Since coming home from our long journey back to Baltimore, I have had a lot of time to reflect on the past week. While I learned a lot about the history and culture of Hungry, I have returned from this trip truly grateful for the opportunities I have been given and for the realization about how good we have it in the United States.
Knowing that we get to enjoy freedom of religion in our country, I found it upsetting to hear some of my Hungarian friends talk about the Anti-Semitism that they experience every day. I can’t stop thinking about what it must be like for them to grow up in a place where they live in fear of others finding out that they are Jewish and making threats against them simply for expressing their beliefs. I think about the boy who told us about discovering that one of his peers identified as a Neo-Nazi, the student who was afraid of getting beat up if he wore a kippah in public, and the
idea that the feelings of hatred against Jews that started the Holocaust still exist. This experience has taught me that we must all do what we can to combat Anti-Semitism and to advocate for religious freedom for others.
I want to thank Alan and Glynis for creating this important program, our Beth Tfiloh teachers for spending a week in Budapest with us, and my new Hungarian friends for teaching me life lessons I could not have learned from a book or in a classroom. I am really looking forward to the next part of the program when our Hungarian friends visit us in November. I really want them to experience the wonderful Jewish community we call Beth Tfiloh, where everyone is not only able but encouraged to express our Judaism.~Nathaniel
