By Rabbi Rich Kirschen, Director
In today’s ever-changing world, we are constantly overwhelmed with need to constantly be on the go. The start of a NFTY in Israel summer feels no different, so it’s all the more important that we stop and take a moment to share our gratitude that we can explore our land, people, and history with your teens (and with you) this summer. Over the next few weeks, your teens will have the opportunity to participate in a deep and meaningful learning experience, while discovering the story of the Jewish people in their land and how our tradition and values have sustained us even in the most challenging of times. We bring these young people into our story (which is different than “history”) of the Jewish nation and at the same time we gently take them out of their comfort zones. This allows our teens to begin to be open to a myriad of experiences and adventures. And even more important, this experience helps them formulate essential questions as well as build skills and competencies through a well-planned itinerary that takes them from the story of Abraham and Sarah through the Jewish people in 2019.
Over the past two days, our teens have followed the path of Abraham and Sarah at the Tel Gezer archeological park, exploring the challenge of what it meant to live next to a civilization run by Canaanites, who in spite of their spectacular economy and technological sophistication, held on to the values idol worship and child sacrifice. It is here in this city ruin that our teens grappled with ancient texts while trying to understand how our ancestors understood the need to create a spiritual revolution of monotheism. They discussed what it meant for their ancestors to have arrived at the understanding that life was not only about external success, but that it was just as important to connect inward and to be able to reach out to something beyond ourselves, in order to connect with something larger than our own ego.
In keeping with the flow of our Jewish story, right now our teens are deep in the Negev desert celebrating their first Shabbat, just like the generation of Hebrews who left slavery in Egypt. Our teens are literally walking through the stories of the Torah, and after they sing, pray, and have dinner, tonight they will sleep under the starry desert sky that has changed very little since their ancestors crossed this same landscape three thousand years ago. Tomorrow, as they hike up and down mountains, they will understand in a very personal way what the children of Israel might have felt while wandering in the desert for forty years (we only “wander” for four days).
It is only too fitting that this Shabbat we read a story in Bamidbar, the Book of Numbers (the Hebrew title literally translates to “In the Desert”) about the two spies in the Torah portion of Shlach. This story recounts when Moses sends twelve spies to scout out the land of Israel and ten of these spies come back and say there is no possible way for the Jewish people to enter this land. Only two spies by the names of Joshua and Calev say (loosely translated), “You know what, the situation isn’t great but I think we can actually do this. We know it won’t be easy, but we believe in ourselves and we believe in our community.” And it is this early story from our ancestors that teaches our teens the importance of reaching deep down and figuring out who you are, and maybe more importantly who you think you were meant to be. From what we read in the Torah about Joshua and Calev, these two personalities had a solid sense of their authentic selves, and because of this, they were able to reach out, connect, and encourage others. It is our hope that during this Shabbat our teens in the desert will feel like Joshua and Calev as they experience an external journey around mountains and valleys and also an internal journey toward each discovering their “authentic self.”
We are so excited for you to be part of this remarkable journey!
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Rich Kirschen
