Jerusalem and the South

In June 2025, I visited the State of Israel through a trip coordinated between my home sleepaway camp in Arizona and the Alexander Muss High School in Israel. As part of the trip, two counselors from my home camp accompanied us while two Israeli Counselors/Madrichot met us in Israel. 

The first part of my trip to Israel was nothing short of magical. From the beaches of Tel Aviv to King David’s Tomb to the Room of the Last Supper, I enjoyed every part of this trip. Following four days in Tel Aviv, we left the Alexander Muss Campus in Hod HaSharon (a suburb of Tel Aviv) on an eight-day trip which had us essentially making a circle of Israel, starting by going East to Jerusalem, South to Eilat, then North to Tzfat and Haifa. On the first day, we explored the Old City of Jerusalem, walking through Hezekiah’s Tunnel, the Western Wall Tunnels, visiting King David’s Tomb, and the room of Jesus’ Last Supper. We then spent the night in Ein Gedi before climbing Masada and learning more about King David and the myth of Masada. From Masada, we boarded a bus to the Dead Sea and floated around for about an hour. Afterward, we took the bus to Kibbutz Yahel, where we spent two days snorkeling and visiting Eilat. 

 On June 12th, we visited Kibbutz Lotan, near Eilat and the Jordanian Border. We learned how they have created a nearly zero-waste kibbutz while using all-natural building methods. From there, we boarded the bus to our second and final stop of the day, a mock Bedouin village next to a real Bedouin farm. We toured the farm, exploring the dairying area, the medicinal herb garden, the horse arena, and the goat barn. By this point, our group was exhausted; it had been several days of early wake-ups and late nights, so we were all ready to board the bus to Beersheva. 

We arrived at the Alexander Muss campus in Beersheva to spend what we all thought would be a normal night in the dorms. That night, our group went bowling and enjoyed ice cream in the city to celebrate a birthday, before returning to the dorms for the night. 

The First Sirens

After going to bed around 11:30 PM, I slept soundly for several hours, but at 3:00 AM, I was awoken by one of my roommates yelling for us to get up and into the shelter. As I woke up, I realized that the sound that I had dismissed in my sleep as the howling wind was air-raid sirens warning us to take shelter. The shelter was the room next to my dorm, and the three of us were the first group to arrive at the shelter. As soon as I entered and sat down, my home-front command app went off, providing yet another warning to go into the shelter. We stayed in the shelter for about thirty minutes before receiving another alert, which alerted us to remain aware and near a shelter.  Our Israeli counselors decided that this meant that if we wanted to leave the shelter, we had to stay awake until the home front command rescinded the previous directive. Sometime after, a new alert came through allowing us to go back to sleep. Several people moved their mattresses into the shelter for the night in case a second siren came through during the night. 

At 5:30 AM, I was again woken up by someone telling us to go into the shelter, this time there was no siren, instead they gathered us all to inform us that both Alexander Muss and our home camp had decided to discontinue the remainder of the trip and that when it was safe to do so, we would go back to the main campus in Hod HaSharon and board the first available flight home. I didn’t go back to sleep after that; I texted my parents and then walked outside to watch the rest of the sunrise. At 6:30 AM, we all went to the dining room for breakfast. Not much happened there, but I do remember that the shakshuka was decently terrible. To remove everybody from the shelter, our Israeli Madrichot brought out games and balls from the sports/games closet. 

Return to Hod HaSharon and the Second Night

We played these games for about an hour before being told that we were to immediately board the bus to go back to Hod HaSharon. We were informed during the bus ride that Iran had launched about one hundred drones towards Israel, but that they would take upwards of four hours to arrive, which was enough time to drive to Hod HaSharon. When we arrived at the main campus, we were told to find our suitcases and walk to the dorms in preparation for the drones to arrive. After another twenty to thirty minutes of waiting, we were notified that all of the drones had been shot down over Iraq and Jordan. At this time, they encouraged us to sleep to make up for the previous night. Despite the external situation, our staff was determined to show us that these events would not dictate how we would live, and went ahead with plans for a festive Shabbat. In the afternoon, we went to the dairy kitchen and made Kadurei Shokolad for dessert that night. The rest of the afternoon was spent preparing for Shabbat and unpacking from our trip to Southern Israel.

