Reflections on Returning from My First Trip to Israel

This is the last in a series of three columns by the author on her first trip to Israel.

Let me give you a quick recap. I have recently returned from my first trip to Israel. I was privileged to travel with Evolve Hadassah, along with 10 other women who had completed the Evolve Immersive Experience (EIE). After a year of zoom meetings, it was extra special to see Israel with these amazing Zionist women.

Traveling to Israel with Hadassah was truly a life-changing experience.

But what does that mean now that I’m home? If I look around, my daily life has not changed. But the sun now setting at four pm and it being freezing cold out only brings back my longing for the sunset over the beaches of Tel Aviv. The salads I eat at home don’t compare to the hotel breakfasts in Israel. What has changed?

Me.

I feel different. The immediate comfort I felt when arriving in Israel has created a longing to return; I am planning to do that by attending the National Hadassah Israel Convention in 2026.

While in Israel, I didn’t have any “ah ha” moments. There was never a point where I said, “This is it, I now feel different.” But there were moments of emotion that I will never forget: the joy of walking through the shuk (open-air market) in Jerusalem on a Friday afternoon and laughing as my group tried to stay together in the crowd; the amazement of seeing a dove at the Western Wall; the sorrow when we visited the site of the Nova Music Festival massacre; the pride in visiting Hadassah Hospital Ein Kerem and the Gandel Rehabilitation Center at Hadassah Hospital Mount Scopus. And, of course, the sadness of leaving my Jewish homeland.

My friends and family have all asked me how my trip was, and it is difficult for me to answer. Of course, I can use all the positive adjectives I can think of, but they don’t even start to explain the sense of belonging and beauty I experienced.

For example: having a mezuzah on our hotel room doorway and seeing one on every doorway, versus being quietly pleased to see one on a neighbor’s home where I live; multitudes of kosher restaurants versus the single one I know about in my home area; Shabbat being the accepted day of rest versus now juggling errands and commitments back at home. Those are just some of the differences that stand out in my mind and make Israel so special.

But again, experiencing these things did not change my life in the US. My home has a mezuzah on the outside door, but we are not about to put one on every doorway. I don’t plan to start keeping kosher, and my Saturdays are as busy as ever. But, as I go through my daily life, I am reminded often of those wonderful aspects of Israel, my Jewish homeland.

Also: My commitment to Hadassah and its mission has more meaning to me now. Hadassah is where I can share my love for Israel and encourage other women to see it for themselves. I am taking on a bigger role in my Hadassah Boston region as my interest in the Hadassah Medical Organization grows stronger than ever and I continue to want to share Hadassah with all the women I know.

Israel is a country built on tikvah (hope). Its national anthem, whose title is Hatikvah (the hope), expresses the hope of the Israeli people:

“Our hope is not yet lost,
It is two thousand years old,
To be a free people in our land
The land of Zion and Jerusalem.”

But, as I have been told, hope must have a basis in reality; otherwise, it’s just a dream.

As we begin this year’s celebration of Hanukkah, marred by news of violence against Jews around the globe, I look toward the lights of Hanukkah. The candles bring light into a time of the year that is dark, both literally and figuratively. I feel like my light shines brighter now that I have been to Israel.

Nes gadol haya sham (A great miracle happened there)! My experience of visiting Israel may not have been a miracle, but something special happened there and I will carry it with me forever.

Sara is a member of the Hadassah Writers’ Circle, a dynamic and diverse writing group for leaders and members to express their thoughts and feelings about all the things Hadassah does to make the world a better place. It’s where they celebrate their personal Hadassah journeys and share their Jewish values, family traditions and interpretations of Jewish texts. Hadassah members are proud of their Zionist mission and their role as keepers of the flame of Jewish values, traditions and beliefs as well as advocating for women’s empowerment and health equity for all. Since 2019, the Hadassah Writers’ Circle has published nearly 800 columns in The Times of Israel Blogs and other Jewish media outlets. Interested? Please contact hwc@hadassah.org.