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Having fun on Ben
Yehuda Street during
the 60th anniversary
celebration are Hillel
eighth-graders, top,
Rose Rubin, Becca
Budnitskiy, Freya
Gothelf, Brianna Mark
and Allie Ravid, bottom.
Becoming A Local
Hillel student steps into Israeli history during 60th anniversary trip.
Jennifer Finkel
Teen2Teen Staff Writer
T
our companies around the globe
are using "Live Like a Local" and
other similar campaign slogans to
entice tourists to use their services. These
tours provide the opportunities to feel like
a local, but only the tourist can choose to
become the local, to make the executive
decision not to carry the fanny pack, the
digital camera and the map.
I made that decision on my recent
school trip to Israel for two weeks with
my classmates from Hillel Day School of
Metropolitan Detroit. We took the typi-
cal tours, ate falafel and went to the Kotel
(Western Wall). But there was something
more to it, something more than a sightsee-
ing tour or the snap of a picture. This trip
was the culmination of a Jewish day school
education and, therefore, there was more
meaning to everything we experienced.
Our trip took place during the most
important days in all of Israel —Yom
HaShoah (Holocaust Memorial Day), Yom
HaZikaron (Soldier Memorial Day) and
Yom HaAtzmaut (Israel Independence
Day). These three days are the most mem-
orable and meaningful days of my trip.
Hillel eighth-grade girls at Caesarea: top, Leah Rose Becker, Marissa Goldston,
Emily Goodman, Allie Ravid, Tedi Dorman, Jennifer Finkel, Shira Wolf, Jenna
Schwack, Marni Jacobson, Estee Reed, and Dalia Antebi-Lerman, bottom.
Israelis' attitudes toward these days and
how everyone reacts to them is moving.
During those three days, especially Soldier
Memorial Day and Israel Independence Day,
I felt like a local and not a tourist.
Many events took place over those
two days. We watched a video about an
American Israeli soldier who died during
the Independence War in 1948; we waited
silently while the siren sounded and wit-
nessed soldiers mourning lost friends
and family. Finally, we went to Ben Yehuda
Street to celebrate Israel's 60th birthday.
As I celebrated on the street with my
classmates, I felt I was part of Israeli
history and had been there to witness
every milestone in Israel's life. I felt like
an Israeli as I stood there in the masses
of people, as I looked around at the cul-
ture and the religion. My eyes captured
Americans taking part in the celebration,
Israelis dancing in circles — thousands,
maybe millions, of people gathered togeth-
er to celebrate a country that each one of
us holds so dear. A country they would die
for, a country that many have died for.
In my opinion, not only does the Israeli
Independence Day represent our indepen-
dence as a Jewish State, but it also celebrates
the people who fought and died for it.
There aren't enough paragraphs or words
available in the dictionary to describe the
exact feelings I had during those moments
in Israel. I could tell you that I felt hopeful
for the state's future when I walked down
the streets. I could tell you that I felt safe
and never feared a bomb or that anything
else terrible would happen to me. I could
tell you that it was a surreal experience to
be surrounded by millions of Jews celebrat-
ing Israel's 60th anniversary. I could tell you
all of these things but you will never really
experience that awakening feeling until
you step onto the Holy Land of Israel, our
Jewish State. I
Jennifer Finkel, 14, recently graduated from
Hillel Day School of Metropolitan Detroit in
Farmington Hills. Though in Israel for her bat
mitzvah in 2004, she says, "I learned more
on my second trip than my first. I learned the
strength of friendship, what a Jewish educa-
tion does for someone and what it means to be
a Jewish girl living in the 21st century."
June 19 • 2008
A13