Jesse Manders

Special To The Dayton Jewish Observer

Spending 10 days cooped up in bomb shelters and clearing burned-out forests isn’t the normal itinerary for a college winter break. But, when I found an opportunity to get back to Israel, the place I love so much, I jumped at it.

After this trip, when I returned to Miami University for the start of second semester, it was nearly impossible to answer the question, “How was your break?” The only response that could do justice to the life-changing trip I had just taken was, “Unbelievable.”

The Leading Up North Trip, graciously sponsored by the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Foundation, allowed more than 500 Jewish college and graduate students from 17 countries to come together and do great work in Israel.

Joining me from Dayton on the trip was University of Dayton senior Abra Carne, a 2003 graduate of Vandalia-Butler High School.

What made the experience better than just another tourist visit to the Promised Land was the opportunity to participate in tikun olam, mending the world.

Heading into the trip, I thought I was getting myself into a grueling 10 days of physical labor trying to repair the north of Israel following Hezbollah’s attacks of last summer.

To my surprise, there was almost nothing left to repair; the resiliency of Israel and support of Jews around the world led the people to care for their own.

Only a few bullet holes and tiny craters remained in the small town of Shlomi, where I spent my first three days of work. Shlomi is a far cry, culturally, from the capricious Mediterranean beach town of Nahariya, where we spent our nights.

It was striking to see that only a few miles separated a beach town that resembled a miniature Miami, and a town that had been ravaged by rocket fire just six months before.

As my group of 50 students — hailing from five countries — arrived at our bomb shelters in Shlomi to paint and clean, I noticed the short distance between us and Lebanon; a mere mile and a short climb up a small mountain.

I stepped off the bus to go down into my first bomb shelter, and noticed a crater in the brick sidewalk above my shelter. The crater was where a Katyusha rocket struck just months before. It was a cruel reminder of the stark contrast to my own lifestyle last summer.

It was then that I noticed a strange metaphor of last summer: a seedling growing out of the sidewalk just inches away from the rocket crater. To me, it symbolized Israel’s unique ability to constantly live with those conditions and yet bounce back to life after horror and destruction.

Studies after the conflict found that children and their parents were emotionally traumatized by living in bland, white, concrete shelters for two months. So my group’s assignment in Shlomi was to make the shelters, about 27 of them, more bearable by painting soft colors and fun, child figures on the walls. The bomb shelters were cramped, with six to 10 steel triple bunk beds, two toilets and a staircase, enclosed in an area about the size of a high school classroom.

We learned that during the rocket raids, the shelters would house up to 30 residents. Even in the 60-degree winter, it was still hot and uncomfortable. Imagining what it must have been like for up to 30 elementary and high school kids to live with their parents in that small space at 90 degrees was difficult.

At the conclusion of our time in Shlomi, some children and adults treated us to a fun-filled night including a panel discussion on life in the North, and Israeli dancing at the Shlomi Community Center.

After the secular new year, we started working with Jewish National Fund foresters in the burned-out forests high atop the mountains overlooking the Galilee.

JNF prunes the small trees in an effort to prevent major damage to the forests during the annual natural forest fires, much like the ones out West in America. While hauling branches, I saw the remains of cacti and other trees in the clearings that had been blackened from fires caused by stray rockets landing in the forests.

On the last full day, all 500 participants met on Mt. Naftali above the town of Kiryat Shmona to meet Lynn Schusterman and plant trees as a symbolic effort to rebuild Israel. That night, there was a festival called The One Shekel Festival, a philanthropic event that travels to various small villages around Israel. It was headlined by Israel’s most popular hip-hop group, Hadag Nachash.

While leaving Israel the next day, I felt like I had just done something great with my life. I had given back to a place and a group of people which has given so much to me in my life.

However, there still is an empty spot in my soul which can only be filled by being in Israel. Every day I hope to come across an opportunity to make the journey back to my homeland, to live in the best place in the world once again.

Jesse Manders is a 2005 graduate of Centerville High School. He is a sophomore at Miami University majoring in engineering physics.