"Wherever I go I am going to the Land of Israel". Rabbi Nachman

My love affair with Israel began as an elementary school student at the Solomon Schechter school of Queens.  It was the early days of the building of the State of Israel. The shadow of the Holocaust still was a profoundly painful lingering presence. 

As a young child, I looked at Israel as a dream and a miracle; it was the time of Chalutzim (pioneers), of reclaiming of the desert and the ingathering of exiles.  We would stand up and, with tears in our eyes, sing Hatikvah “L’hiyot am chofshi b’artzenu” – to be a free people in our land.

This love has flourished through the years; On my first trip, at age 16, I stood on Masada and watched in awe as Israel Mirage jets flew overhead. Upon graduating from college, I raised turkeys on Kibbutz Maayan Tzvi (see photo on right). As a graduate student I climbed Mount Sinai and slept under a star-filled night in the desert. My wife and I spent our honeymoon in Israel as well as our 25^th and 30^th anniversaries there as well.  Our children spent gap years there.  My mother spent the last years of her life in Jerusalem and is buried in its hills.

I have also immersed myself in Israel through the writings of Amoz Oz and the poetry of Rachel, Bialik and Amichai.  Montefiore’s “a Biography of Jerusalem” was compelling reading as was Collins and Lapierre’s “Oh Jerusalem”. Avner’s “The Prime Ministers” gave me an unexpected appreciation of Menachem Begin.  Shavits’s “My Promise Land” challenged me to think deeper.

It has been my great zhut, my great privilege to share this love of Israel with my students. I participated in the first Birthright trip and four more subsequently.  Just last spring I accompanied 10 students – Jewish and not Jewish on a remarkable alternative spring break program with Volunteers for Israel.  Our students met and came to love and appreciate their Israeli peers who were serving on the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).

In the next days I will depart to Jerusalem to participate in the newest chapter in my love affair with Israel.  I am about begin a year-long intensive learning program at the Hartman Institute to deepen my personal understanding of the dynamic and complexities of Israel along with my person feelings, attitudes and emotional ties.  A good part of this is self-definitional – exploring, delving into my my own relationship with Israel. But I also see it as my responsibility as a Hillel professional and Jewish educator.  I am committing myself to immersing myself deeply in learning about Israel so I can be better equipped to engage with students and the campus community on Israel related matters.  Equally as important, I see it as my responsibility to be a “dugma” an example – to model a commitment and a passion to know and understand more about Israel and my relationship to our people and land; to be there, not just literally but figuratively and spiritually as well.