Taglit-Birthright Israel: DC Community Trip Day 10

At Mt. Herzl
By Daniel Kliman (Washington, DC)

The last morning began with a trip to Israel’s military cemetery on Mt. Herzl. Entering the cemetery, the noise of Jerusalem fell away. In silence lay the heroes of Israel.

Walking alongside rows of lovingly maintained graves, I experienced a range of emotions.

Grief: the soldiers who gave the ultimate sacrifice for Israel were so young. For many, life ended at 18, 19, 20. With each perished an entire world – their hopes, dreams, and the family that might have been.

Awe: the courage of men and women, many younger than myself, was inspiring. Michael Levin’s story struck a particular cord. An America oleh, Michael Levin set aside a comfortable life to join the IDF (Israeli Defense Forces). Like so many other solider, he died so that a Jewish state might live.

Frustration: Israel emerged from the ashes of the Holocaust only because its citizens were willing to pay the ultimate price. The geography of Mt Herzl symbolizes this: the graves of the soldiers and Yad Vashem and the memorial to Theodore Herzl, Zionism’s leading visionary. More than 60 year later, the geography of Mt Herzl still describes Israel’s precarious existence. The Jewish state would cease to exist if not for the sacrifices of its people. Little has changed.

Resolve: services in the military imbues the lives of Israelis with meaning. They serve a cause larger than themselves. As American Jews, it is easy to focus on our narrow personal goals. Standing amidst Israel’s heroes, my resolve to live a life of meaning was reinforced.

Taglit-Birthright Israel: DC Community Trip Day 5

Tsfat and a Man Named Avraham
By Eshkar Vesler (Herzliya, Israel)

Writing a blog is something new to me, and I hope I can handle it. Let me tell you about Avraham or "awesome" or whatever we would like to call him. After sitting in his shop for something like 20 minutes, more or less, and listening to his life story I found myself getting confused. I'll tell you that the experience made me uncomfortable. It was not just that he repeated the word "awesome" a million times - it was because I knew that it was the first time that many of the people in our group had an experience with Kaballah. I'm Israeli and Jewish and it's only like 5 or 6 years that Kaballah has been trendy - in Israel and around the world. Most of you probably have heard about Madonna and other celebrities' relationships with Kaballah.

I find myself to be a curious person and took lessons to understand what Kaballah is. I found that there really are great main ideas in Kaballah, which means "receiving." From my point of view, that day was dissapointing, but after speaking with the Americans in the group, I see that he influenced everyone and made them think about this belief system and methodology and enlightened everyone and made them want to explore the subject. I was really impressed by everyone's openness and respectful observations. Moreover, I thought that the discussions and debates were really mature and polite. I hope that we, the Israelis, can learn this from you.

Taglit-Birthright Israel: DC Community Trip Day 2

"A Holy Uncomfortable Experience"

By Max Spitulnick (Potomac, MD), Brian Spitulnick (Potomac, MD), Jonathan Kushner(Washington, DC)

Our first stop today was a network of caves the Jews used over 2000 years ago. To get to the caves, 48 over-educated, over-fed Jews (us) crawled, shimmied, spiraled, and slithered our way through passages far too narrow for comfort. In the end, it turned out to be a claustrophobic, mud covered, highly informative experience that powerfully connected us to our history.

The dark twisting caves of 2000 years ago gave way to the falafel and Judaica shops of Ben Yehuda Street. We spent our hard earned American dollars and enjoyed our first free time in Israel (incidentally, free time in Jerusalem tastes like fried chick peas and hummmus).

Our final destination was the Old City of Jerusalem. We perused the ancient street known as the "Cardo," now the heart of the Old City, marked by ancient Roman archways and ruins.

Walking from the Jewish quarter of the city to the Western Wall provided each of us with a unique blend of anticipation, excitement, and even anxiety. Everyone seemed to have a fixed notion of what they should be feeling at the Wall. What we found was an undeniable connection to our culture, our heritage, and to each other.

As we write this blog, max, Kush and I are chatting with fellow travelers and watching several members dance like baboons to the beats of Missy Elliot and Justin Timberlake. All in all, a great second day! And I love Jews. They rock. Totes.