After our first Shabbat away from each other since the start of TJJ, Sunday morning was brimming with excitement. After only two nights apart, everyone was craving the company of our Bus 2 family. As we settled into our familiar seats on the bus and caught up on our weekends, we had to be reminded more than once to quiet down as Yoni gave us instructions to pick up our suitcases. After putting our suitcases back on the bus and a quick drive, we arrived at Mount Herzl. Israel’s national cemetery was a very solemn place and was very emotional for many of us. We visited Herzl’s grave to pay our respects, and moved on to the graves of heroes and heroins that we had been learning about through the trip. We paid our respects to Chana Senesh, a paratrooper in the Second World War who gave her life for the Jewish people. We moved through the cemetery until we came to the grave of Michael Levine, a Jewish American who made Aliyah to join the IDF and gave the ultimate sacrifice for Israel. I think I speak for everyone when I say that we left Mount Herzl touched by the stories of those who were buried there. On the bus we had time to process what we had learned and by the time we got off the bus to go camel riding, we were all ready to have a good time again. The camels were a lot bigger than I had pictured in my head, and were a little scary at first, but we all got the hang of it. Before bed we went out into the desert and had time to meditate, asking ourselves big questions, just as Abraham did 4,000 years ago. We then came together as a group to discuss what we had thought about and strengthen our bond as a TJJ family. We were welcomed back into the Bedouin camp with a bonfire complete with s’mores and guitars before we went to sleep. Eventually our long day had come to a close and we fell asleep alongside one another under under the goat hair blanket that made up our ceiling. By Aaron Ovadia