After a late wake up and a delicious breakfast, we loaded the buses and head out to an artifact dig in Emek Tzurim. We had a brief introduction by an amazing instructor, Frankie, who gave us the history of the dirt we would be sifting through. Since we are currently in the 3 weeks, we looked through dirt from a tunnel that went from the City of David to the Gichon water pool that was used as an escape route for the Jews as the Romans were invading Jerusalem. It was incredibly fascinating to be able to find pottery, glass, bones and metal from over 2,000 years ago, and help us understand this story on a more personal level. My group even found a coin from the Hasmonean time period!! Following the sifting, we all enjoyed our lunch in a beautiful park next to Yamin Moshe. Then, we loaded the buses and went to my favorite activity of the day- StandWithUs. There, we learned how to properly advocate for the state of Israel. This is incredibly important, especially as leaders, to know the importance of defending our homeland. It was an incredibly fascinating experience that we all enjoyed. Afterwards, we spent time in Me’a She’arim, starting with Manny’s book store, where we were all given the opportunity to select one Sefer of our choice, up to 60 Shekel, as a gift. We were also given 2 hours of free time to walk around and go into the different stores in the area. Some of us enjoyed the best potato kugel and chulent in Geula, while others ate pizza and french fries nearby. We ended this busy day in a perfect way- a chill and relaxing movie night. Overall, today was absolutely amazing, each activity better than the next. I’m looking forward to spending Shabbat in Jerusalem!
Reva Sanders