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Wednesday, February 07, 2007

Dear Brother

YS has a great post at On the Flip Side... Excerpt:
On 7/19/06, My Brother wrote:
Sometimes I wish I lived in Israel. I know it's the wrong thing for me but I still wish it sometimes. When do I wish it? When northern Israel is getting Katushaed and Israel decides to do something about it. That makes me want to be there. Where the action is.
...
But there is a distinct feeling during these tense times that Jewish History happens in Israel.

Not only "during these tense times" but I'd say "on the whole" this is where it's happening. I feel hard pressed to say that the future of Am Yisroel is happening in NY.

I feel NY and American Jewry will be a parsha in the story of Am yisroel in Golus. Like Poland and Spain and Morocco.
Personally, I've long felt the same, but I think that what his brother touched on in the original letter is an important point as well: Obviously, people miss Israel the most when they're either there for a short time/just returned, or when something dramatic is happening - whether good or bad. (For instance, watching the Nefesh b'Nefesh video a couple of days ago, I was basically crying, wanting to go there - similar to the reactions I had during the war.)

At the same time, I know that at the present moment it is best for me to be here (heck, even in New York City), and not there. Then again, I feel that YS is right - in the grand scheme of things, what goes on here is but a small parsha (chapter) in terms of Judaism, while what happens there will not be.

I'm not sure any of these really contradict one another, but they trouble me nonetheless. Any thoughts?

4 comments:

  1. I found being in the US, even for a short time to be such torture...

    Isn't it time to come home?

    triLcat

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  2. Ezzie: The winds of war are blowing again after last night's incident up north.

    Sounds like a good time to come.

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  3. TriLcat - Not for me, even if it IS torture. That's one of the points I liked in the original letter.

    Jameel - If you're into that, I guess... :)

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  4. I think about this a lot. I have obligations here, responsibilities I couldn't take care of in Israel. But people always have responsibilities, don't they?


    Will I ever feel as at home here as I did in my brief time in Israel? Will I-as a Jew-ever have the same opportunities here that I would there, if only because I feel like more possibilities are open to me, that what I maybe could do would matter so much more there? That Israel is still a place where things happen, and you don't just watch them on tv?

    I think about these things and I want to go. But I don't. Because I have obligations, responsibilities here. Because I'm used to inaction and frustration. Because it's too easy not to go.

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