Wow… time flies. When I logged onto my computer to write this blog, I couldn’t help but notice it has been over 2 months since I wrote my first one. I can see how much I have matured in this experience as a leader and in independence, as well as the immense amount of knowledge I have gained about Jewish history in these SHORT (too short) 2 months. I had many goals for myself in all different categories at the start of this journey, and I can now say that I have not only completed them, but surpassed them.

I think it is amazing the connection I have made with the land of Israel in the last 7 weeks that I have been here. It does not feel like I have only been here for seven short weeks, it feels like I have been here for one. It also feels like I have been here for a lifetime. I have done so many things on this program that I have longed to do for many years. I have also been given new levels of freedom and Independence that I do not have at home. When I go home in just 10 short days oh, I will reflect on this journey as the best two months of my life. This program has let me do everything that I have wanted to do and more and has completely exceeded my expectations.

On the first week of this program I set two main goals: to push myself outside of my comfort zone and to stay caught up on my schoolwork. I vividly remember setting these goals, but little did I know how much I would grow as a person through completing them and I would even set some new ones along the way.

Today March 4th we went to Belvoir and Tzfat. In Belvoir we learned about the Crusades and how bad it was for the Jews. We saw how the Crusaders built their fortresses and we pretended to attack as the Muslims would. When doing that we learned about the different techniques the Crusaders used when building the fortresses and saw much thought they put into it.

In the morning we woke up early and went to Sataf. Sataf was a city that was already at a disadvantage agriculturally. It was a city that was built on a rocky mountain with no soil and very little irrigation. Of course the Israelites found a way to solve the problem. First they wanted to build terraces in the mountain and put soil for crops. Everyone worked together and worked on one terrace at a time to do it faster. This showed that they weren’t selfish and because of that they were more efficient.

At AMHSI-JNF, they gain the knowledge, experience, and conviction to know who they are and where they come from. Our enrollment numbers reflect and prove this trend.

Elie Wiesel taught “We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.“

Crafted in response to the growing communal needs for Jewish teen engagement, Israel advocacy and community service, on this journey, teens learn how the history of the land and its people served as a catalyst for Israel becoming a global leader in innovative environmental approaches, and how these approaches are rooted in the mission and values of Judaism.

Most of us would agree that education is a life-long process. It is a part of living a full life, and a continuous trajectory of exploration and revelation. My focus is a bit more specific: Israel Education. It’s the field that explores the story and ongoing history of Israel that can be heard beating in the hearts of our people.

It is this horrific chapter of the Polish-Jewish experience that we most associate with, still fresh in our national psyche, still available are the first-hand accounts of survivors of the Holocaust, and still the ugliest side of humanity.

When I was growing up in New York I had all kinds of neighbors, all kinds of friends. There was my Russian-American friend, my Italian-American, Chinese-American, Polish-American, Irish-American and Afro-American, friends. They knew who they were and from where their ancestors came.

Israel has been unlike any Hebrew school class I have sat through! Instead of learning through a textbooks like most classes are structured, we are learning through the environment that we are surrounded by. We get so much more out this style of learning because we are fully immersed in the environment.

Often in school I find myself sitting for hours in the bland stuffy classrooms. Despite my best efforts to relate to the material being taught, my mind wanders somewhere else. I remember the first time we went on a tiyul to Tel Gezer, an archaeological ruin of what used to be an ancient city dating back to the time of the Canaanites. It’s located of the top of a Tel, or a man-made hill. My core teacher, Benji, brought us to the top of the hill overlooking the vast landscape of Israel; the coastal plain was on one side and the mountainous range known as the Shfeila on the other.

The most unique part of this experience of HSI is the feeling of your classroom coming alive. Coming on this program in Israel, has given me so much more educational opportunities than I could receive back In the United States. Not only are the things we are learning about so different than anything I would be learning in a public high school, but also the ability for us to be able to visit these sites, that hold so much historical significance is so extraordinary.

After more than 7 hours of dangerous and tedious hiking, I can only imagine how angry God must have been with the Israelites to force them up and down and around these cliffs for 40 years. The hike up to Hod Akev and back through the Negev valleys was a similar path Moses took his people on, highlighting how brave and determined they all were to reach Israel and follow God’s words.

At Alexander Muss High School in Israel, everyday is different. Some days, its 7 am wake up, and I grab my apple and am off to my 4 ½ hours of core(Jewish history). From there it’s lunch, than my next 5 hours of class from home. Finally I get back to my dorm, do all my work, and go to sleep. This routine, although physically and mentally draining, is only a few days each week. It’s the two or three days that make it all the hours of class worth it-- the Tiyuls. Tiyul in hebrew means a tour, or a trip, but this minimal definition doesn’t begin to express what a Tiyul is at AMHSI.

Today we went to Jerusalem and I took a picture of my favorite story I heard all day. When you told us about the man who engraved a message of Jewish hope into the side of the Beit Hamikdash, while running from the Romans who wanted to kill him, I thought it was incredible.

Today on our tiyul we went on a major hike down mount Gilboa and afterward swam. We learned about Joshua and how he was the only one who had faith in God and himself when none of the other spies did. We also learned about the different stories of Judges such as Ehud, Barak and Devorah, and Gideon.