More student entries

Talia: 

We went on a hike in Eilat that started out kind of easy, then the path turned into a rocky sand, which was much harder. When we got to the top we all sat silently and looked at the borders of the four countries that we could see: Israel, Jordan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia. It was really cool to take it all in and see it all in one place. On the way down it was very challenging because it was so steep and windy. When I got to the bottom I felt really accomplished because I had climbed a mountain. Snorkling in the cold Red Sea after that was very refreshing.

Jace:

When we were at the Holocaust Museum, Yad Vashem, we went to the Children's Memorial. When you first walked in it was really dark. There was an illusion that there were millions of candles, but there were only five with specially positioned mirrors. You could hear a man and woman reading the names of boys and girls who were killed. It was very powerful and you could feel all of the emotion that went into making this Memorial.

Korrine:

We had to wake up really early to climb Masada, which everyone was not very happy about. When we first arrived it was just barely dawn. To go up the mountain, we hiked up the Roman Ramp (which is way easier then the Snake Path). We went to an open part of the mountain and watched the sunrise. Then we sang songs and had our own little service. After we looked around at all the ruins of the Romans, and they were all astonishing. It was amazing how much was left from over 2,000 years ago. There were so many elaborate and decorative things located all over the spacious mountain. Then we went to a canyon-type structure and yelled the phrase "Masada Shall Not Fall Again" in Hebrew and our echo sounded like the souls of the 800 Jews who made the worst decision of all, because they knew the Roman's were going to kill them. The hike down was harder then the way up but still really fun. In a nutshell, my experience with Masada was amazing, overwhelming, and extremely powerful. 

Eliana:

On Shabbat we got to sleep in until 9:45 which is longer than all of the other days when we had to get up at 6. After we got ready we had a morning Shabbat prayer service where we read from the Torah portion. We walked to the beach, which was two blocks away, and we went swimming. The water was cold at first but we got used to it easily enough.While we were in the water my friends and I played Marco Polo and Truth or Dare. After we got out a group of us sat and talked underneath the pavilion. Then lots of other kids came over too. We went back to our Youth Hostel and had a short havdala service outside. That night, we went to the boardwalk and the mall to go shopping, I got ice cream!!!