Taglit-Birthright Israel: DC Community Trip Day 7

The Sabbath Day in Israel
By Brian Scheur (Rockville, MD)

For most of us, we haven't been to a Shabbat service led by a peer since our Bar or Bat Mitzvahs over a decade ago. Maybe that's why our Shabbat service in Israel was so special. For some, it was the first Shabbat service they ever attended and for others it was their first in years. Regardless of how often each of us attends shul or recognizes the sabbath, this was likely to be a day we won't soon forget.

Friday Night Services

Our service was led by three individuals from our group, Clark Hagen, Daniel Kilman, and Jon Kushner. After soaking in the entire day, Jon spent a few minutes discussing the experience of leading a service with me.

It had been over two years since he had last led a service. Prior to that it was his Bar Mitzvah back in the mid-nineties. He described the experience as inspiring. Leading his fellow peers and a group of people he was a stranger to just a few days ago added to the experience. He felt the support offered to him by Daniel and Clark aided the calming of his nerves and once they were into the service, everything seemed to just click.

Jon continued to describe the evening as an elevated experience because of the location (on a kibbutz in Israel) and stated that it was one of the few times he really felt connected to Judaism. Of course, this trip is not just about experiences, it's about learning from those experiences. Jon felt he learned to really embrace the sabbath. After spending a relaxing sabbath at the kibbutz, he really felt the significance between the work week and a special day of rest.

Sabbath Day

After several succesive early mornings, we all ushered in the sabbath day by sleeping in. When we finally met as a large group, we broke into smaller groups to discuss the week's parsha (Torah portion).

The portion we talked about involved Moses' final message to his followers as they approached Israel. He recited the laws that were passed down from G-d that were important for the Jews to follow. Specifically, we talked about kashrut (keeping kosher) and the origins of some of those guidelines.

The day continued with everyone relaxing around the kibbutz. Most spent time by the pool sunning and swimming. Others took this day as an opportunity to catch up or get ahead on sleep as the rest of the trip is going to seem like a sprint after the slow pace of the sabbath day.

Conclusion of Shabbat

The day ended with a challenging exercise where everyone was forced to confront several moral and political issues that have challenged Jews and Israeli politics for the past seven decades.

Lastly, we had one final service to conclude, havdallah. Daniel took leadership again as we sang, prayed and enjoyed each other's company for the last time on our first sabbath in Israel.

It was a fitting conclusion to a day filled with rest and relaxation without the stresses of a tight schedule or of the busy-ness that surrounds most of our Washington DC lives.

Taglit-Birthright Israel: DC Community Trip Day 3

By Gabrielle Lake (Arlington, VA)

After breakfast, we headed toward Yad Vashem, Israel's Holocaust memorial and museum, about 15 minutes outside Jerusalem. Translated as the "Memorial of Names", Yad Vashem focuses on the personal stories of Jews and their lives prior to the war until after the liberation of the camps. Our visit was originally supposed to include testimony from a survivor, but she was unfortunately not able to make it. Instead, we watched the filmed testimony of a Greek Jew who recounted the experience of his family and the love story he shared with a fellow Greek woman in the concentration camp. After the film, we were guided by the granddaughter of a survivor, who intertwined the stories of her grandmother and other survivors she had met with the museum's exhibit. We also visited the children's memorial, commemorating the lives of the 1.5 million children killed.

From there we headed to Beit Shemesh to experience life through the eyes of Israeli children. Beit Shemesh is the partner city of Washington, DC (through Partnership 2000), and both cities regularly participate in cultural and volunteer exchanges. There we went to a kibbutz and volunteered with a group of 50 children. We did arts and crafts, cooked, played Frisbee, and helped them improve their English with games of Simon Says.

From the kibbutz, we went to Tel Aviv, checked into the hotel, and enjoyed an evening out at a bar on the Mediterranean Sea.