When Becky Levy met Sharon Alony this past December, the two girls instantly became friends. Levy, 20, and Alony, 19, discussed the kinds of subjects one might expect people who have known each other for years to talk about: what was going on in each other’s lives, what was school like, and what their goals in life are.
They still talk every day, often using text messaging or programs like Skype, but Levy, a middler psychology major, is a world away from Alony. The teenager is a soldier in the Israeli army, and only got to meet Levy for a few days before Israel responded to Palestinian bombing and the two countries’ ongoing conflict escalated into war.
“We knew what was going on [before we went to Israel], but it didn’t really affect us,” Levy said. “It hit home more [after we got back], because we knew some of the people that were there.”
Levy was on her Birthright trip, a 10-day trip to Israel for young people of Jewish descent sponsored by Taglit-Birthright Israel.
Northeastern’s Hillel House works with Birthright to send as many as 40 students to Israel twice a year.
“Being there during that time opened all of our eyes,” she said. “Now we’re talking to the soldiers instead of listening to what the media has to say.”
As with most Birthright trips, a group of soldiers – who are automatically enlisted in the Israeli Army from ages 18 to 22 – joined the American students at the start of their trip, but were suddenly forced to leave only days into the program. Two soldiers were immediately dispatched to their bases, while one soldier – who Levy hasn’t heard from since – was sent directly to Gaza.
Birthright travelers, including Northeastern students, were always kept away from unsafe areas and were never in danger of violence from the war, said Nathan Ciccolo, a Northeastern University Hillel House staff member who travels with Northeastern students on their Birthright trip twice a year.
He said that although the war’s resulting death and violence is tragic, the students benefited from observing Israelis’ reactions to the war firsthand. The students were largely happy to be there during that time, he said, and had the rare experience of watching a country transition into a war.
“Obviously violence is a horrible thing. However, in a weird way, a lot of them didn’t want to leave,” he said. “The country that they had created such a bond with was sort of fighting for its very right to exist, and their friends that they had just made were being called to serve. It really touched them in a deep visceral way that I think would not have happened on the other trips.”
“It was an interesting experience for the students,” he said. “Here they are, pretty well-off Americans, and all of the sudden the new friends that they make have to leave to defend their country.”
Despite an escalating war between Israel and Palestine, Northeastern’s international programs remain largely unaffected by violence on the Gaza Strip. The university does not have any regular semester study abroad programs in Israel or Palestine, study abroad coordinator Lily Chryssis said in an e-mail to the News. While there is a faculty-led program in Israel during the summer, Chryssis said there are no current plans to abort the trip.
“I’m assuming that if the current problems persist then our risk management committee will need to re-evaluate whether or not it is safe to send students to Israel that semester,” she said. “However, our students study in the south of Israel, in a fairly quiet city that is slightly removed from the conflict.”
And in the case of the Hillel House, the effect of the violence could not be seen on paper.
“It definitely made us more culturally aware and definitely benefit from more of the experience,” she said. “We’re not just learning about Judaism, and look at how pretty this building is and that building is. We were all definitely emotionally changed.”
