SH-22-308's blog

As I look back on the past ten days, I, a woman of too many words, can sum up this experience in one word- TRANSFORMATIVE.

My Taglit Birthright journey started way before our arrival to Ben Gurion airport on June 17, but instead it started when I decided last year that I wanted to make dating jewish guys a priority. I may have had many free meals and drinks along the way, but I have gained more than a "dating meal plan"- I have gained a more explicit Jewish identity.

Right now I am sitting on a bus on the way from Jerusalem to the Ben Gurion airport with 44 wonderful people.  We joke around around, we scream, and we have a great time. It's hard to believe that we've known each other for only ten days, it feels like we've known each other for years. I feel like we're like family.
 
I have lived my whole life in Israel and I'm so proud of this country, but I feel that it's really easy to take it for granted. The main population in Israel is Jewish so you don't think about it too much. This experience really made me think about what being a Jew is, asking those important questions like, "Is believing in God important to your Jewish identity" or "Should Jews marry other Jews?"

The fusion of local spices, warm fresh baked rugula and hot falafel permeates the air in the Machaneh Yehuda market place.

The "Chosen" team haggles for a sweet bunch of Isaeli dates which will be perfectly balanced with the sour fresh feta we procured from the pushy market man around the corner... the challenge is to create a salad for shabat - presentation, creativity, and edibiility will earn the team points, but the exercise is so much more than a competition.

Not everyone knew that joining The Challenge would be so physically exhausting. We all give up control of when we eat, where we go and what we do when we get there (I promise there's a bathroom in 45 minutes!). Tough days and late nights can lead to some pretty rough mornings... here's what 5am after three days of intense challenges looks like.

Video from Today's Desert Challenge

All of us leading the program on the ground as well as everyone at Shorashim and Birthright are honored and humbled to have been featured in The Jerusalem Post.
http://www.jpost.com/LocalIsrael/AroundIsrael/Article.aspx?id=179227
We can't take all the credit though. If fact, I'm not sure we can take any credit, and you would think the same if you had the privilege of traveling and discovering Israel in a whole new, challenging way with these 41 amazing participants.
 
-Madrichim Benji, Dana and Lior (In alphabetical order, of course...)

Hello, My name is Michael Amiraslani, the Co-President of Team Canada here on our Shorashim adventure challenge. Us few Canadians on this trip have been bundled together (much like how eggs and bacon are commonly bundled with maple syrup in every household around the world) by one our humble leaders on this invaluable experience. Humility is what I am going to talk about on this post; thoughts which have been stimulated by some if the most fascinating young men and women I have had the privage of meeting: our Israeli soldiers.

Probably the most intense challenge for me so far was the bike path at Bruma Road (Derech Bruma) outside Jerusalem. We went off-road riding through the mountains and the temperature was a balmy 42 degrees Centigrade, or 108 Farenheit for those of you reading in the U.S. of A.

Last night, we were seperated into groups and given topics to discuss, all about different Jewish and/or Israeli conflicts. We were given about an hour to discuss 5 topics. We started off skeptical about discussing our lives and our Jewish heritage, but within 30 seconds, we couldn't stop the conversation, so much so that we only got through 3 and could have continued talking all night.

The Israel Challenge takes on the Old City of Jerusalem: