Who are Birthrighters?

Gonna be honest here, I did not have high expectations for a group trip to Israel. I like to travel independently and do my own thing, and the idea of being forced to spend 10 days with 40 strangers did not sound very appealing. I thought it would be a very personal trip and maybe I would meet one or two people to talk to, but that I would overall keep to myself. This could not have been any more wrong!

 

With the group hanging out on Shabbat

 

My friend Amir making me laugh

I had so much fun with these girls

The people on my trip were AMAZING. By the end of the trip, we were a family. We laughed together, cried together, and caused some shenanigans along the way. Our last night out, we did some group superlatives (I won 'most likely to run a black market prescription pills website' due to an incident with some Ecuadorian painkillers I had brought along to cure hangovers). As the superlatives were announced, I realized I was genuinely going to miss these people.

My kick-ass roomies

 I loved exploring the historical cities with these guys

There were some characters, but as we pushed through these life-changing, eye-opening, and sometimes uncomfortable experiences together, everyone on the trip really grew on me.

At the burial site of David Ben-Gurion

 Together, we hiked up Massada to watch the sunrise

Our group consisted of: photographers, dentists, club promoters, filmmakers, teachers, set designers, soldiers, backpackers, property managers, rappers, actors, lawyers, and doctors. It turned out to be a really creative and hilarious group of people, which I did not expect. Even our counselors and tour guide surprised me in a number of ways (despite our guide's occasional outbursts of fury- Hulk, anyone?).

 Me with the best staff any group could have asked for

 

Our tour guide, Zeev

Zeev on a long winded lecture about Israeli history.

Get comfortable, people.

What can I say about my fellow Birthrighters? They were all passionate and adventurous. Everyone around me was motivated, successful, and driven. Everyone was open-minded and accepting. It was the first time in my life that I have been surrounded completely by Jews. I don't think anything I could say about my Birthright group could do them justice.

Teary-eyed goodbye at the airport

Our first Birthright reunion in NYC- we couldn't even wait a week!