Day 5 - Toby Rusanow

Today was an interesting one. I woke up expecting Giddie & Co. to barge on the door. Realising it wasn’t going to happen, I got up to get ready for the day. I brushed my teeth and got dressed and went down for breakfast. Breakfast was the same as usual salad and some quality Israeli yoghurt. 

With anticipation, we hopped on the buses and go ready for our hike on a trail known as the Sataf. For us, this was the first time we’d join with Lehava after our first week in Israel, and the excitement was immense.  After having loaded all our buses with chametz to destroy, we logged the heavy boxes over to the fire, ready to burn. As Rav Krebs explained the process of Biur Chametz, Lehava and Netzach schmoozed, catching up on our IST experiences. 

Following Biur, we were led by our tour guide Miriam down the beautiful Sataf trail, and as we were led through the hike, we were told of the ancient pools built by the Cannanites, and the thousand-year-old olive trees living across the mountains. For me, this was an incredibly fun experience, and this in general was a beautiful place with the most insane lookouts.

After the hike, we journeyed to the North-West to Kfar HaRoeh, our place of residence for the next week. I highlight of my day was stopping at the large parking terminal, where we were all told to stock up on snacks for Chol Hamoed Pesach. 

With that, we drove through to Kfar Horeh, and with ancitipation for Chag and Shabbat, unpacked our bags, headed to shule, and smiled at the thought of Seder being spent together as a year group!