Reflection on hike 6

For my last hike, I went with a group of kids called shin shin, essentially high school graduates on a gap year in America before they are required to join the Israeli armed forces. As I am Jewish, this hike was very interesting and I learned a lot about not only Israel but also my culture and background. During this walk, a very important topic we discussed was the Israel-Palestine conflict. It was very impactful to hear from firsthand sources how the conflict affects the people and seeing how the American media sources are able to manipulate us to take sides on a complex issue going back thousands of years with no cut and dry answer or solution. One thing which really surprised me from this experience was how different Israeli culture is when compared to American culture. For example, one of the shin shin named Ori lived on a kibbutz which was described as a community based around the production of food, often with socialist or communist values, in Ori's case, they were a more free-market kibbutz, and grew bananas. This amazed me as in America we do not have anything even remotely similar to a kibbutz. It was also very interesting to hear about safety issues in Israel ranging from terrorist attacks (which are often thwarted by military members due to a huge military presence), or hearing about the bunkers that are often built by individuals or communities to protect from rocket and missile fire into Israel from surrounding countries. A final interesting thing we discussed was the military requirement in Israel where every citizen is required to serve in the armed forces for 2-3 years. Overall I had a lot of fun on this hike, and am truly grateful that I got this experience to peek into and experience Israel and its culture.

Ori's Kibbutz

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