Every New Beginning Comes From Some Other Beginning's End
Ten days ago we were strangers, acquaintances, or small groups of friends at best. After what was without a doubt, the most impactful 10 consecutive days of our lives, we are proud to call each other a family. We are bound together by our common experience, our journey through Israel, that has led us to an appreciation of this country where none of us live. We expected to learn and experience but we didn't expect to connect the way we did.
Today at Mount Herzl, we visited Israel's national cemetery, the site where Prime Ministers and soldiers are typically buried. We visited the former leaders of the Jewish State and to say it was humbling to be in their company is an understatement. This portion of the trip was awe-inspiring, but none of us were prepared for the next part of the tour. We have been lucky to have had seven Israelis accompany us on our journey. These Israelis are men and women our age who are living a very different life from those that we are, as they are all soldiers in the Israel Defense Forces. We walked through the various sections of the cemetery and every single Israeli soldier stopped the group at one point or another to point out the grave of a neighbor, a classmate, a relative, or a friend who had offered their most precious belonging in defense of this incredible country. This hit home for us in a way we could've never imagined and there were definitely tears shed. We left Mount Herzl with an appreciation for the sacrifices necessary for the Jewish people to have a homeland.
We ended the tour by walking to the very top of the mountain and seeing the final resting place of Theodore Herzl, the founder of modern Zionism. This man's vision was to build something impossible and his legacy is the Israel we know today. We were in the shadow of one of the most important Jewish people to have lever lived and we all paid our respects to him by laying a stone on his grave.
We ended the night together with a beautiful wrap up program where we all had an opportunity to speak, we were given "paper plate" awards, and we learned about our future opportunities with/in Israel including AIPAC Policy Conference, Onward Israel, and various Masa programs. We all agreed to make every effort to have a reunion before the end of 2016.
Our trip is coming to an end when we take off from Ben Gurion Airport at 7:00 am. With heavy hearts and many hugs, we have to say goodbye to our Israeli friends and American participants who are extending to continue their journey around Israel. This experience has been one of the most enriching and inspiring trips we have ever been on, and we cannot wait to tell our friends and families back home about the incredible adventures we have been on for the past ten days.
Shalom Israel, we love you!
