Jewish Community Partners

Jacqueline Beeber, daughter of Mary Beth and Greg Beeber is a junior at Lausanne Collegiate School. Memphis Jewish Federation’s Lemsky Endowment Fund provided her with a Teen Israel Experience grant to offset the costs of her BBYO Israel Journey program. All rising juniors and seniors are eligible for grants of up to $3,000 to attend a recognized teen summer or semester program in Israel. Teen Israel Experience applications for Summer 2024 are open and can be accessed at Lemsky Endowment Fund | Jewish Community Partners (jcpmemphis.org)

On my trip to Israel this summer, I experienced connections to many new friends, cultures, and places. Before the trip, I believed every person I would meet would be the same because we all have Judaism in common. Fortunately, this was not the case. While everyone in my program was Jewish, everyone was from different places across the globe such as Canada, New York, Chicago, California, and more. Because of the different people on my trip, I experienced new ideas and perspectives from my own and learned different meanings of being Jewish.

One of my best friends on the trip was a girl from Boston, named Raquel. While we became friends quickly, we also realized we had a lot of differences. Mostly in the way we talked, but also in what we believed it meant to be Jewish. For example, she believed Judaism meant she had to go to synagogue every Shabbat and participate in every Jewish holiday. However, I believed being Jewish meant being born Jewish and having Jewish values such as Tikkun Olam. Because I was able to experience the diverse perspectives of what being Jewish means through my new friends, this trip helped me create a new definition of what being Jewish means to me.

Additionally, the trip to Israel this summer impacted not only my Jewish beliefs, but also my mental health. When I was in Israel, I meditated in public at the Kotel, the Dead Sea, and Masada. Typically, I meditate in my own room because I believe meditating is a private event. However, meditating in spaces where everyone is praying for a better world improved my mental health significantly.

Another part of my trip was experiencing new cultures such as the Bedouin culture and Druze culture. One of my favorite nights was when my group stayed overnight in the middle of the desert at the Bedouin tents. We rode camels, learned about the Bedouin people’s customs, had a traditional Bedouin meal, and slept in tents under the stars. Part of the reason this was one of my favorite nights was the culture allowed me to take a step out of my daily routine and experience life in a different way.

Throughout my time in Israel, I learned about Israeli culture and how diverse it is. One of the bigger examples that really opened my eyes to the diversity in Israel, was seeing the nation’s capital, Jerusalem. Before the trip, I did not know there are four quarters, Jewish, Christian, Muslim, and Armenian in the Old City of Jerusalem. After walking around the city and learning about the four quarters, I realized how diverse Israel was. From Jerusalem to Eilat or Haifa to Tel Aviv, every city we visited had its own unique diverse culture. The idea of many different cultures being connected to one idea or nation, allowed me to adapt to a different belief of what being Jewish meant to me. My new definition is, whether someone has similar beliefs to you or not, being Jewish means accepting they are owed the right to a place where they can worship their beliefs.

Thank you to Memphis Jewish Federation’s Lemsky Endowment Fund for helping make my BBYO Israel journey possible for me.

Note: This essay was written before the horrific events of October 7^th.