Course Overview
Course Staff

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Israel is loaded with underground adventure that tells a dramatic story and stimulates discussions of spiritual and moral import. We will virtually crawl through these underground sites and ask ourselves what we would do at crucial crossroads of Israel's history, as well as dwell upon issues of our own spirituality that are raised by the stories of these places. This course was developed by Muss Israel Seminars.

Course Overview

We want to take you on a virtual voyage to nine different sites in Israel, students will tour and explore above and beneath the surface of these historical locales. The itinerary is as follows:

• Sataf,ancient terrace farming and a water source from within a cave;
• Tel Megiddo,an ancient garrison town with a unique water system;
• A cave from the time of the Bar Kochba Revolt that participants will "crawl"through;
• Beit Shearim,a necropolis;
• Tzipori,a wealthy city in the Galilee with beautiful mosaics;
• Kibbutz Revivim,founded in the Negev in 1943;
• Machon Ayalon,an underground bullet factory from 1947;
• Jerusalem's ancient water system;
• The tunnels of the Western Wall.

Discussions will follow each tour,focusing on the moral and ethical decisions and lifestyle choices the Jewish people made at various points in history and in their lives today. The course was developed with Muss Israel Seminars

Course Goals:

• To create the feeling of actually being at each site,experiencing its authenticity,and learning about its history.
• To stimulate discussion on issues of personal spirituality and moral issues facing the Jewish people.

Time Commitment: 3 hours a week for 4 weeks (including tours).

* Can be adapted to high school students by request.
**A broadband Internet connection is needed for this course.

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Course Staff

David Mitchell was born and bred in Northern California.
He completed his double Bachelor's degree at the University of California, Berkeley, in History and Hebrew Texts, and a Master's Degree in Bible from the Hebrew University. He moved to Israel in 1975, where he lived on kibbutzim for seven years. He served in the IDF between 1980-1982, and has since been and still serves active reserve duty.

David Mitchell has been with Muss Israel Seminars and an instructor at the Alexander Muss High School in Israel for the past 18 years. During that time he also served as an Israel emissary for the Youth and Hechalutz Department of the Jewish Agency to the Pacific Southwest Region of United Synagogue Youth in the United States.

David lives in Kfar Sava and is married to Ruti, a native Israeli. Their two daughters have both served two years of community and military service, their sons are in the 10th and 12th grades. The family enjoys spending as much time as possible wandering and exploring the paths of Israel.

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