Once everyone got a good night’s sleep, we started our tour of Israel in Jerusalem! We picked up our guide Amit and we were off. We started with some basic geography of where Jerusalem is on the map and why it is considered the capital of Israel. Next we drove around the old city seeing all of the gates. When we got to the northern gates we started to talk about the many times that Jerusalem has been conquered over the last 6000 years or so. Did you know that 
out of 51 times the city has been conquered it has been taken 39 times through the northern gates? To prove this fact, we decided to reenact the first capture by a Jewish force. Following King David, we traveled throughout the city of David till we reached the ancient spring that feeds the city. Then we followed the water’s flow for two hundred feet, then down about a mile underground until we reached the pools that the servants used to get water from to bring into the city.
Once we marched into the city, triumphant, we toured the Jewish quarter and the Western Wall. With the spirit of the ancient kings, we did a little shopping during free time.
After a long day we returned to Modi’in.
Today we got packed for a fun-filled two days in the north. We started in the old port of Caesarea, exploring the ruins of the British that were built over the Ottoman ruins that were built over Muslim ruins that were built over the Byzantine ruins that were built over the Roman ruins.
Once we left the port we drove to the north to learn about the start of the kibbutz and the famous poet and song writer Rachel. We moved from there to a quick water hike, then finally to the beach were we are cooking a big BBQ dinner for everyone.
Tomorrow we continue in the north, then back to Modi’in for the night.
Posted by Josh Boress
