Chavayah

An Experience of Experiences

Before sending our students off to Israel, I shared with them some thoughts about Chavayah:

Chavayah means experience.

And, there are three forms of Experiences which is the purpose of this program.

Chavayateinu (Our Experience)

We hope this will be a “group experience”. This shared experience will bring you together as a cohort, strengthen your ties with each other and create bonds that will promote your moving forward as our School’s leaders as you enter Year 11.

Chavyat Am Yisrael (The Experience of the People Israel)

In Israel, you will be immersed in learning about our present day Jewish state and our Jewish land, heritage and traditions. You will experience Israel and Judaism as a challenge and as a promise and reflect upon your place within our people and religion.

Chavayati (My Experience)

Perhaps, most of all, this will be your personal experience, one in which you will grow as an individual and learn more about yourself and your Judaism. We hope this trip will be a personally meaningful and transformative experience for you that will further your growth in how you see yourself and your place within our Jewish community.

While addressing our students, I was wondering what they would make of this experience. This week I was sent the following reflection written by one of our recently returned ‘Chavayahniks’.

Rabbi Siegel

Miriam Itzkowitz – Year 11

Chavayah

Chavayah was one of, if not the best, experiences of my life. Though, saying that is seemingly redundant as the Hebrew word chavayah means experience. So this trip was the experience, like none other.

As someone who had never been to Israel, I found that this program was invaluable, as it contributed to my understanding of Israel and Judaism, and solidified and clarified my reasons for being a Zionist.

Before I went to Israel, while I knew I was a Zionist, my lack of knowledge on the political situation made it very frustrating for me. When I’d read about anti-Zionist movements, I had no way of defending Israel, despite my desire to do so. After Chavayah, I can clearly express why I am a Zionist, which is especially integral for me, being part of the Zionist movement, Betar. This was the goal for chavayati (my experience).

While in Israel, we lived in a boarding school called Alexander Muss High School in Israel (AMHSI), which accommodated us very well. We were split into classes. My teacher, Akiva, was an Orthodox Jew, originally from New York, and he was extremely inspirational to me. Learning from him really enabled me to break down previous misconceptions I’d had about the Orthodox community, and for that I am forever grateful. He also educated us well on Judaism, starting all the way from Avraham and continuing until now, which is really what consolidated my understanding of why we have a right to a land, more specifically the land of Israel.

We often went on tiyulim (excursions), which allowed us to learn more about the conflict, as well as the Israeli culture, the relationship between Arab-Israelis and Jewish Israelis, the relationship between Orthodox Jews and secular Jews, the charitable work within Israel and the innovative, technological sides of Israel.

A huge eye-opener for me was seeing the IDF soldiers walking around with guns. On one of my free weekends, I discussed with my family how it scared me, as it isn’t a common sight in Australia. However, my family said that it made them feel safe and patriotic, knowing that those people are there for protection. While at first I was in complete disbelief, through learning more and deepening my understanding on the matter, I became more appreciative, even sympathetic to their feelings about seeing soldiers with guns.

But that doesn’t change the fact that guns still kill. Towards the end of Chavayah, we visited Mt Herzliya and went to the cemetery there. There were hundreds, if not thousands of graves. While it was quite beguiling being able to see the graves of various important people in the creation of Israel and throughout its history, it was devastating to see so many people, having lost their lives, just to assist in the creation, protection and preservation of a land which was meant to be a land of peace. Seeing how much empty space was left deeply moved me, because it was pointed out to us that one day, the empty space would too be filled with graves.

Despite the sad realities faced within Israel, we still did have a lot of fun. We hiked up Masada, went swimming (or floating) in the Dead Sea, got to see all of Israel’s bordering countries from within Israel, as well as Saudi Arabia, celebrate Hanukkah, eat great food and listen to amazing music. Israel is such a lively, vibrant place, full of chutzpah and ruach, which gives it a really familial vibe. We also became closer as a Year Group and had chavayatenu (our experience), which was shared and appreciated by all of us equally, but differently.

There is so much I can say about Israel and Chavayah, which I could speak about for days and days and days, but I really think every single Year 10 student who went has gotten, and for those of you who do go, will get something out of it. Quite frankly, it is absolutely vital in the understanding of such a complex, beautiful country that belongs to all of us as Jews, and it is an incredible experience to share with your friends and Year Group.

I am so thankful to the accompanying teachers, Mr Bloom, Ms Reed, Ms Korotkov, Mr Case and Mr Samowitz for providing us with so much support throughout. Our madrichim, Gal, Keshet and Netta always made us laugh and made our time in Israel maximally uplifting. And of course, our teachers, Akiva, Michael and Maor, from whom we accumulated a wealth of information and knowledge, which we could not have learnt in any other way. It was a truly unique chavayah.