Between Heaven and Earth

We are at the end of the Passover holiday here in Israel, and I wanted to share a brief recap of our general situation. My personal take on things of course.

Losing touch with the place you live in and only focusing on the material aspects of our existence - these are very limiting conditions for enjoying the life we've been given.

I've always considered myself an optimist. Have always looked for the best in people, and try to highlight what people have in common instead of focusing on the clashes. Maybe it was part of my survival kit for growing up as the youngest in a family of seven, where there was never any shortage of drama. I may not always succeed, but I like to think of myself as having the ability to inject some harmony when needed. That's why I have to say in advance, that this time is different from anything I experienced so far in my life. Something has shifted. New cracks have formed in me that I was not aware of before, about life here in Israel and life among us in general. Cracks in the vision I've always had for my beautiful country.

I'm discovering an erosion of the basic values I had inside, mainly about human nature.

I'm discovering an erosion of the basic values I had inside, mainly about human nature. On the one hand we can reach for the sky, and on the other, we can live deep in the dirt. It's very difficult to digest these extremes and maintain a balance that enables a normal life.

It's so painful for me to see all the various manifestations of hatred that exists here among us. Each new period brings less faith in our way as one people and one country, and of course this diminishes our value. Losing touch with the place you live in and only focusing on the material aspects of our existence - these are very limiting conditions for enjoying the life we've been given.

Even now as I write, I'm getting a distressed feeling around my heart. It even includes doubts about where all this is heading. The feeling is that everyone is against everyone. And when you add the escalating security issues, along with rising stress levels of the people, not to mention the clear damage to the economy - you get a very negative picture. That's so far from everything that Israel is supposed to represent.

The struggle is very clear, because it's the struggle of man himself against himself -- a struggle of the ego.

The struggle is very clear, because it's the struggle of man himself against himself -- a struggle of the ego. At the same time, it's very clear to me that we're still far from understanding it, let alone agreeing to it. And all this before we even started learning how to deal with it correctly. There is no other problem in the world, including us here in Israel, except to figure out how two egoists can get along. And especially when it comes to an entire country of egoists - how can they all manage under one roof? At the moment everyone is against everyone and everyone hates everyone. It's felt everywhere now even though everyone is trying to pretend things are normal.

In Conclusion

For the first time in my life I'm very skeptical about our situation - both as individuals and as a collective. To be perfectly honest, I'm also very concerned about what might happen next because we're only at the beginning of this process. I don't see the light at the end of the tunnel like I normally do. (Even when my family was out in the middle of the Atlantic on a 28-foot sailboat in a week-long storm I was optimistic that we'd get to Israel safe and sound).

Unfortunately, from here onward, the only thing that will get us out of this rut we're in is more problems falling upon us, seemingly out of nowhere. But as I always explain the blows are not random. That's the only way to wake us up, and I see no other way this will play out at the moment.

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Sharing some more photos from the heart of Tel Aviv taken yesterday April 11, 2023 -