The Land Down Under

No, I'm not talking about Australia -- I'm talking about the caves of Eretz Yisrael. Yair, or the Caveman, as we like to call him, takes the yeshiva students to explore the caves outside of Beit Shemesh. Below we have the Caveman posing with shana alef Jeffrey "Mendel" Small.

It is completely dark in the caves. Students bring flashlights or use their cellphones to maneuver around the caves. Often they will turn off the flashlights and have fun groping around in the dark trying to carefully make their way through the "obstacle course' like tunnels inside the caves.

Likewise, photos in the caves are complete guesswork as flashes go off hopefully capturing a good picture. Here is a random picture of Rafi and Joey in the caves. The snow-like effect is caused by dust that circulates through the poorly ventilated caves.

If you can make out the triangular indentations in the wall, we were taught that these are actually nests for birds that come in and out of the caves, made by those that once inhabited the caves. Throughout history in Eretz Yisrael, caves like these were where many Jews hid to escape religious persecution -- l'havdil, similar to what we hear about today in places like Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Although the caves are cool, both literally and figuratively, it feels good to make your way to an exit and squint out at the large world out there after such a claustrophobic experience. Here shana bet Uri Henig squeezes out of one of the caves doorways. Come on guys...give a Uri a hand and help him out of there.