Here's an excerpt from my readings for the AJ-IJ class... from My Life, by Golda Meir (former and the first female Israeli PM):
"There were all kinds of compensations for these small hardships, like walking down the street on our first Friday evening in Tel Aviv and feeling that life could hold no greater joy for me than to be where I was- in the only all-Jewish town in the world, where everyone from the bus driver to our landlady shared, in the deepest sense, not only a common past but also cmmon goals for the future. These people hurrying home for the Shabbath, each one carrying a few flowers for the table, were really brothers and sisters of mine, and I knew we would remain bound to each other for all our lives. Although we had come to Palestine from different countries and from different cultures and often spoke different languages, we were alike in our belief that only here could Jews live as of right, rather than on sufferance, and only here could Jews be masters, not victims, of their fate. So it was not surprising that for all the petty irritations and problems, I was profoundly happy."
I can't see myself posting this quote from anywhere else in the world. Even in America or at Colgate (okay, 98% true). Though I have occasional down moments in Israel, they are indeedly quickly replaced by the positive fact that I am here, where I can be a free Jew and feel part of the homeland. It may not be my real sense of home yet but I've found my niche here, ever since I landed here on my birthright trip in June 2005.
Take that.
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