Day 26 - Lehava - Albert

Friday the 13th has been an exciting day as we began by celebrating Dean Chertkow’s birthday! We then had an enthralling speech by Jonty Blackman He spoke to Lehava about his reasoning for moving to Israel and how the story of Chanukah can link to our understanding and experiences on IST. I felt inspired to learn more about what makes Israel special and how some people decide to make Aliyah. I think it is important for Jews to come back to Israel and enjoy life here.

We then departed to Jerusalem to visit the Kotel tunnels but first, we toured through the Armenian quarter and we went to a viewing platform of the Kotel. In the tunnels, we discovered the underground Kotel wall and an old holy Mikva surrounded by the remnants of the second temple. The Mikva smelt like fish but it was an interesting learning experience. Finally, after the tunnels, we went to the rooftops to the very centre of the old city at the crossroads of the four quarters to lie down and experience the views of Jerusalem. The old city is very special and to me, it is the centre of Judaism especially how it is a coexistent community that shares it’s borders with 3 other groups.

We received a coupon to eat food in the Old City, I chose a burger from Burgers Bar and it was fantastic! We had free time to explore and a previous IST madrich took us to the top of one of the yeshivahs over looking the Old City. I very much enjoyed the views of the four quarters from one of the highest places in the city.

After lunch, we departed back to the hotel so that we could prepare for Shabbat and when Shabbat came around we took photos and had tefilla with other hotel visitors. We had dinner and singing in the hotel and finally our weekly games night which ended in a tish. Shabbat is a very special and important part of the week and it creates a sense of community for our group.

Albert Gutman - 13.12.2019