One week after a trip of a lifetime, to Hungary, and I am still drowning in work. Neither the school work, nor my friends and family’s lives stopped for me during the trip. Consequently, I have a lot to catch up on at school and with my friends yet i keep thinking about returning to Hungary.
During the layover in Toronto, Rabbi Soskil asked us to review our experiences in Hungary. He aspired for us to turn our inspiration from the trip into something physical, some type of change that we could carry around for the rest of our lives. While I was absolutely inspired by the trip, honestly, I found it difficult to discover my physical change.
I thought long and hard about what I found inspiring about this trip. The first thing that popped into my mind was that I was inspired by was seeing kids that had never met before, were raised on two different continents, and have two different native languages become friends in only four days. Not only this but also the Hungarian kids who never had a strong Jewish community to connect with, or celebrate with, were enjoying their Judaism by the end of the trip at the Shabbaton. Let’s be clear, these kids have never attended a shabbaton before or ever proudly shown their Judaism. Seeing them embrace the Jewish culture really inspired me.
I hope to take this inspiration from Budapest of the Hungarian Jewish community and about meeting new people and turn it into two tangible actions. Firstly, I will appreciate my Jewish school and at my synagogue more, I have realized through this trip, that besides educating and raising Jews, they create a strong Jewish community that we all subconsciously or consciously rely on in Baltimore. Secondly, I feel a more international Jewish connection, my Jewish community has grown from just America and Israel to now also Hungary.
