Shalom All,

"For my country is seven times more beautiful

to those who measure her beauty step by step..."

I was humming these words, from a famous Israeli folk songs, all day long

yesterday. It was a colorful, chearful sight: 1200 (1200!!!) teens and

students from all over the world, plus another 300 young Israeli soldiers,

created a long, vibrant line of life as they all climbed up to the top of

Massada. Laughing, singing, screaming and chating in at least six different

languages - English, French, Spanish, Russian, Amharic and - the only

language they all share - Hebrew, they were all red and sweaty, jumping up

and down with energy. It was like the building of the Babylon tower, a dozen

tongues mixed in a way that only when you came very close you noticed that

language was the only difference between these youngsters: otherwise, in the

eye of the beholder, they all look - and behave - the same, and you wouldn't

know that they came from very different places and cultures.

Going back down and sitting at the footsteps of Massada, they all sang at

the top of their lungs to the Israeli music, danced (at least, that's what

they called it...) together like one huge, bursting muscle, and listened

attentively to the ancient story of Massada. At those moments, I felt that

the shared history, narrative and language of our people was engraved into

their soul by the mere fact that they learned it through their feet, their

sweat and their senses.

And all of them, all 1200, have one more thing in common. They all made one,

very important choice: they have all chosen to live their lives in Israel.

All 1200 are new immigrants that made Aliya during the past year. They have

chosen to be part of the Jewish story in modern Israel. There, at the

footsteps of Massada, where one of the most grim chapters of our history

happened almost 2000 years ago, the children of our people chose the two

things that Elazar Ben-Yair wasn't able to chose: they chose life, and they

chose to live it in their homeland.

And that, my friends, is the whole story of Jewish continuity in a nutshell.

Shabbat Shalom,

Liat