Masada was a personal and different experience for us all. Firstly, after a 4 day hike we had to then get up at 4am and climb masada. We took the snake path, which for many of us was a challenge – but a challenge completed! When we all arrived at the top, we were all amazed to see the lovely sun rise and the lovey views of which we saw. Many pictures were taken and we all enjoyed it very much. We then had a tour around the top of masada, and we saw and learnt about the history of the Jews there. An hour later, Jasmine, Ditza, Adam and myself climbed down the snake path whilst the others caught the cable-car. When we arrived at the bottom, we then had breakfast and made our way back to the hostel we were staying at in Ein Gedi. Soon after, some of us made our way to the Ein Gedi Spa. At the spa, we went into a salted pool which stung like crazy! We then found an outdoor pool, which we all went in and was so much fun! Soon after, we grabbed all our bits and had some lunch which included salads, pasta, chicken and deserts, yum! We then made our way to the Dead Sea. We all really enjoyed this, but we couldn’t stay for long because the heat was boiling! On our way back, we then learnt that the reason why it was so hot was because we were at the lowest point of the earth! We then went back to apartments, cooled down and got ready for Shabbas.
Shabbas is a lovely experience for us all, because we all spend time together and sing songs and do all kinds of activities. Friday night we all went to shul, and then went for lunch then spent the afternoon together, and then gathered for Havdalah. Sunday morning, we were moving apartments, so the Saturday night was spent packing and making sure we were all ready to leave early Sunday morning. On the Sunday morning, we travelled from Ein Gedi to Kiryat Shmona, in which now we are staying in apartments for the week. After we settled into the apartments, we all made our way down to a centre in which we all met a group of Israelis of which we are spending this week with. We have been doing various different activities together such as volunteering in different places in the north, kayaking, paint-balling, bike cycling and having fun drama classes together. We have also been eating dinners together and in the evening’s we have all been together in different places. I feel that the Israelis and the mini-gapper’s have really got on and I hope that we all continue to stay in contact when we leave Israel.
One place that we volunteered at was at the memorial of one of the soldiers who was killed in the 2006 Lebanon War. The memorial was a look-out point in the forest above kiryat shmona. We all heard from the son’s father about the son who died, and what he achieved and what kind of boy/son he was. For many of us, it was a very emotional time because we were hearing this from the father itself, but it also opened many of our eyes to the soldiers who keep all of us here in Israel and elsewhere safe. We all helped to clear the memory settlement for him and we all felt something from the story. We also volunteered in a bomb shelter and a hospital room – these are incredible to volunteer in because the hospital room saved so many lives and brought so many new lives to the world during the same war. We painted the walls and made it more homely to those who have to stay there. Again, we all felt a reward from helping there.
Through the rest of this week, we are looking at different look-out points from different wars, visiting a chocolate factory and having different tours around Tsfat. I hope that we will continue to learn more about the history of our people through these activities.
We would like to thank Adam and Tribe and the rest of the people behind the scenes, for setting up this week with the Israeli’s because we all feel that we have made new friends and we can relate more to Israel and the different people who live here.
J
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