Who Can Retell?

The Hebrew month of Kislev begins next week, and I found myself whistling Hanukah songs as the breeze blows cooler and the days grow shorter... 'Tis the season, after all, when Jewish educators are perhaps most conscious of promoting Jewish identity in a predominantly Christian country. Unlike so many generations of our ancestors, we live in a time when it is possible to visit Israel.

Have you ever spoken with a teen who recently returned from an Israel trip? Ask how it went, and you might hear: “It was like, totally amazing,” or, “I don’t even know how to describe it…you had to be on the trip to get it.” Maybe they say it was ‘spiritual’ or that it ‘felt strangely like home even though I’d never been there before,’ or maybe they say, it was ‘troubling,’ or just ‘so unbelievably hot!’ Get them talking, and they'll probably tell you about their friends, counselors, tour guides and the places they visited. The stories they tell are often about relationships.

There are three levels to an adolescent's evolving relationship with Israel. One level is that teens are discovering a foreign place. They are often told that it is “their country,” even though they don’t live there. On another level, they build intense personal connections as they share new and different experiences almost every waking hour of each day. On a third level, exploring Israel is also a journey of self-discovery. Exploring these three levels of relationship building with the participants before, during, and after their experiences in Israel is part of building a bridge to a Jewish future.

The Torah devotes a lot of storytelling to the tales of patriarchs and matriarchs, and then Moses and the People of Israel, going on their “Israel trips.” What happens on the way to Israel, how they function as individuals and as members of groups, and who these characters become on their journeys is a central recurring theme of the biblical narrative. Abraham becomes the first Hebrew on his journey to the place that was then known as Canaan. Jacob actually becomes Israel on his way to the land that will also come to be known as Israel. Moses, in spite of his amazing journey, never makes it to Israel. Joshua has to fight his way in and he eventually learns to accommodate the local population.

The story goes on for generations and generations… right up until our generation. Each of us discovers our connection to the people of Israel in a very personal way. “The Israel Experience” is about visiting the country, but 'Israel Experiences' are also the personal journeys through which each descendent of Jacob realizes her or his own connection to Israel.

As educators, we tell them the story of their people, and we answer many of their questions, but the education doesn't end there. In addition to telling kids what we know, and what we think, we have to ask them about their story too. The learning continues as they access their memories - reflect, retell and relive - the great moments of their journeys, as every participant on every Israel trip becomes part of the evolving story of Israel.

We do our best work when the biblical narrative ends as their personal narrative begins. Get them talking, writing, facebooking, blogging, vlogging - and who knows what’s coming next? Whatever technology is at our disposal, the point is to unleash the curiosity and the creativity of teens to express themselves, to ask questions, and to begin to provide their own answers. When adolescents are telling and retelling their own stories, we will know that they are engaged, and the discussion will carry on for another generation.