By Amy Bender Levy
I have only traveled to Israel once. It was an amazing
experience that changed my life as Jew, as a mother and as a woman. When we
landed in Tel Aviv, the fight attendant announced "welcome home/"
Though I had yet to step foot onto the soil of Israel, a chill went through me,
and I knew what he meant. Israel is our homeland. We all have different
emotions, feelings and connections to Israel which is what makes it such a
unique experience to each of us- was able to do a lot of soul searching and
personal reflection while in Israel, as to who I am, the impact my Israel
experience could have on my family and how I wanted to share that with them. As
a working woman, I was fascinated with the other women attorneys I was able to
meet with doing similar work as me, yet the legal obstacles were much
different. I will never forget walking back to our hotel on Friday evening
after Shabbat at the Wall; the streets were silent; there was the most amazing
sense of peace over the city of Jerusalem as the entire land was observing
Shabbat. Even on the holiest of days in St. Louis, the world goes on around us,
making me feel so aware of how few of "us" there are. But there, in
our homeland, we are one of the many. And the world around "us" stops
for "us." I cannot wait for the day that I get to return to Israel
with my children, and watch each of them have their own "ah ha"
moment as an American Jew in our homeland.
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