Let’s Be Jewish Outside of the Land

My daughter was supposed to be in Israel right now. She had been planning this trip with her youth group for over a year. Her suitcase has been in her room for six months and her Am Yisrael Chai backpack has been on her floor ready to go.

Only she didn’t go. We put the passport away and unpacked more than just the suitcase.

Honestly, the youth group went as scheduled, but she didn’t. I told her sadly, that it wasn’t the right time for her to go. I am struggling with this decision not because she and many others pressured me with their choices, but because it is always the right time to go to Israel.

At least, that has been my motto and my mantra for over 40 years. So why was this not the right time for her to go?

As a parent, we never want to put our children in harms way. That’s a given. But it was more than that for me this time. I consider myself a Jewish woman filled with Emunah and Faith, filled with determination and poise, filled with courage and soul, and yet, I still said No. It still wasn’t the time for her to go to Israel.

As I sat with this decision somewhat uncomfortably and yet so courageously, other thoughts came to me. Although, I am a huge supporter and proponent of sending our children, our youth, our young adults and ourselves to Israel at every possible moment, I am also struggling with my own Jewish identity here in America. I want to be a strong Jewish woman wherever I am. I want to have the same sense of self, the courage of conviction and strength of purpose that I have when I am there, in Israel – here in America. Yes, here as an American Jewish woman.

I started to wonder… Is it only in Israel that we can strengthen our Jewish identity? Is our Jewish spark only lit through the Kotel or the streets and shops of Ben Yehuda? Is our Jewish identity only powerful at a communal dance party on the beach in Tel Aviv? Is our soul only awakened on the top of Masada or in the mystical alley ways of Tzfat? And even more seriously, do our children have what it takes to become strong Jews Outside of Israel? Outside of the Land?

I ask myself those very same questions… How strongly committed to Israel am I, when I am outside of the Land? Where do I stand on my Jewish values and Jewish choices when I am outside of the Land? How quickly and strongly do I speak up against what is wrong when I am outside of the Land? How articulate and (soft) spoken am I when faced with protestors and haters when I am outside of the Land?

I ask myself these questions because I am asking these same spiritual, existential and practical questions of my own kids.

For years I have sent them to Israel to build their Jewish identity. CHECK! I have sent them to day school to receive a Jewish education. CHECK! I have sent them to Jewish camp to build community. CHECK!

But now I ask myself… when push comes to shove, am I creating in them a Jewish neshama (spirit) that will survive no matter where they are in the world? (a NYC subway or on a college campus for example?) No matter what difficult and scary circumstance or challege is facing them? Have I armed them with enough Ruach, enough Koach and enough Faith to withstand a world – Outside of Israel? Outside of the Land?

How can I become the strongest Jew I can be while Outside of Israel? Outside of the Land?

So, when I spoke with my daughter through tear-filled eyes and told her she would not be going to Israel this summer, I didn’t know what to do or what I should expect of her. Her suitcase now unpacked, her backpack now shoved in the back of the closet and well, her passport with no stamp.

This summer I can not rely on the Air of Jerusalem to nourish her soul or the taste of Marzipan to awaken her spirit. But there is something deeper going on here. There’s something deeper that I’m asking of her and that I am asking of myself. Maybe that’s the spark that needed to be ignited this summer. Now. here. In. America.

No breathing in the Air of Jerusalem. No sweet taste of Marzipan. Let’s. Be. Jewish. Here. In. America.