These are my people

So something about being back in Israel has me in the mood to write again. Let’s see how long it lasts. Could be a day. Could be three. Could be ten. But for now, I’m feeling it. I’m sitting at the Tayelit enjoying a beautiful sunny day. Just drove by my old apartment. Looks about the same. Typical Jerusalem weather. Not too hot. Not too cold. I’m loving the sound of Hebrew everywhere. I am amazed at how much of it I still am able to catch. Except for the news on Galgalatz which I never was very good at understanding.

I think this will probably be a week of processing a lot of things. I haven’t spent much time thinking about this trip and it only really registered with me that I was actually returning to Eretz Israel when I was at the gate ready to board in Newark. And then it all started to come back to me and I was overwhelmed with a “These are my people” moment. Isn’t there a country song like that? “These are my people...this is where I come from”...

There is a secure boarding area in Newark for flights to Israel. When I finished the security check and was standing in the cordoned off area with all the other Tel Aviv passengers, I had this sense of familiarity...this sense of being among my own somehow. I also was struck by the fact that anyone flying to Israel is treated differently than any other passenger boarding any other flight. In this case, for safety. A separate security check. A separate area. I get it. But I don’t know...somehow this time I felt an odd premonition of things to come. Maybe because of all the hatred swirling among Israel’s next door neighbors. Maybe because of my own President’s unprecedented demand of return to the ’67 borders. (And is anyone really buying the whole flip-flop at AIPAC?).

I know it sounds very dramatic, but as I was standing there waiting to board, I looked around at the crowd, many standing and many sitting on the floor because there weren’t enough seats. All different from one another and yet somehow all bearing a resemblance. And unique. Not necessarily because they chose to be. And somehow standing there, I couldn’t help but wonder what the future holds. And how much it may cost me someday to take a stand with these precious people. How does one prepare for such a day? I guess there are lots of answers to that question, but the one that stuck with me is “You will know the truth and the truth will set you free.” We know what is coming. We may not know now how it will all play out. But Isaiah, Joel, Ezekiel, Daniel, Jeremiah...they all wrote about what will be. Knowing the Truth will set us free.