Birthright is considered to be the trip of a
lifetime. This is the type of trip that does not need mountains of
advertisement because you would have heard about it a million times from
siblings, friends, acquaintances, etc. Birthright is a free ten-day trip to
Israel meant to reconnect the Jewish youth with the land, religion, and
peoplehood of Israel. The organization began in 1999 as a fight against
assimilation.
There are options to attend
more religious or more secular trips each with a different emphasis on
different aspects of the Jewish world. I attended a trip that had all types of
people. There were those who identified as Orthodox, Conservative, Reform,
Sephardic, and “Just Jewish.” One may think that this is an odd group of people
to throw together. Perhaps these people would not get along, or they are too
different to be able to meaningfully connect with one another. This is far from
the truth. A respectful environment was
established by our tour guide and group leaders who briefed us on the
likelihood of encountering people different than ourselves and that it is our
responsibility to be respectful of one another. More importantly, this was a group of young adults with a shared desire
to have fun, which easily breaks the barriers of all types of religious sects.
There were also a group of
Israeli soldiers who accompanied us throughout the trip, not for the sake of
protection, just to have a good time. They were meant to describe to us their
experience of what it means to live in Israel and work for the Israeli Defense
Force (IDF). Despite growing continents apart, the group quickly clicked with
the soldiers, as they were also a group of young people looking for fun.
People joked around, told
stories, and made new friends. We had a team-building exercise where each
person was paired with a partner, and we were instructed to stare into each
other's eyes for about a minute. Of course, this is a strange activity that
elicited some awkward laughs, especially from the guys. However, this exercise
was meant to connect the group together, which I believe it did.
I spent the Shabbat of this
trip catching some type of cold, and I felt miserable. I was missing out on a
trip that I was excited for, marinating in the feeling of a never-ending agony
(I was being a little dramatic). Despite this, I felt cared for by the group.
My hotel roommate, who became my friend, brought food up to our room when I
could not leave. My group leader checked up on me, and the Israeli medic made
sure I stayed hydrated. Reentering the group after feeling better, many
welcomed me and asked how I was feeling. After a short period of time, there
was already a sense of camaraderie in the group between people who were
strangers a week prior.
Of course, I can write of the
known adventures of the trip such as the national parks, graves of Israeli
leaders, the Western Wall, Masada, rafting, kibbutzim, the Dead Sea, the
Mediterranean Sea, Bedouin lifestyle, stargazing, etc. that occurred all within
the span of ten days! Yet, as someone in the group mentioned in our final
debriefing session of the trip, it is
not about where you go but rather it's about the people that you go with.
I was glad to encounter
people different from myself as I got to learn about other types of
communities, and through them, I gained better insight on my own. A couple of
people in the group were secularized Jews who group up with little to no
exposure to Judaism. So, our tour guide offered to create a Bar/Bat Mitzvah ceremony
for those who were interested and didn’t have the opportunity to do so when
they were twelve/thirteen. One young man and woman chose to do it, and we
celebrated in our tour guide’s synagogue. The two individuals recited the Shema
and were taught the essential teaching of Judaism, «וְאָֽהַבְתָּ֥ לְרֵעֲךָ֖
כָּמ֑וֹךָ» - «love your fellow as you love yourself». Each individual was given
the opportunity to speak, and they each spoke about what it took to reach this
point of their life and Jewish journey. I
was inspired by these people who did not let this opportunity go to waste, and
I realized that I took my own Bat Mitzvah for granted. I believe that this
moment served as the culmination of the entire trip, as the mission was to
connect the group to their roots.
Betty Yuabov
