By Joe McReynolds 

I arrived in Israel in late July, bleary-eyed from the trans-Atlantic flight and awash in preconceptions.  On one side of my brain danced the images of Israel that had been impressed on me since childhood, at a perfectly nice Reform synagogue in suburban California; simplistic pap and broad generalizations, with some whitewashed hero myths about Israel's founders tossed in for good measure.  Bits and pieces picked up through two degrees at Georgetown were arrayed on the other; the harrowing tales of Palestinian classmates who'd lived the checkpoints and bombs, but also Jewish students arriving back from trips to Israel who'd gained a love of Hadag Nachash's jazzy hip-hop, a sense of chauvinistic entitlement to a land they barely understood, and little else.

In short, I was not exactly the target audience for the standard Birthright experience.  And so, preconceptions firmly in place, I happily ignored the Birthright trip for years.  Once I heard the pitch for the Peace, Pluralism, and Social Justice trip, however, I couldn't justify abstaining any longer.  “The New Israel Fund's version of the Birthright trip is different,” they said – 'they' being the venerable word-of-mouth grapevine of your Jewish friend who knows someone who knows someone.  “It'll give you a real appreciation for the place, not cheap propaganda.”  Whether that was true or not, I figured, it was certainly worth a free vacation to find out.  And so, a quick application and a free ticket later, here I was.

I found myself shepherded onto a bus at Ben Gurion airport, unsure of what to expect.  After a few introductory pleasantries, the bus took a quick show of hands; how many of us would consider ourselves Zionists?  A quarter of the hands rose, at most.  And yet our trip leader, who'd grown up in Israel before decamping to America in his late teens, didn't seem unnerved in the slightest.  “That's okay, you know.  We're not asking you to simply 'love' Israel,” he explained.  “Plenty of Israelis have a love/hate relationship with their own country.  We're simply going to give you a window into facets of Israeli society that you wouldn't normally see.  What conclusions you draw from your experience is completely up to you; we are here to help you understand, not to make you love.”

As much as it pains my cynical side to admit it, the NIF kept true to its word.  The NIF's programming went well beyond the entertaining yet skin-deep experiences of the standard Birthright itinerary, bringing much-needed depth and complexity to its presentation of Israeli society and culture.  I spent the next ten days attending presentations by think-tanks interspersed between the usual trips down the Jordan River and hikes up Massada.  They were more comprehensive than I could have possibly expected, covering every aspect of Israeli civil society, ranging from the ramifications of economic development in Jaffa, to the unique issues facing Israelis of Russian origin, to housing discrimination and civil rights struggles.  The presentations provoked often heated debate, and all for the better. It is one thing for a 19 year old Israeli who has come along on your trip to tell you his thoughts on the war as he's lived it; when a representative of Breaking the Silence (an Israeli NGO dedicated to preserving first-hand, unbiased accounts of the IDF's conduct of the occupation) explains the harsh realities of the occupying army as he's lived them, it is another thing entirely.

NIF's programming provided the critical impetus for all of us – Israelis and Americans of all political and ideological stripes – to process our raw experiences and arrive at a synthesis of ideas.  For that, I'm in their debt.

Joe McReynolds was a participant on the NIF-birthright trip last summer.  For information about upcoming trips, please contact Ben Murane at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .