I’m going to change my writing style on this blog post and this might be how I do it from here on out. Instead of telling the tale in chronological order like I did the first few posts, I’m going to focus on broader topics and tell the stories underneath. That being said I will still follow the order of the cities I visited. And of course I have to tell a couple stories first to set the scene.

The Prelude

In case you don’t know, Birthright is a free guided trip to Israel if you have at least one Jewish parent or have converted to Judaism. Like any good Jewish mother, my mom bugged me for years to go on Birthright. Not that I didn’t want to go on a free guided trip to Israel with a bunch of people my age range…of course I did. But things got busy with my own personal travels every year that it just hadn’t worked out yet. I mean how am I supposed to go to 19 STS9 shows in a year and go to Israel, there’s just not enough time for both! I would have definitely regretted not taking advantage of such an amazing opportunity; both as a world traveler exploring a new country and a Jewish/Christian raised person going to the holiest of lands. Birthright used to only go until the age of 26 and recently extended the age range to create trips for 27-32 year olds, which bought me a few more years. However they made an announcement earlier this year that this would be the final summer doing the trips for the older age group due to lack of participation so this was literally my last possible chance to make it happen…and I’m so glad that I did.

On the morning of our take off I briefly met some of the other people in the Birthright group before we went to the counter to get our tickets. Everyone had to answer an intense questionnaire before checking in where they asked me things like do you have any Arabic friends, who did you stay with last night, and name four Jewish holidays. It’s probably a good thing that Israel has such a heightened sense of security given the history of the country but sheesh I wasn’t ready for this type of questioning especially at 7am. I passed the test but when I got to the ticket counter they didn’t have a ticket for me…uh what?! Welp Birthright is off to a lovely start. What does that even mean?? I kept my cool but was also pretty pissed off/confused. Not only was I stoked to go on Birthright but this was also the jump off point for traveling to meet my family in Portugal then ultimately get to Colombia. Luckily there was a local Birthright staff member who was there to ensure things go smoothly leaving the airport and she was incredibly helpful. We figured out when I requested to cancel my return flight, they ended up canceling both flights altogether. Good thing my email correspondence clearly stated just cancel the return flight from both me and the person who had responded. The girl called up Birthright explaining the issue and ended up getting the situation resolved relatively quickly. One of the people that was supposed to go on the trip couldn’t make it because of Covid so they just switched the names on the ticket; otherwise Birthright would have had to sack up and pay for my flight day of cost. Or if it was sold out I don’t know what would have happened but no need to worry about that. Phew dodged a bullet there to start to my international travels! It’s always something. The Birthright leaders of our group, Zach and Healy, had to wait back with me during this whole process which gave me a chance to have a solid conversation with both of them. They are both really awesome and laid back people so I knew we were in good shape for the rest of the trip. Plus Zach had lounge access so I ended up joining them for a free breakfast and a mimosa. Bank error in my favor. After our first quick group ice breaker in the airport we boarded the plane and were off to the Holy Land!

Birthright Overview

Rather than get into the nitty gritty detail of every interaction and everything we did on this incredible 7 day journey through Israel, I’m just going to give an overview of the group and the trip as a whole then I’ll break some of it down further.

The Group

I cannot say enough about how amazing our group of people was – we went from a bunch of strangers on day 1 (a few people went with friends/family but no one came in a group larger than 3 and most people came solo) to being a close knit community by the last day. Really the family vibes began the second we landed in Israel (even though it was 4am the energy and connection between all of us was immediately there) and remained until the very end only strengthening with time. Throw a bunch of random Jews on a free trip to Israel and they immediately bond. Birthright you sure do know the secret to success.

I originally thought there was only 7 people in our group based on the Birthright App but it turned out to be a group of 28 (31 for the couple days when 3 Israelis joined us). I ended up having at least one great convo with every single person in the group which is really rare and awesome. Of course I vibed more with some people than others but I was pleasantly surprised with how easy it was to get along with everyone. Lots of good senses of humor in the group; jokes were landing left and right. I was worried it would be mostly New Yorkers but it was actually a diverse group of people – jobs, where from, background, and interests. And the nice thing about doing the trip now versus being a college student is that everyone had lived their adult lives for a number of years now – being professionally employed, traveling, figuring themselves out, etc. I think it gave us all a much greater appreciation for (a) going on this trip (b) learning about Israel and its connection to our heritage and (c) making meaningful relationships with each other. We all made the choice to escape our busy lives and do Birthright. I truly made some lifelong friends from this shared experience.

