Written by Leo Kushnir and Nathan Liebman, Yallah! 2024 Participants
We started with an early morning in the kibbutz, which was actually our last day waking up here before heading off to Eilat. As usual, we woke up relatively early and got together with friends to have a nice breakfast. Soon after, we loaded onto the buses for a hike through a beautiful desert canyon oasis, Ein Avdat.
At the oasis, we started our daily theme, which was meant to be leadership and the qualities of a strong leader, a topic we planned to discuss later at the home of Ben Gurion. However, as occasionally happens, the daily theme changed a bit to fit the mood of the group. Due to important AP testing results coming out later in the day, many of us were very stressed. Leveraging this kairotic moment, we focused on stress management, which is often crucial for leaders. 
As we walked through the canyon, we made a group effort to be present and attentive to the sounds of birds and the wind humming in the canyon. This allowed us to experience how being attentive to our environment and surroundings can take us away from our external concerns. Furthermore, Ezra, one of the tour guides, used his vast historical knowledge to connect this experience to the Jews who first came through the desert fleeing persecution. By being attentive to their surroundings, they could focus on developing a new society instead of worrying too deeply about the forces they were fleeing.
Continuing this stress management theme, we drove over to the home of the first Israeli Prime Minister, Ben Gurion. He left his home to lead in the Negev and attempt to create a life and new opportunities in this desert. In his home, we learned about the important methods of de-stressing that Ben Gurion used to remain calm and level-headed as a leader. We decided these attributes were important for being a strong leader.
Next, we went to the pool, which was a great relaxing and bonding experience for the group. At that point, the test scores were released. The miraculous part about today was how unstressed the group was about these test scores. Because of the methods we learned for being attentive to our current situation and living in the moment, everyone was level-headed and calm when opening their scores, unlike the nervous wrecks we usually are. This really affirmed the value of the lessons we learned throughout the day.
We finished off the day by driving down to Eilat, where it was interesting to see the Jordanian side of the eastern border and how normal towns were on both sides. This has been a common theme of this trip. Due to our proximity to important geographical locations, we can truly understand why certain political actions are taken. For example, because of the normality of towns on either side of the border with Jordan, where there are clearly just normal people on either side, we can see how the border is just a small fence in a few areas despite being influential in defending this nation. We understood why it was like this small fence—to not disturb these small communities on either side of the border.
In sum, today we saw the effects of stress management on leadership in the past and how it can help us. We also saw why Israel has such unique borders with Jordan.
