The JCoSS Israel trip was an extraordinary experience for all the students who went. The highights included rafting on the Jordan River at HaGoshrim, the sunset party boat and volunteering at the Leket charity distributing food to needy people, as well as the Carmel Market, Masada and the Dead Sea.  Though all the activities were stupendous, my personal favourite activities were Shabbat and the Palmach Museum.  This was because during Shabbat it’s a change of atmosphere from the bustling upbeat trip to a moment of bonding and reflecting which is often needed.  The Palmach museum along with the constant insightful knowledge and information from our tour guides really made the trip fascinating.  It’s not every day you hear an Israeli tour guide telling you his perspective on the conflict and immediately after telling you not to trust it as every opinion is different.

The JCoSS pluralist ethos was definitely shown and maintained throughout the trip, with us visiting a Druze hospitality lunch at Yarka and an Orthodox synagogue in Tzefat which made the trip that extra bit educational.  However this trip could not have been accomplished without the phenomenal staff that organised it, who throughout were complete mensches, putting in their all and making it a once in a lifetime experience that I will never forget.

By Lucy Brent