Following the Shabbat dinner, we returned to our dorms around 20:30, and at 21:00, we were in the shelter for the first time that night. We enjoyed our chocolate balls while our counselors played music to mask the sound of the sirens and rocket interceptions. This was one of our longest visits to the shelter, clocking in at over an hour and ten minutes. We all left the shelter at 22:20 and quickly went back to sleep. After a not-so-restful three hours, we were again woken up by the sounds of sirens. Now my memory is slightly foggy from all of those visits to the shelter, but I believe that this was one of the times that my phone did not warn me before the sirens and instead, I was woken up by my bunkmates (see above about how I didn’t wake up at all to the sirens). Below is a video that I am borrowing from one of my friends on the trip, which shows what we all woke up to that night. 

It was after this second barrage of missiles that my body finally understood what was happening. I went back to bed but couldn’t sleep. I stayed up just lying in my bed for over two hours, waiting. I don’t know what I was staying p for, it might have been adrenaline, or it might have been some form of being frightened or fearful of the giant tubes stuffed full of explosives that had been flying mere miles from me. After nearly three hours, I finally went onto my phone and went onto the Wikipedia pages for the previous two Iranian assaults on Israel (which is/was probably a terrible idea), in there I noticed that both times, Iran had launched missiles/drones in two waves. Given that the 1:00 AM siren was the second barrage, I was able to convince myself that there would be no more sirens that night by just whispering it over and over again until I fell asleep. No other time during my week in Hod HaSharon did I seem to lose control of my body like that night. 

Camp Muss

Every day that followed was somewhat similar; no rockets would come during the day, but there would be a siren between 22:00 and midnight, then another one between 1:00 AM and 4:00 AM. When the Israeli Air Force targeted a location that was extremely important to the Iranian regime (or when the Ayatollah just felt like it), another siren would go off from around 6:00 AM to 8:00 AM. 

Following the second night of rocket attacks, when it became apparent that this would be going on for longer than the previous Iranian attacks, our Israeli Madrichot and our American Counselors came together and created “Camp Muss,” which was a full week of programming to fill the time. The most energetic day of Camp Muss was the day-long color war between the Blue Jerusalem and the Green Tel Aviv. Our color war featured a falafel-eating contest as the pinnacle event. The complication with planning our programs for us was the simple fact that the ayatollah could wake us all up between one to three times per night. Our staff understood that we could not start as early as they intended; however, by the time that everyone woke up around noon, there wasn’t much time left in the day to complete the planned day of events.  

‍Exodus from Israel

The Israeli Government approved an exit plan for my group and other students on June 19th. Since the first night of the attacks, Ben Gurion Airport had been closed along with all of Israeli Airspace. We were told that while publicly it appeared to be closed, the Israeli Ministry of Transportation, Ministry of National Security, and Ministry of Education had all approved the secret reopening of the airport to allow for the swift exodus of foreigners (specifically students and other special groups) to leave Israel and return to their home countries. The head of school informed us that we had been given seats on an Arkia flight from Tel Aviv to Paris, but also that if any bit of this information was leaked, it would greatly increase the chances that the flight would be canceled and that Ben-Gurion would remain closed. They then instructed us to be ready to leave the Alexander Muss Campus at 3:00 AM to board the bus that would take us to Ben-Gurion for the flight. 

This flight never happened. At midnight, we were woken up by our staff who gathered us with the dean of students to explain that the flight had just been cancelled by either Arkia or the government. We were told that there were no immediate plans for our departure and that we should try to sleep in if possible. 

