Loving the Land as Israelis

Between the two of us, we were barely in Haifa this week.  From me traveling to Jerusalem for training sessions at work, to Matt traveling to Beer Sheva for an archaeology conference and the two of us taking a somewhat impromptu tiyul (trip) with our closest friend and tour guide to the Lebanese border - we definitely got around (which I guess isn't so hard, this country is pretty small).  

The greatest part about having a best friend who is also a licensed tour guide is that she knows the best places to go and if she doesn't, she knows how to find out.  On our itinerary this time was a visit to some old German Templar settlements outside Haifa, a quick visit to a spice farm (yum), a short hike to see some neat geological formations and a 12th century crusader castle, and the grottos of Rosh Hanikra at Israel's northern border with Lebanon.  

One of the goals of our little trip, besides spending time together and enjoying the outdoors, was finding wildflowers which are blooming all over the country right now.  We found red, blue, white, purple and yellow flowers.  We admired them, examined them and tried to look them up using an iphone app (but gave up on that after a little while).

At some point we looked at each other and asked: why are we so intrigued by these small little flowers?   Why are we so invested in the landscape and the nature surrounding us?  While the answer on the one hand is: because they are beautiful, the real answer is because we are wholly invested in the land of Israel.  When we made aliyah and came here we weren't just coming to a state, to a new country, but to a land.  It is the land of Israel, not the modern state that contains our history, that ties us to this particular place when so many other places in the world are easier and calmer.  The country we live in is the manifestation of a people's longing for this land over thousands of years.  When you're out in nature, you don't see political borders even though they are mere kilometers away, you don't see passports and you don't see enemies - it is easy to fall in love with this place.  

But then, in the nature, you are brought back to reality when, on the path of your hike, you walk up to the memorial built in the memory of two soldiers who were killed and kidnapped by Hezbollah not far from where you stand.  To their side, as you look out from the mountain top across the breathtaking panorama, a memorial for the other soldiers who were killed in that same action.  In our world you can't always separate land from State, people from nation, history from memory, and that's what it means to live in Israel.  

Wishing you all a Shabbat Shalom and a great weekend,

Stef and Matt