To begin, I want to say that I love Israel and the Israeli people so much. Although you would not be incorrect by assuming the stereotypical “Israeli” is the manners and behavior in which Israelis would uphold, but you would not be correct either. I remember that before we left, Rabbi Litcofsky sat down our group and showed us cartoons illustrating the differences is Israeli culture and American culture, and addressed the stereotypes that Israelis are often labeled with. At that time, I thought of this as an overreaction and that they can’t be that different from Americans. However, after being here for about 2 weeks, I can say that I was wrong, but in a good way.

After spending a good amount of time here in Israel, I have noticed that there are many cultural differences and similarities between Americans and Israelis. There are many little cultural observations that once you spend time in the country you start to notice, like the language barrier talking between English and Hebrew.

I always tend to write these blogs at night, as I feel as I am more in tune with myself and can reflect on my experiences in Israel. I have been in Israel for a pretty substantial amount of time now, away from my parents, family, and country in which I primarily reside in. I have to say even though I have been in Israel for a pretty long time, I still feel like I am in America, but in a good way.

So, yet again, I have a new favorite experience on Muss. On Tuesday, February 12th, we went to Jerusalem to continue our learning on the second temple period. In Jerusalem, we first visited a completely proportional and accurate model of the second temple and Jerusalem during that period. We learned that Herod, a crazy lunatic paranoid ruler wishing to be remembered, built this incredible city for the Jews.

The Tiyul that we took today at Megiddo was definitely one of the more beautiful tiyuls that we have had so far. Personally one story that we heard today was the story of Eliyahu the prophet and Ahav.

This photo was taken on February 6th, 2019 at the Kotel in Jerusalem. The Kotel is a significant part of the lives of many Jews, as it is one of the holiest places of the Jewish Religion. Being here made me really emotional. Although I had already been in Israel for a couple weeks, being at the Kotel made me feel like I was at the heart of Judaism.

This photo was taken on February 5th while we were hiking down Mount Gilboa. On the mountain we took a few stops. The first stop we took was before we began the actual hike where we learned about the Israelites’ need for a King, and Gideon’s attempt at uniting them.

This trip has been filled by hikes and spiritual awakenings.

At Mount Gilboa, we heard the story of Orde Wingate, who connected to the Jewish people’s holy text on such a level that he could defend their ancestors and then them. His story parallels my own in some ways.

The photo I chose today is actually not my favorite photo of the day but it represents something extremely important. To me this photo represents branching out, for me as a person, and for our entire group.

Along with this, I think that I need to be more adventurous with the things that I do.

I can’t wait to start my road to becoming a better leader and achieving my goals each and every day!

One goal that I have for myself is to make the most of my experience.

My first week here on the AMHSI campus has been incredible! I can't believe that I have already been here for a week. Time really does fly when you're having fun! Over the past week I have had the opportunity to set goals for the upcoming two months and even get started on a few.

I write to you from Hod Hasharon Israel, after many months of hypothesizing how this experience would change my life, it is finally here. I dream that this experience will be one that I feel fulfilled from and can reflect on and say it was one of the best experiences of my life.

This trip has hands down been the most incredible experience of my life, and I have only been here for 10 days.

For my Alexander Muss experience, I have many goals that I'm hoping to achieve both personally and academically.

It’s now been one week into my journey through Israel and I could not be happier with how it has gone so far!

When I first decided to apply to the Alexander Muss High School in Israel, I sat down and made a list of pros and cons to up and going across the world in the middle of my junior year. The cons list only had three things: one - what if I get behind, two - what if I don’t make any friends, and three- I’m going to have to be on a plane for 11 hours. But the pros list almost came alive off the paper. The ultimate toe-tingling, stomach-turning, heart-racing factor was that I’d be able to divulge myself to into my heritage-- what makes me, well, me. Developing a greater sense of who I am, where I come from, and how I connect to Judaism and it’s home has been my goal ever since.

This first week has been everything I expected and more. I have made so many new friends and even tried so many new foods. I have made many goals, both academic and personally, that I hope to achieve in my time here in Israel. These goals will not only enhance my experience here, but also give me something to look back on when the program is over.