This week, we are spending our time touring Northern Israel. Today was Tisha B’av so I spent my day fasting. I decided to fast in order to get in the mind set of the holiday which commemorates the destruction of the two Temples. We started out the day by visiting the Rosh HaNikrah caves. It was really exciting being in a place that had been formed by waves over thousands of years, as well as being only a few meters from Lebanon’s border. Next, we went to a Crusader-era castle in Akko and heard the history of the knights that lived there. I learned that knights’ lives were much harder and gloomy than what I’ve grown up seeing in books and movies. While the rest of the group was having lunch at the castle, 6 of the Schechter girls who were fasting, including myself, stepped away from the group to say a couple prayers in honor of Tisha B’av. The last thing we did was repel down the Rainbow Arch with assistance from the IDF (Israeli Defence Force). After everyone had made it to the bottom, we spent the next 45 minutes hiking up the mountain that we had just repelled down. Overall it was an exhausting yet fulfilling day!
Hannah Peters
