Some Final Thoughts from Israel

On the last full night of our trip to Israel I'm hoping to get the last word in. Kind of a bookend to my first entry back at the beginning of the trip.

The travel organization Da'at bills itself as an educational one. To that end I think that all of us 'Holy Trekkers' have added to our base of knowledge; whether it was history, religion, geography, politics, language, or food.

For myself, it was the realization that what makes Israel so special to Jews is the people. Whether it was meeting a group of fellow Jewish travelers from Finland (again and again and again) to the many Israelis living out their lives - from kindergarteners in Ashkalon to Tzi-Hal soldiers on tour, to the many friends and neighbors who continued to pop up seemingly out of nowhere for another round of Jewish geography, it was the daily, even mundane encounters that made this journey so special.

Second realization: while our own trek is coming to an end, even that idea falls short. As my family prepares to return to the states, a few cousins will be landing for a trip to study and travel through Israel. Their time will overlap with the Klempner family for a few days at least and even then, our story is not finished. One of the longer discussions held amongst the grown ups was how we could help prepare the groundwork for future trips of travelers from Temple Israel to the land of Israel.

Those Trekkers will add their stories to the ones that have come before. One thing you do realize after spending time here is just how large and grand the tapestry of stories of our people are woven here. While it is unlikely that lines of 'Jonah and the forgotten backpack' will be added to the story of the prophet in the Tanach, or that the arguing between various siblings on the tour (to remain nameless) will rise to the level of strife seen between some of our Biblical patriarchs and matriarchs, these stories are important nonetheless.

My final thought is one of anatomy. During our tour we were privileged to have Amanda Putter as a living map of Israel. Our highly knowledgeable tour guide Rachel made one small error. When marking Jerusalem, she pointed to Amanda's 'pupik' (navel). The truth is, Jerusalem is closer to the heart, pumping Jews throughout Israel and even to the extremities in far away lands.

My rabbi from the shul where I grew up used to end some of his speeches with a blessing. While I do not remember it fully it went something like this: "May you experience peace and joy in your life, and may we meet once again on the streets of Jerusalem."

Shalom

-- Harold Citron