January 17th: A World Away

Friends and family alike, when I told them of my upcoming trip to Israel, wished me the same sentiment: “Be safe.” While the thought was based on caring and affection, I couldn’t help but be disconcerted. My trip was through Birthright, an opportunity for 18 to 26 year old Jews to go to the Holy Land to experience all of the magic of what the Jewish homeland had to offer. Falling off a beautiful mountain should have been the only real risk to my health and wellbeing.

Unfortunately that isn’t the picture in the minds of most Americans when thinking of Israel. The images of war, conflict, and hate are all-too prevalent. Israel is almost always the first two syllables, followed swiftly by “Palestinian Conflict.”

This was, though, not my first trip. I had been to Israel once before, although in a far less structured function. It was especially difficult to reconcile what I knew about Israel with what others knew, or at the very least claimed to know. I felt myself as conflicted as the land supposedly was.

It was on the very first day that this conflict was challenged outright. As part of our tour, we had the chance to go to an olive oil manufacturing plant, where they harvest the olives and produce a wide variety of products from the plants, from food oils to skin creams and more. The owner was there to greet us, and he did with a smile and a demeanor that didn’t seem unlike everyone’s favorite Jewish uncle.

He spoke for a few moments about the process of making his products and the idea behind his creation of the company. Quickly, though, he changed the subject.

“I’m sure you will find, in your travels in this beautiful land, that everyone you meet is nice to you, friendly, and helpful.” He said. He went on to say that these people were trying to show us the real Israel.

“You don’t make a 65 year investment in hate. We are making an investment into a land where we can be a people, where we can put down roots and grow. We make that investment in love. There is this belief that we wake up in the morning full of hate, grabbing our guns. You can’t survive like that. You don’t make an investment in hate. It would kill you.”

I was instantly struck by his words. I rolled them around in my head for the remainder of my ten day trip, and for the week since my return. He was absolutely right. Everywhere we went we found happy, helpful people who wanted to show us how incredible Israel is. The land is beautiful, and the people are as well.

We have such a skewed idea of what it means to go to and live in Israel. We paint a one-dimensional picture. Yet, that fails so wholly to appreciate the complexity of it. There isn’t a single person living in Israel who doesn’t know someone who has lost their life fighting for their country. Conflict and war definitely exists.  Our tour showed countless locations where battles, armaments, and the picture of war still very much stains the earth. But the land is also filled with craftsmen, painting over that beauty.

People greeted us with open arms, offering to teach us about their country and help us with the language barrier. We found kindness running through the streets, history rich with culture, and a modern society that just doesn’t look that different from any American city. In fact, there were a great many places I would rather be in Israel after dark than downtown Chicago.

These people are making a commitment to the land. They want to create homes, make businesses, and raise children to live in the land. They want all of the same things that Americans of all people should understand. The notion of winning freedom is an equally American concept, which is one of the reasons that I believe American-Israeli relations have always been so important. We, in the United States, though, can’t really honor our end of the friendship if we believe that Israel is a cruel, dangerous place. We need to understand our allies if we are to truly call them our friends.

Not once on my trip did I feel scared for my safety. I felt like, if my health were in jeopardy, I would have 7.9 million family members waiting to help.