By: Evan Horowitz and Brandon Schoenthal
Happy Shavuot!
We started off the day with the rare luxury of extra sleep, had breakfast downstairs (the food is surprisingly amazing and no one is going hungry), and went to the auditorium for some Torah learning. On top of the ever so refreshing ice cream bars we got, we witnessed a member of another Mayanot group come to the Bima for his first Aliyah following his Bar Mitzvah the previous day at the Wall.
After studying the Ten Commandments, we had an activity where each member of our birthright group chose a symbol that they thought characterized the land of Israel. Brandon chose the Torah because the Torah told us that Israel is our chosen land. The Torah and Israel go hand in hand as invaluable aspects of Judaism.
Evan chose the human heart because Israel has the highest concentration of Jews out of anywhere in the world. Judaism starts in Israel and resonates around the world, similar to the way blood is concentrated in the heart and then pumped to the rest of the body. After this activity, we met up with all the other Mayanot groups at the hotel pool. After a few casuals and fun times, some group members went on an optional walk with Marc, our tour guide, to get a glimpse of the city of Tiberius.
We returned to the hotel just in time for dinner, ate, and had a bit of free time. At around 8, we had another group activity where we were split into teams, read short passages from Jewish leaders, and answered questions about Israel regarding these passages. After the activity, we showered and got ready for the evening out. At around 1030, all the groups headed out to a nice bar with gorgeous views overlooking the water with mountains in the background.
Later on, the sleep deprived and exhausted groups arrived back at the hotel and the party continued. The weak went to bed, for tomorrow's unfortunately our last day...
Happy Shavuot!
We started off the day with the rare luxury of extra sleep, had breakfast downstairs (the food is surprisingly amazing and no one is going hungry), and went to the auditorium for some Torah learning. On top of the ever so refreshing ice cream bars we got, we witnessed a member of another Mayanot group come to the Bima for his first Aliyah following his Bar Mitzvah the previous day at the Wall.
After studying the Ten Commandments, we had an activity where each member of our birthright group chose a symbol that they thought characterized the land of Israel. Brandon chose the Torah because the Torah told us that Israel is our chosen land. The Torah and Israel go hand in hand as invaluable aspects of Judaism.
Evan chose the human heart because Israel has the highest concentration of Jews out of anywhere in the world. Judaism starts in Israel and resonates around the world, similar to the way blood is concentrated in the heart and then pumped to the rest of the body. After this activity, we met up with all the other Mayanot groups at the hotel pool. After a few casuals and fun times, some group members went on an optional walk with Marc, our tour guide, to get a glimpse of the city of Tiberius.
We returned to the hotel just in time for dinner, ate, and had a bit of free time. At around 8, we had another group activity where we were split into teams, read short passages from Jewish leaders, and answered questions about Israel regarding these passages. After the activity, we showered and got ready for the evening out. At around 1030, all the groups headed out to a nice bar with gorgeous views overlooking the water with mountains in the background.
Later on, the sleep deprived and exhausted groups arrived back at the hotel and the party continued. The weak went to bed, for tomorrow's unfortunately our last day...
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