Yam L’Yam   (sea to sea)

by Jacob Gencher,     grade 11,      Ontario

 

Heller High students hiking up Mount Meiron during the Yam L'Yam hike

A nice, relaxing, stress-free Sukkot with a kind and accepting host families abruptly halts and we are plunged into a harsh, tiring and rigorous reality that is the Yam L’Yam trip. Yam L’Yam is a 5 day trip that enriches the students’ perception of the land of Israel and the significance of it, with an experience that will never be forgotten.

                Starting at the Sea of Galilee, we embarked on our hike in a very enjoyable and unique way. A short hike through a beautiful stream, shrouded in greenery that formed a canopy protecting us from the glaring sun, was one of the most loved parts of the entire trip. This water adventure was filled with laughter, joy and smiles stretching from ear to ear. To mark the beginning of our adventure, we filled a bottle with water from the stream to be couriered to the Mediterranean Sea. After our time at the stream, we boarded the bus and headed to our first campsite. After a little bit of relaxing and arranging our tents, dinner was ready for us. After dinner, we played games, bonded and marveled at the beauty of the starry sky.

                The second day was full of excitement. After waking up fearing the worst, as my backpack was missing, I was relieved and quite happy to find m y backpack was not stolen, but rather dragged by wolves up a cliff behind my tent. The day started out with a “Broga” Tefilla, hosted by Dani and Michael. It was an excellent way of incorporating the goal of Yam L’Yam, connecting to the land of Israel, with prayer. We started our hike at an old police station that was used while the British had control over Israel, which I thought was very interesting. Having been a Shabbat, this hike was not very long and was only to get a feel for the type of landscape we would trek in the upcoming days and get a little taste of the spectacular views we would experience. We returned after the hike and were divided into three groups. Each group would be responsible for cooking their own breakfasts and lunches. After being divided, we entered a competition; utilizing the skills of fire building we had just been taught.  The most important part of the day was celebrating two students’ birthdays, Noya and Lillian, by a camp fire. We played games, danced and had a great time.

It's all sunny in this photo, but the rain came later!

                The third day was the most exhausting of the trip. We started the day returning to the old police station and beginning another hike. After about an hour of hiking we stopped, split into our groups and made our breakfast. It wasn’t the most exquisite meal, but the porridge, tea and biscuits were bland, but not the worst. After breakfast we packed up and headed toward our main objective, Mt. Meiron. The hike was extremely interesting. We walked through a very out of place tunnel, witnessed extremely beautiful views and did some serious rock climbing. After climbing up a very steep incline covered in rocks and scaling rock walls for a couple hours, we stopped for lunch. Lunch was much more flavourful than breakfast; rice, sandwiches and salami really made for a delicious meal. After lunch we were taught a bit about navigation and how to use a map. We then headed into a small village. While in the village, it started to drizzle, which was not particularly bad and it helped spice things up. After exiting the village, we walked for what seemed like an eternity until finally, we reached the peak of Mt. Meiron. The view was spectacular! Looking out over the horizon made me feel like I could accomplish anything. What made the view truly amazing is that we were shown our starting point and the old police station in the distance.

The remains of an old British police station was on our trail during the hike.

               Climbing Mt. Meiron I feel is a metaphor for life, in that, the path to your objective may be full of obstacles, and things will weigh you down (in this case it was a backpack with four liters of water, a bowl, spoon, cup, cooking materials and leftover food), but if you persevere and reach your goal, when you look back, you will feel accomplished and realize that the journey was worth it. After a short talk about Mt. Meiron and the significance of it, we unfortunately had to take a break from hiking and took a bus back to our original campsite, instead of hiking to the next one, because of weather issues. We arrived at the campsite, set up tents, ate dinner and had an activity that revolved around loneliness and silence. It was a break from the daily schedule and was a time of reflection. After sitting alone on a trail for about twenty minutes, we sat in a circle and talked about fears and anxiety. It was a very nice activity that helped me connect more to Israel and to myself.

