age 18
Hi everyone! After being in Israel for 2 months, I want to share my impressions of this awe-inspiring place.
Someone seeking spirituality will find it here so much more easily than anywhere else in the world. It's amazing how there are constant reminders of G-d's presence everywhere, from the Hassidic men, women and children streaming through the streets, to the Egged busses which bear the Torah teaching, "M'pnei seiva takum" (stand up before an older person). There are people who live here who are the greatest people alive today. Just being able to see them and talk to them is the opportunity of a lifetime. The kotel, the western wall - you touch the stones and feel the holiness that is alive in them and has been for thousands of years. There's a reason it is written in the Torah that every four feet you walk in Israel is another mitzvah.
This isn't a regular country - it's G-d's country.
There is plenty of unholiness here as well. Kids who come here for the wrong reasons, like to run away from their problems, will find it very easy to get caught up in the wrong crowd. When I first came here, I wondered how there could be so much potential for unholiness in such a holy place. One of my teachers said that it's because in every place that there is holiness, there has to be an equal potential for unholiness too. This is because we all need to have free will - so the choice is ours - what we will pay attention to here. It all depends on what you are looking for and what you want to become.
