By Emily Rebenstock
After spending the morning listening to political speakers, learning about controversial boarders and trying to understand the complexity of the conflict in Israel, a visit to Deer Land was exactly what we needed. As our bus neared our destination, I looked out the window to see a landscape covered in trees and overlooked a beautiful green valley. My excitement grew as we walked off the bus as I saw families riding jeeps and a small petting zoo nearby. The whole atmosphere was intriguing and very unique in contrast to the sessions we had earlier in the day.
After eating lunch and meeting the organizer of Deer Land, we were told to put on harnesses so we could begin rock climbing and zip lining. As someone who has always loved doing active and engaging things outdoors, I was so appreciative that we had this opportunity to challenge ourselves in this beautiful place. At the same time, however, when I saw the 400-meter zip line across a wide valley, I was a little concerned. While it was incredible to look at, a million fears crossed my mind about possible outcomes from jumping off of the metal ledge. Most of us seemed to feel the same way; eager to have this experience but fearful as well. To begin, we had the opportunity to rock climb a small wall near the ledge. While we didn’t all choose to climb, it was really fun cheering each other on and hanging out together before we each took turns zip-lining. When it came time, we lined up by the ledge and waited for our turn. The first people to go were Sophie and RZ who soared off the ledge away from us. I watched as they screamed in excitement and flew through the valley to the mountain on the other side. It was incredible, and only made me more excited to take my turn with Dylan.
Each person was thrown across the zip line and successfully made it to the platform on the other side, until it was Noam’s turn. I recall him asking about the weight requirement, and assuming that he was safe to go alone without another person, but he seemed to estimate incorrectly. Just as those before him, Noam was pushed across the zip line, but as he neared the center, he began to slow down. Unfortunately, he didn’t make it to the platform, and ended up being stuck, hanging thousands of feet in the air in the middle of the valley by himself. From my perspective, and all of those around me, it was hysterical. We joked about how this would happen to Noam and about all of the unrealistic ways we guessed they would retrieve him. After about 20 minutes of nothing happening, we watched as a little boy crawled out to where Noam was to pull him back to safe ground. Although it was unlucky for him, it was truly a memorable moment that I will always keep with me when I think about our trips.
Finally, it was my turn to jump. I held onto Dylan’s shirt with everything I had, we lifted our feet, and we were soaring. Not only was it an entertaining ride, but also the view was beyond belief. Although the whole thing took less than a minute, I will never forget the view from that valley. After reaching the other side, we watched our other friends fly towards us as we waited for a jeep to bring us back to our bus. We loaded onto the open jeep and drove up the mountain and back around. The weather was perfect, the view was gorgeous and the company was even better. When we returned to the rest of the group, ready to board the bus, I was ready and excited to arrive in Alon Shvut for the weekend. This part of the day gave us the chance to relax and have fun together while learning about the Gush and I was so appreciative that I could do so with the rest of the group.
