Dear all,

I write during a mini-sabbatical while studying at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem.

As our plane approached Israel, I gazed out the window. There is something extraordinary about nearing the coastline, about descending into Ben Gurion Airport.

It is the feeling of arrival. Of welcome. Of coming home.

I think about the millennia of hopes our ancestors imagined鈥攁 return to this place.

I think about the countless prayers, always facing toward Jerusalem.

And I think about the resistance that still exists today from those who deny Israel鈥檚 very right to be.

But Israel is here.

Israel is here as a haven of democracy for its citizens.

Israel is here as a beacon of hope and possibility.

Israel is here as a symbol of renewal.

And so, in this moment in time, I have come home again鈥攖o reflect, to re-energize, and to re-center.

As Shabbat approaches this Friday, we are all invited, wherever we are, to come home to ourselves. To pause. To breathe. To remember who we are beneath the noise of the week.

I ask that you take your own moment in time to face Jerusalem this Shabbat. I will feel your prayers as they come together with dreams from all over the world!

With love and Shalom,

Rabbi Zachary R. Shapiro