Birthright Israel participants from the Bay Area trickled back into town in late January, yet some are still catching up on their sleep.
In an attempt to jam-pack some 5,761 years of Jewish history into the trip’s 10-day frame, organizers ran the young Jewish travelers through a whirlwind tour of the Holy Land, hitting as many sites and sights as possible.
And while the handful of participants contacted by the Bulletin could have largely done without the 14-hour days and all-too-brief stops at historical locales, each and every one independently used the word “amazing” to describe the experience.
“I’ve been going over it in my head for the last couple of weeks, and I’m still in awe,” said David Goodman, 22, a senior at San Jose State University. “It was just weird to know all that has transpired there throughout the course of history, to know my family started there.”
The young adults were moved by their visits to well-known landmarks such as the Western Wall and Masada. They visited museums and experienced Israeli day-to-day life via open-air marketplaces and schools.
One thing most did not see — and some wish they had — was an Arab Israeli. For security concerns, many groups did not meet with any Arab or Israeli Arab speakers or travel to predominantly Arab locales.
Rebecca Gold, a 23-year-old graduate of the University of Judaism in Los Angeles, did have a limited discourse with Arabs, while venturing into the Arab quarter of Jerusalem’s Old City. She did so on her own time, over the vociferous objections of her group leader.
“They said that they just want peace, to live in peace and go to work without worrying about what will happen to them and their families,” said Gold, a marketing assistant at the S.F.-based Jewish Community Federation. “On both [the Arab and Israeli] sides there were views from the right to the left. I don’t think people know what to do, they feel like they have no control.
“From what they tell us, there are a lot of Arab-Israeli citizens,” Gold added, “but we didn’t meet any.”
Hillels serve as Birthright Israel’s main trip provider. Gold signed up directly on Birthright’s Web site, traveling to Israel with a group of young people hailing from throughout the United States and Canada. While Gold perceived an anti-Arab bias from her tour leader, other participants contacted by the Bulletin — all of whom made the trip with Hillel groups — said their leaders seemed fair and open-minded.
“What was probably most powerful for me was the objectivity of our group leaders and the wealth of information they were willing to share with us,” said Alex Koll, a 24-year-old SJSU senior. “But I thought there was a small bit of an agenda behind the trip itself; it had a lot to do with pushing aliyah [immigration to Israel]. Yet, as a person who’s been distant from Judaism in general, it was kind of eye-opening. It brought me back, and for the first time I understand a lot of the concepts behind the history.”
Koll and others reveled in the camaraderie of traveling with other Jewish college students and a culture in which Judaism is the norm, especially after being bombarded with safety concerns from friends and relatives before the trip.
“I felt safe when I was in the group, but they really did insulate us. We had no idea what was going on in the West Bank or the Gaza Strip; they completely kept that information from us,” said Goodman. “I saw one bomb scare where they blew up a package near Ben-Yehuda Street. I saw a guy in a bomb suit taking off his gloves and tons of soldiers and equipment.
“After a while, I felt safe with all the guns on the street, the weapons and the soldiers,” he added. “When I got back in the U.S. and hopped on my first public bus, I felt extremely apprehensive. That was something they told us not to do in Israel.”
Participants said they now feel media coverage of the Mideast violence oversimplifies and misrepresents the conflict.
“It makes everyone think that it’s sandy and nasty-looking all over the place and there’s strife everywhere and if you go, you’ll be in constant danger,” said Koll. “That’s just not how it is.”
Many of the Bay Area participants were confused when Likud Party prime minister candidate Ariel Sharon, addressing several thousand young people at the Birthright Expo, got a rock star’s welcome.
“Everyone gave him a standing ovation as he came in, and as he left he shook hands with students while he was walking down the aisles,” recalled West Valley Community College freshman Bryan Goldberg of San Jose. “I felt like, he’s a politician, and despite what people think, politicians still get respect. People shook his hand and were saying, ‘Wow! I shook his hand!'”
While the students may have taken issue with one aspect of the trip or another, all came away with overwhelmingly positive experiences on their first journey to Israel.
“Part of the purpose of the trip was to make us want to go back. That’s something I want to do,” said Goodman. “I know I need to go spend some more time there, really immerse myself in the culture and society.”