I’m not sure this is a legitimate comparison. If I were to return to my ancestral homeland, it would be Prague and Russia and Poland. My people have never been from Israel — not unless I read Torah literally to suggest that Abraham was my actual physical ancestor, and that’s not how I read that text.

I think going to Israel is more complicated than simply rediscovering our roots. There’s more going on — a lot of theology and a lot of history. I have more to say but haven’t yet had any coffee. *g*

Do you know Birthright Unplugged? Gives me a little bit of hope…

(Also: so sorry to hear about your things being stolen!)

Rachel — agree very much with your point, but guess I was writing from the Birthright perspective. That is, the whole notion of the program is that there is a “birthright” to Israel, to this land, to this home. As you say, it is likely that few if any participants can actually trace ancestors, other than biblical ones, here. Most would be joining you (and me) in Eastern Europe somewhere, or else in other parts of the Middle East.

But if we buy what Birthright (and so many others) sell, and consider this at least a type of homecoming for all those who come on the trip, then I still wonder how similar their program and their dancing is to other diaspora-type communities who visit other homes.

Although perhaps the fact that there is less of a specific “home” to visit than a “homeland” means that the visit itself changes from one that may seem more genuine to one that feels, as Steffi puts it, more Disney-like. As you say, going to Israel should be more complicated and considered less of a homecoming than an understanding. But I fear that that is not what happens.

Steffi — your points are, as always, excellent. Feel like every post I have written so far from here gets somehow at the theme of distance and disconnected-ness from the various realities here. Contrasting a hora in Tel Aviv with chaos in Gaza is about as stark as the examples get.

As to why the reaction, I have continued to think about it. I wish I had asked one of them (I’ll blame my torn attention between the dancing and trying to make sure Eli didn’t either bolt into the ocean or in front of a bicycle or dog on the Tayelet). A few thoughts:

– It’s likely this was not the first such Birthright group like this to do the hora on Shabbat eve. Maybe they are simply tired of the Disney-esque nature of all of it. That is, they know what Birthright is (more on this in a second), or at least what Americans tend to do when they visit. The Israelis understand that Americans often come here for a version of a visit to Disneyland. And as the people who actually live here, they may just be tired of it. I know this even from listening to tourists stroll around the White House and talk about what it means to be an American, what it means to see the seat of government, with little to no idea of what it really means to live in DC or how the government works.

– Perhaps the relatively strong anti-religious nature of many of the Israelis in Tel Aviv (and especially of the cross-section who happened to be walking by last Friday night) would have resulted in a similar reaction, even if it had not been so clear they were Americans. Maybe anyone singing “Adon Olam” and doing the hora would have elicited this reaction.

– There are billboards and signs from top to bottom here welcoming Birthright. They have them even in strongly Israeli Arab towns like Akko, where for sure, the residents probably are not so thrilled that so many Birthrighters are coming. There have been fireworks the past few nights over the Sultan’s pools in Jerusalem, where Birthrighters gather for performances. (I wonder if they look behind them when there — if you crane your neck from the top of the stands at the Pools to the southeast, you see an amazing and frightening section of the snaking Separation Wall). Again, maybe there is just a fatigue among Israelis of being the backdrop and extras in a Disney set.

Even if the Israelis themselves generally don’t appear to think much about Gaza or Hebron or Nablus, there are dozens of other social issues that they are thinking about (like poverty, gay rights, employment issues, etc.) that they also know that the Birthrighters are likely not seeing. Or, if they are, not to a level that will mean much change and concern from America about them when they go home.

Ultimately, it gets back to the issue of a “first date” with Israel that I wrote about earlier. No doubt there is much good that comes of forming a connection between these young people and this place. The question is what the framework is, what you do and where you go and what you talk about on that first date. I think the Israelis on the Tayelet were just telling them that, if this was the first date, they weren’t sure about a second.

Some 4,000 Jewish students participating in the Taglit-birthright israel program celebrated the 40th anniversary of Jerusalem’s reunification in the capital’s Sultan’s Pool last night. The number of participants in the program will top 25,000 this year, which is expected to contribute about NIS 200 million to the tourist industry this summer.

Jerusalem alone is expected to receive NIS 30 million in revenue from the program and its students. A multi-million dollar donation by Miriam and Sheldon Adelson helped boost the number of participants.

This year, Jewish students from 35 nations will visit Israel through Taglit, which provides them with an educational tour of the country. The students will spend 10 days here, touring national heritage sites in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, the south, the Galilee and the Golan. About 5,000 Israel Defense Forces soldiers and officers will join the students to present their viewpoints.

During the program’s seven years of existence, over 130,000 students from 53 countries have visited Israel, almost all on their first organized tour. This has brought over NIS 1 billion to the country’s tourism industry.

5,000 soldiers and officers? As always, one has to hope that the participants have their eyes really open when they’re here, that their connection becomes a real one.

As for your daughter’s work this year for Hillel, I do not mean to undermine or belittle it. No doubt she is helping to foster those real connections to Israel that can hopefully bring her students to a greater understanding of the place, of all of the people here, so they will want to stay committed.

In the end, she can certainly take or leave my take on and advice to Birthright and other campus programs on Israel. But what I think she should read carefully is the description of the Israeli responses that I witnessed, understand the emotions that I saw from them. In those she can find the real challenge, the real goal, the real opportunity. I very much hope she and her students succeed.

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