I traveled to Israel in June with 26 other Cleveland Jewish teens with a group called IC Next.

This educational trip was supposed to be 10 days of touring sites across Israel, but on June 13 everything took an unanticipated turn.

The war with Hamas was ongoing, but now Israel was at war on multiple fronts, and the fighting escalated quickly. 

The wars with Hamas and Iran caused a lot of destruction around the country.

Our night started in Caesarea, a sea-side city on the Mediterranean coast, where we saw a concert by Mashina, a famous Israeli rock band. After the show we traveled back to our hostel in Jerusalem, a two hour trip. 

We arrived at 2:30 a.m, unaware that 30 minutes later the first siren would blare across the country.

Gallery • 8 Photos

Maya Gorodeski

The Israeli rock band Mashina performed in Caesarea until 12:00 a.m.

This marked the beginning of the 12-day war between Israel and Iran.

The next day was Friday. We started the afternoon getting ready and taking pictures with friends until we started to honor shabbat. While saying prayers and eating dinner we were interrupted by multiple alerts which had us all running three floors below ground to the bomb shelter.

At that point we only knew a little of what was going on, but because of all the chaos we experienced the night before, we were told that it would be safer to sleep in the bomb shelter.

That first night when the war began we had to sleep on the floor with only a pillow and blanket, because we did not have time to move mattresses down to the bomb shelter.

The bomb shelter had several rooms, including an auditorium where we packed in multiple mattresses so everyone could fit.

More often than not, the sirens would sound in the evening, so we all had to sleep in the bomb shelter for a week to avoid being woken up in the middle of the night.

The following days were full of fear and uncertainty due to the cancellation of our scheduled trip and activities.

We were sheltered at the hostel in Jerusalem till the end of our trip because it was the safest place for us to stay.

Every morning breakfast was brought to us from local restaurants because it was not safe to walk far from the hostel.

Our daily schedule included listening to visiting speakers or entertainers.

Each night, people came to do evening activities with us, which helped make the nights feel a little more normal.

Some activities brought to us were silent disco, African drumming, African dancing, poetry, pottery design, challah making, movie nights and yoga. Once we went swimming at a nearby hotel.

Every day felt like the same on repeat because we kept the same schedule going.

Whenever we went outside the hostel we talked about what to do if there was a siren and where to go.

The first time we heard a siren was scary for everyone. We anxiously ran to the bomb shelter and heard everyone on the phone crying to their parents, worried about the situation.

Our families felt stressed and scared because we were stuck in a dangerous situation without them, which made this experience feel a lot worse.

When our planned departure date came around we did not know if we would be able to fly home. Israel closed Ben Gurion, the State’s national airport, and no planes could fly in or out of the country.

Leaders from the Jewish Federation of Cleveland, as well as our chaperones, had video meetings with our parents on a daily basis to give updates and discuss different ways we could safely get home.  

The chaperones and Federation tried to schedule the safest way for everyone to go home, but it changed several times until the last hour when they finalized it. 

On our last day in Jerusalem, we had an activity with a chef who taught us how to cook our own dinner.  This was the last fun activity we did before leaving Jerusalem early the next morning.

We all stayed up until midnight planning to take the 1:00 a.m. flight to Paris, which would begin our journey back home, but a new plan was finalized and changed only 4 hours before our scheduled departure because Ben Gurion airport was closed.

The Federation decided to evacuate us on a chartered flight that would leave from Aqaba, Jordan.

The idea of crossing the border was scary. 

Prior to leaving Jerusalem, everyone on the trip had to give up everything we had that identified us as Jewish or had Hebrew words on it because of  potential threats to us in Jordan.

We finally departed at 4:00 a.m. We took a four hour bus ride from Jerusalem to Eilat, and then walked across the border into Jordan.

While waiting to get our passports stamped on the Jordanian border, we received alerts on our phones notifying us that missiles were expected in our area. 

With nowhere to go for shelter, everyone just stayed in place. When we walked outside of passport control we saw active missiles flying above us, which were then shortly intercepted by Israel’s Iron Dome.

We arrived safely at the King Hussein airport in Aqaba, Jordan. We met up with other Clevelanders who would fly with us on a chartered flight directly to Larnaca, Cyprus. 

In Cyprus, the Cleveland Jewish Federation put us up in a seaside resort from Friday to Sunday.

When it was finally time to leave the students were separated into two groups. We flew from Cyprus to Athens, Greece and had a 24-hour layover. The next day our groups reunited and we flew to the United States and landed in New York City. 

Once we arrived at Laguardia airport we were separated back into our two groups. Each group flew out of New York the following day. One from LaGuardia and one from JFK. 

After a five day journey home we finally arrived back in Cleveland on June 24.

I will never forget this trip and the intensity of being in Israel during war time. I am grateful to our chaperones, the hostel that allowed us to stay in safety, and especially to the Cleveland Jewish Federation that took care of us and arranged for our return back home.