While Bibi and Lieberman were busy battling it out in the Knesset last week, I took refuge up north. I guess “taking refuge” isn’t the correct term to use in this instance; I went up north because I wanted to and because my job required me too, regardless of what was going on in the capital. I went up to join the ‘leftovers’ (girls who didn’t go to Poland with the rest of the program) as they did a four day trek known as yam l’yam (lit. sea to sea). Previously a hike done strictly by Israelis, yam l’yam has become a rite of passage within the world of yeshivot and seminaries in Israel, so much so that when the poland girls heard that this was the alternative, they got a little upset.
So I spent a week with (almost) no outside contact, little cell phone reception and sleeping in tents, while slowly making my (our) way from the kinneret to the Mediterranian. Over the course of the trip I learned a lot about the people I was with. It’s easy to get to know people very well when you spend 24 hours with them for four straight days. For example, I never knew this but Mrs. X., one of the accompanying teachers, was the only one of our group not scared of wild boars. Y, one of the girls, is a professional photographer. Another girl, J., is one of the funniest people I’ve ever met- almost as funny as Chandler from friends.
And nothing is as beautiful a site as the Mediterranian when you see it for the first time on the fourth day (or the Kinneret, if you are going in the opposite direction). True, we were so high up north that most of the beaches were pretty empty and the littering was not as bad as Tel Aviv’s beaches or Ashdod’d beaches. But it wasn’t the picturesque backdrop that was so beautiful. It was the sense of accomplishment. It was knowing that I challenged myself and I did it.
