Shalom from the Negev desert

Wow. What an amazing few days we have had... It's difficult to sum everything up but here
are some highlights:
On Wednesday we went through Yad Vashem, the incredible Holocaust museum, before going to
Tel Aviv. In Tel Aviv we visited Independence Hall, where Israel was declared a nation. In
the evening we were treated to a performance by Udi Kruass who is an amazing musician here
in Israel. On Thursday we explored more of Tel Aviv, visiting Rabin Square and hearing about
one of Israel's most important political figures. We then went off to the mystical city of
Tzfat before going to our Kibbutz in the north. On Friday we did a lot of hiking all
morning, went to Katzrin for lunch and then went back to the kibbutz to prepare for Shabbat.
Shabbat was amazing. We had a group service on Friday night followed by a lovely dinner and
then activities to help us bond the already close-knit family we have created. On Saturday morning we all slept in (and wow did we needed the extra sleep!) and then met up at 10:30 for a fascinating discussion on the week's Torah portion and how Judaism views gender roles. Then we had a great lunch, free time to hang out by the pool, a discussion on Jewish identity, and then we finished Shabbat with the Havdalah ceremony. In the evening we went to the city of Tiveria (aka Tiberias) for dinner. This morning we drove to Haifa where we volunteered with an organization called Haifa Hoops for Kids, playing basketball with people with disabilities. After, we went for a hike through the Golan and then proceeded way down south into the Negev desert. We arrived at the hotel and our Israeli soldiers put the American participants through an hour of boot camp (don't worry, the Israelis went very easy on them!). Now we're off to bed before exploring the desert tomorrow.
It's really an amazing group of people that we have here. The group is bonding closer and closer every day and we've really turned into a family. I'm so happy that we'll all be returning to the Boston area together so that we can continue to build these relationships.
That's all for now. I need to get some sleep so I can get ready for our desert adventure tomorrow. Layla tov!!