Floating in the Dead Sea, hiking Masada, and exploring Hezekiah’s tunnel…while these are all fun Israeli experiences they are not what icnext is about. Instead we will be doing activities such as visiting an unrecognized Bedouin village, and exploring Israel’s borders with Syria and Lebanon. These types of opportunities do not take place on normal teen tours of Israel, this is what makes icnext so special.
The focus of our group’s trip this summer is family. I find this focus very fitting for multiple reasons. Over the past eight months our group of 24 has grown exponentially closer to each other. I am a pretty good example of this. I walked into the first seminar only knowing one person, because I never went to day school or participated in any youth groups. Now I feel that I know everyone well, and have even grown very close to one. The next reason this is a fitting topic for our group is because we are part of a more extended family–with the Israelis who visited us in Cleveland in April. I feel that I speak for the group when I say we all are looking forward to seeing our ‘Israeli Family’ in Beit She’an.
I do not expect to shop, I do not expect to eat rugelach from Marzapan, and I definitely do not expect to sleep. As Tina says, “you can shop next trip and sleep once you are home!” As far as what I do expect…I want to just live in the moment and take in all of the once in a lifetime experiences.