Israel - July 2015 Post #3: Shorashim

After spending most of July in Israel, first leading a Birthright group of 22-26 year-olds and then 2+ weeks with my wife and two boys, I am filled with thoughts. The thoughts range from personal to political - and honestly, I'm not sure exactly how to organize them...so I figured that I'd start blogging to keep track of the different topics, and one day, maybe, I will revisit them and organize them in some coherent form. Until then, over the next few days (weeks?) I will type some stream of conscious thoughts about my July in Israel. The thoughts are in no particular order. Read on or not, up to you...

“Every person, all the events of your life are there because you have drawn them there. What you choose to do with them is up to you.”
― Richard Bach

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It's hard to believe that after 16 trips to Israel, 15 with Shorashim (the Chicago-based trip organizer that I've been a part of since 1987) that 28 years ago, I had no interest in traveling to Israel. None. My Jewish center was with my childhood camp in Wisconsin. To me, that was all the Judaism I felt I needed in my life. I mean, I learned about Israel and knew about it, but I never thought I'd be able to afford going there, so I probably rationalized it away as a place I didn't need.

So, how did my life change so drastically? The fact is that I decided to go to Israel for the first time in 1987 out of spite. True Story. After my final year as a camper in 1986, my friends and I had to apply for the first summer on staff - the summer of '87. We all went for our interviews; they were all accepted. I, on the other hand, was told that because I was a rambunctious camper, no more so than some of my other friends that were accepted mind you, that the director had to think about hiring me and that I'd need a second interview. I was embarrassed...and pissed. After 7 summers as an overnight camper, after being on the major board of the Chicago regional youth group, I felt like I was being jerked around needlessly.

Meanwhile, one of the youth group advisers I was close with, the founder of Shorashim, had been asking me to go to Israel on her program for a couple of years. I had always told her no, but this time, she told me that she would find me the scholarship money I needed to make it happen...and out of spite, I figured, screw the camp director, I wasn't playing his game - I was going to Israel. When I went for my second interview and the director slid my contract across the table, I politely slid it back and told him that I was going to Israel instead. I will say, I still get some pleasure out of the look on his face when I told him. His jaw dropped. Not many folks had the stones to call his bluff. And I was on my way to a life changing experience.

Israel changed me that summer. I believe it was meant to be and from that moment on, I fed on that experience. I was drawn to Israel. And from that summer on, I was dedicated to teaching about it. Of course, the land itself is amazing, but to me, Israel was about the people - it was about my brothers and sisters in Judaism - and those people were the defenders of my religion. The trip, in 1987, began with 5 days in Poland, tracing our Jewish roots from the ashes of the Holocaust. Rising from those ashes and then spending 5 weeks in Israel with Israelis taught me how important it was for us Jews to bond together and rise up from those ashes into a blooming flower in the Middle Eastern desert. I drank up that experience and it became my lifeblood.

Since then, Shorashim has given me my roots and a significant family in Israel. I already wrote about my friend of 28 years, Didi in the first Israel post. And since that summer, my roots and family in Israel and America have grown by the hundreds. I no longer feel like a stranger in the land of Israel. Whenever I am there, I run into people that are my family on a regular basis. (Spoiler alert: More on some of those folks from this past summer in the next blog).

Don't get me wrong, there are many good Israel programs out there, but Shorashim is different. The reason for that, in one word, is Mifgash. Mifgash is essentially the connecting of Americans and Israelis with the goal of creating a shared community - a bond with the Jewish homeland like none other. Shorashim's main thrust is Mifgash, and through those connections, participants not only learn about Israel, directly from Israeli peers, but are ultimately connected to Israel on a personal level. While other programs teach about Israel, from a touring/educational perspective, they are also built, in large part, to further their own community goals back in the states - to connect participants to a particular religious movement (Reform, Conservative, etc.) or cause. Shorashim is about being in Israel with Israelis. Those bonds create a permanent link to our homeland, and for me, create a home away from home.

Do other programs do Mifgash in some form? Sometimes. But when they create their Mifgash program, they attempt to emulate Shorashim. For example, I know of a participant on another program that tried to match the participants with an Israeli family for a Shabbat experience in Israel this past summer. That person did not feel connected to that experience on an interpersonal level because they had no real connection to that family; they didn't spend the whole trip traveling with those people and experiencing Israel with them. Likewise, some Birthright trips (10 day trips for 18-26 year olds) have Israeli participants for a few days. They become a novelty on those trips, there for a partial experience. Meanwhile, when I meet my groups in the states, the first thing I tell them is that we are not a group yet. We are not a group until we exit customs at Ben-Gurion Airport and meet with our Israel Achim (brothers) in a brief airport ceremony that only Shorashim does in public, at the airport.

Shorashim High School 2015

Need more proof? This past summer, at Birthright's Mega Event, an evening that Birthright organizes to bring all of the current Birthright groups together for a concert and program, the presenters spoke about Mifgash as a cornerstone of Birthright. Mind you, most of these groups only have partial Israeli participants. It wasn't the first time I heard this speech at a Mega Event. Clearly, Birthright values the Mifgash experience - and Shorashim is the organization, a small, Chicago and Jerusalem-based organization, that originated and perfected the concept. Birthright tries to emulate us!

And finally, during one program this past summer, one of the Birthright head educators joined us to observe. After the program, this man spoke to our group and bestowed upon us the ultimate compliment in my eyes. He said that after being with us for the better part of 2 hours, he could not distinguish between the Israelis and the Americans in our group. Essentially, we had achieved Shorashim's greatest purpose - creating a united community of Jews that spans oceans - bonded by a common religion, culture, and experience.

Where would I be without the gift of Shoarshim that was given to me? Honestly, I'm not sure. I do know that I wouldn't be who I am today. I do know that I wouldn't have the deep love of Israel that I have today. And I do know that I would not feel that what I am meant to do with this amazing experience is to pass on my love of Israel to others. I am so grateful for that chance, and I am so grateful for the amazing experiences I have had with all of my Shorashim groups, including bus #536 this past summer. To share Shorashim with such an exemplary group of young adults is a gift, an honor, and a privilege. For that and for Shorashim, I am eternally grateful.