For 43 Hillsdale College students and two professors, 10 days in Israel jam-packed with bus rides, museum visits, hikes, and lectures did not quite constitute a restful winter break. But the trip was life-changing, Assistant Professor of Religion Don Westblade said, though it’s going to take a while to process what happened.
“I’m sure I’ll get transformed, but I think the process is going to take a long time before the transformation sets in,” Westblade said. “There’s just so much to chew on, and we were fed so fast.”
The trip, which took place Dec. 31 to Jan. 11, was organized by Passages, a group committed to sending Christian college students to Israel to explore modern-day Israel and the roots of their biblical faith. It was the third time Passages invited Hillsdale students on the trip.
To better understand Israel’s biblical history, students navigated the narrow, windy streets of Old Jaffa to Simon the Tanner’s house, cruised the Sea of Galilee, visited a first-century synagogue in Magdala, and enjoyed quiet time in the lush gardens on the Mount of the Beatitudes. A few days in Jerusalem included a wet march through King Hezekiah’s underground tunnels, which carried spring water into the Old City of Jerusalem, and a walk through crowded streets along the Via Dolorosa to the traditional site of Jesus’ death and burial.
“Spiritually, it was powerful,” senior Jared Eckert said.
Eckert said spending time in the Garden of Gethsemane on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem where Jesus prayed before being taken to trial was one of the most meaningful experiences for him.
“It’s cool because one, you’re in the Garden of Gethsemane and two, you’re thinking about the incarnation, and then you’re thinking about the human aspect of the incarnation,” Eckert said. “It really became real for me. He didn’t just come here; he was just like me. It was incredibly tangible in that moment.”
But Eckert said witnessing the political situation in Israel provided the most eye-opening experiences of the trip.
To enhance their understanding of Israel’s political situation, students traveled to sites overlooking the Gaza, Syrian, and Lebanese borders. They explored a playground made of bomb shelters in a town where residents have 35 seconds to take cover when missiles are shot over the Gaza border and visited Independence Hall in Tel Aviv, where Israel was declared a state in 1948. Students also heard from political officials, an Arab pastor living in the West Bank who was beaten for sharing the Gospel, and a woman whose town had suffered numerous rocket attacks.
“The best part of the trip for me was the information about modern Israel and its complexity,” Westblade said. “I knew it was complex, but I didn’t understand the complexity.”
Westblade said he also appreciated the opportunity to see the physical roots of his faith, an experience which he said is especially valuable for Hillsdale students.
“It’s a wonderful place for a school that has terms like ‘Judeo-Christian’ in its mission statement to see the roots of that Jewish and Christian heritage,” Westblade said. “We call it the Holy Land, because many of those events of Judaism and Christianity happened in this land. So seeing the land helps us see that those roots are in some actual soil and not rooted in some abstract mythology.”
Senior Cheyenne Trimels agreed: “As far as religion goes, the trip made me a lot more excited and appreciative of my faith. Going there and seeing where Jesus was and where all these miracles happened was incredible.”
Eckert said he came away from the pilgrimage “floored” and wanting to go back to further research the country.
“Life there isn’t safe and cushy, and I think I walked away from Israel realizing that I don’t really live as boldly as maybe I should,” he said. “Going to Israel was also a call to action — really evaluating here’s what we heard was going on in Israel and what are we going to do about it?”
