We leave for Israel on Wednesday and my excitement builds. A mountain of events lies before us as well as the absolute joy of drinking a cup of coffee on our cousin’s patio while watching birds migrate from Europe and western Asia to the Great Rift Valley in Africa. I expect to see the local hoopoe bird on the railing of the patio as he, too, enjoys the vista.
We are privileged to travel to Israel where we will attend our cousin’s wedding. It’s also a trip for us to spread the word of Jewish Luck, enjoy a day trip to Tel Aviv with another cousin, meet with an Israeli publisher, see old friends, relatives, and uncover all manner of connections to people we meet. I think about this trip as a constant movement from center-stage to backstage to the audience and I am excited to be in the theater of Israeli life.
I expect Jewish Luck’s theme of immigration and seeking home to resonate with Israelis. Leslie is currently reading Ari Shavit’s book, My Promised Land and I am slowly reading Al Tishlah Yadkha el ha Na-ar—Do Not Raise Your Hand against the Boy by Rabbi Israel Meir Lau. For Rabbi Lau who immigrated to Israel from post Holocaust Europe with no knowledge of spoken Hebrew and the imperative from his late father to make his way to Israel, aliyah was a homecoming. Even with his motivation it took time for him to acclimate and to resume his life as a student rather than a concentration camp inmate. Every Jew arrives in Israel with a suitcase of dreams and illusions. No matter how well I try and preserve my memories of previous visits, Israel will have changed just as I have changed and we will have to reconnect on a new and different level.
I have never traveled to Israel with only my sister and I look forward to seeing Israel through her eyes as well as my own. Our next blog will fill you in on our journey as we write from Modiin, Israel in the upcoming week. Tht assumes we overcome jet lag enough to be coherent. If you live in Israel and want to see us, feel free to contact me through our web page, linkedin, or email. You can check our public appearances on the calendar of the webpage for morejewishluck.