Greetings from Israel and l’shanah tovah.  I have been having a wonderful time in Israel experiencing the country and its culture.  Since the High School in Israel closes for Rosh Hashana, I went with Sofia Arlen to her relative’s house to stay for two nights.  The city we stayed at was Bat Yam, a beach town near Tel Aviv. It was interesting how the city was suburbs compared to its touristy counterpart, Tel Aviv.  It was also interesting how public transportation was populated with soldier coming home from service and how they carried their assault weapons on them. It did make me uncomfortable considering an American who rarely sees a country with a very active military.  The next day, we went to the beach to celebrate the holiday. It was quite fun body surfing the waves and bobbing up and down beyond the break. At dinner, I performed a little Seder and performed the hamotzi and other simple prayers I knew. The dinner was very good and it was cooked by her relative, a Moroccan Jew with a very interesting style of cuisine.  Then we headed on back to campus the next day.

The next day was packed with studies preparing us for the tiyul to Megiddo.  When we got to Megiddo the next day, it was amazing how you could clearly see the stratum of civilization that lived at Megiddo, including the Phillistines and Israelites.  It was also in the Jezreel Valley overlooking Mt. Gilboa, the technically difficult hike that post a lot of trouble for most of the students. After that we went to Mt. Carmel, the biblical site of the famous Elijah challenging polytheism.  Since we couldn’t go on the long hike because of dangerous amounts of UV radiation, we went on a much smaller hike taking us only to the site instead of hiking up to the top.

After, we went to Haifa for Shabbat.  I personally think that Haifa is the best city in Israel. I think its amazing to see the Mediterranean and amazing beaches and also to see mountain ranges sloping down into the city.  Coming from Miami, it was stunningly beautiful, an elegance that I had not been embraced with yet. Over Shabbat, we went to the beach. The beach was my favorite out of all the beaches I have gone to so far.  The waves there were perfect, cresting at an angle to where you can body surf them all the way back to shore. Even if you didn’t want to get pounded by waves, you could go beyond the break and still be able to stand at a decent depth.  All in all, this week was amazing and filled with adventure, something I wouldn’t experience at regular school.