Israel 2023 – April 24: Drew Mintz & Coby Saidel

Today was an early wake up at 6:00 am. We started the day with an hour and a half bus ride to Masada. We got breakfast before we hiked up and then we started our hike. It was steep and tiring. Once we go to the top we stared tefillah GSDS got to lead tefillah today. We were thinking about how special it was to lead tefillah and be apart of this special feeling. I (Drew) did an Aliyah and I (Coby) got to read Torah.

Then we took a tour of the top and learned about the people that lived in Masada and ran away after the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple. Then we took the snake path down the mountain there where a lot of stairs. And was very slippery! We got back on the bus and took a 15 min bus ride to the Dead Sea. We ate lunch and got ready for the Dead Sea. It was really salty and peoples cuts were stinging including ours. We floating around and we’re trying to stand up but it was very hard. It was much fun with all of the new people and even some people got salt in there eyes. Now we are on the way to the hotel and then do Yom HaZikaron stuff to commemorate the fallen soldiers in the Israeli wars.