The fastening of my seat belt on the plane sealed the commitment that I had made to spend my school year studying and volunteering in Young Judaea’s yearlong course in Israel.
While all of my friends chose to move directly from high school to university, I felt I needed a break. Not a break from learning, but rather a break for learning. The kind of break I could only achieve out of the classroom.
But my decision was still not easy to finalize. Up until the moment I arrived for my first flight at the San Jose International Airport, I was wracked with self-doubt about the path ahead.
Although I was content to postpone a year of in-class learning, I was apprehensive about traveling halfway around the world to do it. Why Israel? I kept asking myself. What was so important about having Israel be the setting of my experience?
I felt that my potential maturity and growth were independent of my choice to travel to Israel. The acts of volunteer work that I would be doing would benefit me wherever I chose to live, I believed.
I did eventually recognize, however, that the work I would accomplish would affect both me and the Israeli people. I chose to give back to the land of my roots, to contribute to a nation that I would readily call my own. And, I thought to myself, Israel itself is a unique place to spend a year. I couldn’t pass up spending time in the Land of Milk and Honey, the land of the Torah, the land of my ancestors.
Once I arrived in Jerusalem and it came time to pick my volunteer job, I passed over the options of teaching in Israeli schools or helping out at an Israeli day care center; these options weren’t for me. Instead, I chose to volunteer for Magen David Adom, Israel’s national medical emergency society.
My days were spent on ambulances with paramedics and other emergency medical technicians, serving the residents of northern Israel. I was thrown directly into a scene of patient transport and medical aid.
My 60-hour in-class training course was only a precursor for my continued hands-on experience. I never imagined just how directly I could affect the lives of the people around me. Our station served Karmiel and the neighboring Arab villages. Because MDA believes in dispensing medical aid to people of all ethnic backgrounds, I learned a significant lesson about the value of life held by all Israeli citizens, Jewish and Arab alike.
Volunteering in Israel instead of seeking a paying job in America has proven to be extremely rewarding. I never felt as though my work was deserving of money or any other acknowledgment. I simply did my job with the genuine expectation of helping others. I don’t think I could have fully had that feeling with a paycheck in hand.
In a few weeks, I will once again begin volunteering for MDA in Haifa to conclude my last weeks in Israel. Though all of us here hope that there will be little need for large-scale medical treatment, I am proud that I can be here to help out if such a necessity arises.