The Experience

First off huge shoutout to our tour guide Pauline. She was an absolutely incredible wealth of knowledge about Israel, Judaism, and every single stop we made along the tour. She provided us with the facts. And although you sometimes knew what she personally believed, her presentations stayed as unbiased as possible and she did her best to present multiple sides to the story. Boy was she a talker but it was so impressive just how much she knew about such a wide array of topics. I know she’s a profesional tour guide but I would love to be that well spoken about anything (okay maybe I can hold my own when it comes to Sound Tribe, Phish, and whatever job I’m currently working but that’s about it). I’ve always loved facts, history, geography, etc but unless you really put in the effort to dive into specific topics and study them to drive it fully into your memory then it’s impossible to become an expert. Especially as an adult with a busy life.

I was pleased with the diversity of activities we did during the trip: wandering through multiple shuks (outdoor markets), exploring the old city of Jerusalem and the Western Wall, celebrating Shabbat, visiting multiple museums, showing remembrance in a cemetery, sleeping in a Bedouin tent, staying at a Kibbutz, doing a wine tasting, taking part in an archaeological dig, hiking Masada at sunrise, floating in the Dead Sea, going out in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, touring an agricultural farm in the desert, and doing a painting class in the park.

While there were some religious aspects to the trip…I mean it was Birthright after all, they really didn’t push it down our throats too much which was nice. We had nice Shabbat and Havdalah celebrations on the rooftop of our hotel in Jerusalem and did an exercise related to Jewish values but otherwise there wasn’t much religious activity. Of course a lot of the things we saw and the stories that were told relate to Judaism but nothing was forced.

Birthright is about finding your identity as a Jew and to their credit this trip did increase my Jewish identity. I haven’t been around that many Jews since my days at Tulane (pretty sure Jordan is my only Jewish friend in Denver). And I will say that being Jewish does create this instant sense of community with other Jews just feel like being a Sound Tribe or Phish fan where we don’t know each other but we all have this commonality that brings us together and creates this instant connection. Look I’m not going to forego my South American trip to become a rabbi or even practice Judaism more than I did previously, but I do a feel stronger sense of pride right now to be Jewish. We’ll see how long that lasts, I’m still in the Birthright honey moon phase.

Israel Overview

Israel is such a fascinating place with so much diversity of religions, cultures, and landscape; you can truly feel the layers of history and the passion of the people that live there. It’s the birthplace of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam so it’s a melting pot of fierce religious beliefs and has been the center of many conflicts over the years. I’m not going to go into any history lessons – ancient or modern – because it’s a very complicated history where every side has different perspectives depending who you talk to. People really learn to question things here. Seems to be the Israeli mentality; with the hand they are dealt they have to. I certainly don’t do enough critical thinking about important issues in the world because it’s easy not to when you live in your own bubble. I want to be better about this going forward because this type of thinking helps solidify your beliefs…or question them. Either way it’s a good mental exercise. In Israel their bubble is right at the heart of conflict no matter which side you’re on so these topics are very real in their every day life. And people still choose to live here in spite of it all. They’re actually very happy to live here, and they embrace life to the fullest.

The People

Two great examples of the will of the people and their pride in living in Israel come to mind. (1) We visited Sderot near the Gaza Strip and people have 15 seconds after a rocket warning to seek shelter. That’s it! Every house and bus stop has a bomb shelter attached to it. And yet people still choose to live here. Mind boggling. (2) At the agricultural farm in Talmei Yosef, this area gets hit with roughly 6000 kasam rockets per year. And what do the people do…they used the scrap metal to turn the rockets into gorgeous art pieces – necklaces, menorahs, flowers, and more. I’ve never seen a more beautiful use of recycling; they take something so bad and turn it into something so good. Of course these are just stories from the Jewish perspective; I’m sure every side living in Israel is full of stories about people that passionately want to live in this Holy Land.

