The Half-way Point

Prior to yesterday, it seemed as if I was going to be in Israel forever.  I would remain in the small bubble of EIE that exiled anything stressful, mundane, or meaningless. But yesterday, I was forced into reality: I will be going back to America in a short month and a half. And just like that, my experience of a lifetime will be over.

            A stranger caused my push into reality. She was a representative for the Rothschild International School, where individuals have the ability to spend part of their college experience learning in Israel. She said that we must think of how to retain our connection with Israel. Suddenly, the endless four months became finite.

            She said that every year, she sees applicants who went on EIE. I then remembered the stories of EIE alumni, who come back to America taking what they learned about Israel to advocate for it. There are even those who decide to make Aliyah to Israel upon returning home from EIE. Israel did not leave these people after four months; rather, it engrained in them a need to return to Israel. And that need has been with the Jewish people for thousands of years.

            Though my experience at EIE will come to an end, its impact on me will not. I have been given the infinite gift of the Jewish people’s love for Israel.