There are basically two ways to see Israel: on a tour, or on your own. Both have their advantages and disadvantages. For example, if you participate in the Winnipeg Israel Mission Program (highly recommended!), you gain access to people and places that you would never be able to see on your own. Other advantages include excellent security, congenial company, and the very best tour guides that Israel has to offer. The disadvantage: your schedule is pre-set, and most of what you see of Israel will be from the inside of a tour bus.

 

Israel on your own offers the advantages of more freedom, and more direct interaction with Israelis, but also less security, and the uncertainty of having to make your own way in what is essentially a foreign land. Because of the highly contrasting qualities of these two distinctly different modes of travel, many people mix and match both modes on a single trip, and are thus able to derive full benefit from both experiences.

 

I recently returned from Israel, and on this trip I opted to go on my own (accompanied by my wife Katy, who now prefers to be called Chaya). It was the first time I’d been in Israel on an open schedule since I was twenty. What a difference three decades make! Walking everywhere in the holy city of Jerusalem, absorbing the sights, sounds, and smells of the city from the ground up, was an intoxicating experience. But that intoxication was hardly limited to Jerusalem. Seemingly everywhere we went, there was a feeling of rootedness, of happiness, of “being at home,” that for a Jew cannot be matched anywhere else in the world.

 

Here are a few of many realizations that hit home during our three-week visit:

1.      One minute in Israel equals one week in Canada. This is just a slight exaggeration. Everything in Israel is experienced much more intensely, due to the far greater concentration of significant, simultaneously occurring events that constantly swirl around you.

2.      Virtually everything that occurs in Israel, whether positive, negative, or anything in between, is an expression of the 2,000-year-old Jewish destiny of return to the land of our ancestors.

3.      Israel is the greatest place on earth in which to be Jewish. It is the only country on earth with a distinctive Jewish culture, where the Jewish calendar governs even secular routines, and where even the least religious Jew can quote at length from the Torah, the Prophets, and the Writings. In the Diaspora, the struggle to be Jewish often feels like a losing battle. In Israel, it’s also a struggle, but it’s a struggle in which Jewishness wins for a change.

4.      Even the most secular Jew in Israel is more “religious” than the most religious Jew in the Diaspora. Every day of their lives, Israelis are living, breathing proof of NETZACH YISRAEL — “the eternal character of the Jewish people” — and a Father in Heaven Who fulfills His promises, even after 2,000 years of suffering in exile. A corollary: even the most secular Jew in Israel daily puts his or her life, livelihood, and family on the line for the sake of the peace and security of every Jew on earth. By me, this alone is K’NEGED KOL HA-TORAH — fulfilling the intent of all the Mitzvot of the Torah.

5.      The dangers of being in Israel are greatly exaggerated. Terrorism is an unfortunate factor of life in the Jewish state these days. However, the chances of being personally, directly affected by an act of terror are statistically miniscule, even if you choose to use public transportation. The tremendous advantages of being in Israel far outweigh the remote disadvantage of being involved in a terrorist attack.

 

In the final analysis, Israel is strong, and it is here to stay. For a Jew, it is far and away the most fascinating, most spiritually enriching place to visit on earth. The winter weather in Israel is as benign as that of Florida, California, or Arizona. But Florida, California, and Arizona cannot even begin to offer the spiritual and historical riches that ooze from every nook and cranny of the land of Israel.

 

Chaya and I got so inspired from this trip that we have resolved to visit Israel every year, if possible. Besides, I now I know where I’m going to locate MY retirement condo!

 

With all best wishes,

Rabbi Green