A couple more quick points on the people in Israel. It’s a very forthright and direct culture. According to Pauline there is no word for awkward. People say exactly what they are thinking and even if there’s some brief tension it clears the air and everyone moves one. This made for a lot of terrible customer service experiences. I had some good ones, but most of the time it didn’t seem like people gave a shit what kind of service they gave. Definitely doesn’t help when you don’t know Hebrew. Speaking of reasons to learn Hebrew; Israeli girls are stunningly beautiful, especially in Tel Aviv. I had to pick my jaw up off the ground countless times. I’ve never seen so many attractive women per capita. Okay mom I’m ready for a nice Jewish girl now.

The Food

I had heard great things about Israeli food but Birthright certainly did not do it justice. We had a couple good meals – Bedouin dinner in Han Hashayarot, home cooked dinner in the Kibbutz, and our final meal in Tel Aviv; but otherwise all the sanctioned meals were not good. Obviously it’s hard to complain about free food but these meals made Bruff (my college cafeteria) food look gourmet. We ate way too many meals at our hotel Jersualem Gold where the food was almost comically bad. Every lunch/dinner would have a plate of melted ice cream sitting there waiting for us for dessert. Along with a bunch of other terrible buffet style food that was the same every time. Dinner was probably just leftover lunch slightly reheated. The best part about these meals was making fun of it. Our other hotel food wasn’t great either. We did have some opportunities to buy meals ourselves and I got some tasty falafel and shawarma particularly at the shooks. Outside of meals some things that were great was the snacks, the sweets, and the olives.

I had some really incredible food during my quarantine time in Tel Aviv. I became a huge fan of Sabih for breakfast. It’s a Jewish Iraqi dish made with pita or laffa bread and filled with eggplant, hard boiled egg, chopped salad, parsley, amba and tahini sauce. Pickles and hot peppers come on the side. Another random great meal I had was Minchet Abish – Ethiopian ground beef stew with onions, peppers, paprika, fenugreek (spice), berbere (spice blend) eaten with injera (Ethiopian flat bread). It’s finger food with great flavors; the berbere really adds a nice kick. Way better than the Ethiopian place in Edgewater public market…shocker.

Jerusalem

First stop on Birthright was Jersualem, the holiest city of them all where all 3 major religions collide. We landed around 4am and I was running on maybe 1 hour of plane sleep but I somehow felt great; probably the excitement of being in the trip and meeting new people. I was very chatty on the hour bus ride from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. I quickly became friends with Ben as we nerded out about Phish and ultimately became joke partners in crime throughout the trip. He was on the trip with his hometown friend Jared and we hit it off immediately as well. The 3 of us ended being roommates for the first couple stops of the trip. There was quite a few others I also connected with right away. Our first stop on the tour was a great viewpoint of Jerusalem where we got the first of many informative spiels from Pauline and did our second group ice breaker. It was going to be very challenging to remember everyone’s name in such a large group but I got there eventually by the end.

The Shook (Outdoor Market)

We made multiple trips to the shook throughout our 3 night stay in Jerusalem. Now it really felt like we were in Israel; it was like something out of a movie seeing all the locals interact in the market. You could buy nuts, sweets, spices, rugs, random trinkets, whatever. There was quite a bit of activity on a Thursday afternoon as people were making purchases for Shabbat the next day. It was also quite interesting seeing Hebrew written everywhere. Growing up I always associated it with saying prayers or reading from the Torah but going to Israel makes you realize it’s just the national language of the country, whether your Jewish or not you know it. Another interesting observation was seeing soldiers walking around with their rifles and pistols flashing. If I saw someone with a gun in a market in America I’d feel scared shitless but here it just felt normal. Had a couple classic Israeli meals from the street vendors – falafel and shawarma as well as some tasty rugellah and falafel.

