SH-21-152's blog

Shalom from Jerusalem!

After our hike in the Jilaboon we were lucky enough to ascend Har Bental and look out onto the now calm and barely discernible Syrian border. Our trip leaders thoroughly explained the history of the Israel Syria conflict and we got to walk through a dormant military bunker where soldiers would live for months on end. We then proceeded to Mitzpe Gadot, a look out over kibbutz gadot which heroically withstood syrian barage between 1948 and 1967 while the syrians posessed the golan heights, which the IDF was then able to conquer.

Yesterday we visited the Golan Heights. We were lucky yet again -- the weather was absolutely beautiful. We had a muddy hike of about a mile during which only one person fell into the stream (he got his feet wet, that's about it). At the end of the hike we reached a waterfall. It wasn't a particularly big waterfall, but the view was nevertheless awesome.

Hi, my name is Shai and I'm an Israeli soldier. On the first day, meeting the Americans, I was so impressed to find an amzing group. Now, after I had many conversations with them, I discovered fascinating personalities. They are so excited to learn about Israel, the religion and its traditions. Yesterday we woke up after a night in a luxurious Shalom Hotel, had a royal breakfast and went to Yad Vashem Museum. After being there for the second time, the feelings were still very strong and many people shared their family stories. Later we continued to a mall outside Jerusalem and had lunch.