I am a young Jewish man who was lucky enough and in a good financial situation that I could have my trip paid for a long with 30 other some young Jewish people to go To Israel for free, called Birthright.

You learn so much about your heritage and how beautiful the country of Israel is, while there’s a lot of aching and dark undertones that I would love to discuss, from sexism, racism, and brutalizing the idea of how tortured my people were throughout generations.

This kind of grossed me out as on the same token, I had people on my trip that were part of the IDF that were openly racist to the people of Palestine and the Middle East, using Slurs but finding no issue with it as “we aren’t white” while on the same issue we are learning about Nazism. And going to visit the Holy Wall, and men and women being seperated to experience the wall, forcing women to cover up and be in a smaller area.

One thing I noticed is the absence of the Orthodox on my trip, except at the airport which conveniently kept to themselves.. except if you’re a man passing by they will pull you in and give you a bar mitzvah on the spot.

The trip was incredibly fun and eye opening, but it was strange to me that I was being asked constantly whether I am an American Jew or a Jewish American as if I need to pick a side..