The first full day with the Israelis! - July 23, 2012

Today was definitely one of the best days on the trip so far. We had our first full day with the Rishon LeZion group and we were back to being a big Metro-Letzion family. Breakfast was at 8 AM which is always too early for everyone to wake up and get ready. We started the day off with an amazing hike called “Madrasa” in the Jordan River. We hiked in the river with water up to our hip for about 2 hours. The hike was really fun, everyone getting wet, splashing, and joking around. We ended the hike with one more obstacle to get through. While exiting the river we had to avoid a huge bee hive with hundreds of bees swarming around. Marisa Parnes was very scared of bees and with the help of her friends, she overcame her fear and just ran through the bees and survived.  Next we all changed our clothes and went to a barbeque on the Kinneret/Sea of Galilee. For me this was the best part of the day and maybe the trip thus far. We all had a fancy BBQ lunch and went in swimming in the Kineret. There was music blasting, people were jumping off the dock, and enjoying the beautiful views. Everyone had a great time all together at the “Diller Mesiba ba Kineret.”

Then we went to a lookout point in the Golan Heights called MIspeh LaShalom and saw beautiful views over the Sea of Galilee. The water was so clear and still, it looked like we were looking a huge sheet of glass. We stayed there for about half an hour and took a big group picture. Then we loaded the bus and headed back to the Kibbutz Sha’ar Hagolan for an activity. The activity was planned by me and Omer as we were both leaders of the day. We played a game called the Blind Fold Shoe Shuffle. Everyone was laughing and having fun. Then we had tour of the kibbutz and learned about the ancient artifacts found here and artillery and bunkers found there from the Independence War.   The Kibbutz community was actually started by a small group of people from Rishon LeZion and moved to the north in order to protect the border between Israel and Lebanon.

After a long day we had a nice big dinner at the kibbutz. Next we all showered up, changed, and had a Ma’agal Laila. This was a very meaningful Ma’agal Laila and I think everyone got something important out of it. The Americans were very tired and went to sleep right after the Ma’agal Laila, but as usual the crazy Israelis who never get tired wanted to stay up for a few more hours. Today was an amazing day and we can’t wait for the next.

-          Ben Sabin