I first fell in love with Israel last winter break when I traveled to the country on a Birthright trip, a free ten-day excursion to Israel for people aged 18-26. After spending the summer in Jerusalem through a Harvard Summer School Study Abroad program, I knew I had to go back this winter break. After doing some research, I decided to go on Hasbara, another two-week peer trip. On Hasbara, 39 other college students and I got the opportunity to travel around Israel. Whereas Birthright’s purpose is to give young people a taste of what Israel is really like (hint: it’s not a violence-ridden warzone), Hasbara exists to teach college students about the truth of the political situation in Israel and how to bring that information back to campus. This difference in perspective was significant, and I appreciated it. As someone who has always kept Israel close to her heart, I was so happy to be taught concrete facts and details about the good that Israel does.
A big part of the learning experience was the extensive travel that we did. Considering that Israel is the size of New Jersey and the populated area is only the size of Rhode Island, it wasn’t too difficult to see the whole country: in only two weeks, we traveled as far north as the Golan Heights and as far south as the city of Sderot. In my previous experiences in Israel, I had mostly spent time in Jerusalem, so it was wonderful to be exposed to other areas.
Being in Sderot was especially meaningful. Sderot, an Israeli city which is very close to the Hamas-controlled Gaza strip, is constantly subjected to terrorist rocket fire. Once a rocket is detected and the red alert is sounded, Sderot residents have 15 seconds to get to a bomb shelter. When I was in Jerusalem this summer, I only experienced two red alerts, and it was incredibly scary. It really freaked me out to know that somebody was actively trying to kill me and my friends by sending a rocket in our direction. Being in Sderot and seeing the town’s collection of defused rockets, I could not imagine what it must be like to have to run to a bomb shelter multiple times a week.
Arguably the most moving part of the trip for me was when we went to the city of Hebron, which is in the West Bank (a disputed territory). Our tour guide stopped us outside of an apartment building, where a coffee urn that was pockmarked with bullet holes was perched on a low wall. He told us that the coffee urn was always left out by the people living in Hebron for soldiers who were passing through and needed a pick-me-up. This act of lovingkindness saved the people of Hebron: when a terrorist opened fire on the civilian town, the coffee urn took most of the bullets and nobody was killed. This story truly floored me, showing the inestimable import of doing kind things for others.
My trip to Israel wasn’t only defined by the political aspect; it was also just incredibly fun to walk around the medieval streets of Safed, to take advantage of the active nightlife in glittering Tel Aviv, to soak in the history of Jerusalem, to just exist in this country. Israel is a truly amazing place, and it was a privilege to be there this winter break.