A vibrant sunset has dipped below the holy stones of the Western Wall, beckoning Shabbat into the Jewish quarter of Jerusalem. Orthodox men, draped in prayer shawls over black coats — tight curls emerging from tall hats — filter into the male section of the religious site and begin to chant. On the women’s side, a girl who looks around 18 years old violently bows up and down, pressing a book to her chest, screaming silently in Hebrew. From clenched eyes, her tears shoot to the ground.
Interspersed among the prayer circles and wailing women stand Jewish young adults who have traveled from 29 countries including South Africa, Serbia, Brazil, India and those in North America to discover their homeland of Israel. Not knowing how to act, many of them seem awkward in this intense space. They form clusters, discreetly observing the extreme religious energy. Some tuck written wishes into cracks in the stone, pausing for a minute to touch 3,000 years of their past.
A blonde American, dressed in leggings and cherry-red stilettos, turns to leave. An Israeli solder, assigned to her tour group, lightly grabs the girl’s wrist.
“Walk backwards when leaving here,” says the solder quietly. “You’re never supposed to turn your back to the Western Wall.”
It’s experiences like these that characterize the trips of Taglit-Birthright Israel, a program that has allowed almost 100,000 Jews worldwide, ages 18-26, to travel to Israel over the past six years — for free. At a time when Israeli tourism suffered due to terrorist attacks and the Intifada, the government of Israel, philanthropists and Jewish communities in the United States combined funds to give Jewish young adults their birthright as a gift.
“The initial goal was to bring 100,000 Jews here over five years,” said Bill Frankel, the Program Director of Israel Experts, one of the Birthright trip organizers.
“With the success of Birthright and the 98,000th participant coming to Israel this winter,” he continued, “the Israeli government has agreed to renew the program for another 100,000 people [who have never been to Israel on a peer educational trip].”
It’s no surprise thousands of eligible Jews vie for coveted spots on these popular, 10-day trips, which run in the winter and summer. Dozens of trip organizers zigzag the New Jersey-sized country on busses, experiencing a combination of the old and spiritual; the modern and nationalistic. And of course, token camel rides, falafal pitas and Dead Sea mud baths are staples in every itinerary.
“The point of this adventure,” said our Israeli tour guide Amir, “is not to make you more religious. If you came for a religious awakening, you came to the wrong place. I want you to think about your personal connection with Israel, what it’s like to live among a Jewish majority, and why it’s all worth fighting for.”
ZIONISM AND NATIONALISM
At the end of an 11-hour flight from New York to Tel Aviv, El Al Airways plays the Israeli national anthem before the plane touches down at Ben Gurion Airport. It’s a customary tradition before entering Israel — as well as the multiple security checkpoints that range from rapid-fire questioning to the meticulous inspection of items such as maps and lip gloss.
Every trip receives a tour guide, bus driver, Israeli solders as peers and a guard. The guard carries a rifle slung around his or her shoulders, even though our guard’s gun looked like it came straight out of World War II. Realistically, if a group of 40 people became the target of a terrorist attack, a single armed guard would probably be useless. Still, the rifle instills a bit of comfort in those who feel nervous to be traveling in a Jewish land surrounded by Arab neighbors.
Birthright participants are told right from the beginning that Israel is their home. Some visitors feel that connection as soon as they step onto Israeli soil. Others struggle with the concept of duality: that a Jew can live anywhere in the world and still think of Israel as his home base. For some, the buildup of expectations is overwhelming.
“I’ve wanted to come here for so long,” said Laurel Herold, a sophomore at Drake University. “Just to be in a place I’ve learned so much about, with so much history, feels incredible.”
On Jan. 8, the Birthright Mega Event took place on the outskirts of Jerusalem. All participants who were in Israel at the time gathered at a convention center for a ceremony, celebration and 3,000-person dance club. An MTV DJ hosted the event, various philanthropists talked and Israeli bands, singers and dancers put on a high-energy show with fireworks and a sing-along. For comparison, imagine an edgier, concert-style sleepover camp song session with Heineken involved.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was set to speak. On Jan. 4, he had been rushed to the hospital after a massive stroke and remained in a vegetative state. In the past, he’d made it a priority to speak at the Mega Events. As Sharon is an ardent supporter of the Birthright program, organizers decided to show a clip from a 2003 Mega Event speech. What he said stunned some people.
