Congress day 3 by Naomi Spiegelman

After a relatively sleepless night, my room woke up and got ready for our third day at congress. I "woke" everyone up because breakfast was from 7:15-8:00 am. After breakfast, we all got on our bus to go to Kfar Giladi to start the day. On the bus ride, I explained what it means to me to be a leader, with the help of Peru's recent elections. It ended with my giving everyone cute llama key chains.

Upon arrival to Kfar Giladi, in front of the majestic Roaring Lion statue, we were split up into our tribes to start our tour tracks to experience Israel in a different way.

On my track, we first went to this beautifully constructed memorial site to commemorate the seventy-three soldiers that were killed in Lebanon. Our tour guide, whose son was one of seventy-three, explained to us about what happened and showed me the importance of living every day to the fullest, taking advantage of opportunities to help out. Afterwards, we did a mini hike and then lunch.

After lunch, we had an interesting unit about Israel run by the Junior Staff. This tribe unit allowed us to learn different points of view, as well as to think about the responsibility of Jews in the diaspora to Israel and vice-versa.

After our content unit and break, we each went to different discussions. I had the luck of listening to Yaniv Rivlin from the Schusterman Foundation. He takes people that are questioning/confused about Israel on journeys, because the only way to see Israel properly is in your own eyes. He also stressed to continue doing what you are doing, get a global perspective, explore, don't be afraid to do what you believe in. This was definitely the highlight of my day.

After this, we had group photos and dinner on the tel hai campus. Once we finished eating we went back to our hostels. We had a really nice ma'agal la'ila where we sculpted something we missed from home, so that we could put that thought aside and focus on our last week of the Israel Summer Seminar. 

By Naomi Spiegelman 

ISS July 7 by Jami Dorfman

On Thursday July 7 we toured Tel Aviv and experienced a few things that were fun and others that were more serious subjects. In the morning we went to Rabin Square where Yitzhak Rabin, an Israeli politician, was assassinated in 1995. While we were there we had a mission to go around the area of the square and ask strangers their thoughts on the assassination and how it shaped Israel today.

After an educational experience at the Rabin museum, where we learned about Yitzhak Rabin's life, as well as Operation Entebbe, we went on to the Mediterranean Sea for a couple hours. Even though I've been to many beaches, being in Israel and having so much fun outside was amazing. We really had a good time in the water and after that we returned to the hotel to get ready for our night outing. When we arrived at the Azrieli mall, I was mesmerized to see the number of similar store names. Many fellows met up with family and had a nice dinner while others hung out with their friends and shopped a bit.

Overall, it was a successful day and one that I will always remember

By Jami Dorfman

ISS: Kennes Shabbat by Jordan Silver

Our Shabbat morning at kennes opened up to a great start! We were given several options of different kinds of Shabbat services ranging from camp style to traditional orthodox. Each service was fun and uplifting! Afterwards we had a bit of free time before lunch where we able to schmooze with our new friends from all across the globe and create lasting friendships. We all then sat down for delicious Shabbat lunch.

Where all the cohorts sang Shabbat cheers together! Afterwards we then went to our respective colour groups where we were given challenging topics and questions on the parsha which we debated thoroughly. Later in the day we all prepared for our long walk to to the kotel and had a nice picnic in a park along the way! Once we got to the kotel we were given some free time to look around and truly connect and look at one of the most significant places in Judaism that was standing before us. 

Afterwards we sang havdalah together as a cohort and then traveled to Ben yehuda for some free time to shop around. My favourite part of the day was being able meet so many different and amazing people all united under one roof, each individual different in his own way but yet alike in another. Being able to meet and speak with teens your age from around the world but still being able to relate to and connect with each other is absolutely amazing. 

By Jordan Silver

ISS: Kennes Ends and Community Week Begins by Amanda Marciano

 On Monday July 11, we had yet another great day in Israel. The day started off emotionally and ended with such energy and lots of excitement. 

  We sadly left Kennes with lots of hugs and goodbyes. We began the day by visiting the Hertzl museum, followed by a tour of Mount Hertzl. At the Hertzl museum we saw a play and learned about Hertzl and his future vision for Israel. This was very interesting and inspiring to learn about. We then continued our day by visiting Mount Hertzl, where we were taken on a tour and learned about  many important and memorable people that have sadly passed away.  Their memory will stay with us forever.

 

  The day then continued with a sad and emotional visit to Yad Vashem, a Holocaust Museum. It was a very sad and emotional visit. It was interesting to learn about the Holocaust in details.    The thing that I liked most about the museum was that the museum doesn't  just focus on the people in the Holocaust as a whole, but it focused on the individuals in the Holocaust. 

Although it was a very emotional time, the day soon turned exciting as we made our way to Be'er Sheva to reunite with our Israeli pen pals and for opening ceremony. The opening ceremony committee did a wonderful job getting everyone excited for community week with fun filled activities as well as sharing with us our community week schedule. The day was filled with fun activities. The first day of community week was a big success. 

 I can't wait to experience the rest of community week and see what the rest of our Israel trip awaits.

