7/28/12 -The names Michal and Channa will always be special to us as we gave two girls their Jewish names today. Their is a sadness creeping into the atmosphere among the Am-Echad children who have been to this camp before. They remember that tomorrow will bring the final Shabbat of the program and have already begun to tear up when talking about saying goodbye to the NCSY / JOLTers.

7/29/12 - We went to a ropes climbing course today after our final 5 kilometer hike in the Alps. Everyone is excited to make our final Shabbat in Austria as special as the first one. We are joined by Rabbi Ethan Katz Associate Regional Director of New Jersey NCSY.

7/30/12 - A Shabbat to remember. Kabbalat Shabbat brought tears to several eyes with its' beauty.

The final NCSY / JOLT Peula turned the entire hotel lobby into an airport as the campers had to earn their passports via a trivia game and then purchase their tickets, check their luggage and go through security in order to enter the lunchroom which was set up as the interior of an airplane. After hearing from Nefesh Binefesh they sat for a flight replete with multiple class seating, flight attendants and even snack trays going through the aisles. The in flight entertainment was a hilarious musical skit recapping all that we had learned while in Austria.

Our ebbing was so painfully beautiful that those with dry eyes were the exception. The entire camp stayed awake late into the night watching slideshows of our time together and setting up Jewish support groups in Germany as well as Skype chevrusas across oceans.

7/31/12 Our final travel major travel day. This time to Israel. After having been in Poland and Austria where the absence of Jewish life is so palpable we cannot wait to land in Ir Hakodesh and to see Israel, again, for the first time.

8/1/12 Despite our extreme exhaustion our exuberance at arriving in our homeland cannot be contained. Our breakfast (standard Israeli fare) is so comprehensive relative to what we've eaten for the past two weeks that we shock the restaurant staff with our appetites. We arrive for a legendary lunch at kibbutz Lavi before checking in and napping for a few hours before a night cruise on the kinnert and dinner in Teveria.

8/2/12 Our first full day in Israel. We spent the morning working on team building exercises by the Kinneret. From there we went visiting kvarim in Teveria including Rabbi Meir Ba'al Hanes. We retired for an 'early night' at 9:00 PM  to get some well earned rest after working so hard for the better half of the past month. In the back of our minds we know that tomorrow we will be heading to Yerushalayim.