Homeward Bound

In a few short hours, our car service will pick us up and take us to Ben Gurion Airport for our (long) journey home.  Tel Aviv to Newark to Cleveland.  Almost 6000 miles from apartment to home.

Last Saturday, the girls accompanied Jan and me to services, knowing full well that our friend Moritz would share some nice words with the congregation about it being our last Shabbat with them.  But we got some wonderful words from Rav Gustavo, "אתם חוזרים הביתה.  אבל יש לכם גם בית כאן."  When we traveled up north in October, our tour guide David said something similar, "You'll go back home in December.  But always remember that this is your home too."

Home is a tricky concept.  Is it where your stuff is?  Is it where your family is?  Is it where your mail goes or is it where you feel most comfortable?  The answer to all of these questions could be different but you might still say that they're all home.

One of the questions I know we will be inundated with is "How was your time in Israel?"  There are lots of "easy" answers.

• Jan and I got lots of great work done.
• The girls did really well in their respective schools.
• We had the opportunity to travel and explore Israel: Tzfat (Safed), Caesaria, Nazareth, Tiberius, the Golan Heights, Jerusalem (the Western Wall, the Old City, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the Temple Tunnels, Yad Vashem), Hebron, Masada, Ein Gedi, the Dead Sea.
• We (re)connected with people: Josh, Katja, Mort, Gili, Amos, Miriam.
• We made new friends: Moritz, Ava and Arnon, Sherri, Mallory and Douglas, Charlie and Janet, the owner of "The Green Onion", the guys at Falafel Nonna, Doreen, Karen and family, Julie and family... 

But I think that we experienced a second home of sorts.  We "lived" Israel for 5 months, insofar as we could.  This was our country for a while.  We cheered the country's successes and lamented its failures.

No country is perfect -- not the one we're leaving and not the one we're flying to.  But a home isn't always perfect.  It's flawed, sometimes more that we'd like.  But it's still our home, a place to rest our head, a place to share memories with loved ones, and a place to kick up your feet and feel comfortable.

If our girls get nothing else out of this 5 month experience, I hope it's this -- just like you can be yourself in Oberlin, so too can you be yourself in Israel.  Celebrate your Jewish heritage through Shabbat, the holidays, and historical sites that are upwards of 3000 years old.  Remember the people who came before you and made it possible for you to explore this wonderful place.

I know that I'll never forget the opportunity to work remotely for 5 months and I will be eternally grateful to Manuel and Tom for helping to make this happen.  I don't know that I'll ever have the opportunity to do something like this again but I'm glad that I took advantage of it and explored, practiced my Hebrew, climbed Masada (again), and found another place that I can call home.