Last week I was a counselor on Ramaz's 8th Grade Israel Trip. (Ramaz is a religious day-school from Manhattan). I spent a week traveling with the kids and their teachers ALL OVER Israel. It was an incredibly exciting, exhausting, fun, crazy, hard, and interesting week. I think the most interesting part, for me at least, was getting to experience Israel once again through the eyes of outsiders.
My favorite parts of the trip were the bus rides. I would sit with the kids and just look out the window with them and gush about how much I loved the country. It made me feel so good to explain to them about the places we were going and the things they saw and to give it a personal touch.
It was pretty weird to be with a bus full of people who viewed Israel as a place where they frequently vacation, but not as home. I wonder what kind of connection they feel they have to this place. I tried to get a sense while they were here, but I'm still not sure. I don't know what its like anymore to not feel that everything I see is "mine", I wonder if they feel a similar sense of possession even if they don't live here...
These kids were 8th graders and the focus of the trip was "fun connection to Israel" rather than an educational tour, so I wondered how much they really took away from the trip. When, during the summary activity the night before they left, one of the kids said that even though he had been here many times before he had never realized just how beautiful Israel is. Even if he took nothing else from the trip, other than a great time with his friends. I feel like something has been accomplished: another person in this world recognizes Israel's beauty. If even one of those kids moves here one day, or dedicates their life to the support and betterment of the State of Israel then my time with them has been a success.
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