Homesick

It’s been one year, 257 days, and 11 hours as I write this since I arrived in the land of Israel, ארץ ישראל, and probably about one year, 246 days, and 11 hours since I returned (if my math is correct).

And I’m homesick.

It ebbs and flows, this longing of my soul, to return to the one place in this entire world I truly, deeply know I belong.

Sometimes the longing is overwhelming, pouring from my aching soul through my tears.

Other times, it is merely a sense of consciousness that something is missing in my life as I dwell in a proleptic reality of waiting, hoping.

Today is one of those days when I’m not overwhelmed, but I am compelled, driven by my desire to share glimpses of this paradise with those who may not know of its exotic, exquisite beauty.

Maybe it’s because I recently celebrated Tu Bishvat, and I’m anticipating, even from such a distance, the soon ending of the winter rains, the budding and blooming of the wildflowers, the ripening fruits, the Life which will awaken in those ancient but modern lands.

The Rabbis also teach that man is like a tree, and as in winter, when the sap of life drains from its branches sinking back into the earth drawing it near to Death; the sap which seeps back into its trunk restoring it to Life on Tu Bishvat — so we too awaken from our slumber as Winter departs and Spring beckons us back to the beginning of our story in the renewal of our souls (Pesach).

And all the while, here I am missing the one place in the world I truly call home.

So here are a few photos from my precious time I spent there in May of 2016. I’ll try my best to include captions describing what I captured, hoping what I beheld is portrayed.