day for us. We woke up early (maybe a little too early, as usual, if you ask the icicles), davened, ate a nice breakfast, and boarded the bus.

But today we were not about to go on one of our usual water hikes or sight seeing. We were on our way too volunteer to help victims of terror. We broke up into smaller groups and went with our advisors and staff to individual families, helping them with whatever they needed and getting to know them a little. Though I wouldn’t necessarily call it fun, it was a very good experience and we felt like we connected to and were able to help our fellow Jews living in Israel.

We then got a chance to do some shopping and have some fun at Ben Yehuda street, which was a lot of fun, and made our purses a bit lighter… but you know… the mommies and daddies deserve their gifts. 🙂

After that we had to “shift gears” into serious mode for Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust Museum and Har Hertzel Military Cemetery. While at Har Hertzel, we paid our respects to those who fell to protect us so we could live safely in the land of Israel. We found out that the funeral of one of the soldiers killed yesterday fighting for us in Gaza was going on while we were at the cemetery, so we decided to attend and pay our respect and show our support. As we stood there and cried together, we recited some Tehillim for our soldiers and wondered how we go on in our trip and have fun after a day like that. The answer is that those who sacrificed and lost their lives, whether in the holocaust or in attacks on Israel would want exactly that, for us to live our lives as Jews and have a good time in our home land. By going on and having the best summer ever here in Israel, we validate their sacrifice.

After, we had dinner and some free time at the hotel, then welcomed Rabbi Eitan Katz, Director of New Jersey NCSY, who spoke to us about his 20 years in the Israeli Army.

We are SO, SO, SO excited to be in our holy city of Yerushalayim!!  We got here a couple of days ago, and the already AMAZING experience that has been ICE Israel has been a changed and even more awesome experience ever since… you’ll here more about that in the following blog posts!

In all of the excitement of getting to Jerusalem, there were a couple of things that we did that the blog posts missed out on, so we figured we’ll give y’all an update – earlier this week, we went to Caeserea and got to see what was once the Roman capital of their occupation of the Land of Israel.  It was very interesting, and we learned about their way of life, how they interacted with the Jews and vice versa, and about King Herod.

We also had a chance to learn about T’chelet, the mitzvah to add a blue string to our tzit tzit!  We got to learn about the snail that we believe was used to make the beautiful indigo blue dye, where it comes from, and then we even got to make our own t’chelet, and go snorkeling in the Mediterranean to find our own snails!

It was a really fun and also interesting day at the same time!

In our chabura, we learn about finding meaning and discovering our purpose for ourselves by connecting to others. We start by understanding on a basic level why Hashem created us and what our goals are as individuals and as Jews. We then follow to practical applications of how to improve our relationships with others, based on Torah sources… you could call it the “How To Win Friends and Influence People,” that Hashem wrote before Carnegie. 🙂

After a long and amazing two weeks in Israel, we finally made it to Yerushalaim!!  

We started the day off by going to the Old City.

We began with a complete overlook of the Old City which was absolutely beautiful.  We basically had a full out photo shoot courtesy of Josh G and many of our fellow NCSYers. Then, we walked on top of the city walls.  We walked from the Jaffa Gate to the Gate of Zion. From the top, we were able to see all of the Old City, including the Kotel, the Dome of the Rock and the Jewish Quarter, as Josh G helpfully pointed out.

We then entered the Jewish Quarter and had the privilege of visiting Hurva Shul.  The shul’s interesting history and unique design is what made it so memorable!  It was destroyed and rebuilt three times throughout the course of its history and its ruins are incorporated into its walls.  We also climbed onto the balcony and were able to see the shul from a topical view.  Josh G showed us that because of the dome shape, echoes from certain places travel to certain spots and we were able to communicate with our voice barely louder than a whisper.

Then, finally, we got to see The Kotel.  As for me, it was not my first time to see the Western Wall, but for many of my friends it was, and the experience was very meaningful for all of us.  We even got to have our chaburot in the Kotel plaza with our amazing advisors Meira, Yael, Emma, Josh G, Josh M, and Frankie.

I think I speak for everyone when I say we couldn’t have asked for a better first day in Yerushalaim.