True Love

I have spent hours trying to figure out why, exactly, I love Israel. But it's complicated. There's no specific things. How do I explain the connection I feel with the strangers around me? How do I explain the familial ties? How do I explain the "Jewish Mothers" that pass by me everyday? How do I explain the feeling of Jerusalem versus the feeling of Tel Aviv? The feeling of The Negev and Golan versus the feeling of Eilat and Haifa?

How do I explain my love for the elements in and of Israel? Why do I love Israel so much? It's because of the people and the wildlife. The culture and the attitude. The language and the gestures. The tension and the love. I love its desert life and city life. Its beaches and its high rises. Its holy places and its clubs. Its sites and its views. I love the buses and the taxis. The drivers and the roads. The roundabouts and the pedestrians. The food and the drinks. The alleyways and vast openness of the ocean.  I love the noise of the shuk and the mall and the serenity of the sunsets and the stars. I love the battle between the religious and the secular. I love The hole-in-the-wall place that has the best pita/hummus/ juice/Malawach/ice cream/drinks. The chain restaurants that are just ok. The pushing and shoving. The Jewish Mothers. The timeless schedule. The promptness of the start of Shabbat.

My "Only in Israel" stories help elaborate on why I love this country, but still there is more.

When I wake up in the morning, I feel Israel. It helps that I when I walk to the bus stop, I can see the Dome of the Rock. But even when I was in Tel Aviv, I could feel the hustle and bustle of the city life that is Israel. I can feel the embrace of Israel and the warmth (literally and figuratively) of the country. Walking down the street on any given day, I am likely to bump into someone I know that's not from the program. The man at the juice stand insists I try a different juice than the one I want. The bus driver speaks Hebrew with no accent, but displays his Canadian flag proudly. The beggars on the street ask for more money even after they are given 2 shekels. I don't need to wait in line to get onto the bus, I can just push my way through the stream and be part of the culture.

There are also negatives that I love about Israel. Not knowing the language is the most frustrating thing, but at the end of the day I am always proud of myself for one Hebrew encounter I had. The siren drills that happen and the soldiers on the street are not scary. They are a part of life. The only time I felt afraid was when I was in Sderot, but even then I knew the program would keep us safe. They told us exactly what to do in case of an emergency, but they also said that nothing would happen. Whether or not that was a lie it calmed my fears as well as anyone else who was freaking out.