Walking through a dark hall remembering the fallen children of Holocaust, we emerged from the other side to the land of hope that is Israel.

The sunshine glistened upon lake Galilee as the morning began, foreshadowing the light that we would receive on our journey to come.

Many of us had never ridden a camel before and we were all very excited. We named our camels and took tons of pictures with them. 

After an upbeat welcome ceremony with live music, we split off into multiple activities - scorpion hunting, belly dancing, creative movements, drawing, herb and oil tasting, star gazing, capoeira, and more!  Israelli and American music filled the cool, desert night as we watched a drum circle ensue with fire dancers, belly dancers, and a capoeira demonstration.

We got up before 4 AM this morning to climb Masada and see the Roman-era fortress and other ruins. The hike to the top was pretty intense, but the view and the exceedingly well-preserved ruins were worth it. 

We spent a magnificent hour singing, splashing, and heading down the waterfall. Just when we thought the day couldn't get any more eventful, it was time to dance. An evening filled with laughter, dancing, and most importantly schvitzing, we had successfully learned 4 dances of our Jewish heritage whereby the majority of us made it out unscathed (one of us got a bit overly excited and hit the deck). 

Many of us ate falafel and Schwarma which was very delicious. After lunch, we made our way to a park. There, we learned about many stories of soldiers in combat, as well as enjoyed the gorgeous view that we could only see at this park. On top of a hill, we saw the border of the Mediterranean and Lebanon, which was breathtaking. We got back to the kibbutz to prepare for Shabbat. Our Shabbat service was beautiful, held outside and filled with many memories. Once the service was over, we had our Oneg, which consisted of guitar playing and getting to know each other games. We concluded the day with lounging out in the kibbutz central area. We're excited to rest up on Shabbat and then continue our trip.