Often in school I find myself sitting for hours in the bland stuffy classrooms. Despite my best efforts to relate to the material being taught, my mind wanders somewhere else. I remember the first time we went on a tiyul to Tel Gezer, an archaeological ruin of what used to be an ancient city dating back to the time of the Canaanites. It’s located of the top of a Tel, or a man-made hill. My core teacher, Benji, brought us to the top of the hill overlooking the vast landscape of Israel; the coastal plain was on one side and the mountainous range known as the Shfeila on the other. He showed and explained to us where the ancient roads going through Israel intersect, and their important role in ancient and present Israel. I tried as hard as I could to understand all that my teacher was saying; to give justice and appreciation to all the history that went on in the beautiful view before my eyes. In that moment the land of Israel had really become my “living classroom.” On-site learning is not something often incorporated into the typical school curriculum, and in the study of Jewish history I believe it to be crucial. For every tiyul I connect to the land of Israel in a different way. Sometimes it is through hikes while we listen to stories from biblical times, such as of Avraham seeing the land of Israel for the first time, or how Saul came down mount Gilboa to fight the Philistines. Now we are learning about historical events that happened just over 100 years ago: the foundations of the first modern Israeli settlements known as Kibbutzim. We have learned huge amounts of information in a short period of time - so much history happened in this land and to the people living here. Physically visiting the places that describe and show the history of the Jewish timeline and its evolution is not only a powerful tool in learning and visualizing history, but is also shaping my Jewish identity.