Shabbat on the Strip: Doing Vegas with dozens of young JNF leaders

Lisa Shakun, second from left, with other participants of JLIS 2019.

By Lisa Shakun 

Why would young professionals from all over the country come to Las Vegas and spend their time and hard-earned money sitting in a hotel board room instead of hanging out by the pool or partying in casinos? 

That question takes me back to the beginning of my Jewish National Fund journey. It started two years ago when I googled "young professional trip Israel." I had recently returned from Israel after traveling there on a women's trip through my synagogue, where I easily brought down the average age by 30 years. I don’t know exactly what it was, but I was connected to Israel, and I wanted to go back, but this time with my peers. One of the of the first Google results that appeared was for the JNF Young Professionals Tour, and without hesitation I signed up for the trip, booked a flight, and three months later I was on my way to Israel.

What I learned about life pruning pomegranate trees in Israel's desert

By Arielle Levy

I had the time of my life working on a farm in southern Israel along the border of Egypt pruning pomegranate trees. I contacted HaShomer HaChadash looking to volunteer on a farm so I could have a "pioneer" experience. I can't even express how much my week of manual labor far exceeded my expectations in the best possible way.

Back in Israel with JNF four years later, and awed by the progress

By Lauren Mescon

The words of my dear friend Vivian Grossman, "I always yearn to be back in Israel," could not be more true for me.

As I begin to put words on paper, thoughts fight for clarity amid the jumble of emotions that come with living as part of the diaspora but knowing the warmth and joy of being "home" in Israel, as I was during the JNF Mega Mission in February.

The author holds a newly inscribed Torah on its way
to a new home at Kibbutz Shalom.

My connection to the state began when my grandmother collected blue boxes in Savannah, Georgia. It must have seeped into my subconscious because when I was asked to be on the local JNF board in Atlanta in 2007, I said yes. 

And when I attended the Queen of Sheba Mission in 2008, going to Israel for only the second time, my life truly changed forever. I will never be at a Friday night Shabbat anywhere in the world without recalling the feeling I had being with Talia Tzour's family, blessed for Shabbat by her grandmother. I will never forget the feelings of love and camaraderie among the women and the people we met.

The more involved I become, the deeper my feelings and commitment grow.  From falling in love with the Be'er Sheva River Project, and permanently placing my beloved parents' names on a plaque there, to my current "affair" with the Arava, and my growing attraction to the Gaza Envelope, it just gets better and better.