We spent the day along the water’s edge. Life was all around us. An old man in an undershirt swam with his dog, alongside the stilts of the pier. Dog and man smiled as they weaved through the water in slow motion. Then the dog swam to shore and danced the hora on the white sand. Imagine having a life like that. To wake up and go for a morning swim in the Mediterranean with a dog just like Old Yeller, and who dances the hora no less.

Everyone was outdoors riding bikes along the promenade, fishing, jogging, stretching, or reclined in chairs on restaurant patios, drinking beer, playing chess, laughing. Cars honked, car alarms whirred, stray cats rustled in oak bushes in terraced gardens. Warm breeze. Wildflowers everywhere. Tranquility.

My eyes kept filling with tears and I couldn’t help it. I had never seen anything so beautiful in my life. Everyone looked so beautiful to me and I found it hard to grasp that the promenade was filled, the seashore filled, the roads and buildings filled with Jewish people. The children and children’s children of holocaust survivors, descendants of Inquisition survivors, pogrom survivors, people from Yemen, Ethiopia, Asia… And this is home to all. I felt safe in a way I never have before. It was as if up to this point I’d been an orphan that hadn’t thought much about being an orphan, until an emotional reunion with a miraculously survived family. And all the comforting things I gave up for lost were right where I left them. Tel-Aviv is like a welcome home party with ice cream and cake, and I got the piece with icing roses.

At some point we realized we’d walked to Jaffa. The ground is made of sandy white limestone. The minarets, the sea, the people…It’s even better than I dreamt. Is this heaven? I spent most of the day trying to convince HB that we should consider expatriating.

Israeli women walk alone at all hours without fear. People are environmentally conscious. The food is delicious, the ocean is bluer than anything I’ve ever seen, dress is casual and everyone is so serene. Every language is spoken here. Israel is more diverse than home, if that is even possible. So far we’ve seen Indian-Israelis, African-Israelis, Irish-Israelis, Asian-Israelis, Arab-Israelis…You name it, they’re here. One more reason to call this home. It’s perfect. Almost too perfect a paradise. Everyone came from everywhere to be here. It seems everyone WANTS to be here. Never have I seen a land so respected by its citizens.

And Hebrew is such a warm, rich language when spoken by Israelis. It sounds thick and sweet...Mmmm… I could just listen all day.

There must be way I can live here. I think I’m in love.

Lehitraot!

departure - arrival