My name is Zach Segar, and I guess I have the moderately difficult job of writing the first blog on our Israel trip, made so simply by a lack of knowledge of what I will experience on the trip. To be honest, even after 8 seminars and a week of hosting the Israelis that we will be staying with in Beit She’an, I am not entirely sure what to expect from this trip. I have been to Israel one time before: I went to the Agnon School from when I was two years old until the beginning of high school, and in eighth grade my class went on a tour of Israel. It is clear to me, however, that this trip will be very different with a corresponding very different goal than my eighth grade trip. What is not clear to me is just what form that will take and what impact it will make on my opinions and really my mind in general. And so that is what leaves me scratching my head a little bit about how to write a pre-trip reflection, less than 48 hours before I arrive at the Cleveland Hopkins International Airport to begin this trip. So instead of zeroing in on what I do not know, I am going to focus on what I do know, mostly so that this blog is long enough to garner Amnon’s approval. I know that this next 10 days will be unlike anything I, and all of my fellow participants in Cohort 7, have ever experienced. I know that this trip will be exciting at times and challenging at times, and just having Amnon present provides a decent baseline of unpredictability. I know that I will agree with some of the speakers we hear and disagree with others, and I am curious to see how the group reacts to these different perspectives. I know that this trip will push my boundaries, increase my knowledge of Israel, and provide me an opportunity to learn about this conflict from a closer vantage point than most people ever get to have. But, if I am being totally honest, what I have just listed above is all I can really say for certain about this trip. This lack of knowledge, though, is part of why I simply cannot wait until Sunday afternoon to get this journey started. Anyway, I have to go pack, so this is Zach signing off.