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Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Po ve’sham: kesher sheli l’yisrael (Here and there: my connection to Israel):


Even when I’m not in Israel, I feel a strong connection to the Holyland. I don’t know exactly where my connection stems from. Is it because I’m an Israeli citizen? Is it because I’m Jewish? Maybe there is no concrete answer. All I know is that when I am here, in Israel, I feel complete. And although I wasn’t born in Israel, I consider it my home. Whenever I stepped off the plane at Ben Gurion Airport I feel the energy of Israel surge through me. To know that I am in a land where my beautiful religion and culture was born and where my family found refuge after fleeing from Iraq 60 years ago and to know that I am in a land where I am welcome makes me feel safe and optimistic.


Many people would probably find the idea of someone feeling safe in Israel, a country surrounded by hostile neighbors and under constant threat of war, to be a strange concept. But any country brought together by a small and mighty group of people who defied all odds and grew into a strong, diverse, and liberal democracy and a home for Jews anywhere and everywhere, makes me feel safe. 

D. M.

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