Mayanot reached new heights during Day two (literally!) We woke up this morning and experienced our first Israeli breakfast at the hotel. Most people seemed to have slept off most of the jetlag which was great since we had a jam-packed day. Once aboard the bus, we headed towards the Golan Height. The bus traveled up the mountains, taking the long winding roads all the way up. We saw the Jordanian and Lebanese borders from the tops of the Golan and witnessed breathtaking views of the land. We learned a bit about Israel’s water shortage and Rabbi Mendel shared his thoughts about what it means to be a Jew in today’s world. We didn’t hike as originally planned due to yesterday’s rain, but we saw a movie about the Yom Kippur war instead. The movie played at a kibbutz not far from where the War was fought, and the Kibbutz is now the leader in the film-dubbing industry. For lunch, we were able to select a restaurant and purchase our own meal; lots of us had schwarma and some people had falafel or pizza. Since we were running ahead of schedule, we were able to visit an olive oil farm; the olives are grown at the farm, harvested, and then used to create body washes, soaps, and of course, olive oil. We were able to try out the hand soap/exfoliant and we were all pleasantly surprised at how olive “waste” and olive pits (which did not look like our usual soap) could leave our hands so soft. We ended our day of touring at the Chula Valley where we learned about the birds that migrate to Israel.
As I mentioned earlier, Rabbi Mendel talked to us about what it means to be a member of the Jewish people. I think that lots of us are starting to really embrace our Jewish heritage, whether by really taking in the sites we visit or by simply asking questions about Judaism on the bus. Rabbi Mendel asked us if anyone wanted to be “Bar/Bat Mitzvahed” while in Israel and it looks like a bunch of people are interested. It’s clear that we are proud of being Jewish and are consistently challenging ourselves to grow as young Jewish individuals.