By: Hayley Friedman

Today started at the crack of dawn, like every other. We had a bit of an adventure getting to Ein Gedi. The roads were mountainous, and lugging our big bus was a challenge. It was worth the struggle though, because the views from all around were breath taking.  We saw gorgeous waterfalls!

Next, we were off to the Dead Sea. We all covered ourselves in mud and floated in the water. It was such an amazing experience; nothing like the beaches we have at home. We showered and got all of the salt off of our bodies and drove to Masada.

We took the cable cars up for an incredible view. There was nothing but desert for miles. It’s like nothing we have ever seen before. Be on the lookout for a soon-to-be viral YouTube video! We got creative and came up with our own song!

Now, as I sit here and write this post, we are waiting for our flight to New York to take off! We have had an absolutely incredible trip to Israel and are sad to see it come to an end, but we can’t wait to see all of our friends and family back home!

We want to thank the Taglit-Birthright organization and Mayanot for this once-in-a-lifetime trip that we will never forget! 

By: Paul Klein 

After an eventful night at the Bedouin Tents, the group woke up and had a traditional Bedouin styled breakfast. After breakfast we hurried on the bus eager for our Negev Desert Hike. On the hike we saw packs of Mountain Goats roaming the mountains of the Negev. The hike took around an hour and a half, but was well worth it when we reached the peak of the mountain. At the top of the mountain we all took photos from the beautiful view.

Following the hike, we ventured back to the Bedouin Tents for the CAMEL RIDES!! The camel rides were definitely one of the many highlights of this trip which we are all so privileged to be apart of. Everyone loved the camel rides and riding them through the Mountains of the Negev.

After we finished with the camel rides, we drove to the fertile portion of the Negev to learn about Israeli Agriculture. We found ourselves in the Salad Trail. At the Salad Trail we picked our own carrots, tomatoes, oranges, lemons, and strawberries. It was a fresh fruit and vegetable Buffett!! We also learned about the techniques that the Israeli farmers use to produce optimal crops for their consumers.

Following the picking fiesta we learned about homing pigeons. The tour guide for The Salad Trail gave each of us a pigeon to release in the air. We counted to 3 and everyone released their pigeon into the sky. The pigeons all congregated in the sky and all went back 'home' to their cage instead of flying away.

We then headed to Kibutz Kalia to spend the night!


Until next time ;)

By Mitchell Himmel & Emily Franklin Peiper

After a fun filled night out in Tel Aviv and roughly 4 hours of sleep, we woke up to a beautiful breakfast at our hotel in Natanya, which overlooked the Mediterranean Sea. We the loaded up the bus and hit the road, heading to Rabin Square, which is where Yitzhak Rabin’s Memorial is located. At the Square, we learned about Yitzhak Rabin and the political ideals he exemplified, as well as his tragic death. We were given an assignment to talk to locals about this great man. The locals knew the exact date and the place they were when they heard the news of Rabin’s Death.

From there we headed to the old city of Jaffa for lunch and shopping in the shook.  Before we headed in to shop and eat, we were all given a “Secret Moses” for which we were supposed to buy a present for.  For lunch we went with a few people to a place that serves only hummus and pita. Never did I think I would ever eat just hummus and pita as a meal, but we did and it really was the best. After lunch we went through the shook and practiced out bargaining skills, which were not so up to par, but luckily they didn’t need to be since shop owners would do anything to sell to taglit.

We met up as a group a few hours later and began a tour of the old city of Jaffa. The most interesting portion of this tour was looking at the beautiful panoramic view of the Mediteranian Sea. Our tour tour guide, Daniel told us a story about a sea monster that, according to greek mythology used to come on land and terrorize the city every day until the town offered up the princess of the city and the monster stopped his rampage.

After our tour of Jaffa and the shoreline, we headed over to the barren desert of the south to spend the night in Bedouin tents, a huge change from the city high rises of Tel Aviv. Once there, we put our bags in our designated tents on our oh-so-cozy cots accompanied by luxury communal showers and one ply toilet paper. We were greeted with coffee from a Bedouin and learned about his life and culture, then proceeded to a communal dinner of one large pot of rice, chicken, laffa, hummus, tahini, and Israeli salad to be shared by four people.  Dinner was followed by authentic Bedouin tea and cookies which were really really tasty.

After dinner we took advantage of the scenery and walked 5 minutes outside of the camp. Our group gathered into a circle (in the FREEZING COLD weather) and looked up at the stars in awe and silence. At this time we reflected on the past 8 days of our Israel trip, as we are starting to realize that it is coming to an end.

