Next Year in Jerusalem

This weekend, I was once again convinced that going to Israel for an extended period of time was the right thing for me to do. I've been going back and forth on the idea for over a year now (since I spent a month there in June 2004) and thought maybe I'd go in Jan. 2006, but that idea kind of got slipped up when i started dating my beau who I adore and would miss terribly upon leaving. I know, I know, dating someone is not a reason to give up on a dream but so many reasons go into it. It's hard to go halfway across the world and leave someone so special behind. At the same time, I'd be giving up a journalism career that is slowly and successfully progressing for me at a young age.

Well, Shira's mom heard of my idea to learn and intern in Israel next year when the topic was brought up on Shabbos after I found out her oldest son was studying there in a month. Shira's parents had no problem letting their son go into unchartered territory. Unlike my parents, they are devoted to the holy land and believe a child must spend time there, despite Israel's dispute with the Palestinians. And so she too tried to convince me that it was the right idea for me.

"This is an opportunity you'll never have again," she told me, "and if you don't you go you may regret it for the rest of your life. You are young and you are not settled down, why not go before you start your family. A job will be there when you get back...if you got it once, you can get it again." She told me about potential scholarships and listed a few options for an extended trip to the holy land (6 months to a year, as 3 months to her is just not enough time.)

Perhaps Israel may just be a viable option for me. After all, there must be some reason the idea keeps coming back into my head.

And of course, there has to be some divine reason why the Rabbi's speech between Torah reading and musaf this Shabbos at the Young Israel shul was all about Israel as our true home with the geulah only a close second. Perhaps this is Hashem telling me this is the next step I must take in my Jewish education pursuit.