Sunday was the first day that the Israelis and Americans
were separated since we arrived. While the Israelis returned to school, our
group had many adventures. We gathered
at Potchim Atid, the youth center in Kiryat Gat, to regroup, discuss our first
amazing first night with each of our host families, and then prepare for the
day.
As we went outside, we were met by our guide, Yair, and his
wife, their two jeeps, and the usual street cats. Yair started telling us about
the history of Lachish and the caves. We learned about the Jews that built
these caves so that they would be protected from the Romans.
We were taken on a jeep ride through Lachish. Just as we
were about to leave the car we were driven inside the actual cave. We walked
through the beautiful cave and soon heard loud squeaking. The noises just
happened to be created by large groups of bats we had woken up with our hiking.
Yair showed us a way to see their eyes at the top of the cave by shining a flashlight
at just the right angle.
Yair then showed a map of two of the eighty caves he has
mapped out since the start of his exploration of Israel’s underground
treasures. He took us to the harder of the two caves and told us we were going
to climb inside the giant hole in the ground, through the tunnels, and out
another hole. Almost the entire group went even though we were nervous about
the giant drop we had to surpass. We crawled through tight tunnels, lost our
way a couple of times, hoisted ourselves up tall walls, and took some amazing
pictures. We learned about the water systems used in the past and strategies
incorporated during times of war. We had so much fun that we decided to crawl
through the easier cave, too.
Our whole group had the chance to see region from another
point of view as we had a wild jeep ride. We even went off the beaten path a
couple times and one of the jeeps almost became stuck where the river usually
flows. Once we returned, we went to Tel Lachish (a hill made from centuries of
cities being built on top of each other), a national park, to eat lunch. We
hiked up the side of a mountain to gain another view of Tel Lachish. Once we got to the bottom, we were met by a
resident of Moshav Lachish. We learned about the history of Tel Lachish, the Lachish
region, and the grapes the moshav (agricultural village) produces. Although it
was an extremely long tour, we were able to see many parts of the town.
Our group went back to Potchim Atid to meet the Israelis. A
couple members of the cohort taught us about the culture of Kiryat Gat,
Lachish, and Shafir; specifically about the history of immigrants, the
oppression they faced, and the potential for assimilation. We finally ended our
amazing day by meeting back up with our host families to start our family
nights.
By: Emily Bakal
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