Bisqueets and BedOHwins

SO, Israel.

To try and make this short would be impossible, so, bear with me.

Israel was an amazing and confusing and heart-breaking and fantastic adventure. As many of you know, I have never really been too keen on going to Israel, or Israelis in general, to be honest. It's a prejudice I've had since traveling in South America and meeting so many "post army Israelis" who are traveling after their service is over. Also, politically, most of you can imagine, I'm not exactly a Zionist, to put it lightly. SO, deciding to go on a birthright trip was definitely much more of a "yay free trip to a foreign country" decision than a "I really identify with my Israeli brothers and sisters" decision. However, it turned out to be a spectacular experience.

Rather than tell you about everything that I did, I'll tell you about how I feel changed by the experience. (Scroll to the middle of the blog if my political rambling bores you...there are LOTS of photos.) I feel changed in a few different ways. The main thing is, I don't have a predisposition towards disliking Israelis anymore, which I think is really important. (Clearly, being racist isn't a good thing!) Basically, I went to Israel thinking, "How can one country and it's people so blatantly/violently/completely take over/oppress/dominate another group of people and think they are in the right?! What is WRONG with them? Well, truth be told, after this trip, I've got a ton of dislike for the Israeli government because the children of Israel are brought up only seeing one side of the argument (Up Israel, Arabs are monsters who suicide bomb and kill our children). The propaganda is SO blatant in the country that it is sickening. We went to a museum of Israeli history which I can only describe as a propaganda museum not unlike something that might have been used in WWII to rile up German citizens. Basically, I could go on about this forever, but here is the story of the turning point of my decision "to dislike the government but not the people":

On our fifth day in Israel, our group of 41, plus our 8 Israeli soldiers that joined our group to be part of the "birthright experience" went to a mosque. My birthright group "Kesher Birthright" is the only birthright group to go to a mosque. We were given an opportunity to ask the Imam (leader of prayer) questions about the religion of Islam. One of our Israeli soldiers, Ben, asked a question. Ben is a combat marine, so keep in mind that seeing battle from the front lines is his job. He asked about the belief that suicide bombers have, that they will get to paradise because they have done God's will. The Imam basically responded that the religion of Islam DOESN'T believe that, and that things get misconstrued. The Imam's response isn't the point of this story, though. The point is that Ben is 21 years old, fighting and killing "for his country and it's people," and he doesn't even have the resources to ASK questions that he might have about the opposition. He doesn't have ANY knowledge about REAL Palestinians or any outlet to learn about what they believe because they are fed the propaganda of hate from the time that they are children. My realization in the mosque that Ben (and maybe the other soldiers too) actually WANT to know more about the conflict and have nowhere to turn for that information, made my heart break. How are ANY conflicts ever solved if there are no means of communication and no avenues with which to learn about the opposition. How can there ever be peace if BOTH governments only feed their people hatred.

Let me break up this entry with some pictures before I get to the other major reason why I feel changed by going to Israel.

Day 1: We got to Jaffa-Tel Aviv, Israel on Shabbat Friday. The elevator stopped on every floor. I have never seen a shabbat elevator though I'm told they exist in some apartments in NYC. For those of you that are unaware, from sundown on Friday to sundown on Saturday, Jewish people have their day of rest. If they are very religious Jews, they take that to mean that you cannot do any work at all, including pushing the DAMN buttons on the DAMN elevator. :) Most of the Israelis I met were what you would call, somewhat ironically, secular Jews. They identify with Judaism, but don't actually practice or go to synagogue or anything like that...much like Christmaster Christians, they only really "practice" their religion on high holidays. I did not meet anyone that was pleased that the elevators totally suck on Fridays and Saturdays.

Day 2: Apparently, most people who live in Tel Aviv go to the beach on Saturday because it is Shabbat, you can't do work, and everything is closed. I would like to live in a place where the "day of rest" is treated as a day at the beach! From left to right: Me, Jenny, Jenna, Diana, Emily H, Chelsea.
Emily and Chelsea, and another Emily were my closest friends on the trip. They are so great and we will definitely keep in touch.


Day 2: Tel Aviv at night. We had services on the rooftop of our hostel before we went out dancing. This is the view from the roof.

Day 3: We walked around Jerusalem all day. This is a photograph of two domes--one representing where Jesus was apparently crucified, and the other one representing where he was buried.


