Day 22: Tuesday 2nd August 2016

Our last Tuesday started with the mysterious location of an almost empty playground and a table holding very convincing looking military equipment- we quickly worked out that our first activity was laser tag!! We split up into teams- one lead by Yaara and the other by Neriya and our battle began. For many, it was a new experience however we all found ourselves fully focused and were all running around and diving for cover! As a proud member of Yaara's team, I'm happy to say we won all three games (!!) although it was a close match. 

After lunch, we dressed up smartly and visited the Knesset. The experience was so interesting as we learnt the history of Israel's politics as well as how the present system works. It felt surreal so be standing in such a central part of Israel. Next, we visited a statue of a giant menorah and Yaara shared the stories of its importance which was fascinating. 

Soon after briefly visiting a shopping centre in Jerusalem, we found out we were having dinner with host families! We were split into groups and dropped off at different houses where we all enjoyed meeting the lovely families we had been paired with. My group and I had a brilliant time with the Goldbergs who are related to Nomi!
We had dinner with the whole family and had a lovely time with the children as well as really fun discussions with Shmuli and Naomi (our hosts) The whole experience left the day on a high and we then traveled back to the Caesar hotel and went to bed, tired but looking forward to the next day to come. 

By Sarah Alford

Day 21: Monday 1st August 2016

Our first activity of the day was an interesting tefillah session on the amidah. We looked at its structure (praise, ask, thank), its origins (the story of Hannah in the temple) and the actual meaning of some of the blessings in the prayer.

After the discussion it was time to bid goodbye to the Ein Tsurim kibbutz, where we'd enjoyed our final Shabbat of tour. As soon as we'd packed our cases and ate a quick breakfast we were on our way to the first destination - the Weiszmann institute of science.

Here we witnessed some astounding scientific phenomena such as a 'singing bowl' that produced sound waves in the water and a sound mirror that allowed us to hear each other whispering from distances of over twenty meters. We were also able to feed some fish and look at lots of rare flora and fauna.

 

 Next, after eating lunch, we took a tour of Machon Ayalon, a kibbutz under which the Haganah built a secret ammunitions factory. It was really interesting to see how they were able to conceal the factory from both the British and the other members of the kibbutz, whilst at the same time producing millions of bullets to help fight for an independent state of Israel. It was astounding to see just how meticulous they were in attempting to keep the bullet factory's existence secret, including the fact that 15 members of the Haganah would work in the field every day in order to keep up the pretence. Those members also showed remarkable determination and intelligence, as they managed to build the secret underground factory in just 22 days.

We finished the day with a more quiet evening, first going to the 'I am Jerusalem' simulator and then to a shopping centre to spend some free time. The Jerusalem 4D simulator was very cool, guiding you through tours of both the ancient and the modern city, allowing for an immersive experience. The shopping centre was even more relaxed and many of us chose to go and eat dinner at the multitudes of burger restaurants, most notably the incredible kosher McDonald's that made for one of the best meals of tour.

By Seth Weisz

Day 20: Sunday 31st July 2016

Our day began with a 7.15am wake up and after a delicious breakfast we drove to the town of Sderot. The first stop in the town was Sderot Media Center where our guide for the town, Costa, told us why Sderot is such a prime target for rockets from Gaza and how the Iron Dome system does not cover the area since it is situated so close to the border with the Gaza Strip. We saw the media center's many security cameras for surveillance of the whole area and watched two short clips showing how the people of the town live and how they react after hearing a 'Tzeva Adom' alarm, meaning a rocket is oncoming. 

Next we hopped on the bus and after seeing the huge number of bomb shelters each within 100 metres of each other, we reached a police station where we saw a display of 200 of the 30,000 rockets fired from Gaza to Sderot, including a piece of a missile from the Iron Dome. After this, we visited the famous playground containing two bomb shelters in the shape of snakes, painted in bright colours to keep up the playful nature of the park. Whilst Costa was talking to us, he suddenly began counting down from 15 whilst we ran to the shelters, so that we could properly understand how short the time after hearing the alarm really is. 

Next we drove to a hill viewpoint which we climbed and from there we had an incredible view of the border with Gaza.

After this tour of the town we visited a Yeshiva and climbed to the roof where the view was also breathtaking. We could see the added bomb shelters on each building and we had a talk from one of the members of the Yeshiva about life in Sderot and the Yeshiva.

We then had lunch and drove to Shvil Hasalat (The Salad Trail) where our guide Karen told us about all the fruit and vegetables grown on the moshav and afterwards we picked a range of fruits from tomatoes and cucumbers to herbs and edible flowers. We thought the tomatoes were particularly delicious, especially the 'chocolate' variety! After picking our vegetables, Karen 

showed us the pigeon coop on the trail and we released some pigeons before getting back on the coach.

