Ani Zocher:
Pilgrims' Stories
Etgar 2003,
by Michael Bassin, CRUSY
If there's one thing I learned from my trip to Israel this summer, it is that people have the
ability to bond with one another in spite of a language barrier. And if people are able to
achieve that bond, then their friendship will be that much stronger.
This summer on Etgar, USY's five-week Israel program, my group and I spent a week with 12
Israelis at Camp Ramah Noam, which is the Ramah camp in Israel for Israelis. We arrived there on
a Friday and at first our groups were not meshing very well. We did Shabbat services and had
Shabbat dinner outside and it was really sweet. But anyways, we didn't really talk to the
Israelis we would be spending the week with that much. Even when we did Ruach it seemed as though
we were still doing everything separately.
Later that night we did another Ruach session outside (which was fun). After that all of the
Israeli guys went to their cabins to get on some gym clothes to go play soccer, like they did
supposedly every Shabbat night. They asked us if we wanted to come. Some of us were going to
decline on account of the fact that we weren't too good at soccer and didn't really like the game
too much.
When we got out there, we definitely saw that the Israelis were unbelievably good. But it
didn't matter because they still included us in every possible way, regardless of our talent
level. They were shouting out calls in random Hebrew, and gradually everyone came to watch us
play.
The score kept changing back and forth and constantly high fives, slaps, and hugs were flying.
Without even having a real conversation, all the Israeli and American guys became friends
instantaneously. We all truly bonded that night. Because we all bonded over soccer, which in some
places is called a universal language in itself, that branched out into us all hanging out with
each other and having more amazing experiences afterwards.
By the end of the week with the Israelis, it is truly unimaginable how inseparable and unified
our group was. Going to Israel on USY's Etgar program gave me the greatest opportunity to meet
and understand Israelis up close and personal. My group and I became friends with the Israelis in
an unconventional way. Through soccer, we developed a bond initially and were only able to
strengthen it in the days to come.
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