tel aviv sunset

This is one of the last pictures I took before I left Israel almost two years ago, since then I've looked at it almost every day and dreamed of the time I would return.

A Beginning

I started this blog because I’m about to embark on a journey to an unknown land. Really you could say I started this journey a little over twenty three years ago, and this blog is just picking up after what I’ll call a short break. I’ve wanted to travel back to Israel since I first went there almost two years ago. I made a false attempt last summer after I had graduated from college but the timing simply wasn’t right. Now however I’m going and I’d like this blog to give anyone who reads it a first hand account of my adventure. Let’s start at the beginning, after spending the last year working and living in New York I’d begun to realize that the dream I’d nearly started last year was still nagging me. Last summer I was as close to going to Israel as one could get: I had signed up for a program, been accepted and begun taking the necessary steps to go. Then a few things happened. One a war broke out between Israel and Lebanon, two my sister was getting married. And lastly I began to have lingering doubts that the real reason I wanted to go was I simply didn’t feel ready to start my adult life and I would be running away to Israel just to avoid growing up. All of those were valid reasons for staying in the United States. But now I don’t have those issues to deal with Israel is at peace (well as much at peace as you can hope for), my wonderful sister has been happily married for almost a year now, and most importantly I’ve spent a year living on my own. I moved into a wonderful little place on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, in the process I worked for two investment banks, and in short living an extremely fulfilling life. I’ve been happy, well adjusted and busy. I love my life in New York and couldn’t have asked for a better year. And yet this itch refused to go away, I found myself dreaming of Israel and so I decided I needed to go. I began talking to friends, family and my two trusted Rabbi’s. No one told me anything they all agreed I needed to follow my heart. And yet I can’t just pick up my life can I? I’ve worked so hard to get where I am now, sacrificed so much, endured months of doubt, I couldn’t just pick up and leave. I needed a sign. What’s that old saying? Be careful what you wish for you just might just get it. Last Thursday I received my sign, I found out (all in the same day) that I would be losing my job, that my roommate was moving to North Carolina with his girlfriend and getting married (a big Mazal Tov!! to the two of them, I wish you both much health, happiness and love) and weeks before this day I had scheduled a meeting with my rabbi to discuss going to Israel. There it was: the trifecta. And so by the end of the day the wheels were put into motion, I’m going to Israel. Since that moment I’ve alternated between being excited and scared. I doubt that, that duality will go away, there’s so much to do and so little time, but at the end of this mad rush I’ll be in Israel. So what am I trying to accomplish with this blog? I have no great aspirations to be a writer I’m sure regular readers will quickly realize that I lack fundamentally good writing skills. But I thought this could be a good way to keep my friends and family informed of my activities without sending out impersonal mass emails. I also thought it would good to keep a journal to document my activities as a record of my travels and maybe just maybe by writing down what I’m learning it will help me make sense of this trip. I don’t know where this journey will take me but I’m prepared to let it happen and take it as it comes. So welcome to my journey it should be fun.