We began our day with a meaningful trip to the Kotel. We were given time to connect to what we were mourning on Tisha B’Av, as well as what we had to look forward to on our next trip to Israel. While our participants were waiting for Bus 2 to arrive, we celebrated a family’s hanachat tefillin by joining in on the dancing. Our next stop was Ben Yehuda. Here, we did all of our last minute shopping that we had not completed on Friday. We split up into our attendance groups and enjoyed our free time.

Our last stop on the itinerary was the banquet. Banquet was a reminder of how our trip came from individuals and transformed into one family. After eating our meal, each attendance group shared the act they had created earlier today with the others. These acts highlighted the relationships that were made between members of each group throughout this summer. Next, our head staff thanked everyone for their hard work this summer, something that had not gone unnoticed. This summer would not have been the same without all of our amazing head staff, our phenomenal counselors, as well as our great Israelis. Lastly, we watched a slideshow that compiled all photos taken by Joe Amster this summer. 

The ride to the airport was an emotional one. Saying goodbye to all of our old and new friends was something that was hard to come to terms with, leaving the amazing environment that was by all 101 members of Yad B’Yad created over the summer.

Lilah Dublin