We walked back into our Bedouin camp and were welcomed by a camp fire. At the fire we exchanged our thoughts an highlights about the trip. The conversation was filled with nostalgic stories and followed by our exchange of out “secret moses” gifts. Following our group “goodbye” session, the girls split off for some girl talk and the guys for some bonding time. The day ended with funny stories and priceless bonding time that we will most definitely never forget!

By: Alexa Kopp

Safe to say today was an emotional day for "Mishpuche 93," as we have all come to call our tight-knit group.

Today we all woke up, packed our bags, loaded up the bus and headed to the Old City of Jerusalem. There, we received a brief tour of the Jewish Quarters and made our way to the Kotel.

The Kotel was beautiful, and instantly connected all of us with our religion. We had the amazing opportunity to write notes for ourselves and our loved ones and put them in The Wall. For me, I never would have imagined I'd have the chance to pray and reflect on my life and the people in it at such a holy site. The entire experience left me speechless, as this trip to the Kotel was much different from our experience on Shabbat.

One of the highlights today was the chance to witness 5 b'nai mitzvot at the Kotel! We sang songs and danced as Abby Stiekman, Aron Stark, Kelly Lippman, Michelle Jijon, and Phillip Stekol fulfilled one of the most symbolic mitzvot, Mazel Tov!!!

Afterwards, we had the chance to grab a bite to eat and shop inside the beautiful and historic city. Unfortunately, Mount Herzel was cancelled due to poor weather conditions. Instead, we paid a visit to Ammunition Hill where one of the most pivotal battles of the six-day war took place. Symbolically, this is where we took the opportunity to reflect on our time spent with our soldiers (and newly added family members) and thank them for the opportunity to meet and really spend precious time with them.

They have truly influenced our lives for the better and have made this experience in Israel that much more incredible! The goodbye's were long and emotional as no one thought we could ever become so close to one another so quickly. After many heartfelt hugs and many, many tears we left our soldiers at Ammunition Hill and are now headed to Tel Aviv for a night out!

Today was a roller-coaster full of emotions for all of us, as we had the time to reflect on ourselves as well as the relationship we have with each other and Hashem.

The friendships that have formed thus far on this trip are both unexpected and incredible. It's amazing how people so different from one another are all still alike in so many ways. Although we are incredibly sad to leave our soldiers, they are a part of our crazy beautiful family now and we know we will see them again soon..

להתראות! (Untill next time !)

By: Justin Garfield

As Shabbat arrived today, the people crowded the streets of Jerusalem as we made our way to the Western Wall for Friday night services. When we got there, a lot of us were surprised at how much fun we could have while praying. With so much energy put into our singing and dancing, all of Mayanot 93 couldn't erase the smiles off of our faces. Afterwards, we walked back to the Crowne Plaza Hotel for Shabbat dinner. The evening activities consisted of ordering our most important Jewish values that keep our people together, and a fun Farbrengen to finish the night

The next morning, we slept in a few extra hours before eating a short breakfast. Mayanot 93 tried not to get too full, because we would be on our way to some amazing host families who invited us to dine with them for Shabbat lunch. We were split up into small groups, and walked to their houses for our meal. Unanimously, everyone agreed this was the best food we've hard the whole trip (so far). After lunch, Rabbi Lipskier held a Q&A session for the members of our group-- it was fascinating to hear the intriguing questions the members of Mayanot 93 asked. Immediately following, we closed Shabbat with a nice Havdallah service.

Saturday night continued with the showing of a documentary on the American/Israeli soldier, Michael Levin. We were brought to tears during the viewing, Michael was an amazing person and truly is a "Hero in Heaven." We will be visiting his grave on Mount Hertzel tomorrow morning. Our night concluded with a shopping trip to Ben Yehuda Street in Jerusalem.

Mayanot 93 has become one big Mi'shpacha (family) and are having the trip of a lifetime! We cannot wait to see what is in store for us in the next few days.

By: Abygail Stiekman

Friday was a very special day that many people on this trip didn't know how to handle. We prepared for visiting Yad Vashem the prior night by discussing how the Holocaust impacted our lives. The stories ranged from close relatives that were in the Holocaust to family friends to public speakers that touched us with the stories of their dark times. It seemed that we all have something in common, and that is the fact that the Holocaust affected all of our lives in some way or another. We lit candles and got closer to one another.

