Post by Shane Ammerman

Back in Israel - Day 11 Friday, we completed our hike into Jerusalem and entered Yad Vashem. It is a sobering place. A place that reminds us what happens when people choose not to stand up. What happens when people pretend something is not happening, convince themselves it cannot happen to them, or wait for someone else to solve the problem. History shows us the cost of that thinking. One of the most powerful parts of the day was learning about the more than 28,000 non-Jewish men and women honored at Yad Vashem for risking everything to save Jewish lives during the Holocaust. People like Irena Sendler, Raoul Wallenberg, Alice Ferrières, and many others. They were not superheroes. They were ordinary people who made a choice. A choice to stand up, a choice to act, and a choice to protect life when it would have been easier and safer to do nothing. That lesson applies just as much today as it did then. What choices are we making? How are we choosing to protect the people entrusted to our care? The threats facing our communities today may look different, but the lesson remains the same. The people willing to harm your organization, your school, your place of worship, your business, or your community are already making their plans. The question is whether we are making ours. Later we walked through Mount Herzl and learned about individuals who sacrificed everything to protect others. People who stepped forward when others could not. People who chose courage over comfort. The common thread throughout the day was simple: Life is preserved when good people choose to act. The only thing required for evil to prevail is for good people to do nothing. We finished the evening bringing in Shabbat at the Western Wall and later sharing a meal and conversation about resilience, leadership, and what it takes to stand up to danger. One lesson continues to follow me throughout this trip. When we choose to prioritize life, we will find a way. The question is whether we are willing to make that choice before anything happens. By the end of the day, we had walked 23 kilometers, completing our pilgrimage into Jerusalem and to the Western Wall. In total, we covered approximately 64 kilometers over three days, learning lessons from history, resilience, Krav Maga, leadership, and security. Lessons that reinforce a simple truth: stronger communities are built before a crisis, not during one. That is exactly what we are preparing to bring back home.