July 30, 2014
By: Orly Lipsitz
As our amazing community week comes to a close, our cohort was given the huge honour of visiting soldiers who had a few hours off to rest and wash up at the Beit Hachayalim (house of the soldiers) in Eilat. We would like to thank the anonymous donor who sponsored the socks and underwear that we delivered to the soldiers. I was so appreciative to have the opportunity to thank the soldiers face to face for protecting our country and to remind them that Jews in the diaspora stand by them, support them, and definitely never forget about them and the sacrifices they are making every day. The soldiers were so grateful for the new clothing, but were even happier to have us visit. It was an amazing reminder that something so simple can change someone's day.
After visiting the soldiers, we went to Top49, a centre for extreme sports. There we honed in on our teamwork skills by playing paintball and guiding each other through rock climbing and other activities.
We enjoyed an afternoon indoors with air conditioning at the campus of Ben Gurion university in Eilat. We were given time to write a letter of thanks to our host families and then each wrote a second letter addressed to a soldier, which will be given to soldiers who are fighting right now in Gaza. It was especially significant to write the letters today, after we visited a group of soldiers in person. We were then immersed in discussion on the topic of language,in particular Hebrew, which was led by Daniel and Liav. It was very interesting to hear the diverse opinions in the room regarding the language of prayer and the attitude people hold towards praying in a language that they don't fully understand- even for the Israelis who struggle to comprehend Biblical Hebrew sometimes. We discussed that language can create family, but family is not dependent on language, and therefore those in our cohort who don't speak Hebrew or English are still a part of our Diller family. Daniel and Liav led an amazing and thought provoking session with us.
We then traveled to the Eilat fire station and witnessed just how much Toronto supports the Eilat community.
The night ended with a farewell banquet. It was great to spend the night all together with our host families before we leave tomorrow morning. It's amazing how in just one short week we have been welcomed into the Eilati's homes and treated as a member of their family, even during such trying times here. Our host families will definitely be missed, but I can guarantee that I will be traveling back to Eilat soon to visit my new home.
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