Monday, September 8, 2008

The Land of Israel

What is "Eretz Yisrael"--or the land of Israel?
Is it the dirt? (Is that too obvious an answer?)
The footprints that the people of Israel have left in land, in a spiritual or physical sense?
Is it the hopes and dreams of the Jewish people about the fate and status of this land?

When I was in Latrun at the Latrun monastery, I went wandering into their vineyard and at one point reached down and touched the soil and held it in my hand. I let it slide through my fingers and then looked up towards the sky.

Standing on the land of the monastery, in that beautiful valley, with framed hills in the background and views of Neve Shalom (or "Oasis of Peace") I truly felt my feet planted in the Land of Israel. This feeling doesn't make me think that Israel is my absolute, current home-- and this is not to say that I think I will make Aliyah. It was just the first time in my heart that I feel a connection to the soil--not to buildings or to people--but to the physicality of this place. When I spent six weeks in Ireland one summer, a place where people from both sides of my family come from and where I have family, I felt blessed and stimulated the moment I set foot on Irish soil. The physicality of the land and everything about it sat well with me, and I found that Irish people simply rubbed in a certain way that was very, very positive. This is not to say that if I went back I wouldn't see things that bothered me, or things that I questioned, I just found being there was very easy. Israel has given me more challenges, and consequently a lot to think about, mull over, grapple with, and occassionally cry about. Israel is also a constant batch of surprises, everyday something shocks me... it's kind of like a constant series of intellectual earthquakes being here. So, yes, Israel is difficult for me--but if I can connect to the land, then I'm hoping that my connection to this place will only deep and become more beautiful and more eclectic over time.
Feeling those little bits of soil, I realize that Israel is the center of the destiny of the Jewish people, so it is permanently and forever etched onto my destiny. At the same time, I realize believe in the Diaspora as being a positive thing. The Jewish people have brought so much to my own country, let alone the whole world, in terms of work for social justice, science, literature--even understandings of sexuality. I cannot imagine the United States without the Jewish community, or the Jewish community without the United States (which has been so wonderfully nurturing.)
This place is a part of my destiny, not the whole thing, and slowly it's feeling less and less foreign and scary. Being at Latrun also reminded me, so much, of waking up from a dream. It was a little like Deja vu. My heart is slowly, but surely, waking up to Eretz Yisrael.