Part I: Introduction Part II: Rockets, Jerusalem, and the Kelev Part III: The Incomparable Boaz Shalgi Part IV: Sacrifice and Courage at Masada, Qumran, and the Dead Sea Part V: Between Two Caesareas While preparing for our trip, we were unavoidably concerned with news reports of Hamas launching rockets into Southern Israel. The level of concern only escalated when air raid sirens were heard over Tel Aviv. Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system ably and quickly handled the threats. As our departure date approached, we were concerned, but, after advice from those on the ground in Israel, we boarded (less our mom, who decided not to make the trip) our flights to Madrid, connecting on to Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv! As I said, the flights were in coach, so nothing to really write home about, but due to my status on American Airlines (Platinum, PLT for short) I was able to secure my brother and I seats in American’s new Main Cabin Extra mini-cabin on our 767. More legroom meant a surprisingly relaxing trip to Barajas airport in Madrid, where we had roughly a two hour layover in their new international terminal. From Madrid we had a quick 4.5 hour flight into Tel Aviv. Everyone always talks about Israeli airline security, and the reputation comes with merit: pretty much every interaction we had with Israeli security was professional yet extremely inquisitive, but they went ahead and allowed us into the country, even though they mocked us for coming all the way to Israel... read more