ISS: July 20 by Matthew Stendel

On July 20, we had our 2nd day of Kennes. So we started our day with breakfast... obviously...

We were then sent to the auditorium for activities on David Ben Gurion. We were all asked to chant D B G to get him (Sam from San Francisco) to come, but because Phil was on stage today, I chanted Phil anyways. 

We were told about the life of David Ben Gurion, and about how he wanted to develop the Negev. We were then put in DBG's shoes in our colour groups to debate if and how a Jewish state should be made. After lunch, we had a lecture on the past and present of Judaism. The fact that I couldn't see the words on the screen (even with my shades) and the lack of jokes made it boring for me, but I did learn a bit. Afterwards was an activity where in our colour groups, we had to guess who the first Jew was. My group's story about Hershel Mendel Rosenberg from Spain who travelled to Santo Domingo with 3 other merchants in 1516 was pretty entertaining given how far it was from the truth. We also had to rank the top 10 largest communities in North America, which we weren't too bad at.

Then we got to see our JCs' how to Diller video, a draw my life style video about the impact projects. We then got to discuss certain possible subjects. If you're wondering, I discussed special needs. After that, we had a comedian, and let's face it, Josh Levine is much funnier. Buddy got to do an improv too and he rocked!! After the comedy, we had our ma'agal laila, and it was about the family that is Diller Mtl. In fact, I wrote it today and I was the first fellow to do one actually. It was a huge honor and I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

We then had some amazing snacks and went to the White Tent party, where we hit the whip, cranked that Soulja Boy and did much more. Sadly, it wasn't too hectic. We then went to bed and about a few minutes later, we had to wake up again. If you're wondering about the friends I made, one of those people is Shakira from South Africa. I meant Yakira, my bad... We talked all day and it was so much fun!!!

-Matt