The main area of the shook was a whole different beast at night. Music was blasting and people were going wild on tables dancing and acting fools. It was quite the party but upon further investigation everyone looked so young; the average age was probably 16-18. Still a fun scene to witness. I loved that there was bars lining each side where you could buy beers and shots and just drink in the streets. Reminded me of the good old New Orleans days. On Shabbat night after splitting a few bottles of wine outside Jerusalem Gold we went out with the other 27-32 year old Birthright group. Even though the entire town shuts down on Shabbat the Russian bar was open. And when they saw a group of 20+ show up at 12:30 they’re closing time changed to 4am. They knew the check would be worth staying open for. I ordered a drink called “Your Gonna Die” that had like 6 different kinds of alcohol and came out rainbow colored. Oh boy here we go. The drink lived up to its namesake. At first I was super chatty bridging the gap with the other group but then at some point my memory fades and everyone got to a sloppy drunk Colin. Oops. The drink did warn me with it’s name. Let’s just say it was a slurry and blurry walk home that night.

The Old City

The crème de la crop of Jerusalem is the old city. Even though there are so many layers of history here it’s currently broken down by quarter: Jewish, Christian, Muslim, and Armenian. Surprise, surprise we were spending our day in the Jewish quarter. Once again Pauline provided good insight and stories behind it all; if only I had half a brain to remember any of it. Still fascinating to hear it in the moment when your actually seeing it live. It adds ways more value than just wandering through without any context. We had free time during our lunch break and were only allowed to stay in the Jewish quarter but Dad told me I had to see the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and when I asked Pauline she said it wasn’t allowed. At first I was going to follow the rules but when I found out others left the area to get tattoos I said fuck it this is my trip too. And I was so glad that Ben and I ventured over there. I mean this is the burial place of Jesus and where he rose again. How could I not see it?!

Western Wall after lunch was a powerful experience – center point of prayer for multiple religions. Naturally I chanted Divided Sky by Phish when I was there, because that’s my prayer of choice. The Orthodox Jews were intimidating with their intense prayer and glaring eyes. The tradition is you write a prayer for someone else and put it into the wall. I sent my prayers out to Vicky to find a job and I’m so glad I did. When I told her about it she had been having a super rough day and even if it didn’t work directly to find her a job it really made her day and that was so worth it in itself. The wall is vey powerful and moving but also kind of a backwards ass place. The sides are divided between men and woman; and while boys can be Bar Mitzvahed here woman have basically no rights. Guys can pretty much wear whatever whereas woman have to cover their shoulders and legs. The very religious are living in the past and it’s pretty fucked up actually. I tried going into this one section where Orthodox Jews were heavily praying and I felt unwelcomed. They should do a Maya Jane Coles Cercle set there to the lighten the mood. All that being said it was a very cool experience and certainly a must see in Jerusalem.

Other Activities

We were in Jerusalem for 3 days which was a day too long in my opinion but there was a lot to soak in. Some other stuff we did while there:

• On the second day 3 Israelis joined us for a few days of the trip. This is a key part of Birthright as it allows us to interact first hand with local Israelis that are in the same age group as us and really get to understand their lifestyle and viewpoints. They were all great but I connected especially well with Ori since he is a guitarist who is also super into music. We made each other playlists to share our musical tastes with each other and discover new music. I love doing this and plan to do so whenever possible on my South American adventure. Music truly transcends all languages
• Lecture on the Israel-Palestine conflict. A topic that certainly has to be discussed while in Israel, we had a really good speaker who told us the history of the conflict since the forming of Israel as a state in the 1940s. He was a very knowledgeable guy and the overall presentation was well done. He stuck to the facts and it was as unbiased as an Israeli Jew could make it. He also had a great sense of humor. The biggest problem was how hot it was in the Jerusalem Gold basement; a COVID hotbed. More on that later
• Shabbat service on the rooftop of Jerusalem Gold. Wonderfully led by Healy who is studying to be a Rabbi. She fits the billing perfectly as a young, hip Rabbi in Brooklyn. I have no urge to go to a synagogue but with her at the helm I’d consider. It was crazy being in Jerusalem for Shabbat because literally the entire city shuts down; except of course the Russian bar that serves the Your Gonna Die drink. We also did Havdalah which I had never done before but it celebrates the ending of Shabbat and the start of a new week
• It’s Birthright so of course we had to do at least one what it means to be a Jew type of activity. But it turned out to be surprisingly fun and insightful. We split into groups and had to choose 5 cards out of this deck to answer the questions (I’m paraphrasing) of what will keep Judaism alive 100 years from now and what values you hold to your Jewish faith. My group was all half Jewish and had fairly similar beliefs to where we came up with our answers relatively conflict free; not all groups could say the same. Then after presenting our answers slowly it went down to choose 3 cards then 2 then 1. It made for some great debate/conversation and was a highly informative and entertaining exercise. Okay Birthright I see you bringing out the inner Jew in all of us
• The Israel Museum I was pretty hungover for this one thanks to the Your Gonna Die drink so didn’t get too much value out of a museum experience. The big take away was that it has the Dead Sea Scrolls but Ben and I were too busy fiending for coffee to get much out of that. Seemed like the museum had some potential but not for me in that moment
• Mount Herzel – cemetery that had some beautiful graves and carried a lot of emotion hearing the stories of some of the people buried there; especially when Pauline and Ori each shared a story about one of their friend’s there

