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ISRAEL INSIGHTS: Capturing Israel in your own words!

Hearing about Israel experiences first-hand gives you the feeling of what it is really like to be there! Our Israel Insights pages will feature the writing of Israel programs participants, highlighting a wide variety of Israel Programs. If you would like to contribute a piece about your Israel Experience, we will look forward to receiving it at saral@jewishinseattle.org.

1-Top Ten Questions Asked After Returning from Israel

2-It All Seems Pretty Dang Normal to Me.

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Top Ten Questions Asked After Returning from Israel

By Jenn Abelson from Project OTZMA
(as excerpted from www.birthrightisrael.com)

"To sum up my relationship with Judaism in one phrase: the more I learn, the more I yearn."

I've been back in America for one month after spending the prior ten months volunteering in Israel on Project Otzma. One of the first things I realized, besides the fact that I could perfectly understand the language being spoken, was that the quick, one-paragraph summaries of my life in Israel that I had emailed to friends and family were no longer adequate.

Moments after supplying family and friends with plentiful affection and sufficient proof that I was safe and happy, they started to bombard me with questions. And they were often the same ones. Over and over again. Here they are, in no particular order.

1. Did you see any violence?
Up close and personal, no. Through binoculars, yes. I was in a neighborhood 10 minutes outside of downtown Jersualem on the day when two Israeli soldiers were lynched in Ramallah. My friend's house was also about a 10-minute drive to Ramallah and from their balcony - with binoculars pointed to the sky - I saw Israeli warplanes heading to bomb the nearby city. When I focused my binoculars straight ahead to the mountains of Jordan, I saw Palestinian teenagers throwing rocks at Israeli Defense Force soldiers. As dusk fell, I saw the sparks from the soldiers‚ guns, which were shooting rubber bullets at the teenagers. The entire day seemed completely surreal.

2. Were you ever scared?
Yes. When the violence first broke out in September, I found myself in a situation I didn't understand. Riots, guns, bombs ... this was all new to me. I feared Palestinians would storm the border. I thought bombs would be exploding and that war was in the streets. The media coverage didn't help. But once I finally grasped that most of the violence was contained in the territories and that life in Israel goes on as normal, my fears subsided. I still felt anxious at times. But my biggest fears arose in the beginning and subsided with time.

3. Are you more religious now?
I'm not enrolling at a yeshiva any time soon, but whereas before I went to Israel, I would have laughed at the suggestion, now, I can't say never. For the three-week independent track in my program, I studied Kaballah - Jewish mysticism and spirituality. I learned more about the reasons behind Jewish practices and traditions than how to actually carry them out. Understanding why Judaism commands us to behave in certain ways has helped me come closer to wanting to act accordingly. I came to appreciate Judaism in new ways. For example, the more I learned about the concept of Shabbat - as a separation from the rest week, a way to rest, enjoy the present and treasure what you have - the more attractive it seemed. I plan to have Shabbat dinners when I have a family of my own and I presently light candles Friday evenings to have a symbolic, yet physical recognition of the uniqueness of Shabbat. To sum up my relationship with Judaism in one phrase: the more I learn, the more I yearn.

4. Can you speak Hebrew fluently?
Fluent, no. Proficient, yes. I knew no Hebrew - couldn't read, write or speak before I arrived to the Holy Land last August. I could only write my name, in English, on my placement exam. I took a Hebrew class for several hours a day for the first two months of the program. Looking back, I wish I spent more time studying vocabulary and grammar. However, index cards and study sheets will only get you so far. My fellow volunteers and I learned the most from speaking with natives who weren‚t afraid to correct us - Israelis never are. I am able to hold simple and some complex conversations, and if given enough time to flounder around, I can express almost anything.

5. Will you move to Israel for good?
Honestly, I don't know. I grew to love from physical, spiritual and cultural perspectives. I developed a closer relationship to Israel in ten months than I have to America during the past 22 years. At the same time, tangible aspects - friends, family, better job opportunities - make America the more appropriate place for me to reside in now. I love the intensity and forthrightness of living in Israel. But it can be draining. But as a way to remember my experience on a daily basis, and to remind myself that I always have another home in Israel, I keep the key from my old Israeli apartment on my chain with my house keys in New York.

