Somewhere Entirely Different

If you are breathing then you have a cultural identity of some sort, probably several.  And like most people who are breathing, you probably enjoy vacations or at least prolonged periods of time spent out of the office, spreading your wings.  What better time to use that PTO than the coming seasons of spring and summer?  And what better reason to take a day off than to visit some place you’ve never been before and learn a thing or two about your ancestry?  Oh, and what better way to travel than to have someone else pay for part or most of it?

So, where is that place?

For me it is Israel.  Now, I realize that the state of Israel was born barely half a century ago, but there are those who would argue that it was conceived thousands of years prior to that.  Regardless as to where you stand on that issue, Israel is the first Jewish state and is presently the official home to one of Earth’s most ancient surviving cultures.  And since I am a descendant of that culture, my roots are there.

Or so I had convinced myself several months ago while trying to think of a reason as to why I deserved a free trip to Israel through Birthright, an organization that pays the expense for Americans of Jewish descent to visit the holy land, making it cost free for the applicant.  Sure, I had been a Bar-Mitzvah, born and raised Jewish, attended Hebrew School… but that was history nearly as ancient as the Jewish culture itself.  I had spent the better part of the last 15 years with little or no religious identity (not to be confused with spiritual identity), and made the rare appearance at Synagogue only to humor my parents during the high holidays.

With this in mind, the question evolved from “Do I deserve to go?” to “Do I want to go?”

Thank God I did, because the answer to both questions is: Yes.

I met my group leader with 39 other people my age in the Swiss Air terminal at JFK.  We had some time to kill, so I thought I’d introduce myself to the man.  He stood about 6 feet, five inches tall and had a beard that would put Moses to shame, and hair that would cause Jesus to blush.

“Hello, I’m Jonathan.”

“Hey man, I’m Pesach,” he returned with a grin that even his beard couldn’t conceal.

“Where are you from,” I inquired?  I knew the term pesach to be what Jews called Passover, but hadn’t known anyone who carried the name.

“I’m from everywhere, man. See my guitar? That’s my passport!”

I turned and had to look closely to ensure that the thing, pasted entirely in bumper stickers, was in fact, a guitar. Co-exist, Historic Route 66… you name it, he had it tattooed on his six-string.

Groovy, I thought.  My trip leader is Arlo Guthrie!

For a moment I was certain that this guy would not make it through the checkpoint without setting the security dogs astir.  But he did, and I was pleased to find that Pesach was like Arlo Guthrie.  And Jesus.  And Moses.  And every other good person who ever blessed the planet with his existence.

I refer to this anecdote because it was a precursor to and metaphor for what turned out to be an incredible re-education for me.  They had never told me in Hebrew School that Jews had hippies, just like my man, Pesach.

One million words couldn’t teach what I learned, but I found six that can… in Hebrew. Ironically, these are words that they had taught me in Hebrew School.  They had also mentioned that these words– which compose the Hebrew Prayer “The Shema”– were the most important part of the prayer service in Judaism.  In fact, most consider it to be the most important prayer, period.  Observant Jews utter it as their last words, and most teach their children to say it each night before going to bed.

I happen to have the Shema engraved onto a necklace I have hanging around my neck.  It’s been there for some time. *If you are interested in learning about the Shema, see below.

Oh… did I mention that I got to travel throughout the Holy Land?  In fact, my tour through Israel was another way by which the point of this prayer was realized.

The Birthright Program is an opportunity for participants to see a good portion of what Israel has to offer.  We spent the first few days hiking in the Golan Heights and learning about the history of the state of Israel.  Over the course of the next few days we visited Tel Aviv, visiting the location of Yitzhak Rabin’s assassination, as well as the Holy Cities of Tsfat and Jerusalem.

My favorite parts of the journey, however, took place outside the cities in Israel’s natural environments.  We hiked “the Roman trail” to the fortress atop Masada where the Sicari Rebels committed mass suicide rather than be taken as slaves by the Romans.  Later that afternoon we went on a water-hike and swam in the Dead Sea, the sensation of which can hardly be described.  That evening, we camped in the Negev Desert in southern Israel, and when we woke in the morning, after breaking down camp, we hiked several miles into the desert along one of the trails.  This was my favorite part of the trip because being out in nature gave me an appreciation for every step and every breath I drew into my lungs.  It helped me understand “Echad” or the oneness alluded to in the Shema.

I will say that this experience bridged the gap between what I believed in my heart about spirituality and the culture of the Jewish people.  The similarities had not been properly explained to me before I went to Israel, and until recently, I had not known that they were one and the same.  I guess there was a reason that I had the Shema hanging around my neck long before I had the words to explain what it meant.

Again, there is more to be said about my journey of self-discovery, but let me finish here and just suggest a few ways by which you might experience yours.

So, how can you explore your roots and save a buck or two?  The following are just a few organizations that offer subsidized travel.  There are several more, and I encourage you to do some research online.  Now, some of the organizations I found, require a fee and that you volunteer, but most will offer to pick up the tab on accommodations such as lodging and food.  Some pay all travel expenses and others pay you for your time!

Taglit-Birthright

You just read about my experience on this free ten-day trip to Israel for people of Jewish descent.  Check the website to learn more.  Are you only half Jewish, or full yet feeling disconnected with the culture?  I would argue that this trip is more for you than for anyone else, fence-sitter.

