Day One in Israel

Welcome to the first blog post for Bus 517! We arrived safely in Tel Aviv this morning to cheers, song and dancing, and we have quickly gotten to know the 47 participants, 39 Americans, seven Israelis, and one Canadian, who we will be traveling with the next 10 days. I am Seth Levy from Cherry Hill, New Jersey, and each day, one of us will blog about our Israeli experience. Today is my turn.

From Tel Aviv, we headed north to the Golan to Kibbutz Afikim, our hotel for the next three days. There, Ori, our Israeli Tour Educator, and Becca and Blake, our American leaders, led a short orientation before heading out for falafel and shawarma. Then, the fun really began.

The main event of day one was a water hike in the Majrase. We avoided large rocks and small stones while traversing a river up to our waists. We stayed mostly dry, except for the young kids in the river who made it their mission to soak everyone, but the cold water definitely felt good on a hot day that must have reached the 90s.

After hiking in the Majrase, our bus driver Reuven took us up some winding mountain roads to the Ofir Lookout, from where we could view the entire Sea of Galilee, in Hebrew, called The Kinneret. From the Lookout, we enjoyed a peaceful and spectacular view of the valley, and mountains and water, and shared our hopes and expectations for our time in Israel. Our group also joined in the Shehecheyanu, a prayer said at the beginning of holidays and special occasions, when we are thankful for having reached this special day.

Now, we are resting before dinner at the Kibbutz, and I know everyone will sleep well tonight. We are all very excited for the week ahead and cannot wait for what is to come.

Seth Levy, Cherry Hill, NJ