SH-26-249's blog

Masada

We woke up to a beautiful morning in the holy city. We spent the morning touring Old Jerusalem. Our first stop was a breathtaking outlook on Mount Scopus. After hearing the background of the city, and taking in the view, it only took a couple extra minutes to drag the girls away from their photoshoot. Then it was back on the bus for the most anticipated destination of our trip.

As we entered the old city, Lior reminded us of what we say each passover, "Next year, in Jerusalem." It was incredible to think we didn't need to wait until next year but just until the next stop.

Today we visited the town of Tzfat where we learned about the Temple that we walked through. The temple was very tiny, as are most of the temples in Israel. To mimic the Jews bowing down to the Torah, the arc was bent over at the top to also participate in bowing with respect.

Just like every location in Israel, the Gilaboon hike was 45 minutes away from our kibbutz. Afer a quick breakfast , we were on our way to our first full day of excursions in Israel. Lior, our tour guide, made the trip to Gilaboon informative and most of all enjoyable. As we crossed the Golan Heights, we were told about the strategic value of the highly contested Israeli highlands. While our bus traveled across the Heights, Lior told us about the yellow and red signs that we drove by were actually warning signs for the mine fields that littered the landscape.