Israel: A Palace In Time

Abraham Joshua Heschel characterised Shabbat as a "palace in time, a delight" . He was not wrong, in my estimation. So, take that description and multiply it exponentially - apply it to Israel, and to Jerusalem, and you have understood the heart of all things Jewish, the Jewish longing, the Jewish ideal, the Jewish reality, concretised, and how it was for me when I sojourned there. Even if you find Shabbat merely tiresome, that extra dimension of Israel still enthralls millions of visitors of many faiths who may not be able to put a finger on the uniqueness of this place or how they feel or experience it. I can't imagine that anyone, in leaving Israel, would be left without anything but words.

Before I made the ascent, everyone who had visited, raved about Israel. Some had spent time on a kibbutz, others had family and/or visited several times and kept going back when they could manage it financially. A close, secular friend of mine who had gone from a wrenching divorce in the US to a year of healing in Israel when she was younger, in safer times, described the power, the pull of the land, of all that it means and all that it promises. She brought out a golden stone. She also described an intense engagement with Life. I remembered all these things, and yet I wondered....

A venerable fellow davenner in minyan described the touch of Israel most succinctly- alighting there gives one a "cozy, warm feeling". It gives you a sense of belonging. The experience is unlike anything you expect. It is a surprise. Novel.

For me, this also meant that I felt no fear. No fear! No feeling, no twitch, jab or ping. Even though we all discussed the circumstances casually all the time. It is as if G-d had parted the Red Sea and in the midst of much chaos and turmoil His people were able to "peacefully pass over".

I was vigilant, for sure. In Jerusalem, when our tour bus would stop beside a public bus, I prayed for the other bus to move well away from ours. In walking the streets of Jerusalem, one is ever mindful of puffy clothing and accessories and, in my case, of staying away from situations that leave me vulnerable to assault not only from strangers, but from Arabs (the Muslim Quarter in the Old City was a revelation). When you pass by Sbarro, on Ben Yehuda Street, it is as if nothing had ever happened there but it did happen and everyone carries the remembrance and it is weighty- it makes a difference.

If there is one gift that was not predictable, that I never would imagine, that is hard to describe, that Jerusalem especially, and Israel, conferred on me, it would be the gift of peace- more than shalom, it is rooted in, shalem- wholeness. I remember thinking that all Jews in the Diaspora needed to come to Israel so that they could be forever changed, that they would know what it means to be whole as a Jew. It seems to me that in the Diaspora we have a limb missing, or perhaps that extra measure of soul that is conferred on us on Shabbat. I do know this much- that without experiencing Israel, we are lacking something. And in Israel, you rest. In Israel you stop wandering. In Israel you are everything that G-d meant you to be, easily. And vividly and purely. Oh so easily!

I now understand what my friend meant about the power of the place..... all things spiritual seem to come more easily. When you pray at the Wall (Kotel), it feels like a direct line to G-d and the benefits are immediate. Peace. You don't need words. You just have to say, "Hineni", "Here I am". Silence is even better. Just be.

In a palace, we are nobility. That is our tradition regarding the keeping of Shabbat- that the day can confer grace upon us. Imagine how it feels to traverse all of Israel and to live that experience from the moment you set foot. The moment you really come home. In Israel you don't have to scramble to be or do anything as a Jew. You just are. The gift of peace is yours for the taking. And so is dignity. You are elevated. The ascent is real.

Oh the land! Nothing as I ever imagined! The people? Better, and as I imagined, and that includes the brusqueness, bluntness, rudeness, etc. In Israel, there is Life! The military are unobtrusively woven into every aspect of life so that it becomes second nature for you to accept the exigencies of a state besieged by terrorists. This is so unlike Cuba, where I landed several years ago, and where the military force dominated and intimidated at the moment of touchdown.

At minyan, several days ago, someone mentioned that they had a friend who was living in Israel and who cynically observed that you need to live in Israel a couple of years to really know what it's like. Well, yeah, he may be right. But then, he may be wrong. Some people find "peace in Jerusalem" and Israel, and others don't. This much I do know- that the psalm was correct.

There is a passage from the Talmud that describes Jerusalem as the eye of the universe:

The world is like a human eyeball
The white of the eye is the ocean surrounding the world
The iris is this continent
The pupil is Jerusalem
And the image in the pupil is the Holy Temple.
(Talmud - Derech Eretz Zuta 9)

I would venture to add that the eye is G-d and that the image is your purest, best self. And though you can meet your holy self in other mitzvot, it is only in Israel, and in Jerusalem in particular, that you can consolidate that image, that you will know the cornerstone that was rejected. You will know it because you will know wholeness and peace. You will know delight. You will know what G-d meant for us to be when He gave us the Torah and you will know it was a gift of total love. And you will know what it takes, in the Diaspora, to keep and remember it.