Going Home
"Whosoever there is among you of all His people, his God be with him—let him go up." (Ezra 1:3, II Chronicles 36:23)
On December 28, 2004, freelance writer Lisa Alcalay Klug and 201 other passengers boarded a plane in New York to "go up" to Israel. Here's her story.
"Aliyah": The Hebrew word for ascension, the term refers to a spiritual ascent, a "going up." In Hebrew, when people move to any other country, they migrate. When they move to Israel, they "ascend." The same term is used to describe a person ascending to bless the Torah, the five books of Moses, during Sabbath services. Just as we uphold the Torah, so too, do we uphold the importance of returning to Zion. The passengers on this flight are not immigrants, "mehagrim." No, they are "olim," ascenders.
...When our plane arrived at Ben-Gurion Airport, we were welcomed with fanfare. Newspaper and television photographers anticipated our descent down a long line of stairs and some of the immigrants knelt to kiss the ground. Uniformed soldiers lined our path. Giant shofars, an ancient instrument made of ram's horn and used in high-holiday rituals, proclaimed our arrival. The familiar blue-and-white of Israel's flag waved in every direction. And in the massive airplane hangar that beckoned passengers to a welcome ceremony, a band played Israeli and Jewish tunes. The wild abandon and circle dancing that typifies Jewish weddings and bar mitzvahs broke out into a tremendous party.
This brought tears to my eyes.
Posted by:Izabela | February 22, 2005 at 08:55 PM