Alef: The NEXT Conversation

A Piece of Land

by Arden Joy

“I don’t get it. If someone repeatedly threatened my life if I didn’t move, I’d move. A piece of land is not worth dying over.”

I’m tempted to say that I overheard this statement, but the truth is…it was me, talking about Israel with a friend earlier this year.

Let’s be realistic. My experience of what a country is, well, it’s a little unique. My homeland was built by people deserting their old one, where it’s not uncommon to ask someone’s nationality (and get a laundry list back). I’ve lived through two wars, both viewed safely through the glass window of my television and never once in my own backyard. I am a Millenial, a citizen of the borderless world wide web.

I mean, I love my country but home is where the heart is…right?

This attitude lingered with me during my trip to Israel in March. As I listened to my Israeli friends talk about the passion they felt for their country, as I walked through the military cemetery, as we looked over the borders to Syria and Jordan – it lingered.

I couldn’t help it — I kept thinking. “I don’t get it. How is all this fighting and death worth an invisible border? If they want you out that badly, why won’t you leave?”

And then…

One afternoon, our trip leader was talking to us. He said, “what would you do if America became politically extreme and started kicking out Jews.”

Hmm, I’d never asked myself that before. What would I do? Even though I have ancestors from all over the world, would any of those countries take me in? My mind sifted through the long history of persecution that the Jews have suffered and I began to wonder…was it so unreasonable to imagine that it could happen again today?

And if it did, where would I go?

“Right now,” my leader continued “if you had to leave America, you would have a home in Israel.”

I sometimes like to think of “understanding” as a glow stick. You can have all the chemicals and compounds (aka book smarts) needed to make it work, but it’s not until that final snap that everything begins to light up. And when he said it – SNAP – my brain lit up.

I imagined the millions of Jews facing racism and persecution at the beginning of the century. And I imagined what would have happened if they had had a place to go. I imagined what would have transpired if they had been able to go to their homeland, to their brothers and sisters, if they had been able to – as one people – rise up and defend themselves.

I got it.

And suddenly I felt honored and blessed to be standing on a piece of land, surrounded by invisible borders that my brothers and sisters were giving their lives to protect so that all of us could be safe and free.

Photo by gnuckx, licensed under Creative Commons.

Read more posts from Issue #19: Israel.

Tags: America, birthright israel trip, homeland, jews

Posted by Emily.Comisar@birthrightisraelnext.org, Friday, August 20th, 2010, 10:41 am, Israel.