By Eli Laifer, Social Media Editor
This year, FZY took its Bogrim on a volunteer trip partnered with Taglit. A huge shift in programming from last year, but even more powerful.
Over the last three years, I have attended two HadSems, three Veidot, two Bogrim Trips, and countless other adventures with FZY. From Hungary to Haifa to Harrow, I have been lucky enough to have such eclectic experiences thanks to this wonderful movement. However, none of these trips have quite felt the same to me as this year’s volunteer trip to Israel.
On day one, as we got off the plane, a small group of us dumped our bags and immediately headed over to Bloomfield Stadium to watch Hapoel Tel Aviv win 4–0 against Hapoel Ramat Gan. Whilst this was not on the official schedule, it was an amazing dive into the culture (or Tarbut as we say) of Israel that you don’t often see on more structured trips like Israel Tour. Despite the size of the stadium, there was a palpable intimacy throughout - the same could be said for the entire city.
The next day was Friday, meaning we dove straight into the FZY Shabbatmosphere. Before this, however, we took a trip to Ramat Gan where we made jewellery at an art institution that helps people with mental health issues take back their lives. We heard from people that the charity has helped, which was really meaningful. You could definitely feel the peace and concentration that comes from creativity and how that can often be the best medicine - however, I may rethink my dreams of being a professional jeweller as this was clearly not where my talents lie.
After an afternoon on Tel Aviv Beach, we took pictures overlooking the sunset and wrote our shabbatograms. I always enjoy having FZY Shabbat at the beginning of a trip as it forces you to reset and switch off, getting you ready for the week to come.
On Shabbat, we had our usual open spaces in which I attended an interesting discussion on whether Zionism is an outdated term (Charlie Burton, I’ll be awaiting your article…) and then followed this up with a bountiful hotel lunch and Parsha Play. Havdallah, as usual, was beautiful; it’s so nice to see new recruits getting stuck into embarrassing dances and chants, truly a cornerstone of our movement.
After a nice day of relaxation, we packed our bags and headed up north to Hod Hasharon where we helped renovate farmland that was in bad shape. Half of us were removing a massive pile of wood planks from the area while the other half painstakingly ate cake inside. All jokes aside, helping to build this farm was not just a quintessentially random FZY adventure, but an awesome bonding experience where I got to know my peers much better as we lugged logs around the field. It also gave me the chance to see places in Israel that I otherwise never would have seen. Since all of us had done some form of Israel Tour beforehand, they were able to take us to the niche areas of the country.
Sunday afternoon, we drove up to Kibbutz Khanita, a small settlement on the Lebanese border that had been partially destroyed by missiles not long ago. We explored the ruins of apartment blocks, saw the rubble on the floor and the fridges still stocked with food. Suddenly, the experience got emotional. The locals in the area showed us around, we saw flourishing communities who have since moved back to the area and children out playing in the streets. They showed me the true meaning of hope - the strength to get back up and live life fully, even in the face of adversity.
That lesson was one that later carried into our evening up north when we shared a hotel with a group from a disability home. As we gathered in the lobby for our evening activities, we found them having a dance party. All these people who face challenges through their disability were living their lives fully - naturally, we decided to join in with them and shred up the dance floor. I can safely say that, in all my years of FZY, I have never seen ruach quite as incredible as that – the divine embodiment of hope.
Talk about an adventure, the next day we travelled to Shlomi where we packed fruits and vegetables into bags for impoverished people. During our labour, two other Bogrim and I were asked to drop off some stock at a nearby house. After our 20-minute delivery route along the Lebanese Border, we arrived at an abandoned synagogue where we helped to move desks and shelves into our trailer. What eventually transpired to be a moving job for a local school felt more like looting at the time due to a communication barrier, however, we did enjoy fresh pomegranate straight from a nearby tree while we waited for our driver to bring his truck back. Altogether, this was a 10/10 experience that I would do again, by far my favourite volunteering of the entire trip.
The next day, we travelled to a school in Ofakim to help them restore their front garden. We all got the chance to pickaxe the dirt, plant trees and leave the site’s garden in much better condition than before. After many hoe-themed jokes, we travelled back to Tel Aviv where we had a lovely Israeli dinner at Sarona Market. That night, a couple of us headed over to Jaffa to go and admire the sights of the old city.
This is the kind of freedom that you don’t get on Tour, and it made the trip so meaningful. If FZY wants more people to make Aliyah, they should be showing us the mundane beauty that Israel has to offer. I have never been closer to uprooting myself to Israel than exploring Jaffa at night.
There were several activities that took place throughout the week that you can expect separate articles on soon, for example, the culinary tour of the Carmel Market deserves its own spotlight. As does the geopolitical talk we had one night which, despite the occasional nod-off, was absolutely fascinating to hear some different ideas around the conflict in the Middle East and within Israel’s own government. (Again, Charlie, we’re waiting…)
The last day was perhaps the hardest. We woke up early and took our coach to the Nova site south in the Gaza Envelope. While a lot of Bogrim had led Tour this year and so had been, I had not experienced it myself. There are probably twenty different articles I could write about my 45 minutes exploring that site; the endless forest of eulogies, the tents that loom over the spot where the festival stage once stood. Every single hardship that we as Zionist youth have faced in the last 4 years started on the very ground I was standing on, and you could feel that weight in the soles of your shoes.
We happened to be there at the same time as an IDF troop. I stood next to a soldier as I read a story of a mother of three children who was killed on October 7th. We both sat down on the bench behind us; him with an M4 Carbine rifle around his shoulder, me in my sunglasses and t-shirt. I felt a strong connection with him, yet we only ever exchanged ‘Shana Tova’ by the end. The way tragedy can bring together an entire nation of people is testament to the importance of community that FZY provides. After seeing the Nova site, I will always and forever be grateful for that.
People who were on the trip will agree with me here: we are playing rather fast and loose with the word ‘volunteering’, because when I think back over the trip, I see myself throwing a football on the shore of Tel Aviv Beach, singing songs at Ballemby’s Karaoke Bar, and having the freedom to experience Tel Aviv with my friends in a way I never have before. But the volunteering definitely did happen, even inadvertently. We got a taste of Aliyah Nimshechet, a pillar of the movement which refers to a balance between living in the country that we fought so hard for and also working together to make it as amazing as it can be.
On the last night, all of us sat together at the beach, telling stories and laughing together in perfect harmony. The entire trip felt perfect, not a single moment left for boredom or upset as we were too busy having the best time of our lives. I say this all the time to chanichim and I will continue to yell it from the rooftops until I die:
“Every time I go on an FZY trip, I believe it was the best experience of my life, but I know this is not true - because the next one will always be better.”
