It’s the end of the semester here at Aardvark Israel, and the past month was full of fun, inspiring activities. At the beginning of the month, our students all attended Shabbatonim in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. During these two weekends, the students explored their Jewish identities, traveled through the Old City of Jerusalem, visited Yad Vashem, toured Tel Aviv, and much more.
Our Jerusalem community right before Shabbat
Lighting the Shabbat candles
Students appreciating the sunset in Tel Aviv before Shabbat
Our Tel Aviv students after their tour to the Western Wall and the Old City of Jerusalem, before Kabalat Shabbat
Western Galilee Trip
Nahal Kziv, Akko, and Yehiam Trail
On a recent Tuesday Tiyul, our students traveled north to the Western Galilee and hiked through the cool water of Nahal Kziv. They also took a night tour in Rosh Hanikra, hiked the Yehiam Trail, and visited the old city of Akko.
Beit She’an & Gan HaShlosha
This month, our students visited Beit She’an National Park, which includes ruins of a city that was built during the Byzantine period and was discovered by archaeologists in the 1960s. Later that day, we traveled to Gan HaShlosha, also known as Sachne, which is one of Israel’s most beautiful natural water parks.
Sar-El IDF Experience
Check out these IDF ‘soldiers!’ Our students participated in a unique, week-long military experience on real IDF bases. They helped the Israeli soldiers, went through physical training like Krav-Maga, and tried other Bootcamp training activities. What an amazing experience!
Following a busy month, full of uncertainties but overall enjoyable and inspiring, we’ve made it to the end of the semester and had to say goodbye to all our beloved students, who are now our fresh alumni. Evie Cowen and Alex Baril delivered emotional speeches in which they described their experiences. Evie shared her appreciation, “I would have never made it without my counselor Yotam, and my community manager, Natali; your care was present in everything you did.” Alex added, “As our time here in Israel comes to a close, I cannot reflect on these past four months without recognizing how much I have changed.” We enjoyed having these two ladies in our program this semester, along with all of our amazing students, and we thank them for their kind words.