A Nice Place to Visit?

April 5, 2006 - 7:27 PM by Allison

I was recently talking to a Jewish blogger who spent 14 months on a kibbutz in Israel in 1987, but hasn’t been back since. I said, “Come!” He said, “Oh, you sound like such an Israeli.” And I realized that he thought I was trying to recruit him to immigrate, and I said, no, I just thought he would enjoy coming back on a visit.

So I shared with him my observation that I thought it was incredibly strange that there are several bloggers who were extremely interested in and supportive of Israel, including some seriously obsessively pro-Israel bloggers, who have never been here and show no interest whatsoever in coming. Yes, I understand the time/money/convenience/nervousness factors. But still, some of these people seem so incredibly interested in Israel, you’d think they’d make it happen somehow.

He put forward the theory that they’ve idealized Israel to such an extent that they are afraid it won’t live up to their expectations. I’d never considered that possibility — to me, Israel is such a real place, for better and for worse. It’s hard to go back to a place in which I idealize it. There are a few people I know who are something of the polar opposite — very lefty Jews who are very concerned with how wrong and bad Israel is. I think some of them don’t come here, because they are afraid of the positive connection and identification they my feel.

This blogger (a lovely person) suffered a bit from what I call the “frozen in time” syndrome. He generalized about what Israel was like and what Israelis were like and I had to remind him gently that a lot has happened here since 1987. The first time I was here was in 1984 — and the gap between lifestyles in the U.S. and Israel seemed unfathomable. Today, my transition between the two countries when I travel is practically seamless.

Do I have a point? I guess. Now that tourism is picking up again, and the suggestion shouldn’t result in a look of utter horror like, “What, are you trying to get me KILLED?” — let me suggest that if you are interested in Israel, come see it. Not because it’s the epitome of Good or Evil, but because (hold your breath) …..it’s a lot of fun.

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