This summer, Russian Division volunteer and JCF donor Natasha Novosolov's daughter Faina experienced a mission to Israel, learning about the spirit of giving and the real impact it can have.

When I first signed up to go on the Mission to Israel trip this past July, I expected to have fun, travel around the country, meet some interesting new people and have a relaxing break from my stressful career. What I did not expect is the intense emotional experience I had. I hadn’t noticed that this trip was carefully worded as a “mission” rather than a “vacation.” Three hundred of us, from all over the United States, were brought together and bused around from site to site exploring Israel. We learned about the history of the Western Wall, the politics behind the occupied territories and the religious battles over Jerusalem.

We also visited a small Bedouin village and learned that some had never met Americans before. One 10-year-old boy told us that he was worried that we wouldn’t like him because he wasn’t Jewish. Later we were introduced to a man who created a program for Bedouin kids and Israeli kids from a local kibbutz to play soccer together, helping build a sense of community. I could go on for pages and pages about such awe-inspiring moments and individual heroes. It was truly inspiring. And then slowly, we all began to understand that this was not a vacation with an impending end, but a mission with a new beginning. Hopefully, we could take this spirit of giving back home with us and make a difference in our own communities. On all of our nametags was printed the phrase “Live Generously.” My mother had been donating her time and money for the Jewish Federation for a while now, but what did this really mean to me? It all began to sink in as we saw how one person could really make a difference.

Towards the end of our trip, some of us visited Ethiopian children who were able to start new lives in Israel, thanks to the Federation. Others visited a nursing home, also funded by the Federation. This home housed Israeli Jews, Russian Jews, even people who had immigrated here after the Holocaust to find a home. It was amazing to see the wide scope of Jewish people being touched by America dollars. It was also amazing to see them all surfing the Internet!

At the nursing home, all the trip participants sat in a circle and shared moments that touched us, and made a pledge of what we were going to do to keep this spirit of giving alive. One woman spoke of becoming a leader in her community. Another woman spoke about how being on Masada made a huge impact on her. One man even planned to come back to Israel to teach English to the kids in the Bedouin village we had visited.

As I listened to these people, people who I had been traveling with for 10 days, speak of the importance of giving back, I thought about my own experience as a Russian Jewish immigrant. It struck me that it was the generous spirit of people like this who helped my family resettle after we emigrated from Russia when I was 5 years old.

There is a picture of me with my father that I love. I am 5 or 6 years old, and we are standing in San Francisco, in front of our first car — a burgundy, boxy Oldsmobile. I had always thought that it was so silly that we are posing in front of this ugly car, and that my father looks so proud of it. But at that moment in Israel, that car took on a new meaning for me. It stood for all the people who helped us through our journey as Jewish immigrants, and the importance of giving back to future generations. It stood for my own personal mission as an immigrant, a Jew and more importantly, a human being.