Tel Aviv

That was it, we were on our own. A cab ride to the hostel, a nice beer with no fear of expulsion if we were caught and we slept. But I didn't get the chance to sleep in for the first time since before Birthright, I already had plans. I was going to meet my maternal grandmother's cousin (that would be my third cousin, twice removed), Meyer Rothstein.

I heard about Meyer after my mother had lunch with him the year before on her trip to Israel and he sounded like a man I wanted to meet. Meyer was born in England and enlisted in the army to fight the Germans in World War II. He was captured and put into a POW camp. When the Soviets liberated the camp Meyer joined them for the remainder of the war and later uncovered a concentration camp with the army. He finally made his way back to England as part of a prisoner exchange after the war. In the 1970s he immigrated to Israel and now lives in a retirement home in Herzliyya. And that's where I w heading.

I boarded a sherut to the train station, paying close attention to the route in case I got lost. We pulled up next to a large building and I hopped off. Upon entering it was apparent that I had made my way to the bus station by mistake. But no problem, buses will get me there too. I found the right platform, boarded, paid, and we pulled away.

Driving down the highway I realized that I had no idea where this bus would drop me off. I had waking directions from the train station but knew nothing else about the city. We pulled into the city and I made the decision to wait one stop more. The next one came and I hesitated, maybe I should just go to the end of the line and cab. As the doors began to close I glimpsed the train station out of the corner of my eye. I grabbed my bag, hopped over the barrier in front of me and scrambled out the door.

I was lucky to make it, but my bag wasn't. I pulled at it, trying to free the strap caught in the door. As the bus started to pull away I gave a big yank and tumbled backward, bag in hand. Solo traveling is tough... I had a nice, uneventful stroll from the train station and arrived with plenty of time to spare. Meyer's daughter had come to join us and they tell me about their family, and his life. We say our goodbyes and I have a comparatively easier ride home.

The next few days are uneventful, we rested our bodies after the nonstop schedule of Birthright, and saw Paz, D'vir and Aviv on a few of our nights out.

Shavuot comes and Aviv's invited us to his family's home for dinner. Six of us jump on the offer, interested to see what an Israeli celebration looks like, and eager for a home cooked meal. The celebration is surprisingly simple. Israel is not the Orthodox, strange country I expected. It is very much like home. The meal after the Seder however, is enormous. A second table is brought in to support the quantity of food and I fill my plate with a sampling of each. Each dish is fantastic, and after my plate is cleared it's refilled with new foods I hadn't seen the first time around. We have all eaten as much as we think we can but when we retire to the balcony there's a table of fruit and cheesecake waiting for us. I do my best to finish the small piece I take, it's the dairy festival after all.

Our remaining time together in Tel Aviv is uneventful. Birthrighters slowly leave the city, for home or for new countries as the rest of us lie on the beach. And finally it's my turn, I say my goodbyes and head east, into Palestine.

Saying Goodbye

There are no breaks on Birthright. After our wild evening the night before we all would have loved a chance to sleep in. But the schedule had us up bright and early to do some spelunking. But first was time to give out the gifts we had all brought for the soldiers. I was unsure how to distribute ten bottles of pure Canadian maple syrup amongst eight soldiers. One extra for Alon, since we had roomed together for the trip, and the other I'd give to the soldier with the best reaction. It was a tough choice between Shaul, whose mouth dropped open at the sweet nectar, and Arel, who grabbed me in a choking bear hug when I tossed him the bottle. And thinking back, I can't remember who I chose...

Finally it was time to go. The bus twisted up a mountain road, the drinks from the night before sloshing around my stomach. Looking around, it was clear I was not alone with this feeling, and seemed like only a matter of time until someone ruined the ride. Amazingly, we all made it to the drop off point without incident and we scurried off the bus, eager for some fresh air.

The caves were interestingly designed, in the shape of a cross to remove the need for and support beams. The walls were covered in holes, designed to nest carrier pigeons. As badly as I wanted to use them as foot and hand holds to climb the walls I could only imagine the nastiness inside them.

We gathered around to recap our journey together. The soldiers handed out their gifts: pins from the intelligence division of the IDF. Once everybody had gotten theirs I greedily asked for a few more, a couple extra memories to take back home.

And that was it. There was just one more drive and one more lunch with the soldiers. We sat together and reminisced about our time together. It was amazing the memories we had formed as a group in five days: floating on the Dead Sea, walking through Mt. Herzl, and we did our best to piece together the events of Ben Yehuda street. And finally it was time. Shaul said goodbye first, followed by Tzukit. We walked back to the bus and said farewell to the other six and that was it.

The bus looked how it did the first four days but it now seemed strangely empty, unoccupied seats was out of the ordinary to us. We drove back to the hotel, picked up our group shirts (luckily mine fit perfectly), and prepared ourselves for Shabbat.

We drove to the Western Wall, the holiest place in Judaism. It was an amazing site to behold. I'm not a spiritual person, and the wall did nothing to change this but the impact it has on the thousands gathered around it was amazing. Grown men weeping at the site of it, some dancing and singing in the square in front of it. I was stunned by the power a structure, made by men, of brick and mortar, could have on so many. And as I placed my prayer into the cracks of the wall I felt more touristy than holy.

Sundown approached and our group rejoined for a Shabbat service. We walked back to the hotel and I was surprised to see so many people still doing their business. I had expected Jerusalem to shut down and become a quiet, almost eerie place after sundown. But there were vendors selling bread on the street, cars driving and lights going on and off in houses.

We had a quiet evening and a chance to sleep in the next morning. The Shabbat elevator slowed everyone down as we group in the lobby, ready to walk to the Knesset. Eleven of us had decided to reconfirm our Bar/Bat Mitzvah (although I was partially in it for the chair ride). We sang the Haftarah blessing together and read our Torah passage aloud in turn. After the holy reverence, the party began. We lifted the first of us in a chair, singing Siman Tov u'Mazel Tov. Each of us went up, until it was my turn. A few reinforcements came to take my now vacant place under the chair and up I went.

The celebrations were over, and we sat in a large circle, tossing around a ball of string. The possessor sharing their favourite experience of the last ten days before tossing it to the next person.

Dinner, frantic packing, and a bus ride and it was time to say goodbye to those of us that we're leaving Tel Aviv, either back to Canada or on their own adventures. Birthright was more than I expected. It started off as nothing more than a free flight and express tour of Israel but quickly turned into one of the best experiences of my life. If I'd gone home then, with most of the group, I would have had a worthwhile summer and a lifetime of memories to cherish. But I wasn't going home, I was off to Tel Aviv, with a dozen of my new friends. And as sorry as I was to see the others go, I wasn't sad. We'd all see each other soon enough (reunion plans were already in the works) and my adventure was just beginning!