These and Those

Musings from Students of the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem

A House Divided

Posted on August 19, 2011 by Shibley

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I originally posted this on my blog on August 16:

Later this afternoon and evening I will have the pleasure of travelling to Philadelphia where I will board a flight bound for Tel Aviv. In many ways I am going home, and in many ways I am leaving home.

Since returning to the States from Israel in June, I have felt as though I was a guest in a country that is not really mine. But then why did I celebrate the Fourth of July? I obviously have some connection to this land and these places, albeit a different connection that the one I have to Israel, her land, and her places.

I am not a full Israeli either. I have not served in the army, my Hebrew is not fluent, and I am in the country on a student visa, not a teudat zehoot (identity card). It’s a very strange feeling to have two homes, to be leaving one and entering another.

Check back soon for updates from the beginning of my second year in Israel.