Peace Corps, Worldwide

Make the world a better place by volunteering with the Peace Corps, assisting overseas in six program areas: youth and community development, education, business and information, health, agriculture, and environment.  There are no membership fees, and in addition to paying for travel expenses you are granted a living allowance as well as two vacation days for each month you volunteer.  Oh, and you may be able to defer student loans or partially cancel them.

World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms (WWOOF)

This program offers people the opportunity to volunteer their time on organic farms, domestically or internationally, in exchange for housing accommodations and food.

Things to remember when traveling, regardless of where you go:

• Check your health insurance policy and make sure you are covered abroad.  If you are not, there are agencies that will provide short-term health coverage for the duration of your stay in another country.  You might even score coverage as part of your travel package.  Also, even if you ARE covered by your own policy, you can protect your deductible by opting to take additional coverage.

• Learn the language… or at least key phrases/ words like: “food,” “water,” “Where is the bathroom?” and “Dealer, hit me again."

• Make sure you have a valid passport that will not expire within six months of your expected return home.  If you are planning on working there, get all the necessary paperwork taken care of.

• Rent a phone. Some cell phone companies offer temporary plans which will allow you to make international calls at a reasonable rate, but you can always rent an international cell phone and do it that way.

• Bring cash and keep it close to you.  You’re likely to stick out like a sore thumb when traveling in a foreign land and everybody knows that tourists carry cash.  It makes you a viable target for someone who would like to get their hands on it, and who is skilled at doing so.  Not all thieves take your money illegally, either.  Proprietors of shops are likely to try and rob you by charging you double the price they’d charge locals.  If you say yes without bargaining, you’ve let yourself be taken. 

• If shopping is something you feel compelled to do, another option is to make friends with a local.  Buy them lunch or a drink and then when you cruise the marketplace, have them handle all transactions as if they were buying the item for themselves, and just pony up the cash once the deal has been made.  I would like to thank my good friend Oriana for teaching me this one!

• In some countries, tourists are not obligated to pay taxes on purchases of certain amounts.  Be sure to learn the rules and save your receipts for a refund that might cover your meals on the way home.

*The Shema

 Sh'ma Yis'ra'eil Adonai Eloheinu Adonai echad.

 Translated it says: “Hear, O Israel: the Lord is our God, the Lord is One.”

 There are several ways to interpret the prayer.  One is to take it at face value.  Others break down the words and analyze them deeply.  Check it out:

 Sh’ma- pronounced “Sh-mah”- means hear or listen.

 “Sh” as in Shush! Or quiet down.

 “Mmm” is a vibratory sound depicting enjoyment or pleasure, in this case the joy of relaxing into silence and vibrating unity.

“Aaah” is self explanatory, but it’s what we utter when we are satisfied, as well as when we come to be enlightened/ learn.  When you listen, you learn.

String these sounds together and you have the word: Sh’ma.

The second word is: Israel.  Biblically, “Israel” was the name given to Jacob after he had spent an evening wrestling with an angel to a stalemate.  It literally means “He who has struggled with God and prevailed.”  That it is the name given to the first state of the Jewish people, a culture who has struggled for a home throughout history, has a thousand meanings unto itself.  It represents anyone who has also struggled with the concept of divinity, which, is to say anyone who has ever contemplated faith or religion.  It is also anyone who seeks a safe home or place to be.

“Adonai” is a pronunciation of YHWH (Yahweh or Jahweh).  Some believe this to mean “the Lord,” others believe it to represent oneness: The essence of everything (and nothing), the collective consciousness, Unified Theory, creativity, love…  Indeed Jahweh is another way of saying Jehovah, or Jah, which is how several other denominations refer to the Lord.  It should be noted that the Hebrew characters which spell out “Adonai” can be stacked and re-arranged into the shape of a man, who was created in God’s image.

“Eloheinu” is the possessive form of “Elochim,” which is a shared identity with Adonai mentioned above.  Some say it means God, but there are those who argue that to name something is to define it, and since God is without definition this word is used to refer to the concept.  In the Torah, when Moses first encounters the burning bush and asks it who it is, the bush replies “I am that I am” without giving him a name.  It was suggested to me that the word Elochim means simply “the name” and it includes all names, and in this way the all-encompassing nature of the term begins to feel more like “God.” There are those who believe that when “the name” is uttered correctly it sounds like breath, which is required for Life.

Echad is the number one; one as in unique from all others, one as in solitary or alone, but also one as in interconnected unity.  Every organism– every last shred of life on the planet– comprises only a part of that one planet, and that one planet makes up merely a part of the solar system, which is just a part of the universe.  You get the idea.

And for this reason, these six words are “the battle cry and the love song of the Jewish people: an ode to the overall mystery,” to quote my good friend Paul Blumer, who helped me recall the particulars of this explanation.

They did not teach me that in Hebrew School.  This lesson was not found on paper, but it came to be a lesson that during my stay in Israel, we (my travel group) were actually able to experience in the flesh.  I met thirty-nine strangers on February 23 and by March 6 I could not only name each one, but I could tell you something unique about them, and something that we shared in common.  More importantly, I could tell you that today I count them as my friend.  They are a part of my web of life, and I am connected with theirs.