I’ll call you as often as I can to tell you my whereabouts, but please mom, don’t believe everything you watch on television, it’s very different here in person.”

This is a fragment of the many overseas phone conversations I had with my mother who was desperately trying to convince me to come home earlier after three weeks of being on the JAM trip in Israel, when I had already extended my trip for two more weeks. I did not truly understand why she was so concerned, for I was not being exposed to television during my touring; instead I was occupied with learning from another aspect of life at Neve Yerushalayim.

It was not comforting to see my best friends Afsoun and Diana receive similar phone calls from their parents trying to persuade them to come home, telling them they will book them an earlier ticket. We were puzzled as to what the big deal was as we walked on Ben Yehuda St. at night, and saw everyone out enjoying themselves in cafes, restaurants, dance clubs, and hookah bars. Israeli nightlife begins at midnight, where adults, teens and children of all ages are out enjoying themselves; nobody was conversing about the dangers of the war when I was there. I was out later at night than I would ever be in Los Angeles, yet I felt much safer in Israel than I ever do back home. Everyday people flooded the Tel Aviv beach soaking the sun and playing matkot (Israeli ping-pong).

The fear in my mother’s voice echoed in the back of my mind as we walked in to the shuk on Friday to do shopping in honor of Shabbat. Many thoughts were running through my head as I walked passed each stand overflowing with delicious, ripe fruits and vegetables, nuts and dried fruits, and the poultry section with the fresh fish still jumping.  Why are our families so concerned, yet everyone here is so calm and thinking more about life, not the dangers of the war? It is then that I understood something that we can all learn from Israelis: to continue with life no matter what hardships come along. They are aware of their surroundings, yet they realize that they cannot stop their plans for life and let the other side win. That’s precisely what they want; for us to cancel our plans because we are afraid, and we learn from Jewish history that one cannot stop and give up in difficult times. If our grandparents gave up, we wouldn’t be here today in a country with religious freedom, what people literally died for in the past.

Fear is a very important factor in our lives. It is important and it is a gift that we all have to make cautious decisions and prevent catastrophic results. Yet, today many people are in fear about the Israeli-Lebanese conflict, stopping them from traveling to the Holy Land. This gift of fear is being channeled in the wrong way. There is more to fear in our own society than being in Israel. As I have told many people when I arrived, I felt safer in Israel than I do in Los Angeles. In Israel, we are all one (for the most part) family helping one another and sharing many common goals. The doors of homes are open to the public for Shabbat, and if you ever need a place to stay, people are so welcoming without any questions. A young couple in Israel gave me and two other JAM participants their apartment to sleep in for Shabbat while they went away to another city.  Such cases are extremely rare in Los Angeles, yet in Israel it is the norm. So where should our energy of this fear be placed in? How about fearing that our grandchildren will be assimilated because our children are marrying non-Jews. How about fearing the fact that the Jewish population, as small as it is, is getting smaller due to the many “dropouts” and the uneducated about what their religion is about, and the values that it contains. It is our duty to inform the world and to take action in order to prevent distressing results.

As many of you who have visited Israel know, it is not a rich state, and the people are not wealthy, most of them living in small apartments. So why do many people make aaliyah and decided to live there? For the simple reason of the pursuit of happiness and peace of mind.  Although they may not have a lot of money, their souls are prosperous. Monica Hakamzadeh put it well in a shiur at TLC when she said “In Israel you see they don’t have much, but they are so happy, yet you can walk in a Beverly Hills home and see the people are depressed!” She really pointed out truth, and we need to realize that while material benefits are pleasurable, they are not what make our souls happy, and if our souls are not joyful, then we become truly depressed.
Yes, fear is crucial and we should learn to fear the disintegration of our Jewish values, and make sure to teach our children what our ancestors have preserved from generation to generation. Don’t allow fear to cancel your planned trip to Israel, because the Israelis need our support now more than ever, and it is important to exemplify our encouragement for them, and to demonstrate that we will not allow fear to distract our plans and goals in life. G-d instilled fear in our souls for a reason, and we must be able to direct it in a beneficial way to better society, for if we don’t then we will have much more to fear than fear itself.

Jessica is studying Political Science in Los Angeles and recently returned from an inspirational trip to Israel. To learn more about her trip with the Jewish Awarness Movement go to: JAMoncampus.com