I have never been a religious person. Despite receiving a Bat-mitzvah and attending Hebrew school, connecting with my religion never came naturally to me. Before this summer, I have never felt the urge to engage with the history and culture I come from. However, after my five week trip to Israel, my connection to Judaism blossomed into something completely new for me.

Before getting to Israel, my trip began in Poland. For the few days I spent there, I was confronted with the frightening history that Jewish people have faced and the horrors that have occurred against the people I came from. In school, students learn briefly, if at all, about these horrifying places and quickly shrug off the information they learned about the Holocaust. I can admit, this was me at one point as I and the majority of the people learning about these events are simply unable to comprehend what occurred just 80 years ago. However, after standing in the very places where millions of people took their last breath, I now better understand and can unfortunately feel the sorrow that my religion still is impacted by today. 

Once I finally arrived in Israel from Poland, I was immediately greeted with an odd sense of familiarity. I was welcomed as if I belonged, as if I had been there before. This nation in the Middle East, in the midst of constant war and conflict, was supposedly “my home.” Being in the homeland of my people brought out a side of me I didn’t know existed. No, it wasn’t an ultra-religious Jolie, but instead, a proud Jolie. 

In America, I am a part of a minuscule 2.4% of Jewish people. But in Israel, I joined with the majority of 74.1%. Being in Israel made me extremely proud to be Jewish. Before spending my summer in Israel, I wasn’t able to fully appreciate what it means to be a part of my religion. I was never ashamed of being Jewish, but I never felt a great sense of pride and passion towards my religion. Even though most people looked very different from me and the rest of my trip, it didn’t matter; we were all a part of the same community. 

I will be forever grateful for the life-altering trip I enjoyed this summer and for the ever-lasting impacts it had on my identity. Israel is a special place, and I hope that the Jewish community in Westport is urged to experience the type of transformation I did. The connection that I have to Israel is new and unique to me, and I will definitely be going back.