The answer is no

So, I'm back. :-) My apologies for the 2 month layover. But sometimes one just needs the proper motivation to post. Without further adieu...

One of my friends just returned from the KESHER Birthright Israel trip a few short days ago. As with about 99% of participants on the birthright Israel trip, she had a fantastic time. After asking the usual questions (how was it? what was your favorite part? etc...) she asked me a question.

"So... does this wanting to hop a plane and go back thing go away ever?"

ah. post-birthright tramuatic disorder. The Bronfmans and Schustermans will be proud. This is exactly the kind of reaction that the creators of birthright were hoping for when they decided to give free 10 day trips to Israel. They want to instill a sense of Judaism that many of the participants never experienced before. They want them coming back as committed Jews, whatever that might be. It's not like it's a secret. "I totally understand why people come back and want to be more involved now... I feel like super-jew," said the same participant.

I am a birthright alum. I went on the Winter 2005 Trip with KESHER. While at the time a thoroughly active and committed Jew (a recently elected Hillel president, and interning at the main office of the Union for Reform Judaism), the same thoughts raced through my head. What is it about this place that makes people want to drop everything they know and are accustomed to in the United States and spend extensive amounts of time there? I had the exact same thoughts when i came back to the United States of America following my trip.

"When and How do I go back to that amazing, enchanting and mystical place?"

Here's the conclusion i came to. Birthright is a tease. It's a 10-day feel good trip designed to give you just enough to make you cry for more. It's like letting a baby get the candy, giving him a bite of the chocolate and then taking it away from him. How many of us have found subsequent 10 day trips heavily subsidized to go back and experience Israel again? I don't know the statistics, but i feel that the percentage of birthright participants who return to Israel must be fairly high. And each time we go back, we experience something different. We go to a different part of Israel. We focus on a different aspect of Israeli and/or Jewish Culture.

The beautiful thing about Judaism is that it is so complicated, and a single trip, whether it's 10 days, 10 months, or 10 years will fully fulfill that desire to return to the holy land. As a Jew in the Diaspora, I know that while America is my home, Israel is my spiritual home. It's where i can go the recharge my spiritual battery. It's where I can challenge myself in a way that I can't do so here.

"So... does this wanting to hop a plane and go back thing go away ever?"

No. It doesn't. And the reason for that is because as Jews we should consistently move towards that spiritual fulfillment, and, for many of us, Israel is a place that is spiritually unique, and provides us with an opportunity that we can't get anywhere else. As David Singer would say, 'we feel the pull.'

As i get ready to start my final semester as an undergraduate student at NYU, the pull seems to be harder than usual. Perhaps, after a two year hiatus, it is time to go back.

Ani muchan.