Page 7 - Issue 18

and that both
were my birthright
and inheritance, to
be chosen and
earned, fostered,
protected and
improved for the
next generation to
come. Considering
the path that has
led to where I am today, it is clear to me that this
is what has driven the choices, big and small, that
brought me here.

I’ve been in Israel for more than a decade now.
I’ve built my life and my home here, and have lent
my shoulder to the building of my kibbutz, my
movement. I’ve laid down roots. Choosing to
leave all this behind, even if only for a year, is not
one I make lightly. I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t
with great trepidation, fear even, that I consider
spending a year away from accessible, affordable
and delicious hummus. And I predict that no site
anywhere will ever stir me quite like that of the
setting sun on the glittering bay from the bridge
over the entrance to Akko or that first glimpse of
the Kinneret under a blue sky heading east through
the Galil.

But at this time of unprecedented global crisis and
political turmoil in Israel and around the world, I
will be boarding that plane for the first of three
flights that it will take for Nay, Naveh and myself
to arrive in Australia, with a full heart and fire in
my lungs.