Living in a Bubble

Last summer I participated in Taglit Birthright and spent 10 days being shown around the entire country of Israel.  With almost no free or down time, it was clear Taglit keeps its participants in a bubble.  Taglit kids enter this bubble before they even leave their home country, where they first meet up with their group leaders.  The bubble entails a certain discourse, specific stories, sights, and experiences to fulfill an agenda.

This summer, we had over four weeks to experience a lot of different things, see and learn about cool places, and do a lot more exploring on our own.  However to some extent I think we also had a certain bubble.  While we did have more free time to explore our own things, our stay in the Student Village and the ban on the West Bank limited the scope of what we were able to see.  Do I personally want to go to the West Bank? Not particularly.  Do I understand why it’s logical and reasonable to have the rule? Completely.  Do I acknowledge that, despite the rationale, it is still a limitation on our ability to hear from both sides of the conflict? Definitely.

The reason the Student Village is nice is it’s proximity to campus, the kitchens, the facilities are nice, and it has a cheap bar, laundromat, and a supermarket.  The distance from the center of town is one thing, but I think the biggest way this formed a bubble was that it was more difficult to meet Israelis.  I was lucky to have friends already in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, but I think the dates of the program make the Student Village a less ideal place to live.  What I’ve learned from my conversations with Israelis has been tremendously helpful and eye-opening.  We can study our lives away on the issues here in Israel without ever hearing what the average joe thinks.  In my last posts I’ve mentioned something about the outlandish statements I’ve heard.  But these ridiculous ideas in the heads of lay people do have importance.  They inform (correctly or incorrectly) public opinion, and can sway votes, which has VERY big impacts on the way the government acts and responds to things.

I do not want to come across as ungrateful for our experience this summer, but the biggest lesson I’ve learned this summer was not about the conflict, but about learning.  I talk about this bubble because it is important to acknowledge it in order to see past it.  The academic perspective has a lot to offer, but it is not the only one.  As Kobi Marom said, for many Israelis, the conflict and regional politics are not academic issues, but rather the lives of those living here.