Israeli Pride

  Just imagine going on week long field trips with your 5th grade class around your home country.  You camp, you play games, you go on hikes, you learn about your ancestors of thousands of years, and you bond with the land that you call home.  You do this each year until you join the army for two to three years.  As an army soldier you swear oaths while visiting the holiest sight in your religion in Jerusalem and you sing and dance as you are again taken around your country to see with mature eyes its grandeur.  This is Israeli pride, fostered from a young age.  A deep appreciation for the land that Jews hold so holy is found in most Israelis and that same pride does not only exist for the land.  For example, twice, we had drivers from the apartment rental company we were using move us to new apartments.  They refused a tip because they felt that it was their job to help us and that it would be something of a handout to receive the tip.  Instead, they told us to do a good deed on their behalf by donating it to a charity!  Perhaps the fact that Israel was carved out of the desert into the advanced place it is today by the grandparents and parents of today´s kids is the foundation for the pride, but seeing a people so connected with a common love in Judaism and the land is powerful.