"Next year in Jerusalem" we say each year at the end of the Passover Seder. "Next year in Jerusalem!" "Next year in Jerusalem!" In hopes that during the next Passover, we will be returned to the land, restored to our original place. It's an unlikely hope that this would happen within one year. And yet, Jews have said this saying for centuries, awaiting that blessed hope. The Promised Land, the return from exile, from captivity. Still, they are waiting, wandering, going in circles.

But we do this in many ways. "Next year in Jerusalem." Maybe next year, I'll accomplish that goal. next year I'll break that bad pattern. Next year. Someday.

Why not... this year in Jerusalem?

I've been considering going for many years. People always asked me, "When are you going to go?" "Are you going to go on Birthright?" I always declined. I didn't want to go. I hated my Jewish self. I had grown to see my Jewishness as something to be ashamed of. Something I didn't want to talk about. I was also troubled by all of the warfare and politics going on over there.

Once I learned how to forgive, the door opened for me to come to Jerusalem. God split the Red Sea. He brought me out of my own personal Egypt, out of my own personal Babylon. And then, I came to Jerusalem.

I went to Jerusalem with a group called the Jerusalem Leadership Initiative, with JERNY, Jewish Educational Resources of NY. I met Rabbi Kellman when I was living in Albany, and got involved with his group, The Sandbox. It's a bi-weekly discussion group made up of Christians and Jews, where we meet to discuss Torah and other spiritual topics. Rabbi Kellman leads a trip to Israel each year. It's basically a Jewish-led group for Christians. Given that I've lived my whole life with one foot in each world, I especially appreciate Sandbox and the people whom I've met there.

I left Newark Airport at 11 pm on November 8. I met 3 other women from the group there at Newark, who flew in from the Midwest. We all gathered there and boarded the flight to Tel Aviv together. It was nice to make my first international flight with a group.