My Birthright trip to Israel consisted of 12 days; two of which were filled with packing and airport security lines, while the rest were made up of exhausting day trips and long discussions about them. They took us to places like the Golan Heights, Gaza Strip, the Syrian and Lebanon boarders, the Jordan River and the cities of Jerusalem and Tel-Aviv. We got to see all of those places.
I got to see the Western Wall (Kotel). I got to see a few buildings in Tel-Aviv. I got to look in to Gaza. Seeing all of these places was amazing, but what I enjoyed the most was when I got to be in those places. I got to be in Jerusalem for shabbat, experiencing an entire city shut down for one day out of the week. I got to be there when we were welcomed into Jerusalem with an honorary dance and kiddish. I got to see hundreds of soldiers being inducted after their training at a ceremony held at the Kotel. I got to be just a few miles away from Gaza with soldiers who fought there just last summer. I got to be there when they cried as they commemorated those they lost to war when we stood at Mount Herzl and they visited their graves.
After all of the sightseeing and programming, one of the few discussions I actually remember from my trip to Israel was this: “What is the difference between being a witness and being a spectator?”
I say that a spectator means to see the things he is seeing while a witness happens upon the things he sees. Both positions have their purposes. A sports fan or concert-goer gets to go see and be entertained exactly for the reasons they went to the game or concert. Someone walking the streets of New York City on their way home from work gets to see that guy drawing his street art or the girl singing in the subway. This person doesn’t mean to see those things, he just gets to observe what’s going on around him, with no warning.
While being a visitor in another country, of course you are going to be a spectator. You are taking a trip to this place in hopes of seeing and experiencing certain things. However, it is also important to keep your eyes and your mind open so that you can simultaneously be a witness.
If you are only focusing on the things you came to see, you will miss out on the things that make up the culture and daily lives of the local people. While I was in Israel, we stopped in a small town for lunch. The tour guides told us to go to this one restaurant because it was close, easy, and everyone was going there. Instead, me and three friends decided to explore a little before we ate. We walked through a market and met some interesting people, to say the least. We saw boys running around and animals creeping through the fruit stands. If we only had gone to where we were told we should go, we only would have seen what we expected to see.
If I was only focusing on going to the places listed on the itinerary and looking at them, I would have missed out an all of the things I didn't know I was going to get to see and experience.
You also don’t have to travel to a foreign country in order to be a witness. There are things that happen around us every day that we are unaware of, simply because we are only focused on what we have to do. Take a minute to walk with your head up. Look at the things and the people around you. You never know what you’re going to see.
