Home

As we just returned from an amazing trip to Israel, I just wanted to share some thoughts. Although I am so grateful to live in a wonderful community with amazing friends and have tremendous Hakarat hatov to the country that we live in that allows us to live freely and go and come as we please, there is nothing in the world that can compare to our homeland. From the moment we touched down on that precious soil to the moment we regretfully left breathing in the holy air of our land, our hearts were warmed from coming home. No matter where we went, we felt like we belonged. The experiences that we shared and the people that we met reminded us how we are all one and part of a beautiful chain that is so strongly connected. Where else would we receive endless smiles and greetings from complete strangers, brachot, singing and dancing from the cab driver who drove us to the kotel for my son's bar mitzvah?Where else could we step into a restaurant to eat dinner, only to be greeted by the kitchen staff themselves, asking us if we would like to perform the mitzvah of hafrashat challah and be allowed the chance to daven , followed by the chants of mazel tov after finding out that the person making the Bracha has never done hafrasha before? What about the workshop owner in Gush Etzion who drove all the way to Yerushalayim to pick up a woodworking piece that we made to fix it and return because it wasn't perfect, and as soon as they realized it in their shop, they immediately called to rectify a problem we may never have realized. And to do it besimcha? How about the family that we met during a Shabbat lunch meal who heard that my husband had never before been to Maarat hamachpela, and insisted that he drive us himself on motzei Shabbat despite his busy schedule just so that we could have the zchus to go and daven there? Or the countless individuals that when we met them throughout our trip and asked where we were from, begged us to come home and join them in this beautiful land. Although I did not have most of my friends and all of my family with us for our simcha, my heart was bursting with pride to have the privilege of celebrating this momentous occasion so close to HaShem in the beautiful land that He gave to us to enjoy. And now that I am back, I realize, that although I am currently in my house in a neighborhood I know well and have all of my comforts surrounding me, I am not home. Home, is where I just left....I hope HaShem grants us the chance to return again soon.