Sunday, January 17, 2016

January 17th: Life Changing Requires "Change"

Over the past several weeks, Israel has welcomed hundreds, even thousands of young visitors. Birthright participants from all across North America have flooded the holy sites and attractions of the Holy Land, hoping to give young adults just a small snapshot of the beauty that this country has to offer.


In my news feed, I have seen many friends return from their journeys and take to social media to proclaim the amazing time that has been had. It is always a lovely thing to see someone catch the contagious love for Israel that so many Jews know, and to be moved to a more profound connection to not only the land, but also the Jewish people.


Just one of the beautiful sights to see in Tel Aviv.
I have to say, though, that there is one phrase that continuously makes me cringe. I see it over and over, especially in reference to Birthright, and I think it is an incredibly beautiful idea, but only if we actually believe it. I am constantly seeing people use the term “life-changing.” “My 10 days in Israel were life-changing.” “This group of people changed my life.” “I am changed by this experience.”


I absolutely believe that a life can be changed in 10 days. In fact, I hope that Birthright does change lives. But far too many people are saying those words, only to return home and fall right back into who they were before they left.


I went on Birthright in 2014. It was a wonderful opportunity for me to see the country that so many call home and that is such an important part of my Jewish identity. It was my second visit to Israel, but, for most in my group, it was a first experience. By the time we finished, many were saying that they had had a life-changing experience, and that the way they connect with their Judaism was going to be different when they got home.


Well, the next week, at Hillel, I saw many of those fresh faces show up for services, welcomed with open arms to enjoy the warmth of Shabbat as a community. Within a few weeks, though, they were almost entirely gone. What had started as a profoundly moving religious and cultural experience turned into a stamp on the passport and a memory, readily available if one wanted to take it down and look at it.


We say that Birthright changed our lives, but what that means is that our lives actually have to change. We have to change the way we think about Israel, the way we advocate for Israel. We have to adapt our religious experiences, our practices, our rituals and our customs. We have to be willing to let the impact of Israel endure beyond the ten days, beyond the two weeks, beyond the memory of the visit to the physical sites of our homeland.


That isn’t meant to say anyone’s experience in Israel is invalid, or that returning home to the lifestyles we are familiar with is wrong. But if we want to allow Birthright and similar trips to Israel to actually be as life-changing as we say they are, we have to be willing to let them into the way we live, and to allow them to actually leave a ripple that endures beyond the trip.

So play with the traditions and cultures you learned while you were in Israel. Try observing Shabbat in a more intentional way. Go to a cultural event at your local Jewish community center. Eat differently, pray differently, advocate differently. Israel is a life-changing place, but only so long as we allow our lives to actually be changed by the things we experience.

Sunday, January 10, 2016

January 10th: Proving American Greatness

This political season has been fascinating, more so because I have been spending mine out of the country. This year more than any in my voting lifetime (admittedly short voting lifetime), the country is facing a fundamental decision as to what sort of country we want to be, and how the future of America should look.

Living abroad for much of this year, it has been fascinating to see how the landscape has been shaped. While my Facebook newsfeed tells a story of a dominant Bernie Sanders sweeping across the nation, the polls still see Hillary as a frontrunner. We have 13 Republican candidates running, and yet we only seem to be able to talk about two at a time, and one of them has to be Donald Trump. Trump is causing a cataclysmic backlash from most of the country, or so it seems, leaving many to scratch their heads at how this loud-mouthed bigot ever got his name on a ballot in the first place.

Sitting in my apartment in Jerusalem, I found myself asking the question: how did we get here? How did we, as a country, become so divided, so polarized? How did we turn our elections process into a grudge match, in many cases begging politicians to offend and create news, rather than actually forcing them to tell us how they will make the country better?

As I returned home for a two week winter break, I discovered something discomforting: I don’t know the answer to these questions, but those in America don’t either. From only 13 days in the country, I could feel a profound sense of bewilderment across the nation, nobody quite sure how we got ourselves into the situation in which we find ourselves, and even less sure of what we can do to get ourselves out.

The greatest obstacle to a well-functioning political system is confusion. When we, as American voters, don’t know which direction to turn, we often will find ourselves following the voices that play off of our fears and doubts, rather than the ones who can lead us in the truest direction. Fear is, after all, what has gotten us into this situation in the first place. We are afraid for the safety, security, and success of the future of this country, and we want to make sure that our elected official is going to be able to do what it takes to fix it.

As the primaries inch closer, it’s time to turn our backs on the fear and turn off the voices that try to inspire us with false senses of security. We have to stop talking about how, if the election doesn’t go our way, we are moving to Canada. We have to stop looking for reasons to hate one another, and to start looking for places where we can actually govern, and look for the candidates who will be able to do just that. We have to stop allowing politicians to run on platforms that are not only bigoted and wrong, but also unconstitutional and, in some cases, illegal.

We keep sitting around waiting for the Donald Trump situation to go away, but it looks like the sad reality is that we are going to have to take him seriously. If we, not only as Democrats and Republicans, but as Americans want a government that will speak for our values and continue to prove to be worthy of the greatness of our country, then we need to work hard to encourage educated voting and allow easy access to information about what the future of our nation might look like.

Even from abroad, I feel a profound sense of love for my home. At a certain point, Americans need to stand up collectively and take ownership of the elections process, and to demand candidates who will not fear monger or spread hate, but will give true and valuable ways in which they hope to bring about peace and success for all Americans.

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