07 Jun WHEN IS YOUR NEXT TRIP TO ISRAEL?

Not everyone can
travel this summer. For
some, it is difficult to
take time off, for others
the high cost is a barrier,
and for others, there are
physical or health
challenges that make it

impossible.
However, there are many people who will
take advantage of children being off from
school, of life slowing down, and of
accumulated vacation days to travel. The
question is: to where?
When a person is blessed to have living
parents, he does not use each vacation to visit
them at the exclusion of everywhere else.
When one’s parents are healthy and well, it is
perfectly appropriate to balance seeing and
visiting parents with travelling to other places
and gaining new experiences. But if a person’s
parent was sick, convalescing and recuperating,
it would be inappropriate, insensitive, and
unthinkable to travel elsewhere or go on a
vacation without having at least visited the sick
parent at the first available opportunity.
Israel is our mother. For the last eight months
she has been recovering from a significant
trauma and she isn’t out of the woods yet. It is
incumbent on us to visit her if we haven’t
already.
The 5th bracha of the Sheva Berachos we

recite under a chupa is “Sos tasis v’sageil
ha’akara b’kibutz baneha l’socha b’simcha.
Baruch atah Hashem, m’sameach Tzion
b’vaneha – May the barren one rejoice and be
glad as her children are joyfully gathered to her.
Blessed are You, Hashem, Who gladdens Zion
with her children.”
What is the connection between the Chosson
and Kallah and Yerushalayim? Former Chief

Sefardi Rabbi of Israel Rav Eliyahu Bakshi-
Doron writes (Binyan Av) that the source of

this Beracha is the pasuk in Yeshayahu (54),
“rani akara lo yalada, shout baren one who has
not born a child.” Yerushalayim in its state of
destruction is likened to a woman who has not
given birth but whose happiness will come
when she welcomes children into her midst.
At that milestone moment, as two individuals
enter a covenant binding them together, they
are to have an awareness not only of their
biological parents, of their physical origins, but
of their spiritual mother, Yerushalayim, and
their metaphysical origins. Just as the bond
with parents is permanent and can’t be broken,
so too our connection with our spiritual mother,
Yerushalayim, is eternal.
The gemara (Kesubos 75a) teaches:
״ּוְלְִצִּיֹון ֵיֵָא ַ ַָמר ִאִיׁש ְו ְִאִיׁש י ּ ּוַּלּד ָּבּה ְו ְהּוא ְי ְכֹוְנְֶנֶָהָ
ֶעְֶלְיֹון״. ָא ַ ַָמר ַרִַּבּי ְמָיָיָׁשׁא ַּבּר ְֵּבֵּריּה ְּדַּרִַּבּי ְי ְהֹוֻׁשַׁעַ ֶּבּן
ֵ.לִֵוִי: ֶאֶָחָד ַהַּנֹוָל ּ ָד ָּבּה, ְו ְֶאֶָחָד ַהְַמַצֶַּפּה ִלְִרְאֹוָתָה
The pasuk states: “And of Zion it shall be said,

