Young Judaea Year Course - Program In Israel - Ben Degani - "Forget the Lulav"

The holidays in Israel cannot be understood without experiencing them.

At home at this time of year, in my family at least, we go to shul on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. We have big family dinners for the Israeli and hippie sides on Rosh Hashanah, and we break the fast Texas-style with a large group of family friends. By the time Sukkot and Simchat Torah roll around, it seems like we're "holiday'd out"; it's been years since I've even shaken a lulav in Dallas.

Throughout the season here in the Holy Land, I experienced each of the holidays in a crazy, fun and incomparably different fashion.

For Rosh Hashanah this year, I visited my very secular family in Ness Ziona, an old city south of Tel Aviv. While I only spent two-and-a-half High Holy Days at the house, I left with countless memories. One night I went to a club with hundreds of Year Coursers in Yafo. I went bowling in Rishon LeZion, where I heard an Orthodox man blow his shofar for us to hear. I spent a few hours chilling and swimming in the Mediterranean at Kibbutz Palmachim, also an anti-aircraft army base. Before Rosh Hashanah ended, I tried my first sambusak (stuffed pastry), ate Shabbat dinner in a Petach Tikva penthouse and learned so much more about Israeli culture, in addition to meeting cousins I didn't know I had and practicing Hebrew. And this was just Rosh Hashanah!

For Yom Kippur, I spent the day in the Young Judaea youth hostel playing stupid games with friends and at the end of the day, completing the impossible two-hour walk to the Kotel to hear the conclusion of the fast.

On Erev Sukkot, I woke up to the sunrise at 6:30 after a night of camping on the beach in Tel Aviv with my newfound British and Canadian friends. They headed back to Jerusalem, while I decided to spend the weekend at Bereishit, a three-day camping and music festival on the Kinneret.

I could talk for days about how perfect these three days were. I spent my time swimming, goofing off with friends, mud-fighting, listening to great music and talking to random Israelis. As far as I could see, I saw tents on the beach and endless beautiful people in the lake, smiling and enjoying themselves. I learned how to live a good life with little to no money. It was like ancient times; we traded some of our pita for a glass of great Italian coffee one of our new friends offered to us. At Bereishit, I did just about anything you can think of that's really fun. After I woke up, had some breakfast and walked to the festival area, I saw a foam dance party at 10 a.m.! What could be better than that?

During the rest of my break, I spent two indescribable days in Tsfat for Simchat Torah, dancing with the Torah, exploring the ancient and mystical city and listening to all the different kinds of people who live there. Religious or not, everyone there shared the same feeling that the Messiah would come at any moment; it's a miraculous feeling.

Before the holidays ended, I went to a Spanish-style tomato-throwing festival in the Negev, picked fruits I had never seen before for Israel's impoverished and found my way from Haifa to my family on a Friday night with a dead phone.

I barely did anything these past few weeks that would be considered "keeping the holidays," but it did not matter to me at all. Here, a Jew has an innate, strong connection to the land and the people. The sense of community I felt during the fall holidays and the sense I still feel getting stronger every day is what's important.

Young Judaea Year Course: Check out our Program in Israel