Love For Judaism

     Our tiyul to the Israel Museum was amazing. We saw ancient Dead Sea Scrolls, the model of the second temple in Jerusalem, and the breathtaking אוהב sculpture. Students from our class created characters from each of the four sects we learned about: Sadducees, Pharisees, Zealots, and Essennes. It really helped me understand the actual stories and ways of life. One group that really caught my attention was the Zealots. The way they gave up their lives to themselves and each other rather than letting the Romans have the satisfaction of killing them. They burned all their buildings to prevent the Romans from enjoying what they had, but they left a sufficient amount of supply to show how good they had it. This shows their resilience in fighting for Judaism and for what they believe to be true. Although this was what the Zealots decided upon, it's knoe that two women and five children escaped from there even with the eight Roman camps surrounding them. I really enjoyed learning about these four sects on the talk to you later and it was interesting to know that the Pharisees were the surviving sect, being Rabbis and scholars.

To Jew or not To Jew

     In ancient times, Jews struggled to keep their religion prominent in their lives while being surrounded by Roman, Greek, Hellinistic, or Christian cultures. They sometimes felt obligated to lose certain aspects of Judaism in order to fit in or to please the rest of society. For example it was a conflict to decide weather a Jew should go to the Roman gymnasium and participate in the Roman society or to go to a Yashiva to study and keep that Jewish root. This relates to the modern world we live in today and still faces us with those challenging descisions. For example, there is a big party at your friends house on Shabbat. The conflict is presented whether to prioritize Judaism above all and Keep Shabbat, or to let the media influence you and go to the party desiring to fit in or become liked by the society around you. This is just one example of conflicts in the modern world, and there are many more. We can succome this by remembering our God and by believing that being a righteous person is more important than being exactly the same as everyone else in society. It mainly comes down to your faith in God and what you believe needs to be followed from the Jewish Laws and which ones are more important than others.

Gadna in 10 Seconds

     First, we hiked in Masada, learned from our jewish history teachers, and swam in the Dead Sea. It was so cool to float in the water and cover each other in the Dead Sea mud. When we were supposed to go to Gadna on Sunday, there was a big flood in the desert that blocked up all the roads that caused us to leave a day late. When we finally arrived at Gadna, we adjusted to our new living circumstances and began learning how to run in ten seconds. That day I also relieved a blue string to show that I helped הסמל in leading our groups and in giving our all everyday. The first two days were mostly just running in short periods, gun lessons, and a hike. The hike was eye opening to everyone in Gadna (NFTY People). We stayed silent the entire time we walked which showed the amount of respect we had for each other and those above us. The second to last day was my favorite because we got to shoot an M16 and we had a competition between all of our groups for running, push-ups, wall sits, drinking water, carrying stretchers, and crawling.

     Although it gave me scrapes and bruises, the competition was my favorite experience so far. It taught us more teamwork than any sport team I've ever been on, more responsibility than school has ever forced, and more motive than any reward could provide. It taught me that a smart person knows their limits and that a wise person knows they have none. We found power we didn't know we had, pain we didn't know we could endure, and togetherness we forgot we needed. The last day we had a ceremony in which I returned my blue string. I was really pleased with my experience in Gadna and although it was very tiring I've already begun to miss it.