First part of my trip-back to the homeland.

Hello everyone,


So here goes nothing...


I thought the best place to start would be to tell you where I'll be heading on the first leg of my crazy summer adventure. Lucky me, I will be going on a 12 day, all expenses paid trip to Israel  How'd I swing that you ask?  Well, I'm Jewish, duh.  Birthright, if you haven't heard of it, is an organization that allows Jews to take a free trip back to their homeland.  You can chose from a bunch of different "trip sponsors" that offer a variety of different experiences some very active, outdoorsy type trips and others very spiritual.  I have opted to take a special trip offered by Israel on the House called the BioEthics trip.  This trip is only offered to people who are studying law, medicine, biology, or philosophy.  In addition to exploring the beaches, hiking, riding camels, visiting many spiritual places, and going out to restaurants around Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, I'll be making pitstops to talk with doctors in the Israeli Army or with members of the Knesset-Israel's legislative body.


In looking at the proposed itinerary for my trip, I am really looking forward to spending time on a kibbutz.  Kibbutzim have been around for many years, starting as Jews made aliyah (journey back to the homeland).  In the beginning, Kibbutzim were communities based on sharing production responsibilities and ownership of production materials and shared consumption of everything that was produced.  Since then, some kibbutzim have been split up amongst individuals who now have private interests in the kibbutz operation.  Also, its common for kibbutz members to actually work off the kibbutz.  While the make-up of the community has changed, I am still really looking forward to exploring how the members still involved with the agricultural operations farm the land.  I also can't wait to help cook the communal meal and sample the local food! 


I leave June 1st for this awesome trip, so as more details start to come together I'll be sure to post!