Eating Israel
Every Birthright organizing organization has a different theme. Some are more focused on religiosity, some on sight seeing or nature. I happened to be on the “Humping in the Holy Land” trip. I’d heard that the group I went with was slightly heavier on the partying than the other organizing groups, but seeing as how I had about a weeks notice to get my but in gear that didn’t really bother me. Not until I landed and met Momo, did I realize why we were the “party” trip. Momo is Shlomo Lifshitz and he runs Oranim, the group that sent me to Israel. Our two-hour welcoming session consisted mostly of Momo lecturing us on how important making babies is and making sure those babies continue to populate the Jewish world and teaching us pick up lines in Hebrew. It was extremely hard to refrain from popping my birth control pill right then and there, but however crazy this man may be he still deserves my thanks and respect for sending me to Israel. I’m pretty sure Momo saw this is an opportunity for us all to see Israel, get plastered, have unprotected sex and make some babies.
If there weren’t sexual tension in the air already, which after a 10 hour flight, I’m pretty sure there wasn’t, there would be for the rest of the trip. I’m going to say about 90% of my fellow trip takers were in relationships, perhaps 75% of those couldn’t have cared less that there were people at home who cared about them and trusted them. Me and my two roommates (who are unbelievably amazing women that I’m so grateful to have met and befriend) all had men back home that we happened to like and not want to screw things up with, so our pants stayed on and our tongues remained in our mouths, but let’s just say we were the minority.
Night One: Let the Drinking and Flirting begin. Even after 48 hours without sleep and showers people were still batting eye-lashes and puffing up chests.
Night Two: Drink like you’re in a frat night. Our excursion for that day included a trip to a liquor store and drinking in the hallway. My roommates and I ended up staying up all night entertaining the other coupled-up-and-still-monogamous people who were displaced by there roommates using their rooms to start the breeding festivities. The rest of the trip sort of went on like that only people were then coupled up and the gossip mill was churning. There was clubbing and a bit of heightening of hormones once the Israeli soldiers joined the group midway through.
Seriously, I’ve never felt so old, nor tempted to shake people. These were all adults acting like it was their first week of college. There was more than just shtooping though, there was rain. Never in Israels history has so much rain fell, so consistently and for so many days. Seven out of our ten days in Israel were water logged. We landed and as soon as we stepped off the plane typhoon like conditions started. The only days that we weren’t caught in the rain were the days we were in the dessert. By the end of the trip we all smelled like mildew.
Now that may sound like I had a miserable time, but it’s quite the contrary. I had an amazing time. But I think that the rain and the orgy like atmosphere definitely changed my perspective on the trip. We had an unbelievable tour guide who was a bottomless well of information about Israel, about history and about nature. We went on some unbelievable hikes. I got Bat Mitzvah’d. We camped with a nomadic tribe, had dinner at a family’s home, floated in the Dead Sea, cried at the Western Wall, went to the Holocaust museum, talked politics with Israeli soldiers. It was a truly wonderful trip, it’s a beautiful country and I left feeling like I had a stronger connection to Israel and the Jewish community. I will never be a particularly religious person, but I do believe in culture and I did leave feeling more connected to that culture. I think what I was most surprised by was the amicable relations by the Muslim communities living in Israel and the Jewish community. I learned a lot more about the Israeli-Palestine, which definitely makes me feel like I can discuss it with more knowledge and compassion in the future.
What really made this trip for me was the people. I learned so much about life and maturity from the soldiers that joined our group midway through. Some were six years younger than I am, but still had totally different perspectives on life, on country, on what it means to be a citizen. At one point we spoke with the curator of Independence Hall, where Ben-Gurion declared Israel the Jewish State, who was a third-generation Israeli, she was a Captain in the army, and yet she still suffered when she sent her children to the army, it’s not something they want to do, it’s something they have to do, and in many ways I think it makes them a more mature and patriotic people. The whole thing really hit home. My two roommates for the entirety of the trip also made the trip all the more special for me. We were haphazardly chosen to room with eachother the first night, but after we met, we decided to room together the rest of the trip. They’re both such special and interesting women and I’m so glad I got the opportunity to meet them. We have a roommate reunion scheduled for June.
I have to say I was pretty disappointed in the food I got to eat in Israel. Not because Israeli food isn’t good, but because I didn’t really get much of a chance to eat the good stuff. Most of our meals were in low end hotel dining rooms with relatively nasty buffets or at Mall food courts. To say I feel bloated and disgusting right now would be an understatement. Most of the time I piled my plate mile high in hopes of some of what I took tasting decent. The highlights of my Israel eating experience were the home cooked dinner a local family made us and the dinner a Bedouin tribe (and by tribe I mean resort) made us. The trip was great. The food and weather were not.
I feel like this summary sounds really negative, but I must say that I feel so lucky to have had this opportunity. I had such an amazing time. I have such respect for the Israeli people, the country is beautiful and inviting. What stuck with me most is the idea that regardless if we ever live there or not, it’s a home to all Jewish people all over the world. At first I thought it was just a shpeil fed to us by Momo, but at one point in speaking with an Israeli, not associated with the trip, they said to me “This is your country too!” That’s very moving.
