Day 15 - JNF - Netzach - Brett
After waking up at our beautiful hotel by the Kinneret, we drove to the very north of the Galilee, to a Kibbutz called Misgav Am, which is on the border between Israel and Lebanon. (It got a little bumpy but Musser, our bus driver, pulled through like he always does).
At the Kibbutz, a resident spoke to us about living on the border, and their relationship with the terrorist group Hezbollah, who is their ‘friendly neighbour’. At that point, I realised that the Kibbutz residents possess amazing courage, being able to live next to such a dangerous threat while seemingly not being worried about it at all.
This idea of Israeli fortitude continued when our tour guide, Ohad, showed us a cemetery that was defended by one of his relatives and 11 other men during the 2nd Lebanon War. Unfortunately, these men were all killed by a missile, which still remains at the entrance as a monument to their bravery and sacrifice.
Our Netzach group became very hungry, so it was convenient that our next destination, Nachal Ayun had a canteen full of cold goodies, so we all made sure to support the Israeli economy before walking off to the hidden waterfall. Once we were there, we indulged in its beauty and extreme instagrammable-ness.
Nature continued to wow us when we rode bikes around a lake in the Hula Valley, and when we observed the abundance of birds that call the valley home. Some more assertive people stopped at one point to take photos of what they dubbed a ‘rat-beaver thing’. Guys, it’s called a LUTRA!
Also shoutout to Jonah M, Jared and Noah A for seriously stacking it during the ride. Good job boys.
Our day was made possible by funding from the JNF and we thank them for their generosity.
Before returning to our hotel, we stopped off at the local Hazor mall. Everyone clamoured into the supermarket to get organised and prepared for HaShomer Hachadash (a JNF program we will be starting tomorrow).
When we got home, we celebrated our Mad Zak’s birthday, before finally bunkering down for the night.
To avid readers of this blog, look forward to the next couple days, where we will be sharing (Spoiler Alert) our experiences in the desert.
Brett Kaplan - 2.12.2019
