Jewish students connect with Israel

This past summer, Alex Ruda '08, Brian Extein '08 and Sarabeth Sanders '09 traversed the desert, slept in Bedouin tents and hung out with soldiers.

Rather than undergoing a desert boot camp, however, the three students were traveling through Israel on a 10-day tour organized by Taglit-birthright Israel-Hillel. The trip was sponsored by the Center for Jewish Life in conjunction with Hillel, an international Jewish campus organization of which Princeton is an accredited member.

The Taglit-birthright initiative aims to persuade Jewish men and women ages 18 to 26 to take part in the trip under the belief that it is "a birthright for every Jew" to travel to Israel and reconnect with Jewish culture, according to Hillel's website. Through funding from donors, the trip pays expenses for all participants. To be eligible for the trip, the organization requires that applicants have at least one Jewish parent and self-identify as Jewish.

Jewish Campus Service Corps Fellow Kimberley Kushner said, "It's a good way to connect with Judaism, a good way to meet new people and see what else is out there." Kushner is the campus administrator in charge of the winter and summer Taglit-birthright Israel trips. The CJL has been sending students on Taglit-birthright Israel trips since June 2000.

"I am extremely pleased with the attention that the CJL has devoted to organizing Taglit-birthright Israel trips, and with the tremendous student response," Matt Kandel, president of the CJL board, said in an email.

The best part of the trip, Ruda said, was seeing the camaraderie among Jewish people from all over the world, including Argentina and India. Ruda is also a photographer for The Daily Princetonian.

Halfway through the trip, Israeli soldiers joined the student group and toured with them for the rest of the American students' time there. They ate, talked and traveled together. Military service is mandatory for most Israelis, whether male or female, when they turn 18.

Extein said meeting the soldiers was striking. "We got to see what it was like to have two different paths," he said. "Sharing their experiences ... was eyeopening. That made the trip for me."

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Dov Kaufmann '10 was one of the Israeli soldiers who joined Ruda and Extein's group. A couple of months later, he joined the Princeton freshman class.

As an Israeli soldier, Kaufmann's experience differed from that of the other Taglit-birthright Israel participants. "You see everything through people's eyes who haven't been there before," he said.

After some students expressed interest in staying in Israel for extra days after the trip was over, Kaufmann invited them to his home. "I had them in my house, and I knew I was going to their home — Princeton," Kaufmann said.

"One of the draws [of the birthright trips] is that people get more involved in the Jewish community," Kushner said.

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Many participants became emotional when they visited the Yad Vashem, the Jewish National Memorial to the six million Jews who perished in the Holocaust.

"Walking through that museum with the Israeli soldiers and then coming out of [the museum] and seeing the panoramic view of Jerusalem was incredibly moving for everybody," Ruda said. "It was profound."

One of Sanders' favorite experiences was overcoming the language barrier at a nursing home in northern Israel. When the group leaders started playing the guitar and the participants started singing traditional Jewish songs, young and old were able to bond on a cultural level.

"We were having so much trouble communicating, but the cultural Jewish music sealed a connection," Sanders said.

Many of the students on the trip did not know each other before stepping onto the El Al plane but have kept in touch after the trip. Ruda, Extein and Sanders all said they still keep in touch with new friends they made on the trip.

"It's a good thing for the Jewish community at Princeton because it's a great bonding experience," Extein said.

The original version of this article incorrectly stated that the CJL is independent of Hillel. Princeton is an accredited member of that organization. The Daily Princetonian regrets the error.