Day 9 – We had a smashing day!!!

Hi, my name is Malka Daniels from Toronto, Canada and I’m a proud camper on NCSY Israel ID! I began to get involved in NCSY this past year and fell in love with all it has to offer. Since I have never experienced israel before, I decided to participate in the best program to see all that Israel has to offer as well as to create international bonds with people across North America and especially to expand my growth and knowledge in my spirituality.
We began this day waking up in the gorgeous city of Shlomi and soon after davening and breakfast, we split into learning groups (chaburahs) to having enlightening discussions with our advisors. Soon after our chaburah we headed to the bus to drive to our hiking location, Har Meron in the Upper Galilee. The view we had of the beautiful land of Israel was astonishing, if we were to have continued on the path, in a short 6 week hike, we could go from the North of Israel, past Jerusalem, and all the way to the South of Israel, Eilat. However the 2 hour hike around the mountain was more than enough to make us exhausted and ready for lunch. We stopped by a nice sitting area where there was an array of different delicious sandwiches as well as muffins, cold water, and fresh plumbs straight from Hashem!!! Then back on the bus so we can go to visit the kever of Rab Shimon Bar Yochi. Before going in, Yoni, our super incredible director, spoke about what made Rav Shimon so great and how he brings together every kind of Jew. Once inside, we began to daven and feel the holiness this place aluminates. On the way back to Shlomi we stopped at a grocery store to stock up on Israeli snacks and so the advisors can buy a bunch of eggs for our night activity. Back at our hostile, we had dinner, our nightly family groups, and davened Marriv. After that, we went to the basketball courts for our night activity which was a trivia game about the advisors, with a little twist. In a normal trivia game there are buzzers and whoever pushes it first has the chance to answer the question. However tonight we swapped buzzer for eggs and whoever was the first to smash it on their head was able to answer the question and win a point for their family. The prize was free ice cream for the winning family next time we stop at an ice cream place. Mazel tov to Ahava’s family for being the winner of last nights activity.
The day included physical activity, incredible sight seeing, experiencing holy sights, and cheering on one another as we were covered in raw egg, growing together and truly becoming one mishpacha. This day perfectly sums up how amazing Israel ID is and all the things we focus on throughout the summer to make incredible memories.