I'm BACCCKK!

Well....sort of. I'm sure that my posting will still be a bit spontaneous- which actually makes me a little annoyed. I tried to make sure that everyday there would be a post... I had no idea I would be bringing my readership into the hundreds. For those of you who check with dedication, I am sorry for the continued absence of something new to read...

I am in Tel Aviv, trying to understand a city, a culture and a country that I feel so connected to, yet I have such a hard time trying to get. I have more questions now than when I started... the foremost of which today being if Israel is a country of Jews (this is an assumption, not a fact for my money), then does their Jewish connection to each other actually get diminished?

Let me try to explain. In AMerica, or any where in Diaspora, when I meet someone Jewish I feel an instant attraction and like for them. We share a special bond. Here in Israel everyone is Jewish...does the special bond that Diaspora feels actually diminish because there are our specialness lessens?

I think that G-d loves the Holy land more. The sun literally shines brighter...and not just because it is a desert. The desert in Jordan didn't have the happy sun the way Israel does...

I have so many questions, and so many concerns. I fear that those friends of mine that I try to explain the profound effect this trip has on me, will never be able to understand. THe love that the people here have shone... They look me straight in the eye and tell me WELCOME HOME! And they mean it... I am, if I so choose to be, at home. They say "we need you" and they mean it. They need me, here, in Diaspora. I have been told these two things by 70 year olds, 12 year olds and everyone in between...

The question that I haven't even begun to answer...do I call this place home?

Shalom....lala tov