Beautiful Israel by Derrek Elgarten

Hi, the name’s Derrek Elgarten, and as you may know I recently took a month long trip to the nation of Israel.  How was it?  It was great!  I traveled across the entire country staying at various hostels and kibbutz learning much about Israel’s geography and history.

For as small as Israel is, it is a very scenic and beautiful place to visit with sights such as the relaxing waters of the Dead Sea and the soft, fine sand of the Negev Desert.  But what really stuck out for me were the ancient architecture of many historical monuments such as the old city of Jerusalem, the ruins of Bet She’an, and many others locations.  Made me realize how ambitious people back in ancient times. Israel is literal eye-candy.

I also learned much about Israel’s history (more than I did at school at least).  I learned about how much more dire the several wars Israel went were for the Israelis to the point of where the smallest wrong move could’ve instantly ended the nation.  I also learned more about the prime ministers of Israel such as Yitzchak Rabin, Menachem Begin, and the one I respect the most: the first prime minister of Israel, David Ben-Gurion.  Not to mention all that the Jews went through just for Israel to exist, from the movement of Zionism to the Holocaust.  All these events combined with the ancient history of the Jews makes Israel an enriched nation of history and countless stories that can interest anyone.

Now while I did learn a lot about Israel, that doesn’t mean that’s all I did.  There were plenty of fun things I enjoyed doing while there from camel back riding to paintball to hiking, all of it being a blast.  With that all being said, I can say that without a doubt Israel is worth the trip and I thank The Jewish Federation for giving me the scholarship so I could go.  If I were to make any recommendations when going there is to bring a lot of water with you wherever you go because Israel gets hot.