Day 6: Meeting Be'er Sheva!

Today at 8:15 we met at the gates of Ben Gurion university of the Negev. To begin our day, we split into two groups, the Canadians, and the Israelis. Each group discussed their first night of home hospitality, something we all really enjoyed! Following our discussions, we had the amazing opportunity to get a full tour of the university and even see the mythical Helen Diller building. I  thought was cool to see how much charity this woman has given. As our day continued, we gathered to listen to an Israeli teacher who talked to us about the history of Be'er Sheva, among other interesting topics including a bayonet he found in his backyard. Being a history buff, I was highly interested in this part of the day.

After, we made our way to Tel Be'er Sheva for a scavenger hunt. Purple team won! But that activity was nothing compared to the cave crawling we did later on. I almost got stuck! Finally, we ended up at a kibbutz where we learnt about life on a kibbutz and had a well deserved swim! Personally, I really enjoyed this day because of its focus on history. I was really shocked by the amount of effort put in on the part of the day's activity group. We managed to accomplish so much in one day. And to be honest, I didn't realize how much there was to the city of Be'er Shave. Prior to this day, I honestly thought it was just done random city in the dessert. Now though, I realize how amazing of a city Be'er Sheva really is and that it can hold its own against cities like Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. Overall, this day was fantastic! I hope that the days to come are just as exciting and as intriguing as this one.

By: Maxwell Wiltzer

Day 5: Empathy

The first portion of our journey came to and end with our last travel day as only the Montreal group. I felt that the day revolved around empathy. We began our day with a visit to the "Save a Child's Heart" foundation. We learned about this non profit Israeli organization, and had the amazing opportunity to play with some of the children who add preparing or recovering from open heart surgery.

Our day continued with a tour of the Holon- Invitation to Silence museum, in which we were led by a deaf guide and taken through a series of stations. With sign language, she taught us the importance of facial expressions, hand gestures and body language. The deaf museum really opened my eyes to the different forms of expression and communication. 

Finally, we headed to Be'er Sheva and were reunited with our Israeli counterparts for our first night of home hospitality. 

We can't wait to continue our adventure!

By: Julia Szwimmer

Day 4: Exploring Israel's Past, Present, and Future

On Sunday morning, we packed our bags to head of to Tel-Aviv. But before leaving, we explored 2000 years of history inside the tunnels under the Western Wall. It's incredible to see that it is still around. We then stopped at the Kotel. For many of us who had never been to Israel, the Kotel brought on many tears at prayers. Once we arrived in Tel-Aviv, we spent lunch and some free time at Shuk HaCarmel where the group explored their surroundings. Afterwards, we went to BINA, a secular yeshiva where we learned about  efforts to allow a unique place to learn about the Talmud and the Torah without being Orthodox. The yeshiva also opened our eyes to what was happening in South Tel-Aviv. Many new immigrants coming from surrounding countries had claimed refugee status but were put in an area of poverty. This side of Israel is hardly ever spoken of yet remains a huge problem. Also, the central bus station in the part of the city hides what is happening. Later on, we drove to Jaffa and ate supper at a restaurant which was run by the hearing impared called Merkaz Na Lagaat. This was such an incredible experience since we had a hard time communicating with the waiters and learned many new words in sign language.

Once supper was over, we headed down to the beach for an activity. We were split up into groups and had to debate the given topic. We learned that every type of Judaism expresses different beliefs and that others should not be forced to act based on one person's beliefs. At the end of the day, exhausted from the day's events, we had all been exposed to new ideas, beliefs, and experiences.

By: Hannah Evans

Day 3: Shabbat in Jerusalem!

To commence the first Shabbat we spent in the Holy Land, we had a nice planned activity that took place outside. We spoke about complexities/failure and perspective. We then took a nice hour and a half walk to the Kotel. There, we participated in an activity about the different quarters of the Old City and its past, present, and future. 

After that, we went to the wall for a beautiful Havdallah. Praying and putting notes in the Kotel was a very meaningful experience for both the Diller fellows who had never been in Israel before and those who had already been there. We finished our night on Ben Yehuda street, where we were able to buy some yummy falafel and go shopping in Jerusalem's local stores.

By: Sarah Leah Eisenberg

Day 2: Exploring Jerusalem!

So we started off our first full day in Israel by going to mount Herzl, a mountain where most deceased Israeli soldiers are buried.  We visited a few of the soldiers grave sites  including Michael Levine's, an American soldier who came to Israel when he was our age and fell completely inlove with the country. When he got a bit older, he decided that he wanted to serve in the army. He came home in 2006 and then found out that all of his army brothers were fighting in the Lebanon war and felt the need to be back there fighting with him. Unfortunately he didn't make it.  This was a story that touched us all since we could all relate to Michael in certain ways. We thena spoke about how heroes and we realized that heroes do amazing things for our world which everyone recognized. We also discussed how just little things can make a small difference.  We then went on to visiting the graves of other important people including the late prime ministers.

Next we visited the Herzl museum and learnt all about the man who was so passionate about having a Jewish state. In this museum, we watches a film made up of several clips which explained how Herzl got to creating Israel. Personally, I didn't know a lot about Herzl was before walking into this museum, but once I left I felt like I knew him.

We then visited Yad Vashem, the holocaust museum. We were extremely lucky since we had one of the most amazing guides with us throughout our visit. As we entered this museum, our guide presented us with a challenge; to remember the name and story of one person that touched us. This museum was so moving and the guide really made the experience inspirational. He made us all think about what a hero really is, how a sad women smiling can make so many other people happy, making her a heroine. At the end of this museum we all realized how important it is to remember someone's name and story because that's all they have left. 

After the museum, we went on to Yehuda market. There were so many people there since it was a Friday afternoon and it was a really great experience. It allowed us to get a different taste of Israeli culture. Since it was Shabbat, we went to an orthodox synagogue in Jerusalem and had a Friday night service. The service was followed by a delicious dinner and our nightly magal laila.

By: Leanne Lemish

Day 1: Arrival in Israel!

After joining my friends at Ben gurion airport and acquainting our tour guide Abigail, and Alfred our, security guard, we didn't waste a minute, and we were on our way to Neot Kdumim.

There we were herding sheep, which is much harder than it looks. The pleasant weather and the beautiful landscape, covered in trees of all sorts and bushes of all kinds made all the more fun.

The shooting noises of the marksmen training base nearby was only background noise... :)

After difficultly moving sheep around, we grinded our own Zaatar, a middle eastern blend of herbs.

We were then taken to a lookout, overseeing the old city of Jerusalem and all it's neighboring districts.

After finally settling down and eating at our hotel, we then took our time to sit with our group, relax, and prepare for the next three weeks of action that are about to come...

By: Benjamin Brami