After a bright and early start, we packed the buses and said goodbye to Kibbutz Afik. We began the long journey to Tzfat, and when we arrived the boys and girls were split up. The boys made their way to the Ha’Ari Shule, where they heard a man speak about the song Lecha Dodi and how it originated from there, while the girls went to the Tzfat mikvah.
After we finished looking around the mikvah, our tour guide, David, took us on a walking tour and we passed the boys who were on their way to a Kabbalistic artist who represented Kabbalistic ideas through his paintings. When we finished up, we were allowed to walk around and explore the streets of Tzfat.
We got back on the bus and drove for 2 hours to the United Israel Appeal. At the UIA, we were spoken to by some people from Keren Hayesod who told us how they raise funds to help young children from troubled socio-economic backgrounds. The UIA is a worldwide foundation that aims to help Jewish people by bringing them together, and helps communities within Israel. After the talk we got to meet the kids who lived in the youth village and had a few short activities to try get to know them, despite the language barrier.
If you thought we had driven for long enough then you’re wrong. We continued for another 3 hours until we finally reached the Bedouin tents. Everyone enjoyed a nice traditional meal before racing to the tents to get the best ‘beds’. After sorting out the rooms we all gathered around the bonfire and sang songs. We then headed to bed to try and get a good night sleep before we started the next hectic day that was in store for us tomorrow.