A Note on Return from the REAL Israel.

For those of us who pay close attention to the news about the land of Israel, it is easy to forget that it isn't all maniacs in tractors and rockets. It is a vibrant land, and as one Samuelian recently returned into exile in Boston from his homeland, we recommend all Jews to get in touch with their home. And that doesn't just mean going to "Stand with Israel Day" at your local JCC. It means, if living there is impractical, at least exploring and visiting the REAL Israel. This is the Israel found in Shuk Mahaneh Yehudah, up north in the only-recently privatized kibbutzim, in walking down the street on Shabbat and seeing brothers dancing in the streets. In the streams, and in the hills, in the abandoned bunkers along the border, in the falafel shops. And, of course, in the ever-present graffiti that declares to one and all that Israel lives.