By Amanda Marciano 

ISS July 6 by Emily Cohen

When we got off the plane, there was a buzz of excitement rushing through us all. While groggy and feeling the side effects of a long plane ride, we could smell Israel and that was fantastic. In the airport, I was thinking, “we’re finally here… I'm finally going to see this magical place that everyone is talking about all the time. I'm finally going to feel that connection to this piece of land and I'm going to learn what's so special about it” and then I thought “what if that doesn't happen? What if it's just another piece of land like any other to me?”. I can't speak for everyone but those thoughts rushed through my mind as we collected our bags.

We walked out the doors of the airport to be greeted by Rebecca and Spencer who were so happy to see us. We then met our British tour guide Sam (www.instagram.com/myisraeliguide/) and dove head first into our adventure.

Our first site to visit was Independence hall. After lunch in the park (featuring the music of Israeli traffic), jet lag kicked in as we entered the museum with the Toronto cohort. As much as we wanted to befriend our fellow Canadians, we were being shushed by the museum and trying not to fall asleep simultaneously. Unfortunately that was not one of our most proud moments.

Next we went to listen to an inspirational speaker named Ziv Shilon. He was an IDF commander and on his last day before being promoted, he got seriously injured. During a dangerous mission, he told his soldiers to stay far behind as he went up ahead and there was a small explosion that took his left arm and the functionality of his right. He then managed to run back to safety before bleeding out and was saved by amazing doctors and a bit of a miracle. Months of rehabilitation coupled with strength of mind, serious determination and a sparkle of inspiration allowed him to regain independence once again. He's now in law school, training for marathons (and has his eyes on an Iron Man triathlon in the future), giving inspirational speeches and raising a baby girl with his wife. He says his biggest accomplishment is his newborn daughter. Ziv was a huge inspiration and a magnificent motivator. So much so that our jet lagged cohort stayed awake the entire time.

Lastly we met up with another Brit named Ashley and his guiding partner (who is American) also named Sam. They gave us a graffiti tour of Tel Aviv where we walked through the side streets looking at all the street art. From the quote “if I forget you Jerusalem, it's because of tel aviv” to the tree with a million and one meanings, to the ducks and sandwiches, the graffiti tour had us in awe. The art captured our attention and the different interpretations and perspectives consistently surprised and challenged us. Ashley was brilliant in how he guided us through analyzing the different walls and showing us the little things we would have missed otherwise. Most of it was about the little things: the smaller paintings under the big ones, the details and the corners. As a photographer himself, he showed us how to take cool pictures which was really nice of him. Overall, it was absolutely extraordinary.

To end off our first day memorably, Ashley took us up to the rooftop of his apartment where we ate pizza and watched the sunset. No wonder he loves Tel Aviv so much, it was beautiful…

By Emily Cohen leader of day 2

ISS July 5 by Madison Gold

The Diller Montreal Israel Summer Seminar began on Tuesday July 5th. After we left the Y we headed straight for the airport. Everyone was so excited but we all behaved so well as we checked in few by few. After check in we all got in line to go through security.  Not that many issues at security other than some water, Gatorade and NUTELLA being taken away. But who cares it is all fun and games! What we didn't know was that one of our fellows was unable to check in, but we didn't know what was happening so we just continued on. We were then given some free time in the Montreal airport to buy some food before setting out on our long journey to Israel.  On time, actually even early, we all met at the gate so we could all get on the flight together.  At the gate we all patiently awaited Sarah hoping everything would be ok with the last fellow's check in. When Sarah finally came through security alone, we all happily surrounded her and showed her how much we appreciated what she goes through for us and does for us. Thank You Sarah! 

Once in the air flying to Toronto we were able to feel the excitement in the air. That flight flew by and juat made the actual excitement even better. We landed in Toronto at 2:30 and our flight to Israel started boarding at 3:45. So we first went to the gate and then we sat in a circle. This circle gave me the opportunity to run a short program about Tefilat HaDerech with the group. I summarized what the prayer was about, why we say it, and what the customs of saying the prayer were. After that we all read the prayer together in Hebrew and then in English so everyone could understand what we were saying.  I thought it was really interesting to see everyone learn about this important prayer. Once again we were given a little bit of time to get some food in the area before entering the secure area in the airport for our flight to Israel.  Once in there we all gathered together for a count off. Then finally the time had come and we were off to Israel.  The excitement at the back of the plane was and still is amazing.  Nobody can wait till we land as this flight is getting a bit long but it is completely worth it. 

Since this isn't my first time going to Israel it was really interesting to see how excited everyone was who had never been before. It was seriously an amazing, warming feeling. Also since I don't sleep on planes it has been a ton of fun to look around and see what the rest of the group has been up to and maybe even take a few pictures of those sleeping fellows and maybe even staff!! 

So this first day has been fantastic and we can't wait for even better ones to come once we've landed.

Madison, Leader of the Day day 1 

PS don't worry if you don't hear for your kids a lot we will be off having too much fun to have time to talk to you!