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My alternative spring awakening
BY: RHONI RAKOS Special to the CJN
For most college students, spring break conjures up images of beaches, partying and relaxation.
If you had asked me this fall what I would be doing for my spring break, I would have envisioned myself in this stereotypical scenario.
So when two of my best friends asked if I wanted to go to Israel to do community service on Jewish National Fund’s Alternative Spring Break (ASB), I wasn’t entirely sure I wanted to “give up” my vacation. However, once there, I quickly found out I wasn’t “giving up” anything but rather gaining an incredible and life-changing experience.
We were primarily stationed in the Negev Desert, where we helped create a more desirable place for the expanding Israeli population to live. Our service projects included building and cleaning a playground area, painting the exterior of an inner-city apartment building, working on independent farms, digging rocks from the ground to make way for new trees to be planted, and farther north, creating a better atmosphere in a neglected part of Jerusalem. My co-ASBers were truly unique individuals, and I became very close to many of them through our shared experiences and labor. Beyond the impact the work had on the neighborhoods, it had an enormous impact on us, as well.
Each day I was more and more exhausted and sore of body but enthusiastic and ambitious in my attitude. One of the most moving parts of the experience for me occurred on the final day of service. We were to build a path through an overgrown park in an underdeveloped area of Jerusalem. Although spreading giant piles of mulch by loading it into bags, hauling it further down the path, and spreading it with rakes, hoes, sticks, hands and whatever else we could find made a big difference in the landscape, my fellow volunteers and I determined that it did not look as nice as we had envisioned.
Instead of concluding our efforts in a timely manner, we began lining the path with rocks to give it more definition. As people saw the difference the rocks made on a small portion of the path, the group became more invigorated.
As our leaders called out that less and less time remained before Shabbat, our efforts became more and more determined. We even asked for extra time to finish.
It was incredible watching a group of such inspired volunteers dashing to do the absolute best job possible, even after spending an entire week of intense labor.
The whole time I was working, I thought about how we were personally living David Ben-Gurion’s dream of developing the Negev. I studied about the early pioneers in my younger years at Agnon day school, but never in my wildest dreams did I think I would spend a week being one.
Putting my own sweat (and sometimes blood) into the land made me reconnect with it on a more personal level, as well as develop a more personal interest in its future. I will always remember looking up to wipe sweat from my eyes and seeing a row of volunteers rapidly burning in the desert sun, yet diligently hoeing rock-hard, dry desert ground against a backdrop of beautiful yet harsh Negev mountains and thinking that this was true altruism and devotion to the state of Israel.
Rhoni Rakos, from Shaker Heights, is a junior at Carnegie Mellon University. For information on JNF’s Alterative Spring Break, visit www.inf.org/ash.
We were personally living David Ben-Gurion’s dream of developing the Negev.
If you had asked me this fall what I would be doing for my spring break, I would have envisioned myself in this stereotypical scenario.
So when two of my best friends asked if I wanted to go to Israel to do community service on Jewish National Fund’s Alternative Spring Break (ASB), I wasn’t entirely sure I wanted to “give up” my vacation. However, once there, I quickly found out I wasn’t “giving up” anything but rather gaining an incredible and life-changing experience.
We were primarily stationed in the Negev Desert, where we helped create a more desirable place for the expanding Israeli population to live. Our service projects included building and cleaning a playground area, painting the exterior of an inner-city apartment building, working on independent farms, digging rocks from the ground to make way for new trees to be planted, and farther north, creating a better atmosphere in a neglected part of Jerusalem. My co-ASBers were truly unique individuals, and I became very close to many of them through our shared experiences and labor. Beyond the impact the work had on the neighborhoods, it had an enormous impact on us, as well.
Each day I was more and more exhausted and sore of body but enthusiastic and ambitious in my attitude. One of the most moving parts of the experience for me occurred on the final day of service. We were to build a path through an overgrown park in an underdeveloped area of Jerusalem. Although spreading giant piles of mulch by loading it into bags, hauling it further down the path, and spreading it with rakes, hoes, sticks, hands and whatever else we could find made a big difference in the landscape, my fellow volunteers and I determined that it did not look as nice as we had envisioned.
Instead of concluding our efforts in a timely manner, we began lining the path with rocks to give it more definition. As people saw the difference the rocks made on a small portion of the path, the group became more invigorated.
As our leaders called out that less and less time remained before Shabbat, our efforts became more and more determined. We even asked for extra time to finish.
It was incredible watching a group of such inspired volunteers dashing to do the absolute best job possible, even after spending an entire week of intense labor.
The whole time I was working, I thought about how we were personally living David Ben-Gurion’s dream of developing the Negev. I studied about the early pioneers in my younger years at Agnon day school, but never in my wildest dreams did I think I would spend a week being one.
Putting my own sweat (and sometimes blood) into the land made me reconnect with it on a more personal level, as well as develop a more personal interest in its future. I will always remember looking up to wipe sweat from my eyes and seeing a row of volunteers rapidly burning in the desert sun, yet diligently hoeing rock-hard, dry desert ground against a backdrop of beautiful yet harsh Negev mountains and thinking that this was true altruism and devotion to the state of Israel.
Rhoni Rakos, from Shaker Heights, is a junior at Carnegie Mellon University. For information on JNF’s Alterative Spring Break, visit www.inf.org/ash.
We were personally living David Ben-Gurion’s dream of developing the Negev.
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