The winter of my junior year of college my mother was trying to convince me to apply for Birthright, a free trip to Israel for Jewish 18 to 26-year-olds. I knew I wanted to take the free trip but I really rather go abroad to a European country like England because I have a weird obsession with the Beatles and One Direction. So I applied to Birthright and a summer program in London I got accepted to both, but I could not afford the trip to London. I was slightly disappointed, so I took the opportunity and accepted my free trip to Israel.

I never considered myself religious, I used to tell people “My family’s Jewish, but I’m Agnostic.” I was kind of embarrassed to be Jewish since all the stereotypes out there. Also in my high school all the rich popular kids were Jewish, so I didn’t really want to be associated with them. As the summer got closer I started getting more and more excited about my trip to Israel. I was taking a sociology class about prejudice and discrimination, where I learned more about the discrimination Jewish people faced in history. So by the time summer rolled around I owed it to myself and my people to go to Israel.

Finally, the day arrived, my mother dropped me off at Newark airport, I was so nervous I signed up for this trip knowing no one. I was scared everyone was going to be way more religious than me. Which some were but others were only half Jewish and never practiced before. I went to Israel with an open mind. My phone barely worked the whole trip so I was forced to socialize with everyone instead of just texting my friends from home. Israel got me completely out of my comfort zone, I am not an active person, but almost every day we were hiking beautiful trails. I am also not kosher I love cheeseburgers but I could only eat kosher the entire trip. I made friends with people who I would have probably never talked to in college. I had to learn Israelis have a really sarcastic sense of humor. Despite all of this I completely fell in love with the country. I became addicted to Israeli iced coffee, borekas, and tomato and cucumber salad.

I really connected with a city named Tzaft (Safed) the city where kabbalah was founded. It was so artsy and I connected with Kabbalah which is a more mystical thought of Judaism. I never felt more connected to being Jewish until I learned about Kabbalah. Another spiritual moment for me is when we visited the Western Wall. I’ve never been somewhere so peaceful, I loved putting my wishes into the wall. In that moment I finally felt Jewish, so Jewish that two days later I became a Bat Mitzvah on top of Masada. I may not talk to the friends I made in Israel but they truly saw me change spiritually. Birthright completely changed me for the better, it truly opened my eyes and I finally felt connected to my family’s religious roots.