What A Day!

There truly is nothing like waking up at 3am for a seriously difficult hike up a mountain for the sunrise. We cheered each other on as we conquered what felt like thousands of winding stairs to reach the ancient fortress of Masada, the site of a famous Jewish rebellion against the Romans. We took a tour and a history lesson before climbing down in the heat of the day.

After our hike, we made the short trip over to the Dead Sea, where we covered ourselves in the famous mineral-rich mud and floated until our skin became baby soft.

After too many burning sensations, and many great pictures together, we headed over to the pool to cool off, before heading off to Jerusalem.

For lunch, we got to have an extended look at the famous Mahane Yehuda shuk market in Jerusalem. There were little stores everywhere selling nuts, seeds, fresh dried fruit, chalva, incredible baked goods (hello Marzipan rugelach!), shawarma, falafel, iced coffee,  judaica, and much more.

 After some great eats and buying a lot of treats, we headed to the beautiful Hotel Yehuda for the night, where we ate dinner, and had a great group discussion on a variety of topics related to our opinions on Jewish values and their implications on the modern world.