We're on our way home!

Reflections from Day 11

Friday morning, it was time for us to rise and shine and experience nature the way it was in the Bible! At the Biblical Nature Reserve, we learned that wheat, barley, pomegranates, figs, dates, olives, and grapes were mentioned in the Bible. We also got the opportunity to mush olives and use a mortar and pestle to grind za'tar. We planted acorns in little pots that will be placed in the ground next year since this year is a sabatical year. Everyone enjoyed having falafel and shwarma for lunch on Ben Yehuda Street. After lunch on Ben Yehuda Street, we headed back to the hostel to squeeze in an interesting program about different points of view on the terror in the middle east and the future of the Israeli state. Right afterwards, we made our way upstairs to our rooms to clean up, get ready for shabbat services, and organize our skits for Saturday night. We all met downstairs and walked to the Hebrew Union College for a beautiful service outside with the adult and family trip. Danielle Ben-Arie and Sam Levy said some words on behalf of our group of teens and once the service ended we all raced to the hotel for a giant buffet meal. 

Lilly and Elliott

Reflections from Day 10

This morning we got a wake up call at 7:30 by banging on the door by Sir Jon Amsler. We then proceeded to get dressed and ready to be downstairs for the "Kibbutz water" breakfast. After the delicious breakfast, we went on the bus with our bus driver, Asa, where we met our replacement tour guide, Ronin. ("Hello my name is Ronin.") We arrived at Yad Vashem and received our headsets and walkie talkies for the auditory tour. The tour lasted about 2 hours, and many of us were touched deeply and repeatedly.  After this, we went to the Herzl museum and that was bundles of Jewtastic fun. We then ate lunch at a mall and got a choice of anywhere we wanted to go. After lunch, we went to Independence Hall and learned about the state of Israel being declared. We finally got to the beach, before making our way to a delicious dinner on the beach. After this, we went home and went to sleep since we felt like "KIBBUTZ WATER".

max simpson

emma

Reflections from Day 9

The last day with our Israeli brothers and sisters started with breakfast with our specific host families. We said our goodbyes to our host mothers and fathers who were most generous. The parents washed our clothes, fed us great meals including traditional dishes like Shashooka, and drove us to our activities. We then all met at the local country club for an afternoon of great activities, but before we could lay in the pool and play soccer, we  talked about what the Atlanta Yokenam Partnership means. With our host brothers and sisters, we picked a quote that meant something to us that had to do with Israel and the great time we had. Then we had an amazing soccer game, Israel vs America. In the soccer game each team were equally matched and when ever Israel scored america scored in response. Right at the end when it was tied 2 and 2 we scored the winning goal and the American team won 3 to 2. After the soccer game everyone jumped into the pool and had a great time. Nearing the end of the pool party we grouped together and prepared to say our goodbyes. While we said our goodbyes we had someone from each group say a few deeps words. they were all very meaningful which made  it harder to say goodbye to everyone. 

After we went on our way we drove to Jerusalem and cleaned up to go shopping. We were able to have a few hours to get tons of souvenirs for ourselves and family members. When our time was up, we walked to east and west parts of Jerusalem and  learned how their used to be a border (and barbed wire) that separated the two sides. To close up the night we went to a light show that showed a timeline that formed Israel. After the light show we walked back to our Hostel. 

Lyndsey, Joseph and Brandon  

Preparing for our Yad VaShem visit

More bus ride spooning

Bus ride spooning