This morning we started with breakfast in the Kibbutz dining hall and then we went for fun rides in jeeps into the lower Golan Heights. We learned about the the need to have a secure border along the Golan Heights and the battles that were fought there in the Six Day War and the Yom Kippur War. The jeeps left us off at the foot of a stream and pools of fresh spring water that we hiked through to get to the actual source- a waterfall called the At-Tina Spring. The water was thigh high and then we hiked up the rocky mountain about a half mile to reach the waterfalls.
Our next stop was even more water fun. After a great pizza lunch in a park we went kayaking/rafting down a tributary of the Jordan River. The weather was perfect and the kayak experience was fabulous!! The students had so much fun! Many of the students were really looking forward to the kayaking and they told me that it surpassed their expectations. The water was not very deep or rapid and many of the students had fun "falling" in and out of the rafts, and of course there was lots of splashing and joyful faces.
From there we drove to visit the Israeli emissaries that were in Akron last year, Shirel and Eran. They live in a beautiful town called Har Adar, in the Judean mountains outside of Jerusalem. What a great view from the lookout point that they took us to. We could see Jerusalem and on a clear day, they told us, you can even see Tel Aviv. It was so wonderful to see them! What great memories the eighth graders had of traveling with them to Montana last year and studying with them all year. We are so fortunate that our Akron Jewish community invests in having Israeli emissaries each year to help us connect to and learn about Israel. We look forward next Monday, to going to visit the kibbutz that our emissary from this year grew up in. Our final stop for the day was our Youth Hostel in Jerusalem.
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