Why I'm making Aliya???

Why do people leave their home?  Why would a person leave their parents, family, friends, their comfort, their work, the guaranteed success of their stable future?  Why?

 In 2002 I joined a Birthright college trip to Israel - five years ago was the first time I stepped foot, on the holy ground of Eretz Yisrael.  I had no connection to Israel, knew very little about what it really meant to be a Jew and thought it would be just some “cool” free trip - plus I heard they had great clubs and beaches there!

 On our second day in Israel, we took out first trip to the Kotel.  In my mini skirt and low cut tank top, I walked down the stairs to the entrance of the Wailing Wall and behold, in front of me I saw this big beautiful gold dome.  I said to my friend “It is so big, I cant believe it, I finally am seeing it in person”.  She said to me, “ Ummmm, we aren’t here to see the dome! It’s the wall that we care about”.  I responded, “Ohhh, why would Jews all go to this wall?” I slowly walked up to the wall and I saw people crying and shaking their hands to the sky as they spoke to whoever they were speaking to and I felt an intense energy that I have never experienced before and as the tears started to form in my eyes.  BAMM, It hit me!

 I realized in that moment, that I was part of a much bigger picture.  My ancestors fought so hard to preserve their Judaism in face of hatred and anti-Semitism and now I am at a place in my life where I can live a religious life without prejudice, and connect with my Judaism in a way that they never were able to.  From that moment on, every step I took I felt a deeper and deeper connection with this land….  Suddenly I realized I wasn’t a tourist anymore, I was home!

 In ten days I learned what it meant to be a Jew, I learned what it meant to be a Zionist and I learned what it meant to find that missing puzzle piece I have been searching for my whole life.

 I left America a sorority girl, who loved to party and was soon to be engaged to a non-Jew.  After my Israel experience, I returned to America wearing a long skirt, covering my elbows and calling myself an Observant Jew.

 Since then I have sought out true meaning in my life and have worked on creating a Jewish Identity for myself.  Since my birthright trip I returned to Israel several times.  Israel had this indescribable effect on me – friends and family saw it as an  irrational pull on me that kept me going back over and over again.

 I returned to Israel five months later to learn for a summer (’03) in seminary, then again in 2006 when I spent a year studying at Machon Pardes in Jerusalem.  At the end of the year, I just couldn’t go back to the US and what was suppose to be a “year in Israel” turned into “two years in Israel”.  I spent the next year as a Madricha at the Alexander Muss High school and followed by learning in Ulpan.  Living in Israel for the best part of two years showed me how much I yearn to live there.  There is nothing that makes me happier in the world then walking the streets of Jerusalem with my camera, searching and capturing its uniqueness and beauty.

 I was compelled to return to America this year to finish my masters in Jewish Education, and further my passion of educating children to connect to their Jewish roots.  Birthright gave me the gift of knowledge about my heritage and I want it to be my mission to spread this knowledge to children that don’t know it.  This summer I graduate and as I close another chapter of my life I look forward to fulfilling my dream….to live in my homeland.

 “Go forth from your land, the place of your birth, and from your fathers house to that land that I will show you….So Abram went forth as the Lord had commanded him and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy five years old when he left Haran. Abram took his wife Sarai and his brother’s son Lot, and all the wealth that they had amasses, and the persons that they had acquired in Haran, and they set out for the land of Cannan (Israel)."

I feel blessed and honored to follow the path that Abraham took, I guess it is in our tradition to leave what’s comfortable and to have faith that our journey will take us to where we are suppose to be - and for the Jewish people that is to be in Israel! I hope to make my ancestors proud as I, please G-d one day, build a family in Israel and be able to have the chance to walk with my children to the Kotel to teach them the importance of being apart of the BIGGER PICTURE!

*August 13, 2008 my deam becomes a reality....I get to go HOME!!!!