Experiences in Israel inspire young adult
Freehold teen feels a deep connection to land of his forefathersBY CLARE MARIE CELANO Staff Writer
Some life experiences alter the way people see the world, while other experiences prompt people to change the way they see themselves and the part they play in the world that surrounds them.
Jeremy Gross of Freehold Borough belongs to the latter group.
Gross, 19, a Freehold High School graduate, recently returned from a ninemonth trip to Israel with members of the Young Judaea Youth Group. In reflecting on his adventure, he said that life for him will never be the same.
The young man was so impressed by the trip to the homeland of his Jewish ancestors that he has decided to join the Israeli Army after completing college.
“I feel it’s just something I have to do,” he said. “If you believe in something, you need to protect it. It’s your land. You volunteer to protect it.”
Gross took a short break at home with his family after his return from Israel, then traveled to Camp Tel Yehudah Barryville, N.Y., where he is spending the summer. He has attended the summer camp since he was in the ninth grade.
That camp is where it all started. Although Camp Tel Yehudah, the National Senior Leadership Camp of Young Judaea, provides traditional activities for campers such as athletics, performing arts, and arts and crafts, it also offers young people something else, according to its Internet Web site – “a deep commitment to Jewish and Zionist values and traditions.”
Campers are offered an opportunity to discover Israel and their Jewish heritage, to develop an understanding of what it means to be part of a community, and to learn about themselves as individuals.
This is where the seeds were planted that moved Gross into a new direction as an adult. At Camp Tel Yehudah, he learned about his Jewish heritage, about Israel, the land he yearned to visit, and about the conflicts and strife that have pervaded that nation’s borders for 60 years.
More important, he learned about the people of Israel. He also realized just how much he wanted to be there to see it all – up close and personal.
When Gross was a junior in high school, the opportunity to do just that presented itself. A trip for members of Young Judaea, sponsored by Hadassah, was on the horizon.
According to the organization’s Web site, Hadassah, the Women’s Organization of America, is a volunteer organization for women whose members are “motivated to strengthen their partnership with Israel, ensure Jewish continuity, and realize their potential as a dynamic force in American society.”
In 2006, Gross traveled to Israel for six weeks with hundreds of other members of the youth group. He spoke enthusiastically about that experience.
When the Americans arrived in the Israeli city of Haifa in 2006, they found themselves in the middle of a war between Israel and Lebanon. The young people were evacuated from Haifa due to the proximity of the fighting.
“The second we arrived in Haifa we heard the first rocket to hit the city from Lebanon and we were all evacuated to Jerusalem,” Gross said, explaining that the shelling was coming from Tsfat in the north by the Sea of Galilee.
Speaking about the trip, he said that until people see the sights in Israel that they have only heard about previously, the significance of those locations cannot be appreciated.
Gross returned to Israel in September 2007 to begin a nine-month tour that included a three-day stop in Egypt.
For the first three months of his stay in Israel, Gross trained in a paramedic program and then worked as a paramedic in Haifa. He said he “almost” delivered a baby once while on duty, but the paramedics managed to get the woman to the hospital just before her baby was born.
During the next phase of his educational journey, Gross chose an option that allowed him to travel to a suburb of Tel Aviv, called Batyam. He worked as a community volunteer and helped people who were living in disadvantaged socioeconomic locations.
“The idea was to make things better for them,” he explained. “Many of the teens we worked with had a drug or alcohol problem, or were in gangs. We’d help them do community service like raking leaves and planting flowers.”
Gross said he did not have a difficult time getting around in Israel because public transportation is readily available. He said there was no language barrier because everyone speaks English.
The third part of the tour brought Gross to Jerusalem to stay in a youth hostel where he received classroom instruction. The hostel, built with funds provided by Hadassah, according to Gross, was
beautiful, modern, comfortable and not your typical youth hostel.”
His classes focused on topics that included the Arab-Israel conflict, King David, Judaism as a Faith and Civilization. He also took classes in Zionism and the Hebrew language.
While the young Americans enjoyed their trip to Israel, they did bring some traditions from home along with them.
“We planned a New Year’s Eve party on a boat in the middle of the Red Sea,” Gross said. “We also had a Super Bowl Sunday party at Hooters in Tel Aviv.”
Trying to put into words the images recorded by the mind is sometimes a difficult task, but Gross summed up those remarkable, unforgettable images in two sentences.
“Going to Israel was the greatest experience of my life. I’m never going to forget anything that happened there this year,” he said.