My Pal Paul Went To Israel To Volunteer Again!

I realize my blogging has been less than stellar lately and for that I'm sorry. Health issues and 6-day work weeks have been hampering things but I'm very grateful to post my friend Paul's email from another Sar-El/Volunteers For Israel experience for you all to see, with his permission.

RANDOM THOUGHTS FROM AN AMERICAN VOLUNTEER IN ISRAEL

I have returned to Israel on at least an annual basis during the last third of a century to bear witness to, and contribute in a small way toward, the greatest experiment of the Jewish People in its nearly 3,000 year history..... the rebirth of Israel. As I journeyed one weekend from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, my mind attempted to digest a variety of thoughts:

It was an idyllic, sunny day as I ascended to Jerusalem on the winding train, with my nose pressed against the window, it suddenly dawned on me as I gazed at the beautiful landscape, that a majority of the world's Jews had already made a commitment to cast their lot with, and join, their people in Eretz Israel. (Yes, a majority of the world's Jews now live in Israel) Does it logically follow then, that the rest of us, dispersed around the globe, are destined to wander the world as a dwindling and perpetual minority, in The Diaspora?

Further, those of us who claim we are Zionists are merely armchair Zionists coming on occasion to stare through the window of a moving train or perhaps to participate in a brief volunteer program. Earlier this day, in Tel Aviv's Central Railway Station headlines in the Jerusalem Post declared that rockets have been raining down on Israel from Gaza on a daily and increasing basis, over 30 rockets in the last 24 hours. Iran is still bent on nuclear weapons (WMD) I wonder, will the threat of Jewish annihilation ever dissipate? At Pesach, in the Hagaddah we read that "in every generation they shall rise up against us"

Now, the train pulls into "Malha Station" in Jerusalem, and my thoughts are jarred to more mundane matters like catching a taxi to my hotel.

Shalom, Paul