This incredibly eye-opening journey is, I am sad to say, coming to an end. As the final day approaches, I am desperately trying to mentally record every historical fact I hear, capture a final visual snapshot of the great sites, and seize every second in this holy land. My eagerness to “seize” these seconds is fueled by the ever-flowing influx of new historical facts, ideas, and insights that Israel has so graciously blessed me with. Not a day goes by without me gaining a new perspective on WHY I am Jewish or WHY I should feel connected to Israel.

This morning, sleep deprivation fought diligently against my will to feel alert. Fortunately, an exceptionally energetic and passionate speaker would greet our Birthright group at 8am. Avraham Infeld, a Jewish man originally from South Africa, overcame the lingering fight of my sleep deprivation and more importantly, touched me deeply with his powerful message. Avraham, who also happens to be the first Director of Taglit Birthright and a past President of Hillel, taught our group a Jewish mindset that he has been spreading to audiences for years.

This mentality that we were exposed to emphasized the fact that Judaism is NOT a religion. He repeated these words over and over again: “Judaism is not a religion!”. He explained that Judaism as a religion tends to distinguish the Reform, Conservative, and Orthodox Jews. On the contrary, Judaism as a culture and an encompassing lifestyle tends to connect our people. If we all embrace this concept, Jews across the world will be more unified, without necessarily being uniform. These 5 words completely contradict my pre-Taglit perception of Judaism. However, for me it was so easy to accept these words, almost too easy.

Avraham further explained how we can finally feel united. By acknowledging and adopting five “legs” of a stable “table” of Judaism, we can embrace our differences and learn to grow together. Memory, Family, Mount Sinai, Hebrew, and Israel (land and state) individually and collectively support Judaism. This is the Jewish backbone. (He acknowledged that although adopting all 5 legs is ideal, if we each adopt just 3 we are guaranteed to have at least one thing in common and the table will still stand).

I hope to take Avraham’s words and incorporate them into my life. When relating this lesson to the other fascinating and thought-provoking experiences I have had during this trip, I feel much closer to my Jewish identity. This feeling comforts me, and also inspires me to dig deeper into my Jewish roots.

- Eric Smith