Bread and Circuses

Camel riding, hiking, beautiful lookouts, singing by the campfire, these are real Israel Trip experiences. We started the day with another classic Israel Trip experience: Massada. Typically, we trudged up the Roman Ramp, heard about Herod's getaway palace and the mass suicide. But in front of the bath house, Hadar said something a-typical. Apparently, the Romans had a motto: "Bread and Circuses." They wanted the Roman experience to be indulgent, that the good life is to feast and to be entertained. So they built bath houses to pamper themselves after a long day of slave-driving.

But this motto reminded me of an article I read once about Birthright.

The article talks about Birthright, which usually has a very similar itinerary to our trip, as a rose-colored view of Israel. Basically that these trips are for fun, topped off with humus- a type of Roman Bread and Circus trip. But I say no.

It's true that we have fun, and it's true that we eat a lot. But there is a connection happening that goes well beyond camel rides and Magnum ice cream bars.

Just today, the group was confronted by a fistful of issues that present no circus: why do people have bar mitzvahs at Massada? Why is the Dead Sea drying up? How did the siren announcing Yom HaZikaron strike you? How do you connect to the story of Michael Levin?

There's no doubt the kids are having a circus, complete with wild animals, music, and acrobatics (see Gabs's Ben Gurion impression). There's no doubt they are well fed, either (ironic that the Roman euphemism for feast was "bread," which we so badly craved a few weeks ago). But this trip is not about Israel Trip experiences. It's about Experiencing Israel. You read about it when Aliza talked about Yom HaShoah, and when Gabs wrote about the Mifgash. I could feel it when we debriefed "A Hero in Heaven."

There are no rose-colored Ray-Bans on this trip. There have been real tears, real love, and real learning, all of which coalesced with the camel rides and ice cream to make a real Israel Experience. And we're not done yet!