                The fourth day was a bit of a disaster at the beginning, but turned around later in the day. I woke up full of excitement and ready to start a new day, but my excitement quickly diminished as it started to rain. Panic spread throughout the campsite. People ran to get raincoats, to put their suitcases in the tent or under a tarp and the group’s morale instantly dropped. The rain started to pick up more and more and it seemed like we were doomed, until our hero, Yonatan, grabbed his speaker, turned on some Israeli music and started dancing in the rain. Others soon joined him and this disastrous rain turned into a fun activity. After the rain had died down, we headed onto another bus a returned to the base of Mt. Meiron. We were divided into our groups and given maps for the activity that was planned. This activity was denied by another wave of rain. We all huddled under a canopy made of one very large stone, soaking and shivering, and waited for the rain to pass. In this state of despair came one of the best moments of the entire trip. We all gathered in a circle and started to sing the Wii theme song. Childish, sure, but it was surprisingly amusing and boosted the spirits of the group. The rain was relentless and eventually a bus was called to pick us up. While waiting for the bus we played freeze tag, which was a lot of fun and made me forget all about the rain ruining the day. The bus finally arrived and we boarded it. The bus took us to our next hiking location. Before beginning the hike we had lunch and had a cooking competition. After we had finished lunch with revived spirits, we revisited our night program and walked alone. I was skeptical at first, but I am glad I walked alone, for it helped me appreciate the view of the mountains and gave me another chance to exclude myself from the group I have become so attached to. After we met up and walked a little bit more as a group, we arrived at our new campsite. We set up our tents, ate dinner, had a small campfire and went to sleep.

                The fifth day was, in my opinion, the best of the trip. We woke up, packed all of our things, returned our cooking supplies and sleeping bags and prepared for the bike ride. A truck hauling thirty or forty bikes arrived at our campsite. After a brief talk about safety and rules, we were each given a bike and just like that, we were off. Taking it slow, we descended our first hill. It was amazing. The wind blowing in your face, the pleasant aroma surrounding you and feeling like you’re flying. The bike ride was the most enjoyable activity I have participated in on the entire trip of NFTY Heller High. It was unbelievably fun. Riding on trails, roads, through villages and through a banana plantation made the bike ride’s scenery more interesting than the past four days’. After biking for multiple hours, we finally arrived at our destination: the Mediterranean Sea. Everyone wasted no time heading into the beautiful complex that overlooked the Sea. Relieved that we had finished, we sat in a circle and talked about our favourite part and the most difficult part of the trip. It was very interesting, seeing everyone’s enjoyment come from different places of the trip, but what was more interesting was that some people, myself included, had trouble finding something they didn’t like about the trip. After, we looked at a map and traced our path. It was truly remarkable to think that we walked all of that distance, and with relative ease. When the talk was over, we all rushed to the washroom to get changed and headed down to the beach to swim. We all headed down to the beach and, before swimming, dumped the water from the Galilee into the Sea. We then ran into the Sea with joy. After a couple hours of swimming we were pulled out and ate lunch. After lunch we went back to the Sea for a few more hours and we all had a great time. After five days of mud, dirt and sweat, a nice swim was exactly what we needed.

                Yam L’Yam is a trip that I will never forget, and for good reasons. After experiencing the trails, the views, the good (and the bad) weather, and an overall sense of belonging makes it easy to understand why it would be the national pastime. It gives you a better appreciation of the country you are living in or visiting. On a program like NFTY Heller High, where the main goal is to give the students a better perception of Eretz Yisrael, a trip like Yam L’Yam is the best way of presenting and enforcing the importance of the country. Jewish History class sometimes makes me wonder about the relevance of what we learn, but this trip has helped me realize, by a first-hand experience, that everything that happened in the history of the Jews had always revolved around the country of Israel, and now I understand how important that is.