Day 10

Wow, we have only been here for 10 days.  It feels like so much more.  We are starting to really settle in here and get used to the schedule and what not.  Today we had a Tiul, a Trip.  We started out with going to the beach.  We went to a beach in Ashdod.  It was beautiful.  The water was a nice shade, it was warm and amazing.  Extremely salty though.  It was like swimming in the dead sea only you could actually swim.  We spent all morning there just hanging out, swimming, and playing sports.  After that we drove to the caves of Bar Kochba.  We had a tour guide with us showing the way, don’t worry (mom).  The Caves were incredible.  We were walking through history.  The caves were the exact same caves they used when fighting the Romans.  Inside the caves were pitch black.  We had flashlights, but at certain points turned them off just to feel the darkness.  It was really a great experience.  The silence inside the caves almost hurt, and the darkness was complete.  No light whatsoever.  

After the caves we went to a settlement where there were Gush Katif refugees living.  It was a 'temporary' place for them.  G-d should help them and the govt. should get in gear and actually give them what they promised.  The tour guide was one of the refugees.  He gave a nice talk.  I will be posting his whole speech as soon as it finishes uploading to youtube (read tomorrow).  I want to post a story that he told later on about an incredible miracle that happened to him, and the type of things that go on in holy places like Gush Katif.  They had one of the best agricultural systems in the world.  This was only a bit unusual considering they had nothing but sand to work with.  They worked the land over and over again until it gave forth food.  When the arabs took over the land after Israel forced our brothers out, the workers who had been working in the green houses could not grow a thing.  They worked in the green houses and new the exact way to make it work, yet they could not grow a single thing!  This is the hand of Hashem.  This is one of the things that happens in a place like Gush Katif.  In the words of Ari our tour guide, “the land is literally waiting for us to come and take it back”.  The following is a story that happened to him. 

 

Ari was driving on the road next to the beach with his wife on their way back home from a wedding on the beach.  As they were driving they heard shots being fired.  As they got closer they saw the terrorist in the road shooting directly at them.  He told his wife to get down as he floored it while trying to run over the terrorist.  He missed, but also was not hit.  He dropped his wife off at home.  He then sped off to get the others, as he was part of the security team for their town.  They all go back to the scene, and the army says that they had it under control.  So the team went to go protect the village in the event that there were more terrorists.  After the situation was over and the terrorists dead he was telling the story over to a reporter.  He said “thank G-d the terrorists sent us operatives who were cross-eyed”.  The commander of the unit who handled the terrorists came over and said there is one thing incorrect about you story.  The terrorists were not cross-eyed, the terrorists were real professionals and they had come from the ocean in full scuba gear. 

They found out  that the terrorists had shot 15 shots at the van and not one had made contact. The commander said I am not religious but, (pointing to the sky) someone is watching out for you.  They later found out the terrorists were part of a special Hamas unit and were sent to kidnap him and his wife.  Thank G-d they did not succeed. 

 

That’s all folks, off to bed for tomorrow is travel day to cousins in Karnei Shomron for  Shabbos.