Having Israel as my classroom is an awesome and exciting experience. I love being in the land of Israel in general which makes the classes more exciting. Seeing the places and history in person helps me learn better because I can visualize what happened in the places and I can see how the events occurred. 

When we go to the sites where major history occurred I can understand what my teacher, Yossi, is teaching us. For example, when we went to Jerusalem, I could understand and visualize the attacks on Jerusalem and see the Jews standing up for themselves and finding a way to keep Judaism alive. At the Western Wall, Yossi taught us about a young Jew who had chiseled graffiti on the wall when the Romans were in power of Jerusalem. The kid had wrote that the Jews will not die or something along those lines. When Yossi showed us that graffiti, I could envision the boy chiseling the graffiti in. I just felt in the moment and in the time period as the boys was. 

Yossi had also taught us about the Bar Kochba Revolt caves. The caves helped the Jews survive against the Romans and keep Judaism alive again. When we went to the caves, I felt as if I was a part of the revolt. I could see the revolters inside the caves and feel the presence of the Jewish people.

Being able to learn about Israel and be in Israel at the same time is a great experience because there is nothing like it. If you wanted to learn the same stuff in the United States, you would not have the same experience. It is all about being here to study the history and culture in Israel. 

Not only is actual core class in Israel my class, but just being in Israel is my class. When we go into town or into cities with Jewish culture, I am learning more about Israel that way also. I can find out what the present day Israel is like and I can compare it to the past. I can see how much Israel has changed and the more modern the “old” country has become. Israel is one of the newer official countries, but the land of Israel is one of the oldest inhabited by a religion. Jews have been here for over 2,000 years and that is just amazing to think about. Considering all of the liberation and discrimination that Jews have had to face for almost all of their existence, 2,000 years is very impressive. 

I also am learning from the people in this country. I have met a lot of people who are proud and happy to be in Israel and they tell me how great it is to be here. They have told me their stories and how they got here which are very interesting to me. Some people come here for Aliyah by themselves, others come to serve in the IDF, and others just come with their parents at a young age. I get to learn about the history because the people are the history. The people make the history occur. That is the greatest thing about Israel, the people of Israel, Am Yisrael.