The last two days were extremely meaningful to many people in the group including myself. Our second day in Tel Aviv consisted of a visit to Independence Hall and a view of the exact room Israel was declared a state in 1948. A lot of emotions came with this tour of Independence Hall because so much went into the declaration of this state and also our speaker was very informative of the event. I can say on behalf of the group we all left feeling very proud and glad to be Jewish, leaving with the goal of making a positive influence over our peers.

On day three, a family was made as we laughed and shared beautiful experiences.  We all had a undeniable connection that was clearly evident by day three in Israel.

#IsraelWithIsraelis #JodAlizTzach #BestTripEVER #shorashim #bus913 #birthright

We drove to our first hike, at Tel Dan. Surrounded by trees, we walked over the rocks hovering the flowing water and took many pictures with the beautiful view

We were met by our seven Israeli participants greeting us by singing and dancing. We made our way to the Ofir lookout and did the Shehecheyanu with grape juice.

We were so happy to finally arrive, and we were greeted by our new Israeli friends! We got on the bus and drove to the north to our kibbutz, Kibbutz Afik.

The sun was blazing, but we were all hat-ed and sunscreen-ed to protect us from its rays. The hike began down a long dusty road, and continued over a mud pit (through which MOST of us made it out unscathed).

After a scenic drive to a magical mountain, we began our journey on foot. A green landscape, complimented by pink flowers painted our path.

Our day started with an intense, emotional trip to Yad Vashem, which is the Holocaust museum in Jerusalem. Our, Swedish-born, Israeli tour guide began our tour with the history leading up to the Shoa and highlighted personal stories and accounts of victims.

The sights were exquisite. We began to learn more about each other as the sunlight and fresh air recharged us from our long journey the previous two days.