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  Benny Louchheim

August 25, 2010

Creative story assignment

The Big Trip

 After studying Judaism, the history of the Jews, and their language for eight years at Tucson Hebrew Academy, I finally got to go to Israel.  My Israel trip was last May and it was one of the most amazing experiences of my life.

     It was not easy to get the tickets for my whole class because each ticket was around 4,500 dollars, so we had to fundraise. I remember fundraising with all my friends at the JCC film festival. Everyone was so generous and every year there is this anonymous woman who comes in and gives us about 2,000 dollars which was awesome. We raised so much money that we were able to give a lot of it back to our parents.

I remember packing and feeling so excited the night before the trip because it is every young Jew's goal to go to Israel. The 12 hour plane ride was tiring and not very fun, but then my class finally landed in Tel Aviv, Israel.

     The second I got there, I felt amazing because we were in the same places and buidings that the very first Israelis lived in. I felt religiously connected with everyone because the Jewish race is so small now so we have to stay together. And the place where half the worlds Jews do that is in Israel. One of the best experiences was when I went to Masada. Masada is a very tall mountain on which there are ancient buildings where the Jews were hiding from the Romans many years ago. These Jews were extremely smart because, they knew if they were on higher ground they could hold off the Romans for a while. They sent giant boulders down the side of the mountain every time the Romans tried to climb up. They got water by making these giant holes on the side of the mountain so when it rained the water would be trapped in the holes. But after a while they ran out of recources and had to surrender. Going there and seeing all of the amazing history of that mountain was extremely cool.

     The one experience that really changed my life was in Jerusalem when I went to the Western wall. My class went to the Western wall about three times, but the first time was the most amazing experience of my life. We went at dawn just as the sun was rising and we thought that nobody would be there but we were very surprised to see how many people came. There were easily 20,000 religious Jews praying at the western wall. It seemed like everyone from Jerusalem was there.

To know that the Western Wall was part of the holiest temple and that the Jews prayed at this building  3,000 years ago was amazing.  That I was able to pray at the same place, was absolutely the best feeling in the world. It is amazing how even through all of the hardships, the Jewish people have gone through, we are still in existence.

     I remember my dad telling me a story about how one of his friends wanted to convert to Judaism but he had a problem. He said that the Jews all throughout history and still today have been hated by some kind of people or race, like the Romans, the Greeks, the Egyptians, the Germans, and of course most of the Arab nation today. He just didn’t want to go through that. My dad responded, many of those groups of people are not in existanceanymore. the ancient Romans, Greeks, and Egyptians are all gone, but the Jews are still standing strong and I really think that is amazing.

     So in conclusion going to Israel with my class after eight years of studying about  it, was spectacular. It was amazing and being near the Western wall and all of the places the ancient Israeliteslived. This was one of the best experiences of my life. I would not be the same person if that trip did not happen.