Negev Desert

Off to the desert we go. Crazy how quickly the land in Israel goes from green shrubbery to arid desert. Welcome to the Negev; where my camels at?! We made a couple fun stops along the way that day. First stop was the Haella Valley Winery where the guy telling us about the wine didn’t look a day over 16 but hey I don’t think there even is a legal drinking age in Israel and he knew his shit. This was a nice stop off. We got to sample a lot of different tasty Whites and Red; and even a Rosé (not the two colors blended à la Evan style). Naturally I bought a few bottles.

Then we did an archaeological dig at Beit Govrin which was a really cool experience. The guide was very passionate about the land and what could be uncovered. We went into a cave and all got shovels and buckets to see what we could find. Then we used these giant sifters to see if anything else was hiding in the dirt we collected. It was crazy how much pottery, charcoal, and glass we found in less than 20 minutes of digging. It really opens your eyes to how much is yet to be discovered about many ancient civilizations. I really enjoyed this experience; not your average thing to do when traveling to a foreign country.

The night cap to that evening was at Han Hashayarot which was a Bedouin tent…kinda sorta. More like a tourist property that simulates what being at a Bedouin tent would be like for Birthright groups. But we did have an actual Bedouin give a speech on the lifestyle and it was quite impressive the beats they make while cooking. Speaking of cooking, the food was incredible too. Some of the best we had on the trip. And there was also a camel stable or whatever it’s called for camels. They responded quite well when I blasted Camel Walk by Phish. We were supposed to go on a group walk to see the stars at 9 that night but I was absolutely exhausted from all the nights of drinking in Jerusalem and chatting nonstop; so I ended up passing out around 8:30. I’ve seen the stars…many a times. I also know that 9 is way too early for them to even be good yet. And I’m so glad I skipped out on this one because first of all I heard it was whatever and second we had to be up at 2:15 for our drive to do the sunrise Masada hike.

Masada

Wow what a place! We were the first bus there arriving just before 5am, so early that we had to wait at the gate before it opened; which we all bitched about at first but so worth it once you saw the line that formed behind us. We did a short 15 minute hike up to the top (ah it was so nice to be hiking again) and looking below us made getting there early that much better. There was a line of people marching up Masada as far as the eye could see. The history behind it is crazy with King Herod building it as a fortress in the mid 30 BCs and a group of Jews committing mass suicide in the early 70s (70 CE not the 1970s) rather than being captured. Needless to say I thought seeing things in Europe were old but this shit dates way back. It was hard to even fathom how long it’s been around. I’ve done some sunset hikes and usually am somewhat disappointed. More so because the experience is that it goes from dark outside to slightly less dark and that’s it. And I’ve done sunrise Angkor Wat and Horseshoe Bend; two absolutely stunning places in the world. But the sunrise didn’t really make those experiences any better. Masada on the other hand was one hell of a sunrise. Watching the sun pop up in the distance was absolutely phenomenal; you truly got to watch it rise in the horizon.

