Diller Chicago Cohort 2 ISS, July 21

Today the Kennes ended and community week began. We started the day by leaving Sde Boker at 4:30 am and driving to Masada. We were on a bus with the cohort from Johannesburg and it was a nice opportunity to get to know them better, although they did shame us with how efficient they are at counting off. When we arrived we hiked up the old Roman Ramp in our color groups from the Kennes. It was a nice short hike with a great view. Reaching the top of Masada was an amazing experience. We got to see ruins built thousands of years ago by Herod and could see all the way to Jordan across the valley. Once at the top we had a discussion about the Masada story and its significance to the Jewish people. We talked about the values inherent in the story and about how to properly teach the story of such a terrible event. Despite viewing very little of the ruins, It was fascinating to hear all the different opinions and perspectives brought from all the North American and South African cohorts. Once we finally got off the mountain we had a feedback session and drove to the Dead Sea.  It was quite a shock to go into the water expecting refreshing cool and instead find it bath water temperature at its coolest. We had a ton of fun floating around in the Dead Sea. It was my first time going and the experience certainly lived up to the hype. On the way back we saw our 107^th stray cat! Then we got on the bus on our way to meet with the Israelis and begin community week with our host families. It was a fabulous end to Kennes and a great beginning of community week.