Student is grateful for Birthright trip opportunity

Wonderful. Amazing. Awe-inspiring. Eye-opening.

Any one of these adjectives can be used to describe my experience in Israel on the Taglit-Birthright trip with the Milwaukee and University of Minnesota Hillel Foundations Jan. 7-19. Yet none of them come close to truly capturing my feelings for the opportunity I had.

For those who have been to Israel, little of what I saw would seem out of the ordinary: we stayed on the Kinneret and went to the northern cities of Safed and Tiberius; we climbed Masada and floated in the Dead Sea; we went to Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, prayed at the Western Wall, bargained with street vendors, and marveled at the multitude of stray cats.

However, I would venture to guess that most people who have traveled or will travel to Israel would not get the opportunity to ride camels at a Bedouin camp; ride a ferry on the Kinneret for a party with a lesson in belly-dancing; or get a personal, guided tour through the history, politics, religion, and social structure of the country.

And even if you could do all of that, I doubt you would be in a position to make 45 new friends in the process.

For those reasons and many more, the Taglit-Birthright trip was an experience unlike any other, and were it not for the wonderful educators we had with us, I doubt my first trip to Israel would have been nearly so meaningful on so many different levels.

For that I would like to thank every member of the Jewish community for keeping this opportunity out there for young adults.

For every Jew who has ever stood up for Israel, either in politics or religion, I thank you. For every Jew who has ever donated or supported any Jewish organization, I thank you.

And to the Milwaukee Jewish Federation, I cannot thank you enough. Thanks to organizations such as yours, people like me get the opportunity to experience Israel in a most unique way, such that what I learned and the memories I keep will last even longer than the hundreds of pictures I took.

Nashira Young is a University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee sophomore majoring in music education.