SH-24-157's blog

There is a pocket in the pit of your stomach you may not know you have. It lies somewhere off the large intestine, a small cavern in which remnants of last night’s dinner tie knots with nerves. This is the spot you feel first when you wake up at 3:30 in the morning. This is the pocket that tightens when you try to force cake down your throat when you know you’re not hungry. It is covered with a flap. If Jerusalem is the heart of Israel, then Masada is this pocket in the pit of your stomach.

I write to you on this day to remark upon the fruits of Yisrael. On the first day, God said to Asa, let there be fresh figs, and so it came to pass that many trees were laden with fruits of all colors, flavors, and sizes across the land of Israel, from the dry grassy hills of the Golan Heights to the ancient streets of Tzfat. On the second day, God created a helper named Wyn, who was fearless and would try any strange fruit without knowing or caring whether it was poisonous, so that Asa might see which fruits were delicious and which fruits were not.

Blog post for Wednesday, August 10th. Shorashim, bus 157

Here are a few photo highlights from our recent adventures!

Boker tov! Today we begin day 2 of the trip - I think. It’s actually kind of hard to tell, given the 16-hour day(ish)of traveling we had across the Atlantic, which was begun with, interrupted by, and concluded with innumerable ice-breaking games (We hit all the classics, including my personal favorite, the name + alliterative adjective game). But from what I’ve been told today is Wednesday.

Bus 157 met at JFK airport on Sunday, August 7th. Though many were tired, everyone was excited. We soon boarded our Swiss Air flight for Zurich. After a long flight, the highlight of which was the mushy protein of indeterminate kind for dinner, we arrived in Zurich, where some of us purchased real Swiss chocolate. However, most of the products could actually be bought in a local CVS-globalization has somewhat destroyed the need to buy something in its country of origin.

We made it safely to Tel Aviv, Israel. Our Israelis welcomed us at the airport singing songs of welcome! We had an opening ceremony on the beach and then drove north to Kibbutz Afik. After many ice breakers, we are beginning to get to know each other and are excited for our trip!