On Monday MBI spent the morning exploring the hills of Jerusalem in a series of activities run by the JNF/KKL (Jewish National Fund). This included a short hike and learning about the history of the area. They then went down into a series of caves that are also rich in history. This is where the Bar Kochvah revolt took place. The Bar Kochvah revolt against the Roman Empire was the third major rebellion by the Jews and the last of the Jewish-Roman Wars. The goal of the rebellion was to regain independence from the Romans, who had destroyed the Second Temple in Jerusalem in 70 C.E. These caves were the military headquarters for Bar Kochvah and his men. The groups also took part in an archeological dig looking for remnants of Jewish and Roman artifacts.
In the afternoon MBI visited an old underground ammunition factory called Machon Ayalon. The Hagganah (defense force)convinced a group of people who wanted to build a kibbutz to building an ammunition factory. They dug out an enormous underground hole in just weeks, while the British thought they were building a kibbutz. 40 people would go underground daily to make bullets. The kibbutz took in laundry as its source of income, and the access to the ammunition factory was under a washing machine that slides to the side to reveal a ladder. All 40 of the original workers were trained to climb down the ladder in record time. They made 250,000 bullets without a single mishap, and bullets were the one thing the Israelis did not run out of during their war for independence. Visitors walk down the ladder and view the machinery while listening to the story.
In the evening after returning to Nes Harim the groups started the sikkum (conclusion process)with a peulah discussing the relationships that they created on MBI and in Habonim and how they can continue those and create those kind of friendships in their life outside of machaneh (camp).
