Birthright Israel
 Local teen shares his experiences.

May 25th 2008, my roommate Adam Levey and I embarked on the trip of a lifetime. We both had the privilege of taking a trip to Israel through the program Birthright Israel.

Adam and I have been attending school together since Kindergarten at the Jewish Community School of the Desert. Since then we have been best friends, nearly tied at the hip. Our trip to Israel was sort of our final shebang before he left for the Naval Academy in Annapolis Maryland.

As kids we had always heard about Israel as sort of a mystical and magical place that was the homeland of all the Jews. Now as adults, this would seem rather absurd. When you think of Israel you think of war, and a place that’s far away from safe. The pre-conceived adult notions were truly torn to shreds after Adam and I visited the holy land.

The purpose of Birthright Israel is to show young Jews around the world what Israel is really like. In ten days they crammed us with as much traveling, and as much knowledge as possible. We saw such sights as the old temple in Jerusalem, all the way to the beautiful Mediterranean coast in Tel-Aviv. We were accompanied by eight Israeli soldiers who give us a real feel for what life was like for them in their own country. Everyone was shocked to find out just how similar to us they are. I’m not just talking about their personalities, but the culture they lived in. The food, the music, and even the things they do for fun. I found it rather simple to be assimilated into their lives.

The most important thing I learned from being there is that all those things that I heard about Israel as a child were true after all. It wasn’t a magical place where people could shoot fire from their hands, but it was magical in that all the people there shared one thing. A love for their home land. A love for one another. A love that no fighting, and no war can ever take away. In that sense, Israel truly is a magical place. I do plan on making another visit back to Israel in the near future. In the short time that I was there I was a part of their community, and shared similar feelings of patriotism. It is solely this reason, and the will to learn Hebrew that I would like to go back.

Thank you to the Jewish Federation of the Desert for assisting us with some funding to help me to experience Israel.

Todah Rabah,
David Solowitz