Pauline gave us the whole story behind Masada; none of which I remember, but again hearing it in that moment added so much value to what we were seeing. We made a few more stop offs while at the top but the most memorable was this spot where the whole group yelled into a canyon and the sound echoes for miles. I’ve never heard anything like it. Then we got to hike down Masada Snake Path which zig zagged it’s way around the mountain. In a different world where I was doing this on my terms I would have hiked up this way as well.

Dead Sea

Next stop was Ein Bokek, a town on the Dead Sea. First of all it’s wild to look at your elevation here, roughly 1300 feet below sea level. The Dead Sea lived up to the hype. Being able to float on the water like that is a crazy experience. You couldn’t drown if you tried. You actually had to force yourself not to get pushed back up to the surface. Lying on your back and floating was mandatory. And it was crazy how silky smooth your skin felt after floating in that salty ass water. It only got smoother after putting mud all over your body. As amazing as the Dead Sea was, the highlight might have been the watermelon popsicle they sold at the convenience store. That shit was so fire especially on a 100 degree day.

Kibbutz Tzeelim

I had no idea what a Kibbutz was going into this experience but I left wishing we stayed there longer. Less Jerusalem more Kibbutz as the Torah used to say. It’s basically a commune where people have their own houses then share common spaces like playgrounds, pools, basketball courts, etc. We had motel style rooms but then a shared outdoor space between them so it was a way better vibe than Jerusalem Gold. And the food that we had cooked for us was incredible!! This Arabic woman that used to run a Mediterranean restaurant in Georgia was our chef and we finally had a fire dinner. Nice to see the Arabs and Jews can at least peacefully coincide when it comes to eating a dank meal.

Shvil Ha’salat in Talmei Yosef

This was a day trip to an agricultural farm, which was one of my favorite activities that we did. It was super impressive how this desert farm is able to grow strawberries, cherry tomatoes (which I learned originated in Israel), cucumbers, carrots of all colors, and hot peppers. They used some very interesting farming techniques. The strawberries are grown above ground in a greenhouse by hanging the planters in the air so that it’s easier on the back to pick them and less likely for bugs to get into them. Also they use bugs that don’t like strawberries to eat the other bugs. For the soil they reuse coconut husks which does a great job soaking in the water. It was the best strawberries that I had ever tasted; all the veggies we ate were delicious. Hmmm maybe I’ll open a strawberry farm in the desert somewhere, seems like a good life.

This was also the place where they turn the kasam rockets into art as I described earlier. Another cool thing they taught us is that pigeons are born with a magnetic pull to their birthplace in their beak hence why they could be used to send secret messages and always know where to go. We even released a group of pigeons to wherever their home may be.

And of course what trip to a vegetable farm would be complete without eating the hottest peppers available. I redeemed myself after getting crushed in Mexico and ended up eating 3/4 of the spiciest one they currently had. I was sweating through my shirt and the spice lingered for a bit but overall it really wasn’t TOO crazy.

Sderot

The bus made a quick stop at Sderot on the way to Tel Aviv which is a town right nearby the Gaza Strip. As I discussed earlier there are bomb shelters everywhere and you have just 15 seconds to find cover once the alarm gets sounded. Wild stuff. Even though I figured we were fine it was slightly nerve wracking being there. Probably the only point of the trip that I felt a little unsafe. All the buildings in the town had this very plain architecture and coloring; reminded me of the East Berlin communist buildings.

Natanya

We didn’t actually stay in Tel Aviv so our hotel was in Natanya, a beach town about 25 min north of Tel Aviv. This was the nicest place we stayed the entire trip. Ending on a high note. Although unfortunately the food here was once again not great. It looked good but the taste was bleh. Although in hindsight maybe it’s because I had Covid.

