Pesach in Israel
“Israel is a personal challenge, a personal religious issue. It is a call to every on e of us as an individual, a call which one cannot answer vicariously . . . The ultimate meaning of the State of Israel must be seen in terms of the vision of the prophets: the redemption of all . . . The religious duty of the Jew is to participate in the process of continuous redemption, in seeing that justice prevails over power, that awareness of God penetrates human understanding.”–Abraham Joshua Heschel
Chol HaMoed Pesach will be my first time back in Israel since the fall semester of 2005 while I was in my fourth year of rabbinical school. I miss being in the Land deeply, and yet I don’t know if being there for the Confirmation Class trip will satisfy my longing. I’ve never been to Israel on a nine day whirlwind tour. I know that tours of this kind can be powerful and even life transforming for the kids, but I feel inadequate in presenting Israel as I see it, as in the words of Heschel–especially during Pesach.