Friday morning started off very well with a delicious breakfast in the beautiful hotel that we're staying in. Afterwards we headed to the Holocaust Museum and learned so much. We were all touched by the heartbreaking stories of survivors such as Ovadia and many more.

Shabbat Shalom!!!

By: Hayley Supovitz

Today when we woke up we packed up all our stuff and loaded the bus. The bus took us to Tzfat where the girls went to see beautiful candles that were hand crafted and an outstanding synagogue while the boys went to a Mikvah.

We then left to go see how scribers write in Torahs,mezuzahs, and Teffilin and learn about the intense processes the scribes go through to make sure it is kosher and correct. After that we made our way to lunch in Tzfat for an hour where we walked around and did a little shopping too.

To end the day,we went for a 30 minute hike to look down Tiberius and also see Tzvat in the distance, the view was incredible and breath taking. We are now on our way to Jerusalem!!

Can't wait! :)

By: Jared Krolick

So after our nice lunch at the Nechemya mall in kieryat shmonah we went to the Misgav-am kibbutz overlooking the Lebanon border.

We had a beautiful view from the highest point in Israel. We went into a room and listened to Aryeh speak about his views on the issues with Israel and the war. He also describe how life is on the border of Lebanon. The kibbutz also serves as a military command post for the IDF.

After we listened to Aryeh speak students went and purchased the hilarious t-shirts, and than went and took panoramic pictures of the view. We headed back to our hotel with our new additions to our "mishpucha" (family) our soldiers.

We came back to have an activity with the soldiers. We played Israeli jeporady with our soldiers and has a blast learning more about Israel. We also got our first tastes of the official snack of Israel "bamba" if you don't know it's like a cheeto filled with peanut butter. It was delicious. Now we are headed to our rooms for naps and to refresh ourselves before dinner and seeing the night life here in Tiberius!!

That's all for now!

By: Aviel Yashar

It's hard to believe last night was our first night together in Israel because our group is already so tight. We hit it off with some ice breakers and then prepared for our Israeli soldiers. After that we packed the hotel bar and ended the night with some great laughs. Having arrived at 3 am the same day we took on our jet lag like a bunch of champions.

Today only got better. We started the morning with an awesome Israeli breakfast; before you could even try everything you would already be full. By 8:30 we were on our way to pick up our 8 Israeli soldiers. After a warm welcome we hit the road again for the best activity yet, jeeping. On our way we saw an army base with tanks, one of which was completely flipped over. Everyone got a turn to drive a jeep, although those of us that got too carried away had to give it up. We stopped halfway in the Golan Heights where we learned some Israeli history, drank warm apple cider, and took some memorable pictures. By the end of our trip our jeep was covered in mud and water.

On our way to the mall we jammed out to some sax until Mike bravely rapped some freestyle on the bus mic. At the mall we went our own ways and ate at the different restaurants. It's still a crazy feeling for me to order fast food in Israel knowing its kosher.

We're headed to a kibbutz now and the view of Israel from our bus is incredible. I can't wait for the rest of the day.

By: Joshua Hillman

After the Odyssey that was our adventure coming to Israel, we began our day with our first taste of the country. Breakfast was amazing! But it was also not what we expected. The spread consisted of three different cheese, bread, cucumbers, tomatoes, carrots, onions, yogurt, cake, eggs, spaghetti, cereal, Kougal, hard boil eggs, and a delicious chocolatey icing that made Nutella taste like cauliflower. Like I said, strange but delectable all the same.

Post breakfast we had a quick meet and greet with our MAYANOT trip coordinator before boarding the bus for our first excursion into the country.

We began with a trip to Shalom Lookout overlooking the kineret. We all knew that we were in our own minnie paradise, but no one realized how absolutely breathtaking the countryside was until we mounted the lookout. The sapphire blue waters that were stationed outside our hotel stretched for miles and was surrounded by rolling mountains of innactive volcanoes. Needless to say, the sight was breathtaking.

From there we piled back onto our bus where we proceeded to get some shut eye, remember some of us have been up for almost 24 hours straight, and headed for our next stop.

The Katzrin olive press is located about 30 minutes from the lookout. There we were met by an olive expert who introduced us to the underground world of olive oil. The locally made oils were great snacks and opened our eyes to all of the benefits that they granted the body!

Finally we took our day to the Banias water fall. Here we were able to get off the bus and dive into nature, trekking along the paths adjacent to the falls. As before, the surroundings were amazing and pictures won't due justice to the scenery. But after a long days of excitement, we gathered on the bus for the last time, ready to return to our hotel for the rest of the evening.

Until tomorrow!