After a super chill Shabbos with our Israeli friends and taking a break from the whole icnext grind, it was time to get back to work. We started the day by taking a nice drive up to the Golan and Golan Heights. The Golan is the northern part of Israel and has loads of history surrounding it from the past 100 years. The Golan borders the countries Syria, Jordon, and Lebanon. All of these countries want to be in control of the land for one reason: water. The Sea of Galilee is located there and is the largest source of freshwater in the region. Now I don’t want to get into the entire politics of the borders of the Golan but there are a few key things to understand. Prior to 1967, Syria controlled the Golan and after the Six Day War, Israel gained control over the region. This was considered a great victory for the Jews and the Arabs felt defeated. The Arabs needed to gain back their dignity and would do this on October 6th,1973 during the Yom Kippur War. Syria invaded the Golan in a surprise attack and Israel was completely unprepared. At one point in the war 29 Israeli soldiers were trapped in a extremely small stone bunker surrounded by the entire Syrian army. They had a radio and contacted Israeli forces for help. The army sent two different rescue teams but they were both detected and killed. It seemed like the end of the road for the soldiers and that they should just surrender. Then the commander of the group asked for one brave volunteer. One soldier stepped forward. His task was to fool the Syrian army and make them think that he was the only survivor. He succeeded in his mission and was taken captive by the Syrian army. The other 28 soldiers survived and lived to the end of the war. We visited the bunker and the room where all the soldiers were trapped. I felt a connection with the room after hearing this story. One soldier had stepped up and become a hero. I think all of us in icnext can learn something from this. We are training to become leaders for Israel in Cleveland and this one soldier provides a perfect example. One aspect of a great leader is putting the needs of the many over the needs of the individual. I think this is something we can strive for, ultimately becoming better people in the future.