Day 5 | Shorashim - Israel with Israelis

Day 5

Zach Leppo

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.

The same night we celebrated Shabbat together in our Kibbutz, assembled by our Shabbat committee. It was great to share our Jewish tradition together and sing songs and read Torah portions. Safe to say we all felt at home with one another and it seemed like we were one big family. After the Shabbat readings we ate Shabbat dinner together along with other Israeli's celebrating Shabbat in the Kibbutz dining hall. It was a successful Shabbat ending with a lot of fun conversation until the early morning. Israel continues to turn a large group of strangers into a caring family.

Photo credit: @stephlholt_ (header), @elizabeth_eden_