Every year, when the Israel Scouts (Tzofim) Friendship Caravan comes to town, I look at the exuberant faces of its 17-year-old participants while listening to their glorious voices and immediately find myself awash with longing for Israel.
Whether they sing an old favorite from Israel’s early history or the latest fast-paced mix of minor-toned melodies, a smile envelopes my face and heart, and tears fill my eyes.
Inevitably, a jumble of thoughts also seems to find room in my mind.
Having had the privilege of hosting the Scouts in my home in one form or another over the past two years (offering an impromptu snack on their arrival or having a Scout stay at my home), I know how much fun they have while in the States, how much they miss their family and friends, how much they are like our own teenagers, and, most of all, how much they give of themselves during each and every of their more than 150 performances.
I marvel at how proud their parents must feel, having sons and daughters selected from among thousands in Israel’s scouting program to travel the United States and bring a bit of Israel into our lives.
I wonder, some years, including this one, why more people don’t come out to enjoy their free concert; to feel good about Israel and our people; and to peek a bit more into the soul of our Israeli family.
At the same time that I wonder at the youthful energy that sustains them during their performances (and late into the night as they e-mail friends), I can’t help but wonder whether they will all survive the army service that awaits them in another year or so.
I worry, without pretending to know the answer to my concerns, that the dreams of our people for a secure peace will not happen before it is these teenagers’ turn to serve. I find myself hoping that I will not one day read one of their names on the list of new victims of terror or of those fallen in service. I know that these teenagers, so like my own in many ways, are so immeasurably different from my own in the challenges they face, and in the burdens they carry for all of us.
Inevitably, however, a melody the group is singing yanks me back from these dark thoughts to focus once again on a program that helps remind us of the miracle that Israel is still, and that helps teach our children that there is much regarding Israel of which they can be proud and be a part of.
And I am so very glad to be there, to let their infectious spirit fill me again with hope for their future and for ours.
Best of all, I begin to wonder when I will be in Israel yet again, and about the places I will go when I get there.
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