April 27/Day 5

By: Tali, Class of 2025

April 27/Day 5

Tali, Class of 2025

On Sunday morning, after Tefilah and breakfast, we started our 3-hour-long drive down to the Negev. Along the way we stopped for lunch in S’de Boker; where groups of 6 or 7 kids were given a budget of 150-170 shekels and had to spend that money in a supermarket on lunch for everyone in their group. We also stopped for a beautiful but tiring hike at Ein Avdat (there were a lot of stairs!), where we saw a bunch of ibex and a lovely waterfall. 

After Ein Avdat, we went to visit Ben Gurion’s grave, which had a lovely view of the Negev. We learned about Ben Gurion’s love of the Negev and how he wished to retire and eventually be buried there. As someone from the American Northeast, I couldn’t help but wonder why Ben Gurion loved the Negev so much. I kept thinking to myself that the Negev is gorgeous, but it looks so dry and dull. I love being able to look out my window at home, and on long car rides, and see the beauty of the Northeast. I love looking out the window and seeing all that the drive has to offer. So, safe to say that I don’t want to live in a desert when I retire. 

After visiting Ben Gurion’s grave, we headed to Kibbutz Mashabei Sadeh, which is where we had dinner and stayed the night. After dinner we got the news that we were going to have a surprise activity/army training camp organized by our councilor Macabi. I don’t think anyone will consider joining the army after what we went through last night! Safe to say we all went to bed pretty soundly.