Post­ed by Nat Bernstein

As sum­mer pro­grams and, God will­ing, this sum­mer’s war between Israel and Hamas draw to a close, one has to won­der at the expe­ri­ences of the Jew­ish teenagers, col­lege stu­dents, and young pro­fes­sion­als who trav­eled to and with­in Israel through Taglit Birthright, study abroad, or oth­er oppor­tu­ni­ties over the past few weeks. Face­book flood­ed with updates and op-eds; Insta­gram housed a gallery of ​“bomb shel­ter self­ies” with new friends; emails home detailed each day’s trav­el log and secu­ri­ty con­sid­er­a­tions. How will these young peo­ple reflect on their (first, for many) time in Israel?

The image of the Old City inside a shak­en sou­venir snow globe seems rife with sym­bol­ism, espe­cial­ly now.

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