It’s been over 6 years since this trip. I compiled these entries relying on a combination of memory and the trip journal I kept at the time. Okay, mostly the trip journal – my memory’s not that good. But in doing so, I had occasion to think about the trip a lot more than I had in a long time.
A lot of it makes me cringe. The massive duffel bags on wheels packed full of everything from six pairs of shoes to hairdryers with voltage converters that nearly burned up the hotel rooms. The party-hardy atmosphere, the immaturity, the throwing up in the hallways at 3am. The various hook-ups and break-ups, all in the space of a 10-day trip. The sleeping on the floor in one another’s hotel rooms in order to give our roommates some “privacy”. The naive political outlook. The abundance of fast-food lunches. The being herded around like sheep, the group activities, the campy atmosphere, the nametags – the nametags!!! I look back on it now and wonder, what on earth was I thinking?
But ironically, this was the trip that started it all. To be sure, I’d travelled abundantly prior to this trip, but it was always with family. This was the first trip I went on strictly with friends. The first tour. I had a great time. I discovered I liked to travel. I discovered I even liked tours. (Solo travel would come later). I came home with the travel bug and started saving for Europe. Six years and nearly 30 countries later, I’m still a travelaholic. Sure, I travel with a much smaller backpack now, and have thankfully learned to leave the hairdryer at home where it belongs, but everyone has to start somewhere.
Israel, too, has changed immensely in the past six years. In 2001, the country was reeling from the first few months of a war that it had no way of knowing would drag on, and on. We stayed in places like Neve Ilan, Tiberias and Netanya – Netanya, site of the infamous 2002 Passover Massacre – because they were ostensibly “safer” than the major centres of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. Go figure. I went back three years later on a reunion tour and to visit some friends, and the country was only partway along the recovery path, as far as tourism was concerned. (It was July, so that helped, too). Since then, there’s been the Gaza withdrawal, the security fence, a Prime Minister who’d only just been elected at the time and is now in a coma, another Lebanon War, an existential threat from Iran, blackmail from Saudi Arabia, and another looming US election that threatens to make it into a pawn. Globally, the world is a vastly different place as well. At the time I took this trip, 9/11 hadn’t happened yet. The Iraq war hadn’t happened yet. I look back on my political thoughts at the time and wonder sometimes what on earth I was thinking.
None of that is what stands out in my mind, though. I don’t remember this trip for its politics or its security issues – neither of which encroached much on the experience. Instead, I remember the nights out on the town. The beautiful hikes in the desert. Riding a camel. Walking along the beach. Two thousand Jewish participants from around the world coming together for a resounding chorus of Hatikva.
I fully support the Birthright program – I think it’s amazing. It has accomplished so much, reconnecting thousands of young Jewish people around the world to Israel – not the religious, historical Israel, but the modern, thriving Israel. (In fact, I’ve said many times that the Canadian government should start a Birthright program of its own, sending young Quebecois separatists to Banff or Whistler for a week of snowboarding and partying, for free, after which they’d surely all become converted federalists. Air Canada could provide the flights. They owe us, with all those government bail-outs. But I digress…) I’ve traveled to so many places since then, and hope to travel to many more. But they all feel like “somewhere else”. Israel is the only place I’ve ever been that is decidedly different, and yet always feels like coming home.
If you are eligible for this free trip, or know anyone who is, I strongly encourage you to go. You can visit Oranim Canada or Taglit-Birthright’s Homepage to learn more.