On this day, I am humbled to be reclining peacefully in the land of my ancestors, the land of Israel.
But I will not lie: I was terrified to come hear for years. Like everyone, I’d been exposed to a constant stream of negative media about this nation.
However, since the very first instant of landing here, I have been utterly humbled by the grace, the friendliness, and the genius of the Israeli people.
As a Jewish American, I’d heard rumours, but never really understood firsthand what everyday Israeli life is like. Yes, people have war as a constant threat, and the deaths from terror have left not a single family untouched.
However, on the other hand, the details of their daily life are just so much more peaceful and pleasant than anything I could possibly imagine.
Everything I “knew” about this place is being challenged. I can’t even express how many layers of conditioning — most of it, utter lies– are being shed from my psyche.
It’s both dizzying, and very, very grounding at the same time. And, amazingly, after decades of insomnia, I have slept like a baby ever since I arrived here a couple weeks ago. Interesting, no?
Many folks would have thought that I would go around clutching my purse, and fearing for my life everyday.
Yet, I’ve never felt so safe in my entire life!
It’s so sad to realize how much guardedness and caution I’ve been accustomed to for my whole life in the US. And, since October 7th especially, my belly has been been tied up in knots, as the palpable explosion of anti-Jewish rhetoric, attacks, and intimidation has turned up the “threat dial” way, way up.
In Israel, by contrast, I feel curiosity, respect, admiration, hospitality, and sheer love emanating from the people around me. And, keep in mind, that when I say “the people” — I mean people of every shape and color, since Israelis are incredibly diverse, racially, ethnically and culturally speaking. (At the wedding I attended the other day, there were Jews hailing from Sweden, to South Africa, Ethiopia, Germany, Morocco, Ukraine, Russia, Mexico, North America, South America. They were black, white, and every shade of color in between. But is a topic for a whole other post.)
How simply can I say it?
I feel AT HOME.
I feel, for the first time, that the people around me actively care about my well-being. For the first time, I am shedding shame about my “Jewish nose” and my frizzy hair, as I see so many gorgeous people who look like me!!! I feel, part of a collective body that wants each of us to thrive.
Julie, my oldest and dearest friend, who is hosting me here on the Kibbutz, told me she has always gotten anxious messages from beloveds in America and Europe. Yes, It’s out of genuine care that they share their worries, “It’s so dangerous there, how can you live like that? You should leave!”
But a kibbutznik like Julie laughs at the ignorance of their “concern.” Because Am Israel is so tightly bonded, it provides the absolute safest place imaginable for everyday life one. Crime is basically nonexistent. Kidnapping is unheard of. Even petty offenses like grafitti, vandalism or bullying don’t really happen because people feel a sense of belonging, responsibility and kinship with their fellow citizens that is very very difficult for an average American like myself to understand.
Julie scoffs, “They’re telling me I should be afraid, yet they can’t let their kids out of sight without fear they’ll be abducted or be run over in the street by people who just don’t give a s**t.”
I’m realizing just how conditioned I’ve been to accept as normal that my neighbors are hostile to me and my family. That theft, rape, abduction, manipulation, cancel-culture, “mean girls,” and everyday claw-your-way-to-the-top competitiveness is just normal operating procedure.
And it’s not just true of the Kibbutzim. This is the case all over Israel.
Since I am a water worshipper, I of course made my way immediately to the Sea, and fell instantly in love with the vast cerulean blue. At the seemingly endless white sand beaches of Ashdod — one of the larger cities in Israel, with a population of about a quarter million — people can go for a swim without fear of thieves or knaves stealing their purse while they frolick in the Mediterranean. The weather this time of year (November) is so fine, I asked if I could sleep on the beach with just a blanket? That would be “no problem at all,” Julie reported.
Where in America these days would a person feel safe to sleep on the earth? Maybe a remote beach somewhere? But certainly not in a populous area.
THIS, my dears, is why Israelis love their country so much. THIS is why they are willing to live and die here. Because their neighbors are their kin, and their way of life is so natural, so village-minded, so dang wholesome and safe.
Far from being something to fear, it is something to aspire to for many of us in the West.
Am Israel Chai — THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL LIVE!!! 🇮🇱
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