I don’t understand. I guess I am a little naïve, and I like it that way. Before my family and I committed to making aliya, only Missy Oldest and I had ever visited The Land. Missy Oldest and I toured with a religious group and with friends. We stopped at places such as the Kotel and Jerusalem’s Old Jewish Quarter. We ascended Masada. In the North, we visited significant keverim (gravesites), Tsfat, and Tiberias.

Our bus rides were punctuated by stops for mincha and by searches for eateries with “good” hecsherim.

Missy Oldest and I spent our Shabbatot with friends in Jerusalem and with friends in Petach Tiqwa. One Shabbot meal, we were given places at a women’s table, in an crucial Chassidishe rabbi’s home. At another meal, we barely ate, our appetites having been pre

Original post by Dr. Hannah Joy