The first semester of my junior year was a whirlwind. I explored Israel, learned in-depth Israeli history, and made life-long friends.
From September to December, I attended the Alexander Muss High School in Israel. Muss is a 4 month study abroad program for American and Canadian Jewish highschoolers. During the program, students spend 50 days on trips and 50 days on campus. Muss’ main location is in Hod Hasharon, a city in the Central District of Israel, about 30 minutes from Tel-Aviv and one hour from Jerusalem. The school is located on a campus shared with an Israeli Boarding School, Mosenson. I chose to attend Muss to learn about Israeli and Jewish history, to explore college-like independence, and to experience the fun of living in Israel.
After Oct. 7, I felt very disconnected from Israel because of the myriad of anti-Israel sentiment in the media. I doubted my previous knowledge on Israel and sometimes wondered if I was really on the “right side.” I also felt that I wasn’t doing enough for Israel. As a Jew, watching the war play out from across the world didn’t feel right. So I decided–despite my fears of not making friends, leaving my family, and missing so much school– to leave Heschel and NYC for a once in a lifetime experience.
My main class, Israel Studies, covered all of Jewish and Israeli history from Avraham until today. We frequently spent “class” days travelling around Israel, going to the locations that corresponded with our unit in class. For example, our first trip was to Tel Azeka, the remains of an ancient town dating back to the Cannanites. We learned about Jewish Kingdoms in Jerusalem, the destruction of the second temple at the top of Masada, and the birth of Zionism in one of the first Israeli towns, Mazkeret Batya.
In November, we flew to Poland to learn about Jewish life in Eastern Europe and the Holocaust. The Poland trip was a week of tremendous ups and downs. We learned about the vast number of Eastern European Jewish towns and their traditions, thriving Yeshivot for Torah study, and the tightness of their communities. We also spent many days walking through concentration camps and death camps, learning about the heinous crimes the Nazis committed and hearing many peoples’ stories from the Shoah.
In Israel, we also experienced Israeli nature, culture, and diversity. We rode camels in the desert, slept in Bedouin tents, hiked in the Golan Heights, swam in the Dead Sea, and bargained in the shuks of Tel Aviv, Jaffa, and Jerusalem. We learned about Druze culture and ate dinner at a Druze man’s house, volunteered making food for soldiers, picked strawberries and oranges, and almost finished a four day camping trip. Yam le Yam is usually a hike from the Mediterranean Sea to the Sea of Galilee (Kineret), but on the night before the last day, the IDF took part in an operation where thousands of pagers and walkie-talkies exploded in the hands of Hezbollah operatives. Since we were very close to Lebanon, and it was likely that Hezbollah would strike back, we had to evacuate immediately. It’s a good thing we left, because Hezbollah did bomb that very campsite a few hours later.
Though all the trips were very interesting and fun, my favorite part of Muss was Shabbat spent in different towns. On Shabbat, we were either on campus, having a free weekend off campus, or staying in a new town. Shabbats on campus were days of late night talks, catching up on sleep, reading books, and going on walks. Shabbats off campus gave us more freedom, as long as Muss knew where we were staying. I spent my open Shabbats with family and friends in Haifa, Kibbutz Beit Alpha, and Tel Aviv. Lastly, some Shabbats away (with the Muss group but off campus) were spent in Akko (an ancient Crusader and Ottoman city), Kibbutz Ketura, Jerusalem, Ein Gedi, and Mitzpe Ramon, my personal favorite.
Going to Muss was one of the best decisions of my life. The school taught me, in detail, the history of the Jewish State, gave me my best friends, and shaped me into a mature, independent young adult. 