This week, I would not like to write about the incredible religious and spiritual experience I’ve gotten out of this trip, rather how my hobbies and interests correlated with the trips we have taken over the past seven days. If there is one thing I have ever enjoyed through and through in my life, it would no doubt be the exploration of the past. Put simply, I like history. A lot. And I don’t know what it was, but the past week has really catered to that interest.

For example, on Sunday we kicked off the week with a visit to the Bar Kochba tunnels, constructed approximately 2000 years before. According to our teacher, Yossi, the tunnels had only been a myth until a farmer discovered the system of tunnels after attempting to flatten the land with dynamite. Naturally, there was not any dirt, only cave. Spelunking in the tunnels not only gave me the joy of feeling as if I were a rebel fighting in the struggle for independence against Hadrian’s empire (not to mention a few calices, but that’s alright), but also somewhat resonated with my childhood self. Like any reasonable child, I would always receive a present, take it out of the box, and proceed to climb into said box. Going in such a tight-knit space reminded me of those times spent in the pulpy goodness that was cardboard.

Now that I think about it, a lot of what we did had to do some aspect of my childhood (yes, that was planned…not well thought out, but planned nonetheless). Mounting the crusader fortress reignited my feelings of playing with my knight toys and going to Tzfat really brought back my early memories of visiting the Philadelphia Museum of Art. But perhaps the most significant trip we made that pertained to my early days was to the Yad lakashish, or lifeline for the aged. More than two decades ago, my mother had bought a talis bag that was fashioned into the shape of a frog. Despite its purpose, I always enjoyed playing with the bag, in addition to the knights and boxes. Fortunately, the talis bags were still in stock, but this time I felt it would be both nostalgic and fitting to buy a baby talis frog to match my mother’s grown one. Such is the mentality of a mama’s boy.

Other than that, the week has been arguably the most easy going of the bunch, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.