My goal is to brave the unknown, and come out a better man for it.
When I first applied for the Stephen Muss Impact Fellowship, I did not envision a quarantine for two of my sixteen weeks. Nor did I even think Israel would be entering another phase of lock-down just as my quarantine ends. Ever since entering quarantine in the Rappaport dormitory, things have been surreal. Looking outside the window I find myself seeing students going to and from school, conversing about their classes, or even just enjoying the tranquility of a walk home. Surreal is definitely the sufficient word to use in this matter. Suffice to say, living in Israel has left me Shell-shocked, and I still have trouble coming to terms with that even after isolating in Israel for fourteen days.
Brevity aside, I have been in a constant state of wonder ever since touching down in Israel. It's so different from being here to visit family, or being here in the summer. I live in Israel. It's something I still struggle with grasping. The fact that I am studying for a full semester in a foreign country still boggles my mind. The online classes I find myself in are so similar, yet so different to the classes I took before this hapless quarantine began. I found myself with ancillary time to myself. I began to dwell on what I truly wished to achieve during my ongoing Escapade in the Stephen Muss Impact Fellowship. I began to question what I truly wished my goals to be on this program. After much deliberation, I found solace in the unknown. To assign myself a goal would be to limit an ever-expanding horizon. I can say that I want to study harder, or discover myself, perhaps even get perfect marks on my report card, but such an action would limit the boundless opportunities I have to make an Impact on my future and the futures of everyone I know. My goal is to brave the unknown, and come out a better man for it.
This is Noam Benartzy, in his final day of quarantine in Alexander Muss' High School in Israel program, ready to brave the unknown, one minute step at a time, signing off.