A 'birthright israel' Trip is Experiential Learning at its Best!

By Rabbi Hershey Novack, Director of Chabad on Campus

Thirty-eight young people, mostly St. Louis students ages 18 to 26, took their first group journey to Israel recently and I was in charge. This is my fourth birthright israel trip, and each time I go, it’s like experiencing Israel for the first time. I ‘live vicariously’ through the students’ experience. I am able to teach as well as learn with the students in an immersive environment for 10 days.

The trip is experiential learning at its best and Israel is the greatest blackboard ever created. Giving young people this experience is one of the premier methods of engaging them with the beauty and meaning of our Jewish heritage. One of the strengths of birthright is that each participant can appreciate Israel from his or her own perspective and background. The trip is designed to enable a broad range of students to fit in comfortably.

For many students, the trip was profoundly spiritual. For others, it was meaningful on other levels. For one student, the trip was about architecture. Everywhere we went, he explained the architectural significance of the space. Who built it. The techniques they used. In many ways the trip is about developing connections with the land of Israel, the people, the heritage and with each other.

Our group participated in the Mifgsashim program. This is where a birthright israel group hosts a number of Israeli soldiers as participants on the trip to help American participants get to know their Israeli peers and help put a personal face on the trip. Our group hosted members of the Israeli army’s search-and-rescue team which travels all over the world to assist after disasters.

Everyone enjoyed the sightseeing. They were wide-eyed as they visited Golan Heights, Safed, Tel Aviv, Jaffa, the Negev and Masada. They rode camels, jeeps, donkeys and cable cars. They even went out on a boat ride on the Kinneret Lake. They visited the Western Wall to welcome the Shabbat. They also toured Hebrew University and visited St. Louis’ Partnership 2000 sister-city region, Yokne’am Megiddo, where they worked with a group of underprivileged learning disabled kids to do challenging activities and saw the region’s community synagogue--which has a glass wall with a spectacular view of the Jezreel Valley. Chabad Rabbi Noam Dekel is the community rabbi of that area, and he met with our group. I look forward to going back to Yokne’am Megiddo with future groups.

In Jerusalem, the group literally touched history! They visited a new archeological area that allows visitors to sort through excavated earth from the Temple Mount. The earth was thrown out by the Muslim clerics who control the area, and now this salvaged landfill, much of which dates back to the Second Temple era, is being sluiced. Many important historical artifacts are being unearthed.

Along the way there were surprises, such as running into the large number of St. Louisans who our group “just happened” to meet. For example, we visited a secular kibbutz in the north of Israel, El Rom, the site of an important battle during the Yom Kippur war. The program that day was introduced by a St. Louisan who had made aliyah in the 1970’s. Later, our group met an executive, a former St. Louisan, who is with a high-tech firm. He talked to the group about Jewish ethics and values in the workplace. At the birthright israel mega-event, we met a Washington University parent who made aliyah. At Mt. Hertzl we met other St. Louisans at who serve on the birthright israel foundation board. We even met Christian tourists from Missouri in Jerusalem!

Parents often ask me about the security situation in Israel. Every trip I take reminds me that while there never is a perfect time to visit Israel, the professionalism of the birthright israel security personal and procedures are first-class. With nearly 99,000 participants to date, and zero terrorism related incidents (thank G-d), they are clearly doing something right.

Birthright israel is successful because it is a collaborative effort -- an international partnership of philanthropists, the Jewish Agency for Israel, the Israeli government and Jewish Federations across the country. I think this is  reflective of the wonderful potential that there is for collaboration between Chabad and the Jewish Federations.

In broader terms, it is possible that in a generation from now, historians will look back on birthright israel as having a galvanizing impact on Jewish youth, somewhat akin to the impact of the Six-Day War. Each time I’ve led a group, I’ve seen the profound effect this experience has on young people’s sense of Jewish identity. If there is to be a Jewish tomorrow, the community must reach out to its youth today, engaging and inspiring them with the values and meaning of Judaism.

Source: jewishinstlouis.org, February 9, 2006