Akko

Today we visited Akko which is in the Northern tip of Israel. We had the opportunity to have the beginning of our class on the beach. We learned that the Jews were upset with the British because the McDonald white papers were not able to let the Jews come to Palestine. Ben Gurion gave the famous quote that “We will fight Nazis as if there are no white pages and we will fight the white pages as if there are no Nazis”. We also learned about Hana Senesh who was born in Budapest to a wealthy family in 1921. She had a diary which carried the stories with her love for Israel. She wanted to study agriculture in Israel and wrote beautiful poetry. Hana’s famous quote “blessed the match” really inspired me. I felt that is a true metaphor for fighting on behalf of your life. All in all, I learned a lot today about how strong our community is. When we did the pyramids it reminded me of how much the class has bonded throughout our time here. It was kind of a bittersweet moment for me because I realized that we had become so close but also that we have to leave in six weeks. This picture I took today was at Rosh Hanikra. It reminded of how beautiful Israel is even with its recent issues. I had never been so happy than when I was looking at that sunset. - Samantha