Day 3: Obviously, while in Jerusalem we went to the Western Wall. Here I am writing a letter to put in the wall.

Day 3: We rode camels in the desert. It was SO hot and SO scary. I won't ever do it again...or so I say now.

Day 3: After the whole camel extravaganza, we ate Bedouin food (on the ground) and slept in Bedouin tents (on the ground). Definitely the best meal of the trip...but certainly not the best sleep!

Day 4: There is nothing quite like waking up at 4 am to hike up a mountain and watch the sunrise. This is Masada at sunrise.

Day 4: After our long, hot hike at Masada, we hiked through the Ein Gedi nature reserve in the middle of the desert and swam in this oasis! I had no idea oases actually existed!

Day 5: Someone decided that, even though we weren't allowed to go clubbing alone in Tel Aviv, that we could scale down the cliff side of Arbel Mountain. I'd be lying if I said there were no tears around me from people who were so scared they were crying...I'm not exactly sure this was one of birthright's most brilliant idea.

Day 5: This is the poets and artists cemetery.

Day 6: This is soldiers manning their posts at Golan Heights. (Right out over the edge of the photograph is Syria.) Could someone please explain to me the genetic predisposition for complete and utter hotness that Israelis seem to possess?

Day 6: Hiking in the Tel Dan nature preserve. Meet Dan, he just moved to London from Glastonbury, CT 5 days ago and now we are old Israel friends. It's going to be fantastic to have him here.

Day 6: At the artist colony in Tzvat. Tzvat is an amazing village FULL of VERY serious Jewish people.

Day 6: Another photo of Tzvat had to be included because it is an absolutely beautiful place.

Day 6: Don't worry, we danced a fair amount as well ;)
From left to right--me, Ben (an Israeli), Emily, Dan

Day 7: This is at the mosque in Ein Rafa, an Arabic community in Israel. That's Liz.

Day 7: It was kind of an intense day. After the mosque we went to Har Hertzl, the war cemetery. This is Michael Levin's grave. He is the only American citizen to die fighting for Israel.

Day 8: Yad V-Shem, the holocaust museum in Israel. This is one of the many outdoor memorials.

Day 8: This is Mahane Yehuda, the crazy market in Jerusalem. It was Friday, so everyone was doing there last minute shopping before sunset.

Day 8: Goodbye to our Israeli soldiers. From left to right: Greg (one of our leaders from NY), Ben, Tal, Dima, Elad, Yufal, Dana, Anna, Liz (our other leader from NY)

Day 9: We went to this nature reserve that I can't remember the name of. We planted trees as a "new beginning" for Israel.

Day 9: Goodbye Israel, home of the original?? chip butty.

Alright, so the second major way I feel changed has to do with religion. Being brought up Protestant and not really identifying with my "Jewishness" is never really something I have thought about. We never went to synagogue, we stopped lighting menorah candles when I was young, etc. As it turned out, there are many different Birthright programs you can choose from, and I chose one that was very religious. (My group was lead by the Cantor of a synagogue in NYC and the synagogue was the major financial supporter of the trip.) I did not know this when I signed up, and most of you would guess that I would never have chosen to go on one of the "more religious" trips. Retrospectively, I'm very glad that I ended up on the trip that I ended up on (and as my cousin Missy will say, "There are no coincidences...") because I got to learn a lot about Judaism and I found it all very interesting. Most notably, I KNEW that Judaism and Christianity were similar on many levels (hello, old testament) but, I had never really seen how that panned out in actual religious practice. As it turns out, much of the practice is the same--singing during services, prayer, a "sermon or lesson" that you can ponder during the day or week--it's all there in both religions. Additionally, a lot of the traditions of Judaism are very interesting to me--the lighting of the candle, the drinking of the oh-so-horrible wine, etc. I found services to be beautiful and relaxing, and I think I was just expecting it all to be strange and unfamiliar. I plan to learn more about it in the future. (Don't worry everyone, I'm not about to don a long dress and long sleeves and not talk to men. I still think orthodoxy of ANY kind is a little bit insane.)

SO, now you've both gotten to see a "trip in pictures" and read about my inner-thoughts on the trip. I'd love to get some COMMENTS ;)

If anyone is interested, Paul kept an official Central Synagogue trip blog.

I promise I will now attempt to catch you all up on being back in London.

Love Sarah