up and away

Hamishi, 18 Adar Bet, 5774 Yerushalayim

Getting ready for a trip. Busy, Busy! One important aspect is trying to help my customers before I go. I have this long list of things that could/should be done,and at some point (reached it already) you realize there is not going to be time to do and finish everything, so you are doing triage trying to do the most essential things. This is also a good exercise in perspective; you realize that you are only human, you should not go crazy over work. You do your best. They are only gardens after all. It is an exercise in letting go. Like the Sabbath every week. And the Shmitta year every seven years.

It is hard to leave the Land of Israel, even for a month. Most people, including myself, feel calmer here. Rabbi Zeira, the great sage, who made such great personal efforts to move to Israel from Babylonia, said, “The air of the Land of Israel makes one wise.” We hope we can take some of the “air” of Eretz Yisrael with us when we go abroad.

It is even more of a feeling of leaving for me. I feel often like I am leaving the world.  This is compounded no doubt because of my single status and travelling alone. But I go to the airport for my after midnight flight, and it is dark, and the plane goes up into the stars, and it is for me an eerie feeling.

But then 12 hours later you are hopefully on the ground in Newark, NJ, and the sun is coming up over Manhattan, and you thank Hashem for bringing you safely to your destination.

How do you feel when you travel abroad?