There Are No Words
The halls are quiet and even the staff has settled down for the night. It's hard to believe that our journey is drawing to an end. The tears have already started to flow and we've all begun to wonder what happens next.
We shared a wonderful and restorative Shabbat, beginning with a conversation based on a poem about puzzle pieces by Rabbi Lawrence Kushner (http://www.primepuzzle.com/kushner.html). Each person on this trip, staff and participants alike, has been touched so deeply by the others. We wanted to give the group ample time to reflect on that. It's clear that the power of this experience is not lost on them.
After beautiful and musical Shabbat services, we enjoyed yet another excellent dinner and then an evening of games. Ask about the Pterodactyl game and how we all laughed til we cried with one staff member and one participant going head to head as screeching dinosaurs.
Our services on Shabbat morning played host to celebrations for two participants, one who marked becoming a Bar Mitzvah and another who both took on a Hebrew name as well as marking becoming a Bar Mitzvah. Three participants and one Israeli joined staff in reading from the Torah. A team of players did a remarkable job acting out the Torah portion. And the two Bnei Mitzvah spoke beautifully about the power of Judaism in their lives and the reasons they wanted to acknowledge this rite of passage here in Israel with us.
Before lunch we gathered together for a spirited round of the Four Corners game, in which a statement is read and each person needs to select a corner of the room based on Strongly Agree, Agree, Disagree and Strongly Disagree. As you might imagine, the conversation, which focused on statements of Jewish values and our relationship to Israel, grew intense at times. We broke for lunch and to catch our breath. Our guide took a group to a beautiful lookout spot near the hotel after lunch, while others stayed back to sleep, shmooze and play cards.
The processing of an experience like this is one of the most important parts. With each group we hold a closing conversation which allows them to reflect on the time we have spent together. Some of those conversations are more compelling than others. After a game in which small groups each took a page of the itinerary to narrate and act out (to the raucous laughter of all assembled), we invited participants to reflect on what was most meaningful for them on this trip. Each speaker needed to hold a ball of yarn in their hands and as it was passed from hand to hand and speaker to speaker, we wove a beautiful web across the room. I'm not sure I can describe the conversation. Though there were comments on camels and nature walks and picking oranges, most of the comments centered on what it meant to be together. "Here I could be myself and everyone accepted me." "I've never felt like part of a group before." "I've never had friends before." "Aside from when I'm in front of a computer, this is the first time in my life I've been happy to be alive."
There are no words.
We'll leave the hotel at 6:15 tomorrow morning for the airport. Our flight is scheduled to arrive at JFK at 3:45pm. You can anticipate that it will take anywhere from half an hour to an hour for us collect our luggage and go through passport control and customs. We'll come into the arrivals terminal and set ourselves up where we can find seating, most likely to our right as we come out the door from customs. Those with connecting flights will be escorted by chaperones, as they were on arrival. One participant has invited anyone leaving by car who isn't in a hurry to join her family for Kosher Chinese food near the airport. Really, they don't want to let go of one another.
I may be able to post an update from airport tomorrow, but in case that isn't possible, a few thank yous are very much in order.
To Sharna Marcus and Shorashim, for yeoman's work on the organization and logistics of this trip, which, as you can imagine, are greater than the number of participants would suggest.
To Amy Silver Judd for helping to interview our participants, their parents and their therapists and/or life care coordinators.
To Darin Argentar, for interviewing participants, parents and therapists and for stewarding our group with good humor, gentle strength and incredible skill, giving well beyond the call of duty.
To Ori Bar Yosef, tour educator and goat lover extraordinaire, for helping us see Israel in a meaningful and impactful way, for knowing all there is to know, but wanting to know more and for responding to our participants with kindness and love.
To Tali Cohen, Emily Kieval, Arik Samuels and Dave Weiss, for jumping in with both feet to an experience they could hardly imagine and falling in love with each of our 20 participants, each on their own terms. Your children were in the strongest, gentlest, most trustworthy and kindest hands.
(Let me say that I can't imagine a better staff than Darin, Ori, Tali, Emily, Arik and Dave. I learned more from all of them than I could ever describe.)
To the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, for making a statement about access to Jewish life for all by sponsoring this program and transforming lives.
To the many private donors who funded the costs of this trip above the Taglit-Birthright Israel allocation. Know that you made a significant difference. You changed the world.
A final thank you to you, for entrusting your children to us for these ten days. It's true that the literature refers to the Taglit-Birthright Israel 'gift' when describing this trip. I'm just not sure they really understand how many of us are the beneficiaries of that gift, well beyond the travelers themselves.
I can only imagine how difficult it is for our participants to leave the very sacred community which we have built together over these past ten days. I hope that, when they've recovered from their travels, they will regale you with tales of wonder and share the many pictures and videos they took along the way. We hope they will use their facility with technology to stay connected; thanks to the internet, this experience really can last forever. And we hope that from this day forward, to paraphrase the words of Rabbi Nahman of Bratslav, 'Wherever they are going, they are going to Israel...together."
Shavua Tov -- Wishing you a wonderful week.
Rabbi Elyse Winick
KOACH Director
