By Zach Herman, NFTY in Israel Participant, Bus 7
4:30 was not the earliest we had ever woken up on this trip, but that didn’t change the fact that I was exhausted. We slept in Bedouin tents and it was moderately comfortable, a little more comfortable than the desert just because of the mattresses. It still felt like nighttime when we got up, and I only really woke up when this giant bug was crawling around our tent. Morning time snack was tea and tea biscuits, and it was honestly delicious. The ride to Masada gave me time to actually sleep, since the night proved more as a hangout then nap time. When we arrived at the base of the mountain, I guess the word that could be best applied to everyone at the moment is “underwhelmed.” Masada’s beauty was masked by exhaustion, irritation, and the fact that we arrived at the back of the mountain. The trip up took longer than it should have due to the sheer number of people climbing up the mountainside. We reached the top and… we saw a view that was seen a hundred times before in the Negev. Then, behind some peaks in the distance, light could be seen reflecting on the Dead Sea as the sun rose. I took this opportunity to use a gift my grandparents had given me, a makeshift camera that attached to the lens of my phone. I was afraid I was going to miss the sunrise while I tried to assemble the darn thing, but I was able to catch the oddly reddish sun peaking through the mountains as it lightened the entire valley below us. The camera allows me to remember the view for forever, but it won’t capture how happy I was at that moment, on the top of Masada with my favorite people in the world. I would have not slept a minute if given the option to see that scene, and feel how I felt.
