Family Tour Speech

here you go mama:

Good evening everyone. My name is Nina Gordon-Kirsch and I am delighted to speak to you on behalf of the Year Course participants. I am in Section 1, which means that my stay at the fabulous Judaean Youth Hostel has sadly come to an end, but that I have just begun my work at Magen David Adom for my Israel Experience section of the program.

Before I came on Year Course, I had no idea what to expect. Asking my college for a deferral was like jumping into nothingness. Instead of choosing the conventional dorm room and lecture halls, I, like the rest of the ‘year coursers,’ chose to be adventurous and spend a year half way around the world. We are doing something so different and so special. While my friends back in America were studying for finals last week, I was riding on an ambulance saving lives. It’s amazing. The life lessons I have learned in the past four months are truly irreplaceable.

It didn’t take long for me to start having new experiences. I spent Rosh Hashana with my friend, Melissa whom I met in Portugal on Olami. We stayed with her extended family up in Nahariya. They took us on a walking tour around town and showed us where missiles hit last summer. It was unreal that I was standing on the exact spot where a Katusha from Lebanon crashed just over a year ago.

When the weekend was over, Melissa and I took a jam-packed train to Tel Aviv. Then Melissa took a bus to her apartment in Bat Yam, while I ventured off into the night to get home to Jerusalem. You should know that back in September we were advised not to travel at night by ourselves because we weren’t very familiar with the country yet. However, I did not have a choice because I had to get back for class on Sunday.

I found my way to the Egged bus station and bought myself a ticket on the last bus to J-town. The bus was very crowded – people even stood for the hour-long ride. A mother sat down next to me and put her two-year-old girl between us, so I squished against the window. Then she said something to me in Hebrew that I, at the time, did not understand. The next thing I know, she is holding her roughly 6-month-old baby out to me. I cradled the boy in my arms and she said “toda,” informing me that I had done the right thing. She walked away and left me with her two children. After five minutes of my being amazed that she trusted a stranger and in awe of the adorable child on my lap, the mother returned and retrieved her child. The four of us spent the next hour cozily nestled into two seats. I loved it.

When I finally made it back to the hostel, I felt completely liberated and a sense of confidence rushed through me. I had managed to get myself home all by myself. I felt as though I had conquered Israel. Mom and Dad, it’s a hard reality to face, but Year Course has proved that I am no longer your little girl.

I also want to share with you an experience from my most recent Olami trip to Uganda. The moment I got of the plane, I fell in love with the country. Whenever we were on the bus, my eyes were glued to the window, as I gazed in amazement at the vast amount of undeveloped land. We hiked and we drove and we went to markets and camped in tents. We sailed on the Nile River and went to the Equator. Everything was remarkable.

But most incredible of all were the two Jewish communities we visited. In all of Uganda there are only 600 Jews and we got to meet about 150 of them. One group of Abayudayas (abayudaya means Jew in Luganda) is pretty under-developed – they live in a town called Puti. They have no running water or electricity, but all of our differences made the interactions that much more interesting. The children are not educated in English, so we had to rely on sight and movement for communication. It was hard. When we figured out a game, by watching and imitating, we were able to play, but it felt like we were just playing their game, not playing the game with them.

The most meaningful moment came when the games turned into songs. We decided to teach them Hebrew songs only to find that they already knew all the songs we knew! We broke out into lecha dodi and david melech. I saw all the lips in the brick synagogue singing the same song. In this moment, I was the same as all the African children in the room. We were definitely singing the songs together.

I became aware of the stark contrasts between my lifestyle, which is full of electronics and competition, and the Ugandan lifestyle, which is laidback and behind the times. Although I lead a completely different life than a Jewish girl in Puti, we share the same religious culture and customs. We share a way of life.

Whether or not I make aliyah, this year in Israel has made me sure of one thing: I will continue to practice Judaism. I have a growing passion to pass on my ancient traditions and I really want my kids to be able to feel the instant bond with other Jews that I have experienced this year.

Finally, I want to give a big thank you to all the parents. Thank you to everyone who made it possible for us to add this remarkably enriching year to our lives. Thank you for pushing past your fears of sending us to a country full of conflict and thank you for making it financially possible for us to be here. It is SO worth it. Goodnight to everyone and I hope you enjoy your stay in Israel.