Tel Aviv

Nightlife

The first night staying in Natanya was the Birthright crew’s chance to go out in Tel Aviv. Per Adam’s recommendation we started at Teder which was a great spot for a big crew because it was a giant outdoor courtyard with picnic tables. Adam (my roommate when studying abroad in France) ended up meeting us there too which was really nice to see him. We caught up a little but not se much as I would have liked because I thought I was going to stay with him after Birthright. After a few drinks we went to Kuli Alma which was more of a classic bar playing hit music. I was drunk at this point and unsuccessfully tried chatting up some cute Israeli girls. This was really my only true night out in Tel Aviv since I found out I have Covid afterwards. Right after Birthright ended us extenders went for a beer in Jaffa at an outdoor bar right on the water. This beautiful location is where I got slapped in the face with a positive Covid test (more on that below). Toward the end of quarantining I did go out one night with Adriana and Jake to an outdoor bar in Jaffa as well as for delicious cocktails at Imperial Bar. And my last night I met up with Ori, Paul, and Nick for beers at the Beer Garden. So I did have a few other minor glimpses of Tel Aviv night life but nothing crazy.

Beach

The beaches in Tel Aviv are incredible! The sand is super nice although it does get insanely hot. It was more difficult to walk on than the coal walk I did in San Miguel. The water is an clear bright blue and was the perfect temperature for swimming. You can rent beach chairs and umbrella for a pretty minimal price which is definitely the move because the sun is super intense. The boardwalk goes all along the beach and is filled with people walking, biking, and scootering. I took it as far down as Jaffa and as far up as Hayarkon Park which is the big city park in town with multiple gardens and lots of green space. I walked all around it one day while blasting Sound Tribe at the Eastern. The sunsets over the water were fantastic every night.

Jaffa

The old city of Jaffa is beaming with historic energy and super fun to explore. It has fantastic views of the Tel Aviv skyline and the beaches lining the coast. On the last day of Birthright we did an art activity where we painted it from afar. Then we went to the center to discuss our takeaways from the trip and have one final meal together. I was impressed with how deep everyone got with their trip takeaways. A bunch of jokesters can be serious sometimes too. There’s also a really cool shook in Jaffa. I explored it a second time with Adriana and Jake walking through the narrow pedestrian alleyways surrounded by plants and 1000+ year old bricks.

Closing Remarks

Overall Birthright was such an amazing experience and I’m so glad to have taken advantage of going on this trip. I made some great lifelong friends, got to explore Israel and some of the incredible things it has to offer, and came away more proud of my Jewish identity. I will definitely be returning to Israel again in the future as I feel like we only scratched the surface with this trip.

Shitty Covid Ending

On the last day those who were returning to America had to take a Covid test (of course this rule ends up getting removed less than 2 weeks after our trip). Some people were starting to feeling sick the last day or two so there was a nervous energy in the room. Low and behold 5 people in the group tested positive. Yikes. One girl was supposed to be the maid of honor at her friend’s wedding the following weekend (luckily she did end up making it). Those poor souls were forced to quarantine in a shitty hotel in Tel Aviv where they could only go up to the rooftop for sunlight (prison style) before being transferred to Jerusalem for a few days where they at least had a little freedom. I took a test after the last day was done since I was going to be staying with Adam for 2 nights and then leaving for Portugal afterwards to see my family. My heart sank when it was positive. I had been feeling a little tired and scratchy throat that day but was really hoping it was just because we had been on an 8 day trip where we were on the go nonstop and I had talked so much. Those are the same symptoms I would have had even if I didn’t have Covid. Everything had been smooth sailing since my retirement began but testing positive for Covid threw me off course. I was still glad I didn’t do the sanction test because I would have been forced to live by there rules with no freedom. I ended up getting 2 different hotels over the course of the next 6 days. Nothing too exciting to talk about other than Covid ruins shit once again. The first 2 days my throat was scratchy and I was very low energy but then felt fine after that. After a few days of isolation I went to the beach/park to get some fresh air, hung with some of the Birthright extenders, and ate a few dank meals. I also finally washed my clothes at a laundromat. In the end it gave me the opportunity to further explore Tel Aviv (even if limited capacity for a few days) and I really got a good feel for the city. But I ended up missing more than half my family trip to Portugal so that really sucked.

Looking back upon it Birthright was a Covid super spreader event waiting to happen. There was over 30 of us in a bus daily for 8 days where most meals were buffet style and multiple lectures were given in stuffy enclosed rooms. Maybe it was their plan all along to get us Covid so we had to stay in Israel longer?! In the end at least half the people in the group tested positive by the time they got home or if they had extended. Shitty ending to an otherwise incredible trip.