Benji 

Today (May 2nd) we started our day with eating breakfast at the kibbutz we were staying at for the final night in Israel. After we concluded breakfast, we headed back to the bus so we could drive to ein ovdat trail. After we walked to a waterfall at the end of the trail, we went back to the bus so we could visit the grave of Ben-Gurion and his wife Paula. We had a presentation given by Rachel and Reah about Ben-Gurion and his life story. When they finished, we played a fun game of bingo with Ben-Gurion themed spaces on the boards. When we were done with that, we headed to a nearby park to eat lunch. We then played around for a little while in the park. When that was finished we began our long drive back to the city of Jerusalem. When we arrived, we spent a while at an art installation. We were given a demonstration of an example of the art we were going to get to make. We then made our own interpretive art pieces depicting our Tiyul experiences. We then had a reflective conversation about our trip with everybody in the grade. We then headed back to the bus so we could have our final pizur dinner. We are now on our way out of Jerusalem and back to Tel Aviv where we will board the plane and head back home. 

Jeremy 

Today (May 2nd) we went on a hike. Which was very cool and we got to see a tree that lasted from 17 thousand years ago that was during the Ice Age. Another thing we did today was go to Ben Gurion’s memorial. We honered him and our whold grade sang Hatickvah. This part was very meaningfull to me and it was very special because everyone was filming us and it was special fot others too. We also went to the Ben Yehudah shook where we got to travel around and get some good food. I specifically loved my favriote place Gluless which is all gluten free and has amazing pita. I learned a lot from this Isreal trip because instead of going to Tel Aviv and Jersulam I went to the south of Isreal. This trip was very fun especially the bus rides where we sang songs and laughed throughout the whole ride. I grew friendships and made some throughout the trip. I got closer with people I dont usually talk to. I tried to volunteer and have a positive attitude on everything. At the beginning of the trip we wrote what our goals were on a post it and I achieved all of them.

Jackson

Today (May 2nd) we started our final day with a hike thorough a beautiful valley in the Negev with a final reflection in the middle. We then drove over to the grave of first Israeli prime minister David Ben-Gurion and his wife Paula Ben-Gurion and sang Hatikfah as a grade in front of the tombs. Following that, we walked a short distance to a park where we enjoyed a choice lunch of either pizza or falafel. Then, we had a 2.5 hour bus ride back to the holy city of Jerusalem. In Jerusalem we had a talk with an artist-rabbi who assisted us in creating collage projects based on our journey through the Holy Land. we had a final reflection circle, during which we talked about the parts of our experience that we enjoyed or that connected with us the most. For dinner, we got to experience the israeli shuk one last time. FInally, with melancholy feelings we drove to the airport.  Throughout this wonderful experience we have had many meaningful experiences that we now reflect upon as we end the trip. One such experience for me was getting to say mourners kaddish while inserting a note containing names of people in my family who have passed away that was given to me to bring to israel into the Western Wall.

We come to the end of our wonderful trip and as our last reflection we read the last blessing of the Amidah. Shalom which means peace, but also wholeness. The amidah was so fitting for our trip since Amida means standing and we were on out feet these two weeks. In our tradition we say “If i forget you oh Jerusalem, may my hand stop working”  Sadie Cohen interpreted this phrase as if we forget Jerusalem and israel we are not complet. My blessing for 7th grade tiyul is that we never forget Jerusalem, Israel and Tiyul 2023!