So, it’s been a busy couple of days--so busy, in fact, that we have not been able to blog! I’ll do my best to catch you up, but briefly as I could not possibly cover all of our incredibly busy days in any great detail.
Last we posted, we were heading out to spend a night on the town in Tel Aviv. After packing our bags, we spent time in Monday in Rabin Square learning about Yitzack Rabin and speaking with Israelis in the Square about his policies. It really illuminated the history when we asked random people on the street about where they were when Rabin was assassinated, including one man who actually knew him. Then we hopped on the bus and drove to Jerusalem, where we walked through the Jewish Quarter in the old city and ended our day with a visit to the Western Wall. There isn’t room to post about the experience, but it was moving and gave all of us the opportunity to wedge a note with our private wishes in the wall. It also corrected a widespread misunderstanding about the remains of the Second Temple in Jerusalem--there are, in fact, four walls still standing! We completed the day by holding a preparatory discussion about Yad Vashem, the Israeli Holocaust memorial museum.
On Tuesday, we spent a contemplative morning in Yad Vashem. While the entire experience left an impact on us all, I would say that the most difficult moment of the morning for me was during our visit to the Children’s Memorial, dedicated to the 1.5 million children who were killed during the Holocaust. You enter into a dark room, illuminated by seemingly thousands of candles flickering in the darkness, with a voice reading out the name of every child killed in three languages with their names, ages, and countries of origin. It is an experience I will never forget. After such a heavy morning, it was great to get the opportunity to play with children in the Shoshana Absorption Center for Ethiopian Jewish immigrants to Kiryat-Gat (Chicago’s Partnership Together city in Israel!). After saying goodbye to the kids (with a few stickers on our faces), we drove to the Negev Desert to spend the evening in a Bedouin tent. We enjoyed great food, an incredible view of the stars (including my first shooting star!), and showing our Israeli friends how to make s’mores with strawberry-banana marshmallows by the campfire.
After the giant sleepover in the tent, we woke up Wednesday morning and headed to the nearby paddock to ride camels. Despite their off-putting habit of spitting and smelling, we were still able to come up with some truly excellent camel names. We said goodbye to the Bedouins and headed to the grave of David ben Gurion, the first prime minister of Israel to learn about his life and passion for the Israeli state he helped to form. We also got to see some beautiful views over the Machtesh Ramon, a unique type of crater found only in Israel. After two relatively inactive days, it was time for another hike, this time through Nachal David on the hottest day we’d had yet (37 degrees Celsius!) to a beautiful waterfall. Our staff members played an excellent trick on us, teaching us all about the survival skills of the desert and then horrifying us all by eating the droppings of an ibex (Israeli mountain goat)…which turned out to be chocolate. We ended our evening with an engaging discussion on Arab-Israeli conflicts throughout history before heading to bed to prepare ourselves for what proved to be an excellent day.
Today, Thursday, turned out to be one of my favorite days on this trip. One of the most famous sites in Israel, Masada is a hilltop fortress in the desert built by King Herod which also boasts some of the most beautiful views of the Israel-Jordan border and the Dead Sea. We woke at 4 am in order to have enough time to hike to the top and catch the sunrise. This, for me, was a personal challenge given how much I had heard about the hike and its difficulty. I am proud to say that not only was I able to meet my personal goals but that our entire group was able to make in to the top for sunrise with time to spare. We also spent some time exploring the ancient remains and learning about the Jews who gave the last full measure of devotion by choosing to commit suicide rather than surrender to the advancing Romans. This last stand became a rallying point for the fledgling Israeli state and remains one of the most popular tourist sites in Israel. Given that it was Independence Day back in the states, we took the opportunity to “officially” declare all of our new Israeli friends Protectors of American Freedom and welcomed them by singing our national anthem on the top of Masada as July 4th dawned in New York.
As if that weren’t enough to make the day memorable, we also learned about the special mineral properties of Dead Sea mud at the AHAVA factory on the banks of the Dead Sea and, more importantly, visited the famous sea ourselves. After slathering ourselves in mud (said to help revitalize the skin), we all jumped in to the famous salty waters. It’s hard to describe the water, only that it was very dense and nearly impossible to stand upright in. Many of us spent our time floating in relaxation, even recreating the famous Dead Sea photo of the man reading a newspaper while floating. Definitely one of the coolest experiences we’ve had yet!
Rounding out our day, we finished with a visit to Jerusalem’s famous open air market or the “shuk“. We were treated to some of our guide Neitsan’s culinary experience, visiting several small stalls to try Jewish food from around the world including Turkey, India, and Yemen. In our free time, we wandered the marketplace and put together incredible lunches which we enjoyed in the market or in the nearby streets. The market had nearly every kind of food imaginable, including my favorite of the day--halvah, an Arabic sweet made out of sesame seeds. Many of us took the opportunity to purchase gifts for friends and family, including some of our favorite Israeli spices and sauces.
We finished our evening with a drive to our kibbutz outside of Jerusalem (just inside the boundaries of the West Bank) and some well-deserved rest. Tomorrow is our last full day in Israel (excluding Shabbat) which is a strange thing to consider. We have done so much and seen so much in our time here that I can’t believe it’s only been ten days! I’m not sure if I’m ready for this experience to end, but I know that I will carry these memories and friendships with me wherever I go. Here’s hoping our last day in Israel is another great one!
