Hey everyone! Today was amazing. The day started very early, 5:45 to be exact. Obviously waking up was very hard, but it was worth it. We prayed on a beautiful porch right outside of our rooms. It felt so good to be able to pray outside because we had so many reasons to pray, so many things to be thankful for.
After breakfast we went to Tzfat, where we learned a lot about a perspective on Judaism that we aren't very familiar with. It was amazing to see how big of a role Judaism plays in the everyday life of the city. We then drove to the Banias where we hiked for a little bit. On the way to the Banias, Ariel, our Moreh Derech or tour guide, showed us an inactive volcano next to the Syrian boarder. I actually didn't know that there were volcanoes in Israel. On the way back we stopped at the volcano and went to see a bomb shelter that was used in the 6 Day War. Ariel told us that kids our age learned and lived in bomb shelters because it was too dangerous outside. It was shocking to me because even as an Israeli I spent a few hours of my life in a bomb shelter, while those kids spent years in there. When we got to the top of the volcano we saw a beautiful view of farms and we noticed a single Israeli flag. All of us asked the same question; "what's after that?" The answer surprised me and everyone else. Beyond that was Syria, and the few building we could see were ruins of a Syrian city that was destroyed by the opposition and Assad's fighters. The thought of innocent children and people in general dying or losing everything really scared me. While we get a safe life in NJ, those Syrian kids are trying to survive. The whole experience made me realize how thankful we should all be for what we have.
My favorite part of the day was the Yom HaAtzmaut celebration in Tiberias. Seeing every
Israeli come out of their house to the streets of the city to celebrate the country right after we were mourning the dead soldiers was a life changing experience. It showed me that even though people fight and there are problems in life we really can get together and support this amazing country that we fought for so much. I am so excited to be going to Jerusalem tomorrow, and I'm looking forward to many more amazing days!
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