Back from Israel- so many superlatives!

So after 2 incredible weeks, I'm home safely from Israel. I really can't explain how wonderful and enlightening and fun my birthright trip was. We went to so many great places and I met some of the coolest and most interesting people. I know I've been saying that Argentina is the coolest country in the world, but Israel could truly give it a run for it's money...shekels or pesos?
I could give a minute by minute account of the trip because every moment of it was that great. But let's see if I can distill my trip into a handful of meaningful pictures:

Day 1: My friend Mike and I found this incredible view on the roof of a building in Tzfat. We had a 180 degree view of Northern Israel, including the Sea of Galilee. Tzfat is especially important to me because that's where my grandfather and his father came from. 

This is our entire group with the Negev desert behind us. There were 38 of us, plus 2 American staff members, an Israeli tour guide, an Israeli guard and medic and 8 Israeli Defense Force soldiers that joined us for the half the trip. Meeting these Israelis was one of my favorite parts of the trip. 

The Kotel, or Western Wall, was the most moving experience I had on the trip because of the spirituality and the centrality of God, and the power of all these Jews praying together. This is why I came to Israel. 

I also was fortunate to extend my stay and see my cousins Julia and Nissim and their babies Coren (1.5 years) and Or Bella (2 months)

I put up most of my pictures on facebook so take a look there. For the next week and a half I'll be visiting Colby and other friends at their schools. As sad as I am to be home from Israel, and as much as I already want to go back (Aliya, anyone?), I'm getting really excited for Argentina. Living in the states is starting to seem really overrated...

Camels and sun,
Rachel