I am sure that on this trip I will find much to write about tourism, and interesting attractions, and beautiful scenery aspects everyone, regardless of their religion or their heritage, can appreciate. But I don't know. After a few hours of meeting some of the others on the trip, I think maybe this time I will also have to fall off the fence, to say yes, I am Jewish, and I have roots in this place. I will be visiting people who have come to Israel from all over the world, refugees from countries where they were ostracized, or worse. They come from worlds separated by language, technology, sociology.
People are in the aisles from the minute the plane takes off.
Jews are gregarious people. They can't stand not being together. Maybe it's the Diaspora thing, they are so glad to have found each other again. Waiting for the plane, I met John Jonas, a chemical engineer from Summit. Although he has traveled widely, he has never been to Israel.