“We want you to make Aliya to Israel,” a booming voice commanded from the screen. “Everything we are going through now is to ensure that you and your children will be able to live here in quiet … we need you with us here in Israel now more than ever.”
A clear message of Zionism hangs in the Israeli air, and most of our group — who ranged from college students to contractors to professionals — was caught off guard by a general encouragement to ‘make Aliya’ or, immigrate, to Israel. But as the days passed, we found it easier to understand the passionate love affair Israelis have with their country.
Joel Goldman, an Israeli originally from the United States, spoke to Birthright groups about the teenagers who came to Israel at the turn of the 20th century with a new vision for Judaism.
“They were 16 and 17 years old, and left their families — never to see them again — for the dream of Israel,” Goldman said, talking in long, breathless sentences. “During the pogroms in Russia, most Jews moved west. Less than one percent joined the Zionist movement and went east. It was a pipe dream at the time, to establish a State of Israel. They were considered crazy.”
The fragility and youth of Israel were exposed during a tour of the unassuming museum where the Declaration of Independence was signed on Friday, May 5, 1948. It took place in Tel Aviv, since Jerusalem was under siege at the time. The room had small windows positioned near the ceiling and an emergency door, suggesting a bomb shelter.
According to the speaker at the museum, the discreet signing of the declaration took 30 minutes. At the end, the gravel was banged, and it was spoken: “The State of Israel is born. This meeting is now adjourned.”
That night, Egypt dropped bombs on Israel. The following day, armies of Arabs invaded.
But the Israelis would defend the land they see as rightfully theirs. The land, in fact, is regarded as the most important part of the Declaration. In the second paragraph it reads: “Exiled by force, still the Jewish people keep faith with their land.”
God is not mentioned once in the Declaration.
A THRIVING PEOPLE
PESSIMISTIC ABOUT PEACE
Many aspects of the trip are lighter and don’t focus on political issues. Shopping, eating and drinking comprised a good part of the typical day.
Birthright kids are practically ushered into stores and galleries, bombarded with two-for-one deals and other souvenirs. It’s not mentioned anywhere in writing, but it seems to be part of the package to contribute to Israel’s economy after receiving the gift of a free trip.
Even at holier places, such as Mt. Carmel, Coca Cola T-shirts and hookahs were thrust in our faces. Amid the smells of wood stoves, carved meat and pungent incense, merchants were trying to sell wax-wrapped packets of apple-flavored tobacco. Reprints of Van Gogh paintings lined the streets.
In Tzfat, the city of Jewish mysticism and Kabbalah, a well-known candle shop boasts handmade candles from rolled, molded and weaved wax. Yet a Pottery Barn candle rested on the shelf next to the other creations.
Some Birthright trips are also known for their let loose, party vibe. Since the drinking age is 18 and not enforced, a few kids got a kick out of going to bars and getting drunk — although most likely you can do that at home, and being hung over for the early wake up calls is a bad idea.
In between the political discussions and the wine, all Birthright participants (and all foreign leaders who come to Israel) are required to tour Yad Vashem, the Holocaust museum in Jerusalem.
With its thematic architecture and eye-popping displays, it’s an emotional reminder of a no-so-distant Jewish past.
“It struck me the most when we went to Yad Vashem,” said College of Arts and Sciences freshman Larry Tobin, who went to Israel on Birthright via Boston University Hillel. “It was really moving, seeing how the Holocaust was depicted.
“After Yad Vashem, we drove to Tel Aviv. In one day, we went from seeing the destruction of an entire people to seeing the first thriving Jewish city of two million people. It made me feel very empowered.”
For the first time in 2,000 years, the largest Jewish population is in Israel. According to Goldman, Israel surpassed the United States in the past 10 years, when the Jewish population in America plummeted from 5.8 million to 5.15 million. Intermarriage and fewer Jewish children account for the decrease.
Behind the exuberance and discovery of the Birthright trip, a somber pessimism enters the picture. What does Israel’s future look like? Is the prospect of peace realistic?
“Israel is an island of Western civilization surrounded by fundamentalism Islam trying to bring it all down,” Amir said during a group discussion. “I think all zealots need to be stopped — you cannot fight because God told you to, and Israeli zealots are as dangerous as my enemy.”
Birthright participants leave Israel with new relationships, perspectives and questions that will pervade their lives back at home. A few are convinced they want to live in Israel one day, while others don’t feel the same connection.
“We just hope that you go back home with an understanding of what Israel means to you,” Frankel said. “Don’t just go back to your everyday life unchanged.”