The End of an Incredible Journey
By Eric Shamberg
Fifty strangers get on a bus for the first time. When your friends tell you about Birthright, it is only described as an amazing experience - the people you meet, the things you learn, but it's hard to understand something so unfamiliar. At this point in our lives, it's rare that we're not constantly surrounded by close friends or family, but by where we are going and what we will be doing. Or so you think...
Life is full of awkward moments. Almost every day we try to put ourselves in situations that keep us inside our comfort zones. No one wants to feel out of place or as though they don't belong. And yet we chose to spend the next 10 days of our lives with roughly 50 people we've never met. So how, within 48 hours, was the feeling that these people were more like old friends than new acquaintances? As though we've known each other for months rather than days. Maybe it's because of the program that Birthright creates for us. Maybe it's because of our incredible leaders who pushed us to do and feel things we otherwise wouldn't have. Or maybe it's because 50 people who had never met bought into an idea based solely on a mutual bond we share, being Jewish, and that we only just realized the impact that bond can have.
Every person has a story, and learning part of each person's story has been one of my favorite parts of this trip. It's been the simple things, like just sitting on the bus or in a group at a Kibbutz, telling stories of our lives and what we have all been through to get to this point. We've all had difficult moments in our lives, all struggled to figure out who we are, what we want, where we want to go and it's sharing these experiences with others that helps you grow as a person. Talking with college graduates who just finished four incredible years of college, about to embark on the rest of their adult lives, and sharing what going through that was like for me. Learning from and hearing stories of the soldiers who have served their country. Who have dreams of what they will do as their tours on duty are coming to a close, or already have. But it was the times we just sat in a circle for hours, discussing what we feel about the trip, what values are most important in Judaism, the Shabbat traditions within each of our families, what the Holocaust meant to us and the stories of those in our families that survived it or sadly didn't, and how it has touched each of our lives. Moments like that are ones you won't soon forget.
It wasn't just the people that made these last 10 days special. It was only 48 hours into the trip that we stood atop the Golan Heights and watched a war waging in Syria, just thousands of feet in front of us. Smoke from shooting tanks filling the air. It's sometimes hard to understand what war really is, but when it's directly in front of you, so close you can hear it... That changes everything. We traveled from city to city, from Tzfat to Tel Aviv, from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, from Jerusalem to the Negev. We sat in the room where the Declaration of Independence was signed. We stood in front of the Western Wall where millions before us who have meant so much to our religion have stood. We walked through Yad Vashem, the Holocaust museum that gives tribute to all those who were put through a tragedy that changed the path of our people forever. We climbed Masada, gazing upon a view at the top so incredible it truly overwhelms you, later sharing in a Bar/Bat Mitzvah service where those involved once again touched each of us with speeches of just how special this trip has been. And after 10 days of traveling this country, I think we all now know just how special of a place Israel really is.
But to me, the most special part of the trip came on the last full day, when the collective group was at its peak of exhaustion. Patience and energy wearing thin, we went to visit the cemetery in Jerusalem where hundreds if not thousands of soldiers are buried. It took only minutes of being there for the attitude of the group to completely change. Visiting a place like that with current and former soldiers who told stories of those they knew that passed was a truly breathtaking experience, and one that really put life into perspective for each and every one of us. We get so consumed in small aspects of our own lives, sometimes it takes experiences like that to remind us just how blessed each and every one of us is to have lived the lives we have, and to still be standing here today. That was something I will never forget.
In a world so consumed by social media, with everyone posting and sharing everything that happens to them, it's difficult not to constantly compare your life to everyone else's. However, I can confidently say that for the past nine days, there is nowhere in the world I would have rather been than right here. And after the last nine days, there is no one in the world I would have rather spent this time with. Appreciative and thankful are two words that have been thrown out a lot this trip, but there are probably no words to describe how lucky we are to have been given the opportunity to experience everything we have been through together.
Fifty strangers get back on a bus for one last time. Only now we are anything but strangers. We left our friends and family to create a bond that can truly only be described as family in every sense of the word. It's hard to think that after spending every second of the day with these people, it may be a while before I see them again. It's sad to think about, but at the same time that's just how life is; you meet people and experience things with them, but you can't keep every one of them in your every day life. So some will continue their travels abroad, or go back to their jobs in the United States. Others back to serving their country or continuing their education. But no matter how much time passes, nothing will take away from the experiences we've shared together on this trip. The things we learned together and the memories we made together. But we will see each other again and relive this incredible journey all over-that I can be sure of!
