From Masada to the Kotel

Shalom MBI Families,

We’ve had a very eventful last week of MBI! Let me take you back through all that the MBI-ers have done since Friday.

On Friday, the MBI-ers woke up bright and early to hike up Masada. It was a 20 minute bus ride from the Bedouin tents to Masada and another 20 minute hike up to the top of Masada where they all got to see the beautiful sunrise. The MBI-ers descended on the Snake Path, which was a path created by our sister youth movement, Hanoar Haoved ve’Halomed, as a protest to the path that the Romans built. From Masada, the MBI-ers then spent a few hours floating in the Dead Sea, which included lunch in the mall nearby. That night, they spent Friday night in Sde Boker in the Negev and Machaneh Miriam ran Shabbat for everyone!

On Saturday, Machaneh Galil ran the day, which started out with different activities run by both the tzevet and the MBI-ers. Some of these activities included Meditation, Learning Hebrew, Acrobalance, and Getting to Know Sde Boker. The day closed out with Mashpachot, where each machaneh spent time with each other, Galil-run Havdalah, and Kumzits.

Their Sunday started with a little hike in the Negev and Mitzpe Ramon, where they learned about the nature of the area, including the history of the crater of Mitzpe Ramon itself. They then headed off to the RootOne event with many other North American teens in Israel. They received T-shirts and listened to music from many artists, including famous rapper Nissim Black, which apparently “slapped.”

They then spent the night in Jerusalem and woke up the next day to tour the Old City. They started by walking in through the Jaffa Gate, went to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, and toured the ruins of the Temple, including the Kotel. They spent time to decompress and write notes before entering the Western Wall and discussing the gendered nature of the Western Wall before walking back to the Hotel and seeing their visitors!

Wow, so much has happened on MBI so far! Later this week, we’ll have more blogs from MBI-ers and maybe even something from the tzevet. Thanks so much everyone, and look out for the next blog later this week!

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