this man and this man were born in her, and the
Most High shall establish her” (Psalms 87:5).
Rabbi Meyasha, son of the son of Rabbi
Yehoshua ben Levi, said: Both the man who
was actually born in Zion and the one who
looks forward to seeing her are equally
considered sons of Zion.
Rav Bakshi-Doron writes: “It is not the
geographical place where one is born that
determines if someone is a ben Yerushalayim,
but it is the existential spiritual identity.
Therefore, whoever longs to see her, it is as if
they were born to her.”
As families of soldiers tragically continue to
sit shiva, as hostages remain in enemy hands, as
thousands remains displaced from their homes
and as countless soldiers are still recuperating
in hospitals and rehab facilities, the question
for those who don’t live in Israel is, are you a
visit to ,her see to long you do ְ,מַצֶַּפּה ִלְִרְאֹוָתָה
her, to be with her?
Some have had the chance to be in Israel since
October 7th, others have longed to go but
haven’t been able to pull it off yet, but all of us
should be thinking about and planning for when
we can go next. Not “if” we will go but when
and what it will take to make it happen.
I received the follow note from someone I
went to Israel with in March:
Just wanted to start by saying thank you.
Thank you for putting this together and getting
me involved.
As you know it’s been some time since I’ve
been to Israel – 25 years. It was a real struggle
to decide if I would come on this trip. Was
this how I wanted my first time in Israel in a
quarter of a century to be? Without my
family? For such a short visit? Wartime
tourism? It seemed macabre and voyeuristic.
It’s not what I imagined it would be for my
return to the holy land. But thankfully my
wife pushed me and I relented.
You asked how some would respond to a
drasha about telling people to come here, and
I’ll tell you this: there are many legitimate
reasons why a person cannot travel to Israel.
For 20 years I could never take time off from
work, using every vacation day for Yom Tov.
Also financially it’s a huge expense for so
many. But there is another reason that people
have – I know I did – in the back of their
minds: I want my Israel trip to be perfect.
When the weather is good, when the crowds
are small, when flights are cheap, when the
kids are off, etc. and with that in mind it took
an extra 4 years for me to just come home.
This is what was running through my mind
on the flight up. I felt like it was a mistake, I
shouldn’t come to gawk at the soldiers or the
displaced families like going to a museum or
sideshow. I should come when I can be with
my entire family and do all the things that
people do: Kotel, Masada, tunnel tours, Ein
Gedi, Eilat, etc.
But I was wrong. This experience was
something that I will never forget. Not only
because of the incredible access, the people
we met, or the places we went, but because
we were able to be with Israel instead of just
going to Israel.

Being here, with the people, in the land,
helping and bringing smiles, was all the
experience I really ever needed. Driving
through didn’t feel like the endless orange
groves on the way to Disney because
everywhere you turn, the land comes alive.
Efes Damim, Kiryat Yereim, Har Hacarmel.
These are real places that carry significant
value to us. Coming here, even now, is truly
meaningful. Even if I can’t splash around in Ein
Gedi with my kids.
But not just for me, the trip was meaningful
for those we visited and met. We sat in the van
with our guide, Eli, when everyone had left and
we talked to him about us visiting and being
here. How did he view this kind of “tourism”?
He got a little emotional and told us we had no
idea what it means to him, his family, and
everyday Israelis. Forget that it gives him
parnasah, he said that after spending a few days
with us, that he now knows that we CARE. And
not just about soldiers and memorials, and the
horrors, but about Am Yisrael, be’eretz Yisrael,
al pi torat yisrael. That it’s not like going to the
zoo to see, but we are checking in on something
we love, on our brothers, on our people. He
talked about our group every night with his
wife and she said to him that she loves us for
what we gave him. She pointed out that after 5
months of being unable to express himself he
was finally opening up and talking. He felt like
he was spending the days with family. The
cynical part of everyone wants to believe this
trip is selfish, and I did too. But it’s not true. It
really is a give and take.
I know you wanted to know through my eyes
how this would feel. But to be honest, I don’t
recognize anything. Literally everything is
different. But I knew it would be. Time and
change don’t wait for anyone, even me.
And that’s my takeaway. If you can afford to
go, don’t put it off. Don’t put your trip to Israel
on a pedestal that it needs to be perfect or you
won’t go. Because before you know it, 25 years
will go by, and you’ll wonder what could have
been.
When you mother needs a visit, you don’t
wait for everything to be perfect, you figure out
a way to show up. It isn’t easy for everyone.
Many don’t have family, a place to stay, a way
to get around, connections to volunteer or the
finances to go. Those are not small things and
shouldn’t be minimized. But if there is a will,
there will be a way, maybe not tomorrow or
next month but a plan for somewhere down the
line, hopefully in the not-too-distant future.
If you can, go because our mother needs us.
But much more importantly, go because we
need our mother.