At Alexander Muss High School in Israel, everyday is different. Some days, its 7 am wake up, and I grab my apple and am off to my 4 ½ hours of core(Jewish history). From there it’s lunch, than my next 5 hours of class from home. Finally I get back to my dorm, do all my work, and go to sleep. This routine, although physically and mentally draining, is only a few days each week. It’s the two or three days that make it all the hours of class worth it-- the Tiyuls. Tiyul in hebrew means a tour, or a trip, but this minimal definition doesn’t begin to express what a Tiyul is at AMHSI.

These tiyuls are experiences of the past, a swim in the pool of Jewish history. What we learn each day on campus is then transformed into a journey where learning is masked by the adventures, people, and places we see. Some days, we convert Torah readings into physical places that allow us as students to fully understand different metaphors or literal instances from the Tanach, like when we visited Tel Gezer and saw what the “girl in the wall” meant when Avraham was exploring the land of Canaan. Other times, we get to hike where the Kings once hiked, like when we climbed Masada, climbing exactly what the Romans climbed to capture the radical Sicarii Zealots during the end of the Great Revolt. Each place we visit allows us as historians to gain deeper insight on the culture, mindset, and struggles our Jewish ancestors faced. The ability to turn the outside world of Israel into my classroom is something I'm lucky to have.

This unique way of learning has not only enhanced my knowledge and sympathy in Jewish history-- well I actually do feel less of a need to study as hard because the information is practically branded to my brain-- but each tiyul gifts me with new lifelong memories and adventures along side my new family here at AMHSI.