We are nearing the halfway point of our journey through Israel and wanted to check-in with all of you back in the states. On Monday we toured through the magical streets of Tzfat where we saw a Kabbalah specialist who taught all of us about the spiritual side of Judaism and showed us how he transferred that thinking into his incredible paintings. We followed that up with an unforgettable musical experience by two remarkable artists as the group overlooked the mountains surrounding the city.

Later in the day we went rafting down the Jordan River, and thankfully everyone was able to maneuver the shallow stream to make it to the delicious homemade pizza that was waiting for us at the end of the run.

Our morning on Tuesday started out with an incredible volunteer experience, which we are sure the teens did not see coming! The teens picked onions on a field-all of which are then donated to the poor families of Israel. We played music for the teens and encouraged them to pick as many onions as possible!

We were beyond impressed with how well they accomplished this task! They were smiling from ear to ear and we were able to see how good they felt about themselves afterwards! Following this we went to the Sachne! A well deserved relaxing afternoon at the the natural springs! The teens enjoyed swimming together and took a lot of beautiful pictures which are posted on the BBYO Facebook page!

Finally, on Wednesday we had a jam packed day that started off with us taking a beautiful stroll to the picturesque Banias waterfall. After that, we were able to check out some awesome factories, shoe and olive oil to be precise. After a quick Pizur lunch in Katzrin, we hopped in some Jeeps, turned on some music, and toured everywhere in the Golan Heights from the Syrian border to an abandoned Israeli bunker that provided the perfect backdrop for a group photo in front of a tank.

At the end of the Jeep tour we ended up at the summit of Mt. Ben Tal where we listened to the moving story of the Yom Kippur war by our ex-IDF colonel of a bus driver.

We ended the day with a beautiful swim on the Kinneret as the sun set, complete with a delicious BBQ spread before heading back to our beautiful Kibbutz one last time.