My recent extended absence was not because of any laziness on my part, but in fact had a good reason behind it. I was in Israel! As always, it was an amazing trip.

I did notice that I've started taking being in Israel a bit for granted, but even that has an upside- I've heard that some people who make aliyah are "disillusioned" when, after a few years, life in Israel becomes routine. I want a routine life in Israel. Actually, the very fact that there can be a "routine" life in Israel is amazing in and of itself- it's the fulfillment of more than a few prophecies.

As I was traveling along the highway from the Jordan Valley to Yerushalayim (via Maale Adumim), which is currently being widened and resurfaced, the CD I was listening to switched to "Solu HaM'silah" ("Pave The Highway"), which is in fact one of the aforementioned prophecies. I think I may have to make that my Song Of The Month.(coming soon to sidebar near you)

The point is that the state of Israel is now reaching a situation of "normality." In 100 years, starting with nothing, it has been built up to the point where it is on a par with the world's most advanced countries. Not bad for a country which is attacked every ten years. Only fifty years ago, in the early years of the state, there was universal rationing. Now, Israel has a thriving agricultural export market, not to mention a highly impressive technology sector. Thirty years ago, a private telephone was a luxury, and a two-lane highway was a dream. Today, a subway system is being built in Tel Aviv, and a train system in Yerushalayim. Israel's highways are all nicely paved and quite modern. We can see today the fulfillment of the prophecies concerning the revival of the Land of Israel. We just need a revival of the people...

With all this, there's absolutely no excuse not to make aliyah. For 2000 years we prayed to return to Israel, though it was desolate and forsaken. Strangely, now that its hills are blooming again, we have suddenly forgotten the dream of rebuilding our destroyed country, and instead imagine that what we yearned for all these years was really the tolerance of American life. America was founded on the dream of equality for all men and freedom from oppression, but the land that we yearned for was one by the Jews, for the Jews, and of the Jews, a land where the Jews would be able to fulfill their eternal mission.

If that somehow sounds wrong to you, then you are not an American Jew, as your ancestors were Polish Jews, German Jews, French Jews, Spanish Jews, Egyptian Jews and Babylonian Jews. You are a Jewish American. Your core values are those of America, not Judaism. Should that bother you? Yes! You've lost touch with the tradition of your fathers, with your real place in the world. The goals which your grandparents and their grandparents died to preserve were stolen from you, and you were slipped replacements (which were labeled "Better Than The Real Thing!" and "I Can't Believe It's Not Judaism!").

For all that America professes tolerance and multiculturalism, there are scant few Americans who have an appreciation for any culture besides their own. I attend a college that is "diverse." What does this mean? It means that the White Americans, African Americans, Asian Americans, Latino Americans and Jewish Americans can all go party together on Saturday night. After all, what else is there to do on a Saturday night? (homework doesn't count)

How many movies feature some strange person (nerd, foreigner, social outcast) who in the end achieves his noble and lofty goal of becoming just like everyone else- of being cool, of getting the girl, or of overcoming his parents (or other authority figure)? The ideas and goals of Judaism are in stark contrast- let's make a table just for fun:

American		Jewish
Be cool.		Be loyal to the Torah's laws and morals- no matter what.
Get the girl.		Find a wife with whom you will spend the rest of your life, who shares your values and will teach them to your children.
Parents are a drag.		You can never do enough to show your gratitude to your parents for the gift of life.

America is known as the "melting pot," and not, perhaps, as the "soldering iron," because it doesn't meld disparate cultures into a cohesive unit. It assimilates, like the Borg, anyone and anything unlucky enough to cross its path. I've heard people say that they won't make aliyah because they don't want their children to grow up "Israeli." Let me ask you- do you want your children to grow up "American?" Anyone who is afraid of Israel should be more afraid of America.

If Israel mourned for its lost children during its years of desolation, how much more so when they shun it in its renewed beauty.