So much to learn, so little time...

As I spend my last 10 days here, I have been thinking about how much I have to do once I get home. In September, I am conducting two weddings, leading High Holiday services at a congregation that I have never served and with a mahzor (High Holiday prayerbook) that I have never used, and, of course, returning to the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College (RRC) for my last year of study before I am (G-d-willing!) ordained in June, and also returning to my teaching at Shoresh Hebrew High School and to my part-time government job (as a technical writer at the Naval Research Laboratory in DC) as well.

What I have also pondered, perhaps even more than the above, is how much there is to learn here, not only directly in Jewish studies (and there really is no better place in the world for that) but also in how a people returns to a land, develops a culture and a language from an amalgamation of 2,000 years of experience, and meanwhile copes with living in what has been called the worst neighborhood in the world.

From the many faults that are apparent with even a casual observation of Israel, you might think that this is an experiment that is not working. The Holy Land is not treated as holy by its residents - there is far too much trash on the streets, too much rudeness among Israelis, too much blaring of horns (I would say that the sound of the car horn is more the national anthem than is Hatikvah), too much lack of concern for anyone seeking basic information; please, stop me any time! And this is to say nothing of the government and its myriad problems, the tensions between the haredim (ultra-Orthodox) and secular Jews, and the constant tensions (and worse) with the neighboring countries, all of which are hostile to or formally in a state of war with Israel. (In the last day, for instance, two rockets are reputed to have fallen on or near Eilat - the sites have not yet been discovered but the explosions were heard.) Israel is still beset with problems from the territories (which I will not call "occupied," since that term implies political conditions that do not truly describe the situation), with Muslims within Israel and with Palestinians in the territories, and with the huge influx of African refugees seeking asylum, and literal rescue, within Israel.

And yet…and yet, once most Israelis see that you are truly in need, they will bend over backwards to help you. Israelis are often extraordinarily hospitable and generous far beyond what would be expected. Most Jewish Israelis truly in their heart of hearts want all Jews to settle here and often cannot understand why any Jew would not want to do so. The property manager of the apartment in which I had lived was upset when I told him that I would not consider making aliyah. I didn't elaborate tremendously on what my "10,000 reasons" were, but I think that he considered it a personal rejection.
More than their desire that all Jews should love Israel, most Israelis seem to want all Jews to live in Israel.

Ultimately, this is far from a failed experiment. We should not forget that Israel is still very young and has accomplished great things in its short 64 years. That is no excuse for lagging on correcting the many problems that remain, but it does partially explain the sense of being incomplete that many things inspire here.

There is clearly far more here to learn, and in so many areas, than I could even dream about in the next 10 days, but I plan on using those days wisely. G-d only knows when I will return, but I feel that I must do so, again I hope for an extended period of time.