Days One and Two – a Word from the Pioneers

Yesterday marked the first official day of ILEAD 2014. After a grueling 10-hour flight, we were greeted by our Israeli counselors and quickly learned of their punctual nature. To honor the tragedy of the three kidnapped boys, we drove down to the cemetery late that night to pay our respects. Standing by their graves gave us an emotional tie to all of Am Yisrael who united as one to pray and grieve over the boys who were just like us.

That night we stayed in a hotel of 1,000 stars, a.k.a. tents built by yours truly. It was our first challenge to work as a group to create our temporary home.

After a sleepless night for most of us, we rose early donning our ILEAD uniforms, not sure of what to expect. We quickly learned the struggle to stay on time and the respect we needed to show to our “leaders of the day”. For the first time, we prepared our own breakfast in the wilderness and got ready for our first lesson, navigating. We stood up and braved the forest with nothing but a map, compass, and of course our counselors.

We returned to base sweaty and tired, but ready for a late lunch of barbecue. Although we got to know each other for the first day, we had a little ice breaker between both us and our counselors. To end off the day, we trekked into the now-dark forest and put those navigation skills to work. Though we don’t know what will happen, we are excited that they will include both fun activities and SHOWERS.

Merle Cohen and Isaac Bijou
P.S. Mom, those wipes you sent came in handy.