Aviv: The Penultimate Post (Sderot, Raphsodia, ATVs and final Shabbat)

As I stared up at the kotel for a final time, I received a sudden burst of reality, an epiphany-style realisation that I would be departing the amazing country that is Israel on Monday following an unforgettable 5 months. It has been one unbelievable journey which has passed ridiculously quickly – most can still remember stepping off the plane! However, as a group, this final week has been about each other and been dedicated to the memories and friendships and more which have been realised and nurtured in a 5 months where we learnt just as much if not more about ourselves as anything else. A gap year is a special occurrence, one which most do not have the privilege of undertaking, and I believe it is important for each and every one of us to not take this experience for granted and use it as an opportunity to better ourselves, others and the world.

This week saw us visit Sderot, a town which has been ravaged by rocket fire from nearby Gaza for over a decade. It is a town where local playgrounds, schools and almost any other building you can think of also functions as a bomb shelter, a sad reality, and one which we learnt has hugely psychologically damaging effects on the population. We were guided through the area by an organisation known as ‘Kol Voice’ who work to ensure that both sides of the conflict are heard by groups and individuals both in Israel and all over the world. We were afforded the perspectives of both sides before and after viewing what like is like in Sderot, at one point we stood just a few kilometres from Gaza itself, a somewhat worrying thought. A large amount of discussion came from this, as all attempted to ingest the politics and reality of the situation with which Israel is faced, something which I found hugely positive. Sderot really gave me the reality of the situation on the ground, and that is the fact that people are being injured and for some bombs, death and destruction are the reality. Something that is unacceptable and must be stopped by any means – short of mutual death and destruction.

That night we watched the Socceroos be comprehensively beaten by Spain as Australia tumbled out of another world cup, however I wanted to document my pride in them on the internet… well done boys, you did your country proud, keep your heads high and come back stronger in 2018!

The following day we headed up north to the Kinneret where we met up with the other Australian gap year programs for the ZFA’s first annual Raphsodia, an event where we were to build a raft and sail across the Kinneret. Aviv one managed to build their raft and get it in the water with a few indiviudals doing the bulk of the work… I shan’t name names. Nevertheless, we eventually got our raft together and she was more than seaworthy, we boarded and sailed three hours across the Kinneret before arriving at Golan Beach! Raphsodia was a great opportunity for team building during the construction process as well as an amazing chance to say a final farewell to our friends, new and old, from other programs some who we won’t be seeing for a number of months if not years.

Leaving raphsodia we headed to Jerusalem, our final accommodation of Aviv, arriving late at night and heading straight to bed. The next morning we awoke bright and early, much to the derision of my roommates Jason and Toby, and headed to the Judean Desert for a spot of ATV driving. This activity was exceedingly enjoyable as everyone harked back to five months ago, the last time we had all driven anything even resembling a car! After this we were afforded a few hours in the city centre to run our final errands.

Friday night saw our final Shabbat of Aviv and we fittingly headed to the Kotel, our first and last group Shabbat there. Of course being a group of Australian teenagers, a flurry of photography ensued, but following this we headed off into the wall itself where the boys conducted our own little kabbalat Shabbat service. It was an incredibly fitting symbolic end to the program as we all sang and linked arms for a final time at the amazingly spiritual place that is the Western Wall.

That night we gathered and voiced our first memories of Aviv as well as our concerns for the future, knowing our time together is now running out. Our final three days will no doubt yield more amazing memories and nostalgia from the past five months.

\This is my second last blog post Israel, it has come to the point now where almost everything I undertaken is the last time I do so. This is a scary thought, one which seemed millennia away months ago, but it has now arrived and it is incredibly bittersweet. A summary of my feelings on the entirety of Aviv shall feature in my final Israel blog post.

Another awesome few days down, 3 days to look forward to!

Shabbat Shalom,

Jake

Aviv: Yam le Yam

Following an almost superfluous chofesh which began June, the group reconvened in Tel Aviv before boarding a bus to the far north of Israel where we were to begin our journey from ‘sea to sea,’ beginning with the Kinneret. Our first and undeniably not last hike of the week was a water hike which entailed wading through various water levels in an inlet which led into the Kinneret, our opening first ‘yam.’ It was perhaps the most enjoyable hike of the week as we were cooled thanks to some chilly water temperatures, allowing us to all but cancel out the hypo-30 degree weather which taunted and terrorised us for the rest of the week. However it seemed as though yam le yam had not truly begun as we stopped at a shopping centre on the way to our first camp site. Some poor decisions were made there as Adi, Grant, Toby, Robbie and myself decided to indulge in a burger offered for the too good to be true price of 10 shekels, and it was indeed just that as our stomachs took a beating that night. We arrived at our campsite in the afternoon and began settling into our cold ant-filled beds at a reasonably early hour, aware of the upcoming days of “struggle” which our guide had promised us. We were supplied a reasonably delicious dinner of burger patties and pasta which as surprisingly tasty, and much better for our stomachs then our 10 shek burgers...

The next day we began bright and early at 6AM and headed off on the first leg of our five day hike across Israel heading towards the Mediterranean Sea. The first day was as the guides warned us, the hardest, we hiked 15Km the vast majority uphill with multiple people struggling through, our only casualty Emma with a sprained wrist however she valiantly continued to the end and completed yam le yam. The day really took its toll on most, many carrying quite heavy backpacks throughout the entirety of the trek, including food preparation equipment and supplies as well as their own personal needs. We were separated into three groups of 7 for cooking, in which we had to carry all of our necessary supplies such as stoves, foodstuffs, and cups, bowls and cutlery amongst other things. We tended to indulge upon the same things daily for lunch and breakfast, whilst dinner was prepared for us by the staff, something we were quite thankful for after a long day of hiking. Breakfast consisted generally of cereal sans milk as well as porridge cooked from semolina, and sometimes an apple. Lunch stereotypically featured smoked tuna, rice, vegetables and canned tuna salad. We managed to cook ably for ourselves and thankfully no one got anywhere near a state of malnutrition.

It only got easier after that first day of hiking which included the literal climbing of rocks for a portion, from the second day onwards we conquered mostly flat and downhill tracks, something most where very thankful for. Our guide Henry was very helpful and friendly whilst navigating us to our campsites and teaching us various lessons about nature along the way such as collecting water from plants. Speaking of nature, there was much talk about our lack of bathrooms and as such we had no choice but to ‘take care of business’ in the great outdoors, something which whilst not all that pleasant soon became second nature (excuse the pun). Although the state of some people’s bowels soon caused them to be unable to complete the entirety of our journey, I shan’t name names for obvious reasons. The nights were often cold and ant-infested, with one particular incident springing to mind as Zoe woke up on our third morning covered in ants and spiders after accidentally bedding down on top of an ant colony, needless to say she was unimpressed however she handled the situation much better than expected.

The third day continued along the lines of the second, a majority flat or downhill trail in which we continued crossing the nation, completing roughly 15Km in the day. Sleep continued to be hard to come by in the nights, and our state of hygiene continued to deteriorate with a distinct lack of bathrooms and showers. The final day differed as we switched from foot to bike and completed our journey, we biked down to the Mediterranean, and as it entered sight a cheer went up from the group. We completed our journey with only roughly 10 injuries and as a much closer group than when we began it. We had an unbelievably cleansing swim in the final sea and a nice falafel lunch and soon we boarded the bus to Tel Aviv for our final free weekend. I consider Yam le Yam just about my favourite week of the program so far, we are truly in the run-in to the end now. As I write this we are inside the final three weeks of a program which feels like it began yesterday, an unbelievably scary thought.

Another awesome week down, 17 days to look forward to!

Jake