Oh, Brother

I'm coming up on my 3 month mark here in Israel and I don't miss home as much as I thought I would. Don't get me wrong, I miss my friends and family immensely but I guess what I'm trying to say is that I'm not on the next flight home. It's funny though, before I left I told my dad to cancel my cell phone line and he was like, "No, it's okay. You'll probably be back in 2 months anyway." But here I am, surviving. haha. I was born to prove this world wrong and I feel like that's exactly what I'm doing. Every time I meet someone new and they realize that I'm from California, I always get the same question, "Why?" well, why not?! Why should I stay in a bubble that is California when there is so much more of this earth that I have yet to discover? This brings me to the subject of this post.

I touched on this idea in one of my earlier posts but I didn't really provide many details. So here it is: I've seriously been considering moving to Israel . . . permanently. I guess the real pondering started about a week ago, during elections. I began thinking about how America is seeing a change but it's a change for the worst, while Israel is changing for the better. I'm a minority in America and that makes me feel uncomfortable. True, there are many minorities living in America, California especially, but everyone is still so segregated. I don't feel that my religion is entirely welcome in America and I honestly don't see that changing.

America has simply run out of 'opportunity' and now the American Dream is just to be able to pay your bills every month. The Israeli Dream is to love what you do and be there for your family. I want to have children in the future and I want them to be proud of being Jewish, not tuck their Star of David necklace under their shirt. I want them to know what it feels like to celebrate Yom Kippur as a nation or be able to walk into a restaurant and not worry if the food is Kosher or not. I remember how difficult it was to grow up Jewish in California. All the questions, not knowing really how to answer them. How do you explain to other 9-year-olds what 'Kosher' is or why you can't ignite fire on Saturdays? Living here has really made me aware of just how much of a problem being a minority could be. Being Jewish in Israel is absolutely effortless. If I do make the move here it'll be for my future.

With all of that said, moving across the world is a really huge decision and I'm totally aware of that. I'll definitely be coming back home after I complete my training here, regardless of my decision. However, I would like to come to a decision by the time I go back to California. I'm trying not to think too much about it right now because my main concern is to do well in school and enjoy the time that I'm spending here. So for right now I'm just going with the flow and taking in all the beauty and soul that Israel has to offer.

TTFN XX