An amazing year of sights, sounds and brotherhood in Israel

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I’ve been privileged to spend the past year studying in Jerusalem. Everywhere I go, I feel a sense of love and brotherhood with my fellow Jews. The beauty of the entire land is like nothing I’ve ever experienced.

From the time I stepped off the plane, I felt that I had come home. To hear people speaking in Hebrew, and know that everyone is a brother, was an experience that I had never imagined.  

In my first month, my school class  took a trip to Eilat, in the south of Israel. On the way, we stopped at Mitzpei Rimon, a scenic overlook with a breathtaking view of a crater. We stood at the edge and watched the sun rise over God’s land with a sense of awe at the beauty of it all.  

In Eilat, we rented a boat and went out onto the sparkling waters of the Red Sea. We had the opportunity to scuba dive, and I saw fish that I had never seen before: everything was so bright and colorful, I felt like I was in an undersea paradise. 

The first time that I went to The Shuk, the open-air market in Jerusalem, I was amazed by the sounds, sights, and smells, and the sheer diversity of the crowd – American tourists, Arab vendors, Haredi Jews, secular Jews … people of every stripe and type. The raw energy that one feels walking down Ben Yehuda Street is hard to describe and nothing short of amazing. One stall sold fruits, the next freshly ground spices, the next carrot juice. It is a microcosm of the entire land packed into less than four blocks.

Visiting the Old City was one of the first things I did in Jerusalem. Walking down the cobblestone streets that my ancestors walked hundreds of years before gave me an intense sense of connection – a feeling of history and destiny lies in the very stones of the pavements and the bricks of the houses.

But the strongest feeling of connection came when I stood before the Western Wall, one of the oldest structures from our history. The reminder that this is a remnant of the temple that once stood here gives a feeling of hope; the wall has witnessed the trials and travails of our nation and tells the story of our endurance through the ages.

During the summer I took a trip, a tiyul, to visit Netanya, a beautiful beach town in the north of Israel. There I experienced the whitest sand and bluest water I had ever seen – another testament to the beauty of the land. I traveled with a stunning group of people from all across the religious and ethnic spectrum, all spending time and enjoying God’s beauty together.

Tveryah, one of the ancient cities of Israel, was another incredible experience. We swam in the crystal-clear waters of the Kinneret and took an evening cruise to watch the sunset. Looking out at the water made me think about how different things would have been if we had been sent to settle in Uganda, as originally planned – instead of sitting at the northernmost end of the Rift Valley, I very well might have been sitting at its southern tip.

In the ancient and mystical city of Tzfat, there were interesting people on every corner of its quaint,  winding, cobblestoned streets. Tzfat is also home to an ancient graveyard, dating to the times of the Mishnah and the Talmud. Again, I felt the connection to my ancestors grow.

Another unforgettable experience was joining the Gadna, the youth brigade, for a short time. I got a firsthand look at the discipline and high moral standards of the Israeli army. It gave me a chance to be in close proximity with Israeli kids, and bond with them as we went through exercises and carried stretchers. I have lasting friendships from that experience.

My entire experience in Israel is one of forging bonds and making connections, which was only made possible through the generosity of the Jewish Alliance. I want to take this chance to express my deep gratitude to the Alliance for helping me make this trip a reality. I feel that I’ve learned, seen and grown so much during the past year, which would not have been possible without the generous help and support of the Alliance and the Providence Jewish community. 

I plan to continue my studies in Israel, and eventually to live there.

YAACOV SCHOCHET, of Providence, is studying in Israel this year.

Israel, community