6. What was your favorite part of the program?
This is one of the most difficult. The people I met (both Israelis and fellow volunteers), the work I accomplished, the culture I enjoyed, and the education I received were outstanding throughout the year. If I had to choose one particular part of my experience, it would have to be the three months I spent in an underprivileged town, Ramla. The community with which I worked was very diverse - a combination of Indians, Ethiopians, Arabs, Russians and native Israelis. Ramla is one of the only towns in Israel where Arabs and Israelis live as neighbors, and not in separate areas. I also had diverse volunteer opportunities - each fulfilling in unique ways. I worked in a soup kitchen, taught high school English, baked cookies at the elderly community center and volunteered at a youth-outreach center. One of the highlights of my year occurred in Ramla - "The Ramla Band." Two other volunteers and I brought our talents together - piccolo (me), guitar and voice - to give the senior citizens a pretty decent concert every week. I'm not sure who enjoyed it more - us or the audience.

7. Where did you volunteer and what exactly did you do?
For the first three months, I volunteered at an elementary school in southern Israel, Kiriyat Gat. I taught English to sixth- and ninth-graders in an unstructured afterschool program. Bingo, Hangman and Jeopardy became my favorite teaching tools. The largest chunk of my volunteer work happened in Ramla. See above for description. During my final month in Israel, I returned to the desert heat in the south at Kibbutz Lotan. I split my 6-day workweek between cleaning guestrooms (the kibbutz had numerous bird-watching tourists) and preparing the date trees. For the fieldwork, I woke up at 5:15 a.m. and spent about 7 hours on a tractor platform counting date strands and tying them up for the August harvest. I was one with the land.

8. Do you plan to volunteer in America?
Without a doubt. I would like to make a contribution to the Jewish community, although helping anyone is good enough for me. My Israel experience tapped out all of my English teaching desires. But I am eager to offer my services in almost any other area. Giving of myself, even an hour a week, to help another provided an enormous sense of pride, boosted my self-esteem and helped me appreciate all that I have in my life. In some ways, I feel selfish volunteering because it makes me feel so good about myself. I also learned that not only is it important to help ongoing activities that operate mainly because of volunteers (such as soup kitchens), but also to create new opportunities and ways to give to people, such as the Ramla Band.

9. What do you miss most about Israel?
The honesty of the people. Israelis tell you what's on their mind. They don't sugarcoat or preface what they want to say. They don't introduce questions, they just ask them. When Israelis tell you to call them, they mean it. And if they invite you to dinner, you better show up and with a big appetite.

10. How have you changed?
I can now read, write and speak Hebrew. I know for certain I still don't like falafel. In a less superficial ways, I've become more secure in my Jewishness. I am also less quick to judge others and can more readily appreciate people for their quirks rather than harp on flaws. I learned to enjoy being out of my comfort zone. Being blonde in Israel - and not speaking the language fluently - basically means never fitting in. Having confidence is key - but I realized I can never take myself too seriously and that self-deprecating remarks will get me farther than I ever thought! Volunteering will always be a priority in my life, as will instilling a love for Israel in my children. I have the "travel bug" in me now, and yearn to explore other cultures and ways of life. Most importantly, though, is that I learned it is possible - and should be an aim - to wake up almost every day and say, "I love my life!"

Jenn Abelson recently returned from Israel after taking part in Project Otzma. For more information on Project OTZMA, a 10-month community service program for 20-25 year olds, visit www.projectotzma.org. Project OTZMA participants are sponsored in part by their local Jewish Federation. Contact The Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle's Israel Program Center for details: (206) 441-8479 x236 or email israel@jewishinseattle.org.

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Letters from Israel…

University of Washington 's HILLEL took two groups to Israel this summer. Led by Rabbi Dan Bridge and Renee Cohen, 80 students and young adults from the Seattle area received the birthright israel gift of a free trip. And what a trip it was!

David Sabban, the Director of the Young Leadership Division of the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle, participated in the trip and writes to share his experiences with us. Below is his unedited, candid letter recounting a wonderful encounter with Israel and Seattle travelers.

