Day 5 | Shorashim - Israel with Israelis

Day 5

Michael Lemonick

After an early breakfast, we headed to Yad Vashem, Israel's famous Holocaust Memorial Museum and Educational Institute. We enjoyed a guided tour of the museum, but we wrestled with emotions as we made our way through graphic and powerful exhibits. Our tour concluded with a debrief and reflection period where, in small groups, we shared our feelings of grief, sorrow, hope and optimism.

We continued on to see an agricultural center, Shakeds farm, located near the border of Israel and the Gaza Strip. Plants grow in the garden, but the farmers have been known to find shrapnel in the soil as well. We learned about how reliable bomb shelters provide Israeli citizens with cultural community centers as well as protection, and how post traumatic stress disorder affects life near the Gaza Strip during our trip to the JNF Indoor Playground in Sderot, Israel.

Tonight, we will sleep in Beduoin tents in the Negev Desert before we ride camels and experience Eilat, its beaches, and nightlife.

Shalom!

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