5/18/15
Greetings from Ben Gurion Airport. For
obvious reasons this will be a quick post, meant mostly as a summary to all
that has led up to this moment.
The beautiful artwork above is a mural
that stands at the entrance to the Hagar School in Be’ersheva. The two faces
looking intently at one another are a metaphor for the 2015 Israel Trip. Each
of our faces is unique, each is a collage of sorts, composed of many other
faces. The faces of family, friends, our kehillah… their faces are reflected in
our face and our face is reflected in theirs. Jean Paul Sarte famously said, “To
be is to be seen.” We exist because others acknowledge our existence. We come
to understand ourselves based not only on how we self-identify but also based
on what others see in us.
The participants on the 2015 Israel Trip looked
intensely at one another and at ourselves. We looked intensely at our Jewish
identities and at Israel, our Jewish homeland. We tried our hardest to look
past the surface. We tried our hardest to see the complexity, the beauty, the
history, and the potential in ourselves, in one another, in our Jewish
tradition, and in Israel. And we also tried to make our time together into a
work of beautiful art that can adorn the entrance to our hearts.
Briefly: today we visited Yad L’Kashish
and Machane Yehudah. Two sites that show how vibrant the life force is in
Jerusalem. Yad L’Kashish is a wonderful place. Elderly Israelis are employed
there as artisans. The things they create are truly unique and “made in Israel.”
One highlight of Yad L’Kashish was when David C. was able to communicate with
some of the elderly employees who spoke only Russian. Their faces lit up when
they discovered that there was a member of our group who could converse with
them in their native language. Another profound connection.
Machane Yehudah, Jerusalem’s central
market, is a culinary and cultural tour de force. I could’ve cried watching
some of our pickiest eaters trying the exotic food there as part of our
scavenger hunt. If you have a picky eater please make sure you check in with
them to see if their palate has expanded on this trip.
In the previous post I mentioned that I’d
share some thoughts about how to help the kids process this experience. In that
spirit I’ll offer the following—give them time. Good stories don’t always
emerge in a linear fashion. Key pieces of information and transformational
moments might only be expressed non-verbally or in a roundabout way. Don’t try
to fit all of the anecdotes and souvenirs into a chronological outline of the
trip. Be curious and listen carefully and the personal meanings and growth that
your child took away from Israel will eventually become clear as day.
The Israel Trip comes at the end of the
Davis journey. That means that the chaperones and all the teachers at Davis don’t
always get to see the long- term effect of the trip and of The Davis Academy
experience more generally. And we’re okay with that because we have participated
in the tilling of the field, the planting of the seeds, and the watering of the
garden. We have looked into the faces of your children and seen pieces of our
own journeys there. It has been our privilege and our blessing.
See you soon!
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