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"It all seems pretty dang normal to me"
- David from birthright Summer 2001

I'm just now preparing for Shabbat in Jerusalem after the quickest 10 days ever. Actually, 11 days ago, I arrived in Israel with 38 Seattlites who had never been on any sort of tour of Israel before. We managed to have days so full that being tired was simply never an option... nor a problem. We landed at 8pm, 2 hours later than scheduled.... with our first event of the trip planned for 8:30 that night in Jerusalem, we had to book it. So, we all hopped on a big fancy, fancy bus & headed up to Jerusalem for the "Mega Event" where about 2000 other Birthright types from around the world were gathered for a big evening of Birthright Propaganda (and to sing happy birthday to Edgar Bronfman).
The next morning started at 6:30 with breakfast followed by an Israel programs expo at the Hebrew U Hillel, followed by a long bus ride to a place not too far away, the dead sea. It was a long ride because we couldn't go the short route which was through the West Bank.
[Side note: I did see some busses that have normal routes through the west bank and they are all bullet proofed. The windshield has fencing on it and all the side windows and the body of the bus are covered with bullet proof glass of some kind. the people who drive their cars there have the windows covered in shatter-proof plastic - all that said, there has been very minimal violence of any kind since I've been here].
So we went to the Dead Sea for a bit - floated, got muddy, you know, the usual. After that, we went to Masada at 4:30 in the afternoon - try hard, I don't think you could conceive of a less good idea. The thermometer on the bus read 44Celsius (yep, to convert that to Fahrenheit, you double it and then add 32 degrees)
After 3 painful but exciting hours atop Masada (Metzadah in hebrew), we decended via the ramp that the romans used to get to the top of Masada to find happy, smiling "Ahava" sales ladies.... people blew cash and then we hopped back on the bus for a drive to a Bedouin camp where we had dinner, gawked at the camels and tried to sleep. Day 1.
So, the rest of the days were quite similar in style, just usually more busy than that.

