Reporting from Birthright Israel

From the Beber Camp Foreign Service…Journeying to Israel always gives me a sense of jet lag. Not the flight itself, but the sense of place once landing. Israel is very much the “start up” nation that we read about, but it’s also a land with a diverse and blurred history. It’s a story of proud people, survivors who continue to pass the memories of their grandparents down to their grandchildren.This is my ninth trip to Israel, and my third on a Birthright Israel program. My first trip to Israel, and indeed my first flight overseas was on a Birthright Israel program when I was an undergrad at the University of Wisconsin. Walking through Jaffa Gate into the Old City of Jerusalem for the first time, staying up until 2 AM Israeli dancing on a kibbutz in the Golan Heights, and learning the story of Masada first hand were all experiences that inspired and challenged my perception of Israel. I would return on a Hillel Learning Mission the next year and take a deep dive into the different streams of Jewish observance.It’s been twelve years since that first trip to Israel and my connection to this land and its people is renewed with each visit. Part of our mission at Beber Camp is that each camper and staff member should feel as if they are a part of the global Jewish community. That they should be educated about and be active in that community is our work to do together — all of us. Research tells us that it is immersive experiences that make Judaism *sticky* and that the top two indicators for a person to lead a Jewish life and raise a Jewish family is a connection to Israel and Jewish summer camp.Birthright Israel is a 10-day free trip to Israel. It’s an incredible gift to young people, ages 18-26. There have been over 500,000 participants since the start of the program in 1998. This winter break, there are a number of Beber Camp staff that will be traveling to Israel on their birthright trip. Traveling with me are Michael Arato, Elanna Rosner, Leah Starbuck, and Jordan Smith. Our bus is rounded out with 36 other participants from around the states.We arrived on Thursday evening at Ben Gurion airport just outside of Tel Aviv and made our way north to Tiberius. We spent Friday exploring the mystical city of Tzfat, birthplace of Kabbalah and the Kabbalat Shabbat service. Splitting by gender, we learned about the custom of visiting the mikvah and actually dipped ourselves in the natural waters of the oldest operating mikvah on the planet. Water plays a central role in Jewish life as a cleansing force and sort of spiritual reset button.As we are traveling during Hanukkah, part of our nightly ritual is lighting the menorah and we did this before kindling the Shabbat candles. Check out our video on Facebook!Shabbat was spent exploring Tiberius and at the beach. We were excited to visit with a number of fantastic Israeli Beber staff who spent the afternoon with us: Noga, Ben, Shachar, (new) Omer, Ori, and Natali. We came back to the hotel and had a Shabbat discussion about which Jewish values were most important to us. Discussions like this one, and Havdallah later in the evening, were firsts for many in the group. The resounding consensus was that ‘traditions’ were most important to the group, though there was little agreement, if any, which traditions were important to us as individuals. A diverse group made for great conversation.This morning, Sunday, we travelled north to the Tel Dan nature reserve and walked the path of the ancient Israelites. Jews inhabited these hills just three generations after the time of King Solomon. A 30 minute drive took us 3000 years into the future as we looked down on the border between Lebanon, Syria, and Israel at the Ben Taal lookout. The UN observers normally stationed here to observe the (relative) peace between these three countries were instead fixed on Damascus. The far-away booming of firing artillery could be heard as they discussed the fighting between Syrian troops and rebel forces in the area. Israel is often described as being a nice house in a bad neighborhood and it felt like it in that moment.Shortly, our bus will take us west to Tel Aviv, south to Masada and the Dead Sea, and to the heart of Israel, the city of Jerusalem. We have with us all of the notes that many campers and staff wrote over the course of this past summer and placed in the new wall/menorah in front of Crown Hall. We will carry these hopes and dreams with us and place them in the Western Wall later this week.If anyone has any questions about our trip, how to participate in a Birthright Israel program, or just wants to say Hello!, please comment below or send an email. Happy Hanukkah and speak again soon.~ Joel