At 7:00 AM, we were all woken up once again by staff who told our group that we were going to be leaving in two hours in order to board the Crown Iris in Ashdod Port, which was to take us to Cyprus. While the ship did depart the port several hours late, we did nonetheless leave Israel. After arriving in Cyprus, we spent three days at a hotel near a beach to allow Alexander Muss and the Jewish National Fund to research and commit to a flight that would bring us home. We ended up leaving Larnaca on a 7:30 flight to Athens, then took a 14:00 flight to New York-JFK before spending the night and boarding a 7:30 flight back to Phoenix.

Post Return Reflections

I learned many lessons on this trip, most notably that I despise the city of Eilat and that what you choose to do, say, and think when facing a crisis will affect you both immediately and down the road. In the first Star Wars movie, “The Phantom Menace”, Qui-Gon Jinn states “[that] your focus determines your reality”, I feel that this perfectly sums up what I saw during this week, those who focused on the positives and distractions had a much better and stress-free week than those who focused on the news and stayed indoors for the week. I saw how a person’s mindset could allow them to cope, whether it be through humor, activity, sport, or even ordering and trying different types of food from nearby restaurants. When facing a situation that is completely outside of our control, our brains can either embrace the situation and try to remedy it (coping) or try to fight the situation through anxiety and stress. If or when you face a crisis, try to find distractions or positives to help create a better outcome than what simple anxiety can provide.

I do want to point out that while I might have a somewhat unique story, we should in no case overlook the toll that these military actions had on the civilians of Israel. Hundreds of Israelis from all over Israel no longer have an apartment building or home to which they can return and are instead seeking shelter with organizations or friends/family across Israel. Even more, over three thousand Israelis were injured 

‍,Michael’s Pre/During/Post Shelter Tip

• Leave a hoodie or blanket in the shelter for when it gets cold, or make a pillow/floor mat with
• Bring a Speaker or Headphones; While you might feel yourself drawn into listening to the sirens and Iron Dome impacts from inside the shelter, after a few visits, you will probably seek a more comforting sound. I will also add that you should choose what songs you listen to carefully, as on two occasions our counselors accidentally played songs that featured death prominently, including Bob Dylan’s “Knockin' on Heaven’s Door” 
• Food. For some reason, I always got hungry in the shelter. Our madrich began doing “Shelter Snacks,” where they would bring a surprise food in the morning so that we would have something sweet in the shelter that night
• A portable charger (leave with hoodie or blanket), some phones would begin to die in the shelter, especially when the sirens would go off a little earlier in the evening before any chance to charge
• Don’t look at the news. You are already in a relatively negative room, so why should you invite more negativity in
• Make Jokes about anything. When my sister chapter’s N’siah texted me, the first thing I said was “The Ayatollah is an inconsiderate man; he should have known I was sleeping.” Is it funny? No, not really, but it created a little bit of positivity in that moment. 
• It is okay to be scared or to be nervous, but remember that none of the worrying that you do in the shelter will change the current situation. One of my Israeli Madrichot said, “If the problem is within your control, you don’t have to stress about it; if the problem is outside of your control, stressing about it won’t change it, so just don’t”. 
• Stay Healthy. Just like during COVID-19, it is extremely easy to just stop eating healthy and staying physically active. Walk, run, or play volleyball, as long as you are not spending the entire day in bed or on a couch, doom-scrolling, or sleeping
• Find fun in the simple activities. During our art day, they could not find any paintbrushes, so instead it got turned into finger-painting. While this may not be the most entertaining thing, especially back home, this simple activity distracted me for several hours while I made paintings and taped them inside the shelter.

Press Releases and Stories About Us

https://www.kelly.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/kelly-gallego-announce-the-safe-arrival-of-arizona-teens-stranded-in-israel-amidst-conflict-in-the-middle-east/ 

https://www.azfamily.com/2025/06/25/17-arizona-teens-who-were-stranded-israel-return-phoenix/ 

‍https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/arizona/2025/06/25/arizona-sens-kelly-gallego-help-teens-return-home-amid-israel-iran-conflict/84341353007/