Back to Civilization by Elliot Chalme'

After a long week of sleeping in the wilderness—with no toilets, showers, or beds—when friday finally arrived it felt like finishing a marathon. Yet, we woke up at 530am to start one of the hardest hikes of the trip: Har Tabor. We left our hostel (which compared to the wilderness, is a 5 star hotel) and started hiking only towards the mountain, and then we began hiking up this mountain. It took over three hours total, but the feeling when we got to the top of Har Tabor was amazing. We then prayed shacharit in “hitboddedut” which is reflecting on what we are here on this earth to do. Then we went to a supermarket where we bought all different things either for ourselves and for everyone to share on friday night. Shabbat was relaxing, we all caught up on our sleep, and played a soccer tournament after lunch.

On Saturday night, we had a great surprise: we would be going on a boat in the kineret, for a boat party. We all plugged in our different iPods and had dancing battles with our counselors, who finally showed their soft side after a week of flexing their military ranks. Sunday morning, we woke up at 530am again, and started our day long hike. We stopped by a natural pool halfway through the hike (three hours) and then ate our lunch. We then started the second half of the hike which was 4 hours long, thinking the whole time that we would be going to ANOTHER natural pool. But when we arrived to the pool it was closed. After the 7 hour hike, we visited the hot site that is the Syria-Israel border. We learned about the history of what happened there, and how the border of the Golan Heights is constantly disputed with the Syrians. After a long day, we prepared a barbecue for ourselves late at night. Unfortunately, as we were eating, my friends and I heard a loud scream from a cat behind us, and it jumped on our backs to try to eat our hamburgers.

Monday was a more relaxing day, and by relaxing, I mean that we were saddling horses and herding cattle, not hiking. We all gained new respect for cowboys because it was not an easy job (though it was, fun). After that, due to the fact that we didn’t visit the second pool, we went to the kineret, and got to relax for two hours in the water. After a little rest-time Sunday night, we headed out on an all-night hike/guard in a local village. Educated on the issue of stolen cattle in the villages, we mimicked the challenge in a game: one team had to capture the flag of the other team. It was a test of navigation and grit. We returned with the morning light shining, prayed, and took a short sleep before waking up again for a new day—a new challenge Tuesday.

– Elliot Chalme