Amram Averick

Footprints In The Sand

Haiku

Footprints on high sand

Safe from the erasing waves

The wind blew them away

Poem

Footprints high on the sand

A walker wise enough to keep them safe

From the waves that had erased the traces of others

The wind blows them away

My Year In Israel

Introduction
I spent the last year in Israel at yeshiva (Jewish religious school). The following is a description of some of my experiences.

Yeshiva
I went Yeshivat Hakotel in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem. It is an Israeli Yeshiva with a foreign program, so my peers came from all over the world, including Israel, America, Britain, Brazil, Colombia, and Austria. For me it was an amazing experience to meet and befriend people from places and cultures I would have never encountered otherwise. The whole experience of Yeshiva also helped me grow a lot in many aspects of myself.

The Anglo Program

History

I also learned many things about the history and archeology of Israel, especially of the Old City. My Yeshiva actually had a program to explore the history of Jerusalem from its construction through the present day. The person who lead the program, Barnea Levi Se-Lavan, was also involved in the finds of the Elah Fortress, a 3000-year old city that is believed to be ancient city of Sha’arayim.

When construction began on the foundations of the Yeshiva, several structures from First Temple and Herodian periods were found. The museum of the sturctures is actually beneath the Yeshiva.

What the man on the left is pointing to is one of the most significant finds of the dig, a pottery shard with scribe written Hebrew in the Ivri script from at least 3000 years ago.

One of the more fascinating experiences of mine in Old City archaeology came as a result of community service. The yeshiva organized several community service programs, and I decided to participate in one to help an elderly couple in the Quarter. As it would turn out, the people I was helping, Mr. & Mrs. Siebenberg had made a dig under the house and discovered structures and objects from as far back as the Davidic and Solominic era, and had a museum under their house. What I was seen and told made a strong impression on me and strongly connected me to my history.

Picture of the lower level of the museum and some of the finds. Among the finds pictured: arrowheads from several eras, a woman's ring-key, many spin-wheels.

Yam LiYam and Bike to the Dead Sea

I went on many hiking and biking trips while I was in Israel. The best of them were Yam LiYam (Sea to Sea) and biking from J-lem to the Dead Sea.

Yam LiYam is a hike from the Mediterranean Sea to the Kineret (Sea of Galilee), about a three day journey. I hent with a group from my yeshiva, and it was a stunning trip. Although we did face many adverse conditions (rain, cold, heat, more rain), almost the entire group that started finished.

Finishing at the Kineret.

For all the fun we had during the hike, it was the most anticlimactic things I have ever experienced. After three days of hiking we were expecting to be able to jump into the water and go swimming. Just before getting to the beach, we gt psyched up, hike triumphantly to the water, and find that it is green.

During Passover break my friend and I decided to bike from J-lem to the Dead Sea. It was a pretty long distance but it was mainly downhill, as we started on a mountain and ended up at the lowest point on earth (almost a mile of loss in elevation; we didn’t bike back). This turned out to be one of the only times I have been significantly affected by climate change. The Dead Sea has dried up significantly relatively recently, and in some places the shoreline has receded by kilometers. This prevented my friend and I from making it to the Sea, as we couldn’t walk very far on the salt flats because of the dangers of sinkholes and dehydration, but we did make it to where the sea used to be.

Map including our route.

Where we actually made it to. Yo can clearly see the salt flats on the shoreline, but the sea has dried significantly since this picture was taken. On this map we actually would have made it to the sea proper.