We went back to Kibbutz Ein Zurim where our madrichim ran a programme for us, we then had Sikkum and went to bed ready for a busy day ahead.

By Elana Almagor

Days 18 & 19: Friday 29th and Shabbat 30th July 2016

We started the day before dawn had broken with a very early start so that we could reach Masada in time to see the sunrise from the top. We climbed part of the way up and once we arrived, many took part in the special experience of Davening on the top whilst admiring the beautiful view. We then moved on to see some of the Roman archaeology after which we started the hike down. We were all very pleased to have breakfast after a tired group reached the bottom!

Next, we headed to the Dead Sea were many enjoyed floating in it and having a good time at the unique site and soaking up the sun!

Ein Gedi was our next stop where we had lunch and went to see one of the beautiful waterfalls and where we enjoyed cooling down under the water.

We drove to Ein Tzurim, were we would be staying the night on a Kibbutz there, and all prepared for Shabbat.

After a group Kabbalat Shabbat service, a high spirited meal followed, where much singing took place. This was a great way to end a long and extremely enjoyable day.

By Michael Rowe

Shabbat 

It was the third Shabbat! The day started at 10 for the majority of us with cake (for those who could eat it) and snacks, followed, as usual, by the Shabbat morning service. It was quite emotional due to the fact that this was our last Shabbat together. After lunch, the Godfreys lead a dragon's den style session- each group had to come up with a way to improve Jewish life and present this idea to the judges (our Shabbat guests - Yossi Binstock and Mark Benamram). It was good fun and really made you think about how you could help improve lives, even on a smaller scale. We then had free time in which discussions were had and card games were played. This was followed by a question and answer session with Mark, Yossi and Gabi Godfrey (of Tribe Israel). 

Many topics were covered which raised questions in the group, which Yossi and the others did their best to answer over and after dinner. 

Havdala was extremely emotional - this was it. This was the last time for us, as a group, leaving Shabbat together. The fact we only had less than a week left really struck home at this point. Havdala was followed by music, dancing and talking until the small hours of the morning outside our rooms until we were all too tired to function and went to bed. 

By Keila Isaacson-Gray

Day 17: Thursday 28th July 2016

We started off today by waking up to the morning heat of Eilat. After breakfast we traveled to kibbutz Lotan where we learned about different ways we can help to save the world, from compost toilets to gas producers using food waste and by far the best, mud which we learnt can be strong enough to make houses, walls, seats and children's play areas. 

Later on in the day we drove through a wildlife park which was made to introduce rare and endangered species that used to live in Israel back into the wild. 

For the last activity of the day we did an intense martial arts training with Budo for Peace - an organisation which uses traditional martial arts to connect and bring together children and youth from all different backgrounds to foster unity and leadership.

By the evening everyone was tired so we all had an early night in preparation for our early morning start for Masada.

By Sam Jayes

Day 16: Wednesday 27th July 2016

The day began by waking up at 8:00 which seems to be incredibly generous from Tamara and Issac as we usually have to wake up at 6:45. After an extra hour in bed we all felt revived and awake for the exciting and exhilarating day ahead. We also noticed that sleeping with a duvet in Eilat was a stupid idea as so far it had been the hottest night on tour. We had about half an hour to get ready and to meet downstairs for breakfast. Breakfast was very impressive for a youth hostel with a good range of foods from cereal to pasta. Then, we all got prepared with our three litres of water for our first activity. We headed on the coach to Migdalor Beach where we had two hours of snorkeling and beach time. Snorkeling was extremely refreshing as it woke us all up properly. It was extremely beautiful and enjoyable atmosphere, as we explored the underworld by viewing the variety of fish and sea animals who live on apparently "the best beach in the whole of Israel". 

Beach time was very relaxing and calming. 

We headed on the bus for a two minute bus journey to the Underwater Observatory where we spent the rest of the afternoon. we saw a range of sea creatures from sharks to rare fish to turtles. The observatory was mesmerizing and unbelievable as there are so many different types of fish which exist in the world. 

After dinner which was great as we had all the food and the whole restaurant to ourselves we took a walk to the Town Centre where Yaara told us a story about the 'Ink Flag'.  It is about how soldiers conquered Eilat by the Negev during 'The Independence War' and that Eilat is in the middle of Israel, Jordon and Eygpt and peace is now established between the three countries. It is known as the 'Ink Flag' because the soldiers improvised a flag for Israel when they conquered Eilat. 

We then had some free time for shopping at the mall and around the market. This was very exciting as this was the first time we had a chance on tour to shop at a proper Israeli mall with proper Israeli shops and especially at night!  Day 16 was awesome and amazing as we all created more incredible and unforgettable memories.

By Sara Grant