Reflections on Two Years in Israel

How did I end up here?

Now that I've been in Israel for two years and plan to start a family here, I'm starting to reflect a lot more on how I ended up here and why I stay. Thinking more, feeling more, asking more, reading more . . .I believe that we are spiritual beings having a human experience, and my reason for being here has always been guided by my spirit, my heart. It was Kryon who, three and a half years ago, helped me remember this part of my soul's plan - to be a lightworker in a land that carries equal amounts dark blood and deep wisdom in her soil.Despite how bleak things may look (yes, it's always darkest before the dawn), I know that Israel and those who live here (Jews and non-Jews) have a special role to play in the awakening of humanity and the peace we all desire to see. It's not that they/we are better than anyone else, it's just that in order to survive this inescapable mess - as an island in hostile seas, the choice will always be to innovate and evolve or be destroyed, whether from within or without - we will have to dig painfully deep and see clearly the mess we carry inside. And then purify it. What awaits on the other side of this hero's journey is the wisdom and clarity to bring peace to this land, and inspire peace all over the earth. A domino effect. I can see it, and I'll hold this vision even when others - within and without - scoff at it.

My meaning and my joy

An idiot Israeli doctor once told my fiancee's mother that I'm making "a big sacrifice" to be here. But I've never felt that way. I'm happy to be here. I'm happy to be constantly confronted with the puzzle of how to repair a world that is so broken, how to heal wounds that cut so deep. It starts with facing our own shadows and transforming our individual pain into Love that we share freely with others. This is why I do the coaching and healing work I do. This is where I find my meaning and joy. I see evidence around me everyday that things indeed are changing and that there is cause for hope.

"Letters to an American Jewish Friend"

I recently came across a 1977 book intriguingly titled "Letters to an American Jewish Friend: A Zionist Polemic." I'm finding it fascinating, especially as an American and outsider to Israeli society. It was written by Hillel Halkin, who moved to Israel from NY with his wife in 1970 and continues to live here to this day.Below is from the page that I randomly opened the book to in the bookstore, and which convinced me that Halkin's words were worth reading and contemplating as I cautiously plant roots in Israel. I'm sharing this because I like to think I have intelligent friends here and abroad who are interested in seriously thinking about these matters too (and have the integrity and flexibility of mind to discuss with openness and kindness).Here it is:"Look here, about the Palestinians: they have suffered a great deal at our hands since 1948, and the bombing of their camps in Lebanon is certainly not the worst of it. We have dispossessed them; we have driven them, in some cases deliberately, from their land; we have turned those who remained among us into second-class citizens in our state; and since 1967 we have ruled by military fiat, and not always gently, over a million more of them who are not our citizens at all. It has not been a pretty history, though I believe that anyone looking at it with an unjaundiced eye must conclude that, from a Jewish point of view, it has not been an easily avoidable one either. Which is to say that, ethically speaking, it is not an easy problem. But as an Israeli there is one thing, ethically speaking, that I can say about it: it is MY problem. The Palestinian may be my enemy and my victim, as he would make me his, but ethically we are equals, and our relationship is not philanthropic, because whatever amends I make to him or he wrings from me, whatever rectification of past or prevention of future injustices, involves immense risks to myself.An agonizing situation to be in? Of course. (And one, I might add, in which a particularistic Jewish tradition not given to thinking in universal terms has no coherent ethical advice to give.) But real ethical decisions are always so; it is our only way of knowing that they are real."

Facing reality with an open heart and mind

I feel that these kinds of questions and challenges are ones that anyone who calls Israel home has a responsibility to confront and contemplate, not run away from or ignore. With deeper reflection and understanding, our hearts can open more and more. Only when our hearts are open is there hope for peace.Image credit: Sarah Rodriguez of SRM Photography.