Y2i Day - Gemma
As IST comes to an end, we are all enjoying our last moments as not just a year but as a family. This incredible, once in a lifetime experience, has brought out a new mindset in every single individual; a mind set that I have embraced deeply. I feel blessed that I got to spend 6 weeks sharing a roller coaster of emotions with my new found friends. It has only made the experience more meaningful.
Only a few days ago, we spent our second last Shabbat with the people in just our bus groups. At first I thought that Shabbat wouldn’t be the same without the rest of Lehava, but in fact it was the complete opposite. This opportunity gave us all time to bond together whilst reminiscing over all the memories we created over the last 5 weeks. It was such a special moment to sit at the Shabbat table and see everyone laughing and talking together. We managed to make any bad situation a fond memory, even when we received our dinner with a side of flies. Even though this Shabbat was magical, we missed the rest of our family greatly and only did we realise how much closer we all have become when saying goodbye as if we were leaving each other for months. The day’s flew by, as they do here, and before we knew it we were with all the other Jewish schools and students across New South Wales.
On Sunday, we had Y2i day. IST came together with Masada, Emanuel, Kesser Torah and BJE for an entire day at an incredible venue overlooking Jerusalem. At first I wasn’t too excited about being with other students that we weren’t too close with, but only there did I realise these other students were thinking the same thing as us. We all immediately started introducing ourselves and interacting with one another. I felt a sense of comfort being with 350+ other students who are proud Jews, just like me. We had different activities during the day, but we all just wanted to bond and get to know one another. We heard from the very sought-after Charlotte Korchak. Her main goal was to educate us millennials on not only Judaism but more importantly Zionism, what it should mean to us in the Diaspora to have a Jewish State and how to fight antisemitism. Despite the fact that Charlotte was born to two converts, her love for the state of Israel is so strong, that it inspired all of us as young Jewish students to connect deeper to our roots and build a stronger connection with our Homeland. This wonderful day and our entire program would not have been possible without the generous help from Y2i, and to the donors who continually support the program and ensure its sustainability for generations to come, so I’d like to say a big thank you! I appreciated the last few days of IST greatly, I will miss my year but more importantly, I will miss spending everyday with my family (also known as Lehava) I’m grateful that I got the most incredible side. I wouldn’t change my IST experience for anything.
Gemma Green - 22.12.2019
