When John Tepperman '08 and a group of 13 other Dartmouth students visited the Western Wall in Israel last December, he was in for a surprise. Instead of the sobering experience he anticipated visiting one of the holiest sites in Judaism, Tepperman was greeted by what he described as a "festival type atmosphere."
"It was the exact opposite of what one might think," Tepperman said. "Everyone was dancing, and soon, I was pulled into a crowd of 100 to 200 strangers, and wound up dancing the night with people I had never met before. My religious feelings may not have changed that night, but my sense of community is far stronger."
Tepperman and his fellow Dartmouth students visited Israel this past winter break for a Birthright trip led by Rabbi Moshe Gray, the head of campus orthodox Jewish group Chabad. The sponsoring organization, Birthright Israel, is a charity that enables young Jews to travel to Israel for free. So far, the organization has sponsored over 100,000 young travelers, Rabbi Gray said. The trip's logistics were handled by MAYANOT, an orthodox Jewish group.
"We went during Christmas, but I saw only three windows with Christmas decorations," participant Rachel Gozman '10 said. "It was kind of cool to be somewhere where there was no Christmas. This trip sure beat Chinese food and the movies."
Despite recent violence in Israel, all the students interviewed said security wasn't a major concern while they were there since their group traveled with a band of eight Israeli soldiers at all times. Still, some of the students said they were surprised by the omnipresence of firearms in Israeli society.
"I've grown up with guns, but it's different having someone with a machine gun on [his] back." Melissa Rudd '08 said.
Many of the students said they forged permanent bonds with the eight Israeli soldiers who were assigned to travel with them. Although the soldiers were the same age as the students, their lives were very different.
"None of them had gone to college and they have to join the army. Many had seen fighting, and they seemed to have a much more somber demeanor than kids our age [in the United States]," Max Friedman '10 said.
One of the most powerful moments in the trip occurred when the group traveled to a cemetery and listened to soldiers their age talk about friends they had known who had died fighting for their country, Rudd said.
Yet despite some of the soldiers' harrowing experiences they were still able to relax and have a good time.
"One night we had a push-up competition," Tepperman said. "I was up against an ROTC student from Delaware and got crushed, but then the Israeli soldier went up against the ROTC kid and he destroyed him. It really made me want to start going to the gym."
This was the first Israel trip sponsored by the Dartmouth Chabad, but Gray said that he would love to take another trip to Israel in the future.
"Some of the great outcomes [of this program] are that it enables students with no point of reference for Israel to now have a far greater connection to the land than just the fact that their ancestors lived there 2,000 years ago," he said.