I hope to visit Israel again, perhaps this summer as I’m currently considering a trip to Greece and they’re close, and seeing the country outside the constrains of a leaky tour bus and a heard of 40. I have friends there now that I have to visit!
I took pictures of most of the food I ate, but couldn’t always whip out the camera. I did however keep a log.
2/19
Airport Breakfast: Lucky Charms & Milk
Plane Food for Dinner
2/20
Breakfast: Plane food: Yogurt and fruit
Lunch: Tuna Sandwich, water, muffin
Dinner: Hotel-Brisket, rice, hummus, veggies, soup
2/21
Breakfast: Slept till noon
Lunch: Hotel-Shnitzel, rice, salad
Snack: Coffee
Dinner: Mall-Burger & fries
2/22
Breakfast: Roll, fruit, eggs
Lunch: Mall-Bagel w/cream cheese & lox, coffee
Dinner: Dinner at the Druiz Village, Home cooked meal of Lamb kabob, hummus, pita, rice, grape leaves, salad, lentils
2/23
Breakfast: Hotel- Fruit, potato, eggs, blintz, halava, roll
Lunch: Mall-Shwarma, coke
Dinner: Hotel- shniztel, rice, veggies, salad, hummus
2/24
Breakfast: Hotel-bread, cottage cheese, egg, salad
Lunch: Dining Hall-Rice, string beans, kabob, salad
Dinner: Restaurant! Eggs Benedict with steak and asparagus and champaign!
As you can see I stocked my plates pretty high, mainly to find what tasted good. Hotel food was not a reliable source of pleasurable food, but I’m well nourished, perhaps a bit too well nourished and rediscovered a love of cottage cheese.
Dinner: Bedouin feast-rice, kabob, salad, pita
2/25
Breakfast: Bedouin Breakfast-Pita, hummus, tomato, pickle, egg (pictured but not eaten)
Lunch: Hotel-Soup, salad, chicken, rice, potato
Dinner: Shared pizza and salad
2/26
Breakfast: Hotel-Bread, tomatoes, cottage cheese, egg
Lunch: Mall-Falafel (finally!), coke zero, salad
Dinner: Hotel-Chicken, salad, rice
2/27
Breakfast: Hotel-scrambled eggs, bread pudding, roll, cottage cheese
Lunch: Museum-salami sandwich
Dinner: Hotel-Chicken, rice, salad, soup, oranges
2/28
Breakfast: Hotel- Eggs, bread, cottage cheese, tomato, oranges
Lunch: Hotel-Potato, salad, chicken, hot dog
Dinner: Restaurant! Eggs Benedict (for some reason this is the first picture in the gallery and I can’t change it) with steak and asparagus and champaign!
As for pictures that are of things other than what I eat, I’ll post Isreal in Action pictures on a Flickr account and on my Facebook soon.
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I also had mixed feelings about some aspects of my trip. My trip only showed us the religious side of Israel and I was really disappointed that I didn’t get to experience the secular side of Israel.
It’s sort of funny that your trip was meant to be a “baby-making” one. While I’ve heard that these trips silently advocate the Jewish marriage and baby-making, I didn’t know it would be so blatant. On my trip almost everyone had significant others and while their was definitely flirtation, no one actually decided to cheat on their respective partners.
I think the trips are sort of meant to be one-sided so you realize that you got a limited view of Israel and want to go back to see more. I, too, would love to go back and once I’ve saved about 2,000.00 of expendable money for the super-expensive flight, I just might travel back to the land of Israel.
Sorry your food was poopy. I had a pretty pleasant experience with the food. Also, there were only a few people in my group that participated in binge-drinking–most abstained. I did have to get rid of that halva bloat though–so much delicious sesame goodness..
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You know, I signed up for a birthright thing a couple weeks ago with Shorashim… I have no idea what kind of trip it is (or if I’ll get accepted), but I figured the grad/professional DC community one would be safe. Did you go on the grad/prof. trip, or was it mixed?
I just want to know how prepared I should be for extreme immaturity… ugh.
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I am glad that you had a good time but I’ll admit that I’m glad you are back! I love reading your posts and I felt a little empty without my daily dose of the Kim Challenge.
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Wow, your trip sounds pretty crazy. I went last spring with Shorashim, and while they definitely encouraged us to make Jewish babies, it was a lot less party-hardy than yours. And I can totally relate to your thoughts on the food- I went over there thinking it would all be yummy, but all those hotel buffets and mini-food courts were pretty awful. I’m ashamed to admit I ended up eating at McDonald’s three times, just so I would know what I was getting!
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Your description brought back so much of my own Birthright trip, two years ago with Livnot. While the focus was much different – they make a clear point that their trip is for people who do NOT want to party and hook up – I learned many of the same things you did. And while they did emphasize the importance of making Jewish babies, they didn’t seem to be encouraging us to hook up with each other! (Actually, my group had the honor of meeting the president of Birthright, who [jokingly, I assume] offered to pay for the honeymoon if any of us were to pair off and get married.)
As for the food, luckily we seemed to escape the worst of the bad hotel food. We were frequently let loose on the streets with pocket change, so we got to sample the best of Israel’s street food and open markets. Falafel hasn’t been the same since I came back, and the oranges I ate over there were the sweetest, tastiest, best oranges I’ve ever had in my life. I’m not exaggerating when I say that I dream about them sometimes!
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