First Day at Congress: Our Present, Past, and Future

Today was a great day to start the new month. After creating special friendships and bonds with fellow North Americans, we were joined by our israeli counterparts.

Soon after our friends from Israel joined us, they were added to the thirteen tribe groups that had been created previously. The first activity was ice breakers and ended with the breaking of actual ice! Soon after we ate a somewhat good lunch & were given our sleeping arrangements for the week.

We started to do another activity at 3:30 led by our junior staff. The activity was all about family; our immediate family, our North American Family, Israel and our new diller family. After this interesting activity we got a much awaited break.

At 5:30 we started another activity led by our coordinators, which was all about the covenant-Brit. For Part of the activity we were divided up into five groups & our mission involved taking the Ten Commandments trying to decided that if they're was only five commandments, what would they be? This was very interesting for me because myself and another North American were discussing the sabbath commandment with two Israelis and our views were completely different, as it is easier to observe the Sabbath in Israel.

Pizza and pasta was served for dinner at seven followed by a magal Lilah (circle time) at 8 o'clock. To end the great day, the famous 'white tent' opened at 9:30 for teens to make new friends and socialize.

Michael Salpeter

IDF Day!

We may live in different countries, experience different cultures and while going to the army at age 18 is certainly not the norm in Canada as it is in Israel, there is a special something that connects us all.  There is one common language we all speak, it's a web of emotions strewn between us. We all feel sadness, happiness, pain, elation... While we watched a movie on a fallen soldier and Israeli dillers shared personal stories, we were all lying in this very web, experiencing grief and pain all together.
But this intricate web also allows us to enjoy certain emotions together as well.  At the Ramon Airforce Base, we watched in anticipation as three F-16i planes took flight on the runway. This was something completely new to me, and I think to most of the Canadians, as soldiers in uniform and army weaponry are certainly not the norm in Montreal.
However, something common does exist between the two countries: our ability to care for veterans of war. Here in Be'er Sheva, we visited בית הלוחם, a centre for victims of war and terrorism attacks in Israel. There are 3 others like it in the country: in Tel-Aviv, in Jerusalem and in Haifa. Not only do they have regular sports teams but, like the ones we played with, they also have many wheelchair teams. Our dillers found out how hard it is to stay seated while passing, throwing, scoring and dribbling a basketball. This is how some people live their lives and I for one, could not even handle it for 5 minutes. These people are heroes in their own right and so brave for not succumbing to despair. It is truly amazing to see a city giving a second chance to those who devoted their lives and gave up so much for it's protection.
Lastly, I would like to thank the lovely planners of this day who made it all possible. They opened our eyes to many different aspects of the IDF, it's not all guns and uniforms but real people with real stories.
The day ended on a high note, bright like the setting sun that spanned the landscape. WATER FIGHT!

Chelsea Myers-Colet

Swimming in Blue and White!

Waking up at 4 in the morning was quite the challenge, but we all managed to wake up and go to Masada. As my first time in Israel, I didn't really know what to expect when we would arrive at this historic site. The ruins left on Masada makes this fortress  even more beautiful and the view from on top of it is breath taking. The group of the day planned an original activity. They asked few teens to stand in the middle of a circle while the other teens would bloke the way for them to get out. It was a reproduction of what the Jews and the Romans did with Masada. After this fun activity, we took the snake path to get down. After an hour walk going down the mountain, we left Masada to go eat a delicious breakfast. Once everyone ate, we took our bathing suits and left for the Dead Sea. It was pretty cool to just float in the middle of the sea.
After the Dead Sea, we headed towards Sde Boker, the kibbutz where David Ben Gurion lived. We were brought in a room where we had to watch a little video about his life. It was interesting to learn about how hard it was to built this kibbutz and how much effort he had put into it. We all think that we know his story, but today I learned a more detailed version of his life. After this little clip, we had a little activity  Jewish leaders.
After our little trip into this famous kibbutz, we headed to Beer Sheva to change outfits for the Maccabiah ceremony. The feeling I had arriving at the ceremony was overwhelming. There were so many Jews from around the world that gathered for this ceremony. This will be a memory that I will cherish forever.
Am Israel chai!

Megan Levy