Sarah Goes to L.A.

Last week I had the pleasure of attending the United Jewish Communities General Assembly in Los Angeles. The General Assembly (GA) is an annual conference held for Jewish professionals (and students) in the US and Canada. This year there were about 5,000 people in attendance. There were tons of speakers (including Benjamin Netanyahu and Prime Minister Olmert) and an expo fair comprising of over 100 Jewish organizations.

Had I only missed my flight to LA, gotten to go to the recording of Deal of No Deal, met Magic Johnson, and seen the second round of tryouts for American Idol in my hotel room Dayeinu! But no....on top of all that Sarah won free trip to Israel from a raffle with the Jewish Agency.

I had signed up for a free lunch for students through Masa and the Jewish Agency the first day of the conference because I figured why not? I want to do one of their programs next year so I might as well hear them and see what they say...and eat. Next thing I know the whole room is looking at me and my friend Amanda is saying, "Sarah...they called your name. That's you!" Turns out I had entered myself in a raffle when I signed up for the lunch.

After I figure out what is happening and the lunch ends, I sit down with a man from the Jewish Agency to discuss my possibilities for using my free trip. It is for an aliyah based program. This doesn't mean that I have to make aliyah, it just means that the program must be focused on it. They will pay for my airfare and program fees. Incredible? I think so. Although they can't give me the program that I am planning on doing next year, I will be able to do a few weeks with them before my 10 month adventure begins. And I get free airfare. What's better than El Al? Not too much.

It really made me think about the Jewish Identity that the Jewish Agency is creating in America. It's all about aliyah. The panel that talked during the lunch was comprised of 5 olim chadashim. Some were religious, some were not religious, some were in the army, etc... I belive all of them were American by birth (I could be wrong about that though....but definately the majority were American). Through the Jewish Agency they had created a whole new life for themselves in Israel. Different language, different culture, different people; but they are all Jews. The emphasis on making aliyah made me really think about the Diaspora. The American Diaspora is like un-religious Jewish Israeli on Shabbat (or rather Jews who are not Shomer Shabbas). We need both to survive! If no Jews worked on Shabbat then what would the IDF do? And what about the hospitals? Similarly, what would Israel do with the backing of the American Jewish population? When Prime Minister Olmert spoke at the GA he told us that the UJC had raised over $225 million for Israel in the past few months since the war against Hezbollah began. That's a lot of money! Without a strong Jewish population in America today that would not have happened. Aliyah is not for everyone; it's a definate possibility for me, so I consider myself to be extremely lucky for winning this trip, but what if it had been someone had no interest in it?

In conclusion: I love Israel, I love the Jewish Agency, and I'm going to Israel for free! (oh yeah, and watch for me in the background of Deal or No Deal in January...I'm wearing a blue shirt!)