The next super awesome bit was when we went to Kiryat Malachi, a small development town of 1st and 2nd generation Israelis, mostly from the Former Soviet Union and Ethiopia. Seattle has a sort of sister city relationship with this city via the Jewish Federation. Had a really fantastic time there, mostly because we all did "tzedek projects." We were split into 3 groups - 1 went to paint a mural at a play ground and the other 2 went to nursing homes and hung with the residents. Where I went, we joined the residents for their morning aerobics class. We did some pretty cool things with nerf soccer balls - I've got lots of pictures. After Aerobics ended, the teacher put on "It's Raining Men" - apparently the only song able to be broadcast from Israeli radios - and we danced with the old people for about 30 minutes. They tried to marry each of us off within the first 3 minutes... a tremendous way to spend a morning. I think a couple of the participants of my trip will be coming back here later in the summer or next summer to be counselors at an English speaking summer camp.
The next day, among other things, we took the group to Yad Vashem, the Holocaust memorial museum here in Jerusalem. It was pretty moving to a lot of the folks, especially those who'd never been to anything like it. We followed that by a really long discussion about Jewish memory. We needed to lighten things up a bit after that, so instead of going back to the hotel for "leisure and Shabbat prep" we had out bus driver stop and pick up some food and we went to the Sataf Forest and had a picnic with barbecues, pita, salatim, shishlik, birah & yayin. As a bonding moment, 9 of the guys on the trip shaved their heads that afternoon.... not really sure why, but it was a really big pile of hair & a whole lot of surprised looks on peoples' faces when we got back to the hotel and all of Seattle was bald!
OK, I could go on forever, but I'll let you all know that one of the most fantastic moments of the trip was going to Har Hertzel (Mt. Hertzel), the Israeli military cemetary. It was the most beautiful place I've seen in Israel. Walking through and reading the headstones of these soldiers who fell during service to this country. The graves of those who came from all over the world to fight in the 1948 War of Independance, the 67 war,73, Lebanon, Antebe, and on..... 14 year olds, 16 year olds, 18 year olds and 65 year olds alike. All with exactly the same style graves, covered with a stone boundary and a bed of simple but beautiful greens in the center. In death, none is more important that any other, all had given literally everything they had to help keep this country, really beautiful.
We went to the area where former prime ministers are buried.... we saw the grave of Golda Meir and just 2 down, was the double grave for Yitchak & Leah Rabin. At this grave, we read excerpts from Rabin's last speech, just moments before he was assassinated and then we read the eulogy that Rabin's grand daughter read at his funeral. It was very powerful, and probably the one single moment when everyone in our group felt indelibly connected to the land of Israel. Of course, it was all made even more meaningful by our really, really fantastic guide, Yuval, who was actually at the rally where Rabin spoke (at a place now called Rabin Square). You could tell that it was such a personal loss to Yuval and nearly every other israeli, that at one point nearly the entire county could nearly reach out and feel the peace that was about to happen. That it was so real to them that nearly everyone in the country to could actually taste the Shalom.
Now what about down-time to just stretch our legs and brains and walk around a bit, shop, etc... well it dain't never happened. I literally had to tell a bus filled with 38 21-26 year olds that they had absolutely no free time to roam any city or get to know the country outside of what our guide showed us on the bus and the short walks through Jerusalem, Tel Aviv & Haifa. Not something I look forward to doing again - not because they fought so hard against it, but because it simply sucks to have to do that to them. To have them so close to so much and not let them run off on their own. birthright did this for safety reasons. At times it felt a bit extreme, but this is a country of extremes and it was the right thing to do. Each bus has it's own medic/guard with a gun & lots of training on how to use it. He (shlomi) was actually a really important part of our trip, and yes... he was bald too.
When we went to the old city of Jerusalem, we actually acquired 2 additional armed guards to hang with us... really interesting folks. That same day, we were lucky enough to have 8 Chayalot (Soldiers) join our bus. They were not there for our protection (although each of these young women did have M-16s and 2 magazines of bullets), but rather for our socializing.
They were given the opportunity for 3 days off of their officer training course as a reward for good service and we were also recipients of their reward by having them on our bus to hang out with for 3 days. They participated in our discussions - aside from the political ones, as they are not allowed to discuss politics as an army law - they answered questions, they ate our gummie snacks and generally were super, super cool to spend time with. All the boys were beside themselves when 8 beautiful women with tight uniforms and M-16s walked onto our bus. I'm not really sure how this country grows ONLY beautiful women, but.... who am I to question. I will just sit back and appreciate.

OK, so on that note, I leave you all for Shabbat. It's a gorgeous, warm evening in Jerusalem and I'm gonna take a short nap before kabbalat shabbat and then a feast.

That's all for now, please pass this on to others who would want to hear about it.

Shabbat, Shalom, Shalom,

David

PS- Just realized I didn't really say anything about the mood of the country. To tell you the truth, it all seems pretty dang normal to me. I did speak with the Kippah Man and some other Israelis who generally rely on tourism (the Kent stand where we change dollars) who told me that business is really slow. They all asked me "If I came, why is no one else coming?" I told them that that picture broadcast to us is very different what what we see day to day here. This was followed by what became a common reaction - THANK YOU, THANK YOU FOR COMING TO ISRAEL. WE ARE SO HAPPY YOU ARE HERE.... PLEASE, BRING YOUR FRIENDS AND YOUR FAMILY, THIS IS THE TIME WHEN YOU SHOULD BE VISITING US, AS WELL AS IN TIMES OF PEACE (besides, right now, the streets aren't packed with tourists and the hotel rates are cheaper - a great thing for travelers). THANK YOU AGAIN FOR COMING TO YOUR HOME, IT MAKES US SO PROUD TO SEE YOU HERE!!! Now, I'm not discounting the fact that there are random bombings that have been occuring here in Israel and that many people have needlessly been killed, on both sides of the conflict. But I'm also saying that on the last night of our tour, we had a feast on the beach/park in Tel Aviv, literally 60 meters away from the Dolphinarium where exactly 3 weeks ago, an insane person went and blew himself and 20 others up at a night club. None of us were blown up.

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