If you are even remotely Jewish, go on Birthright. It can be your mother who’s Jewish, your father, your grandparent, an uncle a cousin, whatever. You can be a Jew that eats and sleeps Torah or you can be a Jew that “celebrates” Hanukkah by receiving eight gifts. You can even be a Jew who doesn’t even know how long Hanukkah lasts, or you can be a Jew who is both Israeli and American; as long as you qualify under Birthrights’ specific criteria, you're good to go! You don’t even have to be that Jewish. Just as long as you want to identify as a Jew, are open-minded about learning more about Judaism and Israel and ultimately are willing to allow yourself to make an unforgettable connection to the land and people of Israel. Not to mention, it’s free.
You read that right folks. That right there should convince you that you have to go, as a matter of fact you should be filling out the application as you read this article. There’s literally no excuse, it’s a free all expenses paid for vacation to the magical Holy Land of Israel with a group of friends that in only 10 days become a big 40-person family.
Now for those of you who are not Jewish, or are Jewish, but don’t know what Birthright is, let me explain. Birthright is a program that brings Jews from all over the world to Israel, usually for a 10-day trip with a group of similarly aged people (usually 18-26). Birthright takes a group of Jewish youth and shows them Israel, North to South (Golan Heights to Negev Desert), East to West (Tel Aviv to Jerusalem) and almost everywhere in between. This incredible 10-day journey fits a good portion of Israel into just 10 days, but the sightseeing, mountain climbing, beach going and city adventuring isn’t even the best part. Though the food comes in at a close second, it’s the people that really make the trip worth while.
Every trip is accompanied by a trained and very knowledgeable tour guide, a handy and super sarcastic assistant tour guide and a group of very unique college students from different colleges and universities in America and across the world. Sometimes the groups are accompanied by a super cool Rabbi or Rebbitzen (female Rabbi/wife of Rabbi), that usually become the advice giving, question answering and very caring parents of the group. In just 10 days the group transforms from strangers in an airport terminal to a family of very interesting, funny, crazy people that love and hate each other just the right amount, but share a common bond: a love for Israel. A bond that they developed together on a 10-day journey, a journey that they will never forget.
Personally, I went through a very unique journey with Birthright, since I am an Israeli American whose first language was Hebrew, and experienced the whole adventure very differently than my Mayanot Bus 41 family. (Shout out to Mayanot and to bus 41 for being the best trip organizer and people to go on this adventure with. We definitely had our ups and downs and I’m grateful for each and every one of you!) Anyway, because I am very very familiar with Israel, its people, its culture, its food, its politics and consider it my home; I had this extraordinary opportunity to accompany a group of people who barely knew anything about Israel through Birthright.
What I discovered made my connection to my home country even stronger than ever and made me even more thankful to come from such a beautiful, interesting and fun country. Birthright was the first time I got to experience Israel without my parents, with people my own age, not family or family friends, something for me that was totally out of the usual. And, even though I’ve been to pretty much every place they took us before they took us there, each time I went there with Birthright it was like I was rediscovering a place.
I really believe that traveling in general is never a checklist. Just because you’ve been to one place doesn’t mean you shouldn’t get excited about going there again, because there is always something to learn and new people to experience it with. And that’s what made Birthright so special for me. I got to experience and appreciate Israel in a new way, through the eyes of curious American tourists. Seeing every sight through my Birthright friends’ eyes, words, emotions, facial expressions and reactions was priceless. Especially at the western wall, the most sacred place for Jews around the world. I got to see the look on their faces when they saw the wall for the first time, when they touched the wall for the first time and when they felt the power of the wall for the first time. It was amazing to see people connect to a place and a religion that they probably didn’t even know much about before the trip. I also learned so many things about each place that I didn’t know before and got a very interesting breakdown of Israeli culture, history, religion and, given that I knew most of it already, I learned even more by listening to my peer’s questions, the tour guides answers and answering many of my peers questions with my own knowledge and experience.
Although it was truly an incredible experience, if I haven’t stated that enough, I do want to stress that this experience doesn’t give a completely accurate representation of Israel. Israel is a very touchy subject for politicians and regular people alike. Because of bad relations between countries, religions and people in the Middle East; there is a lot of constant turmoil and violence towards Israelis and Palestinians alike.
It is a controversial topic because it’s hard to fix a problem that is deeply rooted in many foundations of life in the Middle East, and each side doesn’t really want to hear the other side out and thinks that only their side's opinion matters and is right. But, before I get caught up in the nitty gritty political problems and unfortunate reality of living in the Middle East, I want to turn your attention to what I’m really trying to point out here: Israel isn’t perfect. Just like every other country on planet Earth, Israel isn’t perfect. Israelis are not all nice, friendly, fun, chill people.
In fact, Israelis have a bad reputation when traveling abroad in Europe for being thieves and liars. In Israel there are so many cases of cheaters, fraud, liars, thieves and really nasty superficial people, like every other country. But why am I emphasizing this? Because, the point of Birthright is to make people fall in love with Israel to the point where they are willing to sacrifice something for their new homeland, whether it be time, money, service, etc. But, in order for the program to be successful enough to do that, they have to ignore the bad parts of Israeli culture and society. They create this bubble that makes it seem like Israel is perfect, when in fact it is flawed like every other country on Earth.
Nonetheless, I do think Birthright does a good job of providing participants with different views on the many issues involving the topic of Israel. During the trip I really looked out for unfair biases and things of that nature. Although the final conclusion is that they are obviously pro-Israel, and a tiny bight on the right side, they are very rational people that explain mostly with factual, historical evidence and respect the opinions of others even if they have different opinions. Not only that, but they brought in a lecturer that was really fair and not biased at all. Not to mention just the group dynamic of 40+ people will give you so many different unique perspectives and biases that just the mere discussions you will have with your group will teach you a lot about the many different opinions surrounding any topic about Israel.
In conclusion, if you can go, go. It is a once in a lifetime experience. And lastly I want to mention what truly makes the trip extra special: you get to spend almost half the time with Israeli soldiers, who are the same age as you. You discover how different your life is from theirs, you get to talk to them about stupid or simple things and about big, interesting and controversial things. You get to experience what it’s like to be a local, or at least travel around with one, and you learn so much about the country and about Israeli youth and youth culture from meeting these incredible soldiers. You get to see and hear about their daily routine and give them a chance to burst out of that daily routine and hang out and party with you. Through this 10-day journey you develop a really special relationship with the soldiers and you will thank social media for making it possible for you to keep in touch with your new amazing friends and Birthright family.
Even if you’re not looking for a spiritual journey, making friends abroad is an identity finding adventure. Israel is a very chill country with really chill people, and, as long as you’re chill, you can be in it for the trendy Instagram pics and food snaps - as long as you're open minded and friendly!
