A series of reports from Israel….
Part one…..
I just got back from the most unexplainable trip of my life. People are asking both Geoff and I “how was it?” Did you have fun?” On every other vacation (trip) we have ever been on we could have answered with any number of adjectives““wonderful, fun, beautiful “and the adjective would have describe it accurately enough, but not on this trip. Not with this experience.
To begin, we arrived at the airport in Rome to catch our flight to Israel. Our layover was for 10 hours (on purpose) so my husband, who has never been, could experience the wonder of Rome. That in of itself was incredible. Roma rapido, as my husband called it was fast to say the least and furious. A day to see all the magnificent sights to see….after dinner we arrived at the airport and off to Israel…
The security you go through is a level that we really hadn’t experienced before but in a strange way it made us feel safe. Interesting, how as adults that is a desire we take with us to the grave. A needing to feel safe. Safe in our mothers womb and then in her arms. ..So the adventure began with that feeling…we would feel safe. That was an important question for up until that moment we were sure we would. So, today I am so grateful my husband insisted that I spend my 50th birthday in a land I am fighting for and a place I believe somewhere in my heart is also my home. A dream came true this day…October 12th, 2009.
We landed and The Star of David was flying over head with a kind of warmth and welcoming as if to say “welcome…we are so glad you are finally here. The feeling of safety continued and I felt comfortable. A feeling of home came over me. A feeling of being with my people. …a very real sincere welcome. A proud feeling of being Jewish. For the first time I took a moment to remember how I felt being a Jew anywhere else in my life. It hit me that maybe I never really had felt safe as a Jew anywhere else. Not completely. Not that I ever felt afraid for my live but I didn’t feel openly proud whenever I was asked if I was Jewish. I’d instantly stop before I’d respond. …“why do they want to know, why are they asking me that? Just for a moment and it was just a moment I would hesitate before I answered. I never really gave much thought to this until now. It was true…I was just a little different where ever I was on the planet. But not here. This was my country and when I answered “I am Jewish” the light from the face looking back was exuberant. It floored me that it was true.
This is every Jews country from all corners of the earth. As one Israeli women put it, “somewhere in your heart in every Jews heart, down deep in your soul, maybe somewhere you have never had to go as we have, you know, you must know…that if the world turned on you, if at anytime you were not welcome, you always, always have a home to come to. You always have Israel. You will never be turned away. Like when a child leaves home, they never think of ever coming back, but they know in their hearts somewhere that if they ever needed to, home would be there”.
What a statement, it made me jump inside. I had never felt that or even thought it for that matter…or had I? Had I ever for a single solitary moment in my life thought that it could or would ever happen, That there may come a time, as a Jew, we would need to safe place to run to?
We were in Israel and the questions began. What was all the fighting about really? The place where from the moment we landed it was as if G-d himself lived here. It was if we stepped into the bible itself.
To be continued…..
November 11th, 2009 at 3:49 pm
Stay tuned for more….