This week was a ‘happening’ week at Midreshet. To start off we had an amazing Shabbaton in Efrat where we stayed at families, teachers and friends. Shabbat b'yishuv was centered around Zionism and we heard from different women in the community all about their choices to make Aliyah. It was inspiring and we all had a blast!

Sunday morning we all woke up and went straight to Har Herzl in preparation for Yom Hazikaron where we had a great tour guide and were led by teachers as well. This was the beginning of an amazing Yom Iyun on Zionism which continued throughout the afternoon with great sessions by Rav Jason, Rav Ron and Rav Lerner on Yom Ha’atzmaut and different aspects of Zionism. 

After hearing the devastating news about the passing of Rav Aharon Lichtenstein z"l it was only appropriate for us to join thousands of our fellow Jews at his levaya in Yeshivat Har Etzion in the Gush. Rav Eitan, Rav Jason, Bracha, Neima, Malka, Yaakov and others accompanied us and helped us to understand the hespedim.    

Last night marked the opening Yom HaZikaron ceremonies. Danielle, our Madricha writes about the Masa event we attended:

“On Tuesday night, erev Yom Hazikaron, we attended a ceremony at Latrun. We arrived early to give ourselves time to walk around and see the military exhibitions. The ceremony was a very powerful experience with Masa groups from all backgrounds gathered together to honor our fallen soldiers. The event started with an introduction from Natan Sharansky. He spoke about the struggle he endured to fight for his return to his homeland. He then went on to encourage the audience to be supporters and advocates of Israel wherever they may go in life. The ceremony continued by recognizing six individuals who had fallen including females, lone soldiers, and fathers. Each individual story moved us to tears. As the ceremony closed with tehillim and Hatikvah, we stood proudly as Jews, knowing that we would never forget those he gave their lives for us to be here.”

Today we will continue marking Yom Hazikaron with a talk from Hanoch Shalev who will share with us his experiences growing up in Israel.  At 10am we will make our way back up to Har Herzl for the siren and time to connect with the families of the fallen soldiers. 

We're so excited for the the transition into Yom Ha’atzmaut tonight. This is truly a special time to be spending in Israel.

Lauren Richman and Jessica Pinter