Hi everyone! I have not blogged in a while because we have
been so busy here in Israel! I cannot believe I have been here for three months
already. I recently spent Passover in Israel and went on Yam L’Yam (Sea to Sea) hike.
For Pesach, I was at a random host family for two nights. EIE
set up my arrangements for this and I was at this family with my friend
Michelle. Our host Shirley was sixteen years old and a part of the Reform
movement in Israel. The seder was with about 20 other people that were mostly family
of Shirley. The seder was all in Hebrew and was about four hours long, but
besides that was pretty similar to what I was used to. It was very interesting
to really get the “Israeli experience,” especially during Pesach. This year, “Next
Year in Jerusalem” really came true for me. The day after the seder, Michelle,
Shirley, and I just hung out, played Israel Monopoly, and went to the movies. It
was sad to be away from our EIE family over these two days, but the next
morning we were reunited. We were picked up in a bus and began Yam L’Yam.
Yam L’Yam is a five-day hike from the Kineret (Sea of
Galilee) to the Mediterranean Sea. We hiked 55 miles over these five days and
really got to see the land of Israel in a completely different way than usual. We
camped out in tents, cooked our own food in small groups, and did everything in
nature. It was amazing! Our group bonded a lot and worked together very well. On
the second day, we climbed the second tallest mountain in Israel, Mount Meron. It
was challenging, outstanding, and very rewarding. It took us the entire day to
reach the peak, but the view was incredible. The next few days consisted of
hiking down the mountain. Literally everywhere we hiked was absolutely gorgeous
(pictures to come later). On the last day of the hike we biked down the
remainder of the mountain and reached the Mediterranean Sea! At this point, we
forgot about all the challenges and were very rewarded by the beautiful water.
Throughout the semester, we have been learning about Am Yisrael (people of Israel) and Torah,
but Yam L’Yam really connected us to Eretz Yisrael (land of Israel). Israel really is an outstanding country and I
love it so much.
I hope everyone had a great Spring Break, Passover, Easter,
etc. Thanks for reading!
Sadie
