On Thursday, we woke up early, had a group wrapup discussion, went out to lunch, and headed to the airport. After 3 hours at the airport, an 11 hour flight, 1 hour going through customs, and 1.5 hours on the train, I am HOME! And exhausted.
Just a couple of final thoughts from the trip before I go to sleep for the next year or so:
Israel is an amazing place. It's beautiful and diverse (at least in geography) and impressively ancient. It's strange and kind of great to be in a place where Judaism is the dominant culture rather than a minority. Like any other country, Israel is certainly imperfect, and I definitely don't agree with a lot of what I saw. However, I still experienced it as a very special place. I certainly don't intend to make aliyah, but I would love to go back sometime. I would love to have more time to explore Tzfat, Yad Vashem, the markets in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, visit Eilat, spend more time with my cousins, and relax on the beach for a whole day.
The concept of "birthright" is still problematic for me. The land of Israel (especially Jerusalem) is sacred to many different religions and ethnic groups for different reasons. Although I agree with the concept of a Jewish state, I don't think that it is practical or even a good idea to completely implement it. I particularly get how after the Holocaust, it seemed important to create a safe haven for Jews to go to if needed. However, Jews can't afford to isolate ourselves or exclude others. If every Jew in the world moved to Israel - well, first of all, there wouldn't be nearly enough room - but also, people growing up outside of Israel wouldn't know anyone Jewish, and ignorance breeds hatred. I think it's important for Jewish people to be a part of the global community, and part of that is being inclusive. There is no reason why Jews and Muslims and Christians can't live side by side as fellow citizens of the same country. And if we all have an equal claim to the land, then the concept of "birthright" as a thing only for Jews makes no sense.
That being said, the biggest takeaway I have from this trip is the amazing welcome my group had. Every Israeli we met seemed so happy to see us. The vibe was not "Welcome to our country, visitor!", but rather "Welcome home, you belong here, we're so happy you're here!" Although Israel is of course the Jewish state, I never considered it a home, but it certainly felt like one. I had also never really thought of the global Jewish community as an extended family, but I now see that in some ways, it is.
In my first post here, I wrote about how I don't like it when people greet me as a "member of the tribe." Post-Israel, I still think it's a really awkward thing to say, but I kind of get it. Even though there are a lot of Jewish people in the world from all walks of life, we all share a common heritage, tradition, and ancestry that does connect us in many ways. "Jewish" is only one part of my complex personal identity, but it is an important part. This is something that I want to hold onto over the rest of my life. Even if I'm not religious, it's still important to me that I'm Jewish.
Thanks all for reading and coming on this journey with me! I hope you enjoyed - I sure did!
Much love,
Amy
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