Eruv Yisrael - and shopping at an Arabic market

I remember thinking to myself about how unlucky the Jews have been, how less than a century ago there was a holocaust, that Jews have had such a hard time. And after reading up on modern Israel's history, I don't feel that way anymore; I feel like it is an incredible and fortunate thing to be a Jew in the world now. That the Jews have their own state, in the setting of our history's important places, and that Israel is doing well as a country, is something to be proud of, more so after a history full of persecution and exile. Of course, all this good news is bad news to the Palestinians, and the Arabics that support the Palestinians, in Palestine - the location of modern day Israel. So after traveling in Israel, the first time with family for a wedding, the second on a Birthright trip, I saw how special and amazing place Israel is for Jews, and on the other hand how much dissonance there is between the Jews and the Palestinians, with a few exceptions (such as in the Old City of Jerusalem, where Jews, Christians, Muslims, and quixotically the Armenians have lived for a long time - my history is very limited!).

Okay, returning to home, I've gone to a Mediterranean, Arabic-owned market in West Bloomfield (Michigan) about a dozen times, of which the first time was sort of hair-raising, as I wasn't sure if these people hated me or not. Now I know some of the employees and they know me and there seems to be more that is similar about us (We're Americans, we live in West Bloomfield, we know how a shwarma should taste.

Each time I go it seems like a minor, inconsequential, effort of Tikkun Olam - the notion of repairing the world, because we are thankful for it, and because it is a duty. Now I'm not sure how much these olives (thanks to the Whole Foods website) have to do with Israel, or the Mediterranean market (named, if you want, Mediterranean Market & Bakery) or Tikkun Olam, but these were the things I was thinking about after going there. I don't know anything about where things should head, and how peace should be made, and I do know that President Bush is there now and I hope things go well but after reading about Israel the issues are so based on history and honor, and that it is not something to be solved overnight - it took the Jews 2000 years to get a state of their own! It's a shame that the Jews historic homeland isn't located somewhere in, approximately, Northern Minnesota. That just would probably not be a problem of similar consequence at all.

Oh, and congratulations to my cousin Mark and his wife Michelle on their second child with in Jerusalem!