I am really excited about going to Israel I love this country and I am going to meet new people and see my friends from bbyo. I can not wait longer to get there!

Hey again blog, long time no see well let us see last time I talked about how my week was going but I never really planned for my future.

So far I’ve been having SO MUCH FUN and we’ve only been here for a few days! I’m all unpacked, and already feel like I’m at home! I love all my madrichim! Gil, Yuval, Ayelet, & Dorin!

I love the program so far but I am expecting more from it like more trips to learn about Israel and see real things because usually we are learning about places and history but we don’t see seem or in the best cases just in pictures.

I came to Israel to have the absolute time of my life while learning, making memories, and creating friendships of a lifetime. I did not board the plane at JFK with specific goals. Once I arrived at AMHSI, I was made aware of the two community service organizations. Leket and Save A Child’s Heart.

I fall in Love with Israel this land is the promised land for Jews and I feel really connected to it. I ate a lot of Israeli food and it tastes amazing, I tried everything: falafel, shawarma, couscous and more….

So you’ll never guess what happened to me. Well, in Israel there are these light/water shows that are really cool. The water is sprouting out of the ground on different heights while lights are being sporadically turned on and off to make a theme with the water. Not to mention the songs being played in the background.

My whole life I have been waiting for a chance to go to Israel. I have been learning about Israel ever since I was able to learn and I’ve been studying Hebrew almost as long as I’ve been studying English. Growing up in a Jewish school Israel is large part our identity.

As my journey is just beginning and my ship is getting ready to sail, a new adventure awaits me. While it’s being rigorously prepared and packed, excitement and anticipation bursts from the seams of my body.

Anticipation - ציפייה This week is full of anticipation for me and the longer I wait the more anxious I become. I’m waiting to arrive at my home for the next 6 weeks.

My goals for my adventure that has just begun soar to unimaginable heights.

In my first week of Alexander Muss High School the excitement and adventures never cease to impress me. As this trip is just commencing, I already have had such amazing experiences and can only imagine how many more there are to come.

It was hard to set goals for a country I’ve been to in a program I’ve been to, but I had a few very general goals. I wanted to create a meaningful connection too my heritage and witness in person the actual locations where our history took place.

In the two weeks that have flown by at Alexander Muss, I have noticed many similarities and differences between the culture and the values of people in Israel compared to America.

“We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we’re curious, and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.” -Walt Disney.

Some major differences between Israel and America have been the thousands of years of history, the spirituality, and simple things like the taste of the food and that the restaurants don’t serve ice or do refills.

As the days fly by, I have not yet had time to look back and admire all the amazing experiences that I have had; but when I stop for a moment to reflect, I can already see the memories that will stay with me forever.

“Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.”

This week I attended my first Sefer Torah celebration. The Jewish National Fund had a Torah written for the Alexander Muss High School. As a Jew in America I’ve never thought about the process of making a Torah. I’ve really only seen two Torah’s in real life. I just kind of accepted that they exist and didn’t realize the deeply spiritual and complicated Process of making Torahs. Nor did I realize how much writing Torah’s connect us to Jews around around the world in the diaspora and the Jews of the ancient world.

Israel is a country unlike any other in which I’ve traveled to sites unimaginable in other parts of the world. One trip we have taken that truly led me to acknowledge the uniqueness of this country is our trip to Masada and the Dead Sea in the same day.