by Kevin Rabinowitz, Atlanta Birthright Alumni, August 2014

I arrived at the airport four and a half hours before my flight for the first time in…forever. Once I met everyone I would be traveling around Israel with, I wanted more time so I can get to know all of them before our 15 hour journey to the Homeland. After talking with only a few people from the group, I knew that these 31 people would become some of my lifelong friends. It wasn’t because they were cool and outgoing, but more because they were just as excited for this trip as I was.

We went to New York, then after being blessed with the best exit seat known to man, we were on our way to Israel. A short 9 hours later, we arrived in Tel-Aviv. We were all sleep deprived, but you couldn’t tell. We started the two hour drive to the hotel, where we greeted by a dinner that only the king’s and queen’s servants would eat. Who cares! We all saw it as a time to look into the future of the trip.

Every day was a “wake up at 6:30 am and go to sleep at 1 am.” Not many people had a good night’s sleep, but nobody ever slept in enough to miss the bus the next day. Our adventures included a handful of hikes, climbs and adventures. We went as far north as the Golan Heights and as far south as Ben Gurion’s grave and spent a night at the Bedouin tents. We traveled hundreds of miles by bus and many miles by foot.

I had two highlights of my trip. First, the highlight that will stay with me the longest was meeting 8 Israelis that became a part of our trip. What’s unique about these 8 people were that they were either past or present members of the Israeli army. They had stories and experiences that nobody in our group could match. They traveled with us for 5 nights and our entire group really bonded with them. When we went to Mt. Herzl, the cemetery for soldiers that died while fighting for Israel, one Israeli told us that a good friend of his, who he was with for years, was buried in the grave that we were talking about. “Unfortunately, this is what life is like in Israel. You never know what’s going to happen next.” Spending time with those 8 individuals really made me take a step back in life and be fortunate and thankful to have what I have and be where I am.

The second highlight of my trip was our Friday night at the Western Wall. Our bus met up with other Birthright groups that were in Israel. They included a bus from Canada, New York, Germany, Venezuela and a bus with people from various parts of America. We all joined together and danced to different songs and prayers. From there, the guys and girls separated and went to their respected sides of the Wall. We joined a group of men and danced to prayers like there was no tomorrow. The feeling of being in Israel, a country that is in the middle of a huge battle with Gaza, watching everyone be happy and enjoying life, really made my trip. I only knew the guys on my trip, but I never thought jumping around in circles and screaming “Od yavoshalom aleynu” would ever be so much fun.

Now that we are all back in America, the bonding of everyone on the trip hasn’t even thought about stopping. We have realized that we will be best friends forever and nothing will get in the way of that. At the end of the trip, we all realized that our favorite times weren’t going out on the town or going out in Haifa, but instead, realizing what “being Jewish” really means. With the help of our tour guide, Shabat, as a group we all changed and have so much respect for Israel and the fact of being Jewish.

Shabbat Shalom,

Kevin Rabinowitz

Atlanta Birthright Alumni

August 2014