looking ahead and looking behind

The final countdown is well on its way. I have less than a month in this holy land. What has it meant to me and what will it mean?

In many ways, Israel as a country has shattered my expectations, for good and for bad. It is a land that is a leader in science and technology, with a military that attempts (note the word attempt) to wage war as humanely as possibly. Israel is a country where people walking by someone giving you directions will argue about those directions (if they don't just say yashar yashar (go straight)). While Babylon/Iraq may be called the cradle of civilization, Israel is the cradle of religion, serving as a nexus for many different peoples who struggle with themselves and each other in attempts to find meaning and Gd in this world. In this quest, it has been conquered and reconquered by Jews, Christians and Muslims and has had members of those three religions and others living in its lands virtually continuously since the creation of each of those religions.

As such it is a very holy place, but being a real country it cannot always live up to its desire of being an or l'goyim, a light unto the nations. It struggles daily with neighbors that would prefer that it not exist, some of which often work to bring about its destruction. It is a country founded on the ashes of the Shoah/Holocaust, that struggles to share the light of truth, justice and human rights. It is a place where the post office can run out of stamps and where government offices and schools can be on strike for weeks and months (note--this has not happened while I've been here!). It's very democratic government allows everyone to have a voice, but also allows small parties to hijack the government in demanding money for programs (ie Shas and other religious parties demanding 1 billion NIS to be in the government). The party that won the most seats in Knesset might not even be IN the government (as in this case).

In my time here, I've visited museums old and new, seen many ancient ruins, as well as modern new structures (mostly outside of Jersualem--but a few here, too). I have studied traditional texts, yet often with a modern spin, using traditional and non-traditional methods to find a connection to Gd, Israel and the Jewish people (in our past iterations as well as our modern versions).

With all this tsurris, as much as I struggle with being here, missing those I love and the home and city I love, Israel is a holy and wonderful place. I will look forward to coming back here--on vacation--and continuing to visit its history/archaeology and its technology/innovation, its past and its present. While some people hate the new bridge in the Jerusalem skyline, I think it is striking and beautiful. It is out of place, yet in place. It offers a bold, new future, yet in its blinding whiteness, also reminds one of the Jerusalem stone to which it is anchored, and which all buildings in Jerusalem have at least a facade of. In many ways, it truly represents Jerusalem and Israel, a place rooted in the past, yet struggling to face the future.