Traveling as a teenager is an experience that can have a lifelong impact. Whether it is with family, friends, school, youth group or even solo, discovering and learning enriches and engages the Jewish experience as a young adult. 

“Traveling is so important to me not only because I get to experience so many things, but because exploring other cultures is a value important to my Judaism,” said Lexie Herman, a junior at Blue Valley North High School in Overland Park, Kan. after visiting France on a school trip. 

High school students have many opportunities to travel the world on school and youth group sponsored trips. It isn’t uncommon for teenagers to spend part of their summer away from home. Many people can become more culturally aware by traveling. For one Jewish St. Louis teen, that meant visiting Prague, Poland and Israel on a five-and-a-half week North America Federation of Temple Youth, or NFTY, trip. 

“Traveling through Jewish history in the last five weeks showed me how hard the Jewish people worked to get our own country, and finally being there made me prouder to be a Jew,” said Phoebe Wolkowitz, a junior at Parkway Central High School. “The whole trip made me more enthusiastic about my Judaism.”

When visiting various parts of the world, it is possible to learn about numerous different Jewish experiences. The Jewish bond worldwide can bring people together no matter where they are from. 

“We actually met some Israeli tour groups in some places and it was so funny that we interacted like we knew each other. My mom was talking to the Israeli woman about her kids and they had just met,” said Eyal Kattan, a junior at Parkway Central, who visited Spain with his family.

 Although connecting with Jews is very common in some places, it’s not unusual to visit a place in which Jewish life is almost nonexistent. It can be refreshing to hear from people who are curious about others different from themselves and who put aside stereotypes of the Jewish people.  

“My host family thought it was interesting that I was Jewish and asked me a lot of questions,” Lexie said. “At one point, the grandparents gave me an entire backstory to let me know that they had one very distant relative who was Jewish. There weren’t very many Jews in the area, so they thought it was neat.” 

However, vacationing in a foreign country is not always easy. Being a member of a targeted religion can be challenging and often requires taking precautions before and while traveling.

“We felt mostly safe the entire trip,” Eyal said. “Everyone was so welcoming and accepting, although there was a Muslim area in Madrid that we did avoid for precautionary reasons, but I don’t think we would have had a problem.” 

While teen travelers may worry before their trip — and it never hurts to err on the safe side — they usually discover that people they meet abroad are more accepting than they expected. 

“I didn’t even bring any of my BBYO (B’nai B’rith Youth Organization) T-shirts with me out of caution, but after having been there, I don’t think there would’ve been a problem if I did,” Lexie said. “I did have my hamsa necklace on the entire time and I didn’t get any comments on it other than compliments.” 

Sometimes, however, judgment can come from unexpected people, including other Jews. 

“I was traveling with a Reform group, so sometimes Orthodox women would try and throw scarves at us to cover our legs, yell at us, or give us dirty looks,” Phoebe said. “We traveled in mostly Jewish areas so there wasn’t any anti-Semitism, but it was strange that Jews discriminated against other Jews.”

No matter with whom, where or how long the trip is, visiting another country is truly an experience of a lifetime. Today’s Jewish youth are lucky to have so many chances to visit historical Jewish sites and broaden their global perspectives.