Of a Thousand Places to See Before You Die, Only One Actually Needs You There

My husband handed me the book, A Thousand Places to See Before You Die and said, “Make a list and let’s go.”

In the ensuing 23 years we have had amazing experiences including snorkeling with sea lions in the Galapagos, attending a ballet at the Bolshoi, and going on safari in South Africa. I just kept ticking off a long list of once-in-a-lifetime trips.

And then we went to Israel.

While in Jerusalem we stopped by our hotel lounge for a quick drink. Sitting near us were two middle-aged couples from New York. They told us that they vacation together in Israel every year and stay for two weeks. The ladies said they bring an empty suitcase to fill with gifts they will need for the year and for fresh spices from the shuk. They said they always fly El Al and consider the vacation an important way to support Israel.

And nothing stops them from coming. They came even during the intifada. They told us Israelis need to know we support them; our presence matters especially in the most difficult times.

What seemed like a once-in-a-lifetime trip to us was their annual vacation. I wondered, “Could we do that, too?”

My husband, Ben, and I said our goodbyes and started walking to a nearby restaurant. We saw an ambulance parked on the street. On the doors of the ambulance was a dedication. I had no idea that ambulances could be donated in memory or in honor of someone. We stood in front of the ambulance and I felt such strong emotions. I thought of my wonderful father who died very young and never made it to Israel. It would be incredible to be able to donate an ambulance in his memory.

I thought of that brief conversation in the hotel lounge often and a few years later we started going back to Israel. On one trip we stayed at the extraordinary Beresheet hotel in the Negev and watched Ibex drinking out of our plunge pool overlooking the spectacular Ramon crater.

On another vacation we had dinner with a 25-year-old IDF reservist who was given a short break from Gaza. He received a college scholarship we sponsored through Friends of the IDF (FIDF). Such an impressive young man; while defending Israel he was also trying to keep up with his studies and plan his wedding.

I’ve taken cooking lessons in a private home and Ben has done anti-terrorism training at Caliber 3. We got to visit an adorable grey standard poodle puppy we named in memory of our beloved dog Daisy. She was being trained as a PTSD support dog through a special FIDF program.

With Daisy who was being trained as a PTSD support dog for an IDF soldier

Once, while in a taxi, the air raid siren went off. We jumped out and ran. A man stood at a restaurant door and waved us in. He shrugged his shoulders and said, “Houthis.”

We had our most memorable Passover seder in Jerusalem. And when the siren sounded on Yom HaZikaron, Israel’s Remembrance Day, we stood in silent sorrow along with the Jewish People.

On each visit we have the most incredible food and we’re always discovering new places like Super HaMizrah and visiting old favorites like Bruno, a tiny, no-frills place that serves the most delicious sandwiches.

Each time we leave Israel, it’s with a suitcase bursting with boxes of chocolate rugalach from Marzipan bakery, bags of dates that taste like caramel, and spices from the shuk.

Several months after October 7, when there were few tourists in Israel, we flew El Al to Ben Gurion. Every person we met from cab drivers to waitresses told us heart wrenching stories and sincerely thanked us for coming. One taxi driver said we were his first customers in a week. Our presence mattered.

On October 8, Hezbollah began relentlessly firing rockets and artillery shells into Northern Israel. We were thankful that an MDA ambulance with an inscription on its doors in memory of our parents was saving lives and delivering babies, sometimes right in the ambulance.

For nearly 4,000 years the Jewish people have continued to sacrifice and die for being Jewish and for our ancient homeland. Of the thousand places to see before you die, there is only one place in the entire world where your presence truly matters: Israel.