Today was totally eye opening. Every single part was jam packed with fun and new experiences. We started off early with 6:30 shacharit and had a beautiful davening. We then had an amazing breakfast which was a great start to our day. For our first activity, we drove to Tel Shiloh. We walked around the site and learned about the mishkan and how it relates to archaeological findings in that area. Then we learned about tefillat chana in the place where it actually happened. The girls had some time of reflection in the inspiring location while the boys had an uplifting kumzitz. On my way out of Tel Shiloh my cousin Maya and I met up with our mutual cousins who live in the area. We then drove to a makolet to buy snacks and drinks for soldiers who we knew we would see on our route. When we gave soldiers the snacks and cold drinks it was obvious that we made there day and it was inspiring to see large smiles from what seemed to us to be such a small act. We then stopped at a place to eat a variety of noodles and salads for lunch. Next we went to Shomron to hear the Samaritan “Kohen Gadol”. He taught us about the Samaritan culture and Ancient Hebrew. It was fascinating when he started to recite shema in Ancient Hebrew. We stopped at a lookout point overlooking Schem and Kever Yosef. It was really pretty and cool to look at. We then went sheep herding in Itamar. We as a whole family helped the sheep down a trail full of olive trees and thorn bushes. It was a hilarious and memorable experience which brought us closer together as a team and one big mishpacha. We came back to the hotel and had a beautiful dinner. We had chabura time with our learning groups and learned more ways to improve our leadership skills. Overall today was a great day filled with new experiences and I can’t wait to see what we are going to do in these next upcoming days!
-Yonah Steinberg