Sliding into Home
As many of you know, I just got back from Israel, which makes it three trips in just over a year. A year ago I was privileged to travel as a City Leader with a group of ten moms on a JWRP women's mission; in December we traveled with six other families on a JFX bar/bat mitzvah mission; and now I went as a Trip Leader - lecturer and teacher - for JWRP.
Each of these trips was truly different. Leading my own friends from home on a mission that was life-changing had its own specialness and sisterly bonding. Going as seven families with our kids to celebrate bnai mitzvah - including the bat mitzvah of our own daughter Hindy - was truly memorable in a different way. For one, it was the first time in seventeen years that I went to the Holy Land with my husband, and to experience that with our own kids took things to a whole new level.
But it was this past mission that was a game-changer for me in terms of, for lack of better words, owning the land. Going three times in 14 months means it felt like my second home, rather than a visit. I knew exactly what was where, which stores were open and which were closed, how long it really took to get from place to place.
I don't like feeling like a tourist in Israel. Israel is home - and I want to feel, as they say in Israel, like a "mekomi" - a native. This trip did that for me. I walked the length and breadth of the land. I traveled on Jerusalem city buses as I did 18 years ago when we lived there, walked into mini-marts in little neighborhoods and made small talk with the Israelis. I camouflaged myself as a a local, and it felt great.
Coming back from Israel is hard. Mostly this is because my responsibilities are here. My work, my kids, my projects are all here. Having to take care of nitty gritty details after floating for a week in spirituality ain't easy. Having to come "home" after being "home" is tough.
But for now Cleveland is my home. My people are here - my family, friends, and community. And I have miles to go before I sleep. Israel remains my other home and always will. And Cleveland is also home. I always thought that people who own two homes must be wealthy. And I am. I truly am.
As Maya Angelou put it: The ache for home lives in all of us, the safe place where we can go as we are and not be questioned. I am blessed, then, to have two such places.
Shabbat Shalom
Ruchi Koval
