Dear NCSY TJJ Bus 4 Family,

Hello from the Holy Land!!

This evening marks the beginning of the FREE WEEKEND!!!

Before we set off on our separate ways we had a very eventful day! It began with a visit to Hirbat Midras, a collection of caves and tunnels, were the Bar Kochva rebellion against the Romans occurred. We had an awesome time crawling through the tunnels and finding our way through the dark. Afterwards we went to Tel Azeka in the Elah Valley, where we played out epic biblical battles like Joshua conquering the Amorite Kings and David defeating Goliath (which all took place exactly where we stood!!!!!!!!)

We capped off our day with a trip to Beit Shemesh where we met Rabbi Natan Slifkin, also known as the “zoo rabbi.” Rabbi Slifkin is a scientist and zoologist and has published several books on Animals in the Torah. Rabbi Slifkin not only walked us through his vast collection of animal artifacts but also his own personal zoo!! Everyone really enjoyed holding the snake and petting the turtles!!

After having such a great day everyone was very sad to head to the drop off locations and say goodbye for the weekend!! For those of us that are visiting family and friends we hope you have a great time and we look forward to seeing you on Sunday! For everyone joining NCSY on the shabbaton, enjoy meeting TJJers from across the US!! It’s going to be an amazing shabbat either way!

Best,
Rabbi Chaim

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