Amal Lady Davis and Ironi Tet are the Tel Aviv high schools where SIEP (Short Israeli Exchange Program) is now taking place. I am in the Amal Lady Davis group. Here is a personal take that will help you understand what it is like to be on this trip.

The beginning of the SIEP experience started at school, where everyone came with their bags, parents, and excitement for what was to come. Everyone gathered together, talked, and waited for the teachers to tell them it is time to go. Eventually, this did happen and everyone hopped onto the school bus, which made its way towards LAX. We arrived at the airport, and for such a large group, went through security rather quickly. People continued to drop their bags at the gate where our plane was and got some lunch before the long and grueling flight. I was able to get an Umami burger with french fries and a soda.

When this flight did begin, everyone almost immediately moved from their assigned seats. I for one did not because I was already sitting next to a friend and decided it was better to stay. The flight was very unconventional, as everyone around me started to move around the airplane like it was a school hallway. There was a continuous rush of people walking, talking, and often times even standing. Even when the seatbelt sign was on, many continued to stand, which sometimes irritated the flight attendants.

When the airplane finally landed after 14 hours we were able to get our bags and change out our regular SIM cards for Israeli ones in order to get an Israeli phone number. The SIM card I received was actually inserted incorrectly, which took me a couple days to fix.

Our Lady Davis group then separated from Ironi Tet for the first time and proceeded towards a bus that would take us to the school and our buddies. This bus ride was very short, and when we arrived at Amal Lady Davis, our Israeli buddies were right there to embrace us. Both the Israelis and Americans were running, screaming, shouting, and we couldn’t have been any happier.

The rest of the day consisted of free time where me and my Israeli buddy and some of our friends went to eat pita. I let my buddy choose the pita I would get, and it turned out to be an amazing assortment of egg, steak, sour cream, and veggies.

The next day we went to the school and entered a class, just us Americans. The class I went into was History 1, which ended up being the most loud and energetic classroom I’d ever seen, as the students would not stop talking and/or looking at their phones. We also got to meet the head of school at Lady Davis, who talked to us about Israel and the pluralism of the country, which intrigued the entire group. In addition, the special education department put on a Kahoot for us about Isreali history. We then went to the Tel Aviv port with the Israelis, ate more good food, and had free-time to do whatever we pleased afterward.

On March 3, the Americans and Isrealis went on a tour to Haifa to see the religious diversity of Israel. To do this we went to the Bahai’i Gardens, Stella Maris church, Elijah’s cave, a mosque, and even a Drews (Arab Jews) village. Sadly, most of the students were talking and even some were eating in Stella Maris, so we got kicked out and didn’t get to complete our activity there. We ended up staying at a Kibbutz Yehiam for the night, and unexpectedly longer than intended. We were supposed to go to the National Garden and Limud the next day (Saturday), but the bus was not allowed to pick us up because de Toledo wouldn’t allow it to come during Shabbat. Our school essentially ended up chosing Jewish customs over efficiency.

Instead of doing activities outside the Kibbutz we ended up having a nice day where we explored the Yehiam fortress (the Kibbutz’s namesake), hiked near the Kibbutz, and had Shabbat services. At the end of the day, we drove back to Tel Aviv but were met with an unexpected surprise. We stopped at a restaurant, and when we walked in, to our surprise, we see all the Ironi Tet students. Once we saw the Ironi Tet students we all talked and caught up before having to leave once more for school.

The next day we Americans went to Independence Hall and did a scavenger hunt, each of us in 5 groups. We walked around Rothschild Boulevard and had to answer questions to gain points, and the group with the most points won. In the end my group won and got an extra 50 minutes of curfew and everyone else got 30 minutes. After the scavenger hunt we got a tour of Independence Hall and got to experience how it really felt when Ben Gurion established Israeli independence. After going to Independence Hall we met our Israeli buddies got a tour from two students of Lady Davis around Tel Aviv.

A solemn day would follow as the Americans traveled to Mount Herzl, a military cemetery that is the resting place of many Israeli national figures. After walking down Mount Herzl we arrived at Yad Vashem, the Holocaust museum of Israel. This experience was different for everyone as we were divided into different groups, but the tour we all got was something we’ll never forget. Most people commended their tour guides for giving them a deeper insight into the Holocaust. After Yad Vashem, the Lady Davis Americans went back to school to meet their buddies to see a concert from someone in the delegation. The concert was amazing, even though most couldn’t understand it, as it was in Hebrew.

The Palmach museum was the only school activity on March 7. We were able to go through a guided tour of the experience of Palmach fighters in Israel, many of whom died in the fight for Israeli independence. The Palmach were a special group of young fighters, some even as young as us, of around 7,000 who were essentially Israel’s defense force before the IDF.

The following morning was madness at Lady Davis. The men dressed up as superman and the women dressed up as pikachu for a Purim celebration that shocked everyone. People arrived at the school and, when assigned to, rushed onto the main concourse of the school. Everyone was jumping, screaming, and shouting to music in the pandemonium that was this Purim celebration. It was so crazy that by the end, at least half the guys in this celebration had their shirts ripped off.

But this was only the morning. Before the party ended, the Americans changed and headed off for Jerusalem, the holy city of the Jewish people. The first stop in Jerusalem was the Mahane Yehuda Market, where most students found great Israeli, Persian, and Arab delicacies along with other food items. Lady Davis and Ironi Tet students also met up and would continue to be together for the rest of their time in Jerusalem. Subsequently, the groups went to the Davidson Center that allowed everyone a closer look at what the Temple Mount was really like 2,000 years ago. A spiritual experience followed this as the everyone went the Wailing/Western Wall. Everyone had 45 minutes to pray to God and put a note inside the wall. We all then headed to a hostel to spend the night.

The morning after, March 9, we’d all finally reached the halfway point of our journey. This point was marked off with visiting Ramat Rachel Kibbutz and doing a simulated Knesset on the topic: Amending the Law of Return. Everyone got assigned roles from being the Prime Minister to reporter, and we simulated the process of a bill going through the Knesset. After all of this, we Americans drove back to Tel Aviv to meet our buddies and have free time until our 1:00 am curfew.  

As you can see from everything that has occurred, the SIEP trip has been full of fun activities that have allowed us to become closer with our friends, Israeli buddies, Judaism, and ourselves.