Finding Happiness in Israel, Even (and Especially) Now
January 8, 2009
Israel
(6 comments)
by Daphne Price
Daphne Price is Rabbi David Saperstein's executive assistant.
(First posted at RACblog)
 I love watching the sun rise (though most of my sunrises coincide with vacation). This morning's sun rise was over the Old City of Jerusalem. We arrived in Israel last evening, and my 18 month old is having the worst time adjusting. For 4 hours or so, my baby and I strolled the halls of our hotel until the sun came up.
Despite the war in Israel, we decided to travel all the way here to "vacation" for 12 days with our two small children. We gave it a lot of thought and consulted many of our friends and relatives. We even considered going to Disney instead. In the end, my husband and I decided this was the right choice to make. Why?
We love Israel. As our children grow, we want them to learn to love Israel. We want them to know Israeli culture and to learn her short and complicated history. We want them to understand Israel and Israelis - and all the good and bad that goes with it. (And let's face it: They're not going to get an accurate read of the country by watching the news from our living room back in Maryland.)
At 4 and a half years old, my oldest child has been here enough times that even she is familiar with our routines. She has friends and relatives she plays with. She knows that the zoo is in Jerusalem and the aquarium is in Eilat, and that her aunts and uncles live in Tel Aviv. She can name a half-dozen or so restaurants where we like to (love to!!!) eat - and she knows what she's going to order at each place. She knows where her favorite candy store is in Jerusalem. She knows the difference between a pita and a lafa, between tehina and hummus. And she knows that Israelis push and can be pushy.
The other day, she asked me if we were still going to Israel. When I asked her why we wouldn't, she said she heard there are bad people there. I sighed. I tried to explain to her that yes, there were bad people, but if we were going, we wouldn't be near where the bad things are happening. I'm not sure she was convinced, but at that moment I decided that unless the situation escalated, and the attacks were expanded further into Israel, we were definitely going (otherwise, Disney!).
I want her to see that her friends and relatives are still living their normal lives and that they still go to school and play (although granted, none of them live in the targeted areas). I want her to visit and eat and soak up the atmosphere. I don't ever want her to be afraid of visiting Israel. Yes, at this age, we'll shelter her as much as we can from the violence and the conflict - but we will take her to the store to buy toys for the children here who have to spend so much time hunkered down in their own shelters. Yes, we'll be more cautious over this next stretch of time. Yes, there will be places that we'll avoid on this trip. But the bottom line is that this is a happy place for us, and I want it to be happy place for her too. I want her to always look forward to visiting Israel.
Of course, we hope for an end to the war and to bloodshed. We hope for peace. We hope we can keep coming back to Israel.
As I spent the night roaming the halls, these thoughts and more went through my mind.
My baby and I ended our night by feasting at breakfast overlooking the Old City, watching the sun rise. And I thought, in so many ways: Yes, this is my happy place.
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I would not risk my childrens' safety by taking them to Israel at this time. Israel is never a safe place to visit considering the hostility between Israelis of different religions and ethnic groups, between Israelis and the people under occupation, and between Israelis and many of the people in neighboring countries, but some times are safer than others. War is unpredictable - much easier to start than either to control or to finish. Already it has escalated from rocket strikes out of and into Gaza to a ground invasion of Gaza followed by rocket strikes against northern Israel. Large Israeli cities which were out of range once, are now within striking distance of Hamas. Suicide bombing is also threatened. There may be a better time in the future, God wiling, to be in Israel. Especially if there is no necessity to have them there, you might at least consider not exposing children too young to decide for themselves whether to undertake such a risk.