ON NE VOIT BIEN QU'AVEC LE COEUR, L'ESSENTIEL EST INVISIBLE POUR LES YEUX

Israel. A place that evokes several emotions in me. I guess a lot of people associate it with war or terrorist related issues, but I don't. Being here you don't necessarily notice it. You just don't travel to certain areas and it seems like that since the fence has been put up (with all its arguments for and against it) buses don't explode as much as they used to. Even the many soldiers (girls serve 18 months and boys 3 years) carrying big guns that you see everywhere and showing your bag before entering a shop become part of the ' normal'.

I guess in a way, for me, there is a sense of feeling related to worldjewry (whatever that may be). This means also feeling a connection to the only Jewish country in the world, to the extend that living here could be an option. Not that I am considering that. It is also feeling some kind of a connection to other Jews from around the world.
Well, hey, ha, we are not one big family, there are many streams and ideas I do not agree with and simply a lot of people I don't like (yeah even we are people).
It has often been disappointing meeting Israelis, especially abroad. My experience for example in South America was that we greeted the many Israelis with enthusiasm, but only few showed interest (but do read this blog till the end!). While we in the diaspora/galut choose to live a certain Judaism, in Israel it is a part of society and the national identity prevails above that.

One programme in which I found that connection very strongly is the Nahum Goldmann Fellowship Programme, which exactly two years ago I joined in Sweden.
Ten days of lectures and discussions, lead by various high level teachers from America and Israel. It was a fantastic experience, as the topics were really interesting and because I met some beautiful people. In a way that seminar was the start of various positive life turns.
This time the same Fellowship took place, in Israel and for people who had done this before. It was wonderful to see my friends from Rio, New York, Israel and Denmark again..And it wasn't just them, I made some new friends from South-Africa, Australia and Singapore, just to name a few. NGFP just knows how to select motivated, interesting and diverse participants.
I can not display all the moving personal stories I heard, but I however need to mention the Iranian participant. This person joined us, with danger, as president Ahmadinejad, besides spending time on Holocaust denial, forbids its population to even suggest any Israeli contact. It is hard to understand for us why Jews still choose to live in Iran, (but then again easy to say) a country where people are still hanged, but the hopes seem positive and with all my heart I hope this fellow will get home safely (through another country) without any repercussions.

We listened, while wrapped in shawls and blankets because of the air conditioning to many good lecturers again, but it was a bit disappointing to find the same ones as two years earlier. At a few occasions it felt they somehow were more or less representing the same views: male and orthodox, even with a lot of room for discussion. Towards the end I was completely exhausted, 8 hours of listening, talking and discussing, not many more words could enter my head. It did however not stop me from socialising and swimming at midnight in the Kinneret (sea of Galilea, you know, Jesus walked on it) on which shores we were based, needless the say the views were breathtaking.

In one of the more personal sessions, one girl expressed the concern that there were more than twice as many women than men, and not just that, the men were almost all married. A rabbi had an actual explanation for it, he said that demographically there are more women and a lot of Jewish men marry 'out', while a lot of Jewish girls prefer not to. He also emphasized a lot of girls are more 'spiritual' , while a lot of men just focus on their work. It did not spoil the fun. There was a real warm and affectionate atmosphere between us girls, lying on the banks of the lake, staring at the stars.
Anyway, I have nothing to worry about, a lovely woman from Buenos Aires was keen on becoming my mother-in-law, as her son will be moving to London around the same time as me.

I am not specifically seeking touristy places, I just see wherever I am taken; an artistic village/moshav called Ein Hod, Zichron Ya'acov; one of the first settlements, the tunnels under/along the Kotel/wailing wall. Israelis are as we all know rude and awful drivers, but most of all terribly hospitable, wherever I go, I am invited over, beds are made and I am stuffed with food.