Stones unturned

5/12/19

Stones unturned

Today we had three “main events” that took us from Tel Aviv, up the coast to Zichron Ya’akov, and across the Galilee to the shores of the Kineret. On paper, they look completely different, one from the next. But it turns out that when taken together, they all point towards a really important and interesting life lesson.

We started our day with a much- anticipated visit to the Nili School in Zichron Ya’akov. All year our students have been getting to know their Nili peers through formal and informal correspondence. The excitement of meeting one another in person becomes almost unbearable as we gather outside the entry way to the school. What follows is simultaneously incredibly awkward and incredibly heartwarming, as the kids find one another, see one another in 3D for the first time, exchange gifts, and then spend the next couple of hours cementing their bond and adding a new chapter to their story. Our visit culminated with shared time in downtown Zichron (imagine a small European village with Falafal) and teary hugs goodbye (for the most part).

From Zichron we headed to Caesarea, one of the most dramatic and iconic archaeological sites in Israel. We took a deep dive into the history of the land of Israel (Ancient Times, Greek Conquest, Roman Conquest, Byzantine, Early Muslim, Crusaders and so on) and spent some time understanding how the ancient port city operated as a cultural and economic hub. Perfect weather positively impacted our collective attention span.

The ride across the Galilee was quiet as the kids took some introvert time. We arrived at our hotel with time to freshen up before dinner. Not quite ready to be done with one another for the evening, one of our guides, Noga, suggested a fun game that allowed us to see how well we really know each other. We laughed and applauded as pairs of kids including siblings, cousins, band mates, and long time pals competed to see how many questions they could both answer correctly without looking or coordinating their replies. One pair of twins was the clear winner with more than 20 consecutive answers.

So what’s the deep life lesson that arises out of these three seemingly disparate activities? I think it’s this: that there’s always more to the story, always more to learn.

You can spend a year getting to know someone, and then have your entire experience of them change when you meet them face to face.

You can spend hours learning about Caesarea, but only 11% of the ancient city has currently been excavated.

You can attend The Davis Academy with someone for 9 or 10 years, and maybe even be related to them, without knowing everything there is to know about them.

Realizing that, in spite of what we think, there’s more to the story and more to learn, is an essential part of living a full life. When you really think about it, boredom is a form of arrogance. Boredom says, there’s nothing more to the story than what I already know. Boredom says, I’m done learning. And the danger of boredom is that it eventually (and inevitably) becomes self-directed. 

As human beings, we’re designed to seek meaning in everything that we do and everything that happens to us. For some of our kids, the universe conspired to bring a new lifelong friend into their lives, for others it didn’t. One isn’t better or worse, so long as it carries with it a lesson. For some of our kids, the fact that the Israeli government is investing another 100 million shekels into further excavations at Caesarea is exciting and inspiring, for others, less so. For some of our kids, the fact that they were quickly stumped during our evening game was deeply disappointing, for others it carried with it the excitement of exploring new terrain with familiar faces.

When our kids showed their passports and got on a plane to Israel, they joined a small minority of Americans who have travelled internationally. Sadly, most of the folks we meet on the street back home haven’t had the privilege of this type of travel. While it’s possible to realize how much more there is to the story simply by reflecting on even the most mundane of life’s daily experiences, the fact of the matter is that travel thrusts this awareness on you, whether you’re ready to embrace it or not.

While we’ll cover a lot of ground during our time here in Israel, we’ll also leave many stones unturned. Some of the stones may be… well… stones. Israel has a lot of those. Others of those stones may be more spiritual, metaphorical, or personal. At the same time, many stones will be turned. And some will be turned and turned again. Some will be lifted and set down. Some will be heavy and some will be light. Some will be soft, and others jagged. Some will feel familiar, and others foreign. Some will be tossed into the sea, and some will be tucked away in our suitcases and backpacks and carried home. It’s not a good thing (necessarily) and it’s certainly not a bad thing (necessarily), but it is a thing. And a very human thing at that. And as such, it’s worthy of our respect, acknowledgment, and consideration.