'Jews must live in Israel'

So I've had many Shabbat experiences on this excursion I've taken to Israel. Many places have been visited like Chevron, the Old City, Tzfat, etc. There has been a variety of emotions that I have felt on these trips, but nothing like what came over me on this past shabbaton in Kibbutz Ein Tzorfim.

Myself and a new student on the program, Adina

The Shabbat started off beautifully with the setting sun really bringing out all of the colors of the plethora of flowers all around the kibbutz. We walked over the the small Synagogue and then headed over to the dining room for the Sabbath evening meal. It was really amazing to be back filled in a room with a bunch of Jewish people celebrating G-d's commandment to rest for 25 hours out of the week. A Friday night Oneg proceeded with songs and words of inspiration and testimonials on the past semester and what it has done for the specific person making their statement.

I slept in a bit Shabbat morning headed to Shul and of course another amazing meal. We then got a walking tour of the kibbutz. A sense of community overtook my body as the roles and the history of the area was described. People are there for each other. And they always will be. They will sacrifice what they have for you to feel comfortable, and will always stand together. I realized that the only place in the world where real Jewish community will prevail would be in Israel.

Later that afternoon after an intense game of Taboo, we were all to attend a speech from a woman named Bryna. Bryna is an American woman that took part in the Gush Katif incident back in 2004. Her full story can be found here: http://www.aish.com/jw/id/48915162.html . But besides the whole entire story this is what I took from it.

The woman was one of the strongest and most inspirational people I have ever met in my life. She moved to Israel sometime after her one year program excursion in Israel and settled in a few different places before she landed in Gush Katif. When she got there, a few of her children, I think she had six, were in the army. Unfortunately one of the sad parts of children partaking in the army is when parents receive that unwanted phone call that your son/daughter would not be coming home anymore. This happened to her oldest son Yochanan when he was on a mission in Lebanon. He was buried near the Gush Katif settlement where the sea could be viewed because he was in a unit where scuba diving was involved. She explained in detail how thousands upon thousands of people would show up at her house during the shiva, and how she really felt that sense of community as well. A few years later, I beleive, her community was kicked out by the Israel government due to the dangers and the agreements being made at the time. The actual Gush Katif settlement was in the Gaza Strip making it sincerely dangerous for them to be there. Basically what happened was they all waited in their houses after countless protests to finally be escorted out by the IDF. This one last time, Bryna was yelling at the solider on how they could do these to these families, that that was their homes, and that what they built up came from nothing. The soldier stood there emotionless. Bryna built a clubhouse in honor of her son Yochanan and asked if she could go there one last time before she left. The soldier accompanied her. As she was there she began to tell him stories about Yochanan and about the neighborhood and her story. Still the soldier seemed emotionless. She said that she started to question his lack of emotion, and then suddenly he began to cry to. She hugged him and said 'don't break down, just build up' and they stood there together. She ended up having to un-bury her son, and then re-bury him somewhere else in fear of the new Arab settlers destroying the grave site. Then, She ended up in temporary housing right next to where the kibbutz I was staying at, and has not moved since. She still does not call it her permanent home, but still has an immense amount of faith and hope in G-d, and the Israeli nation. She kept on repeating: Jew's must live in Israel and never break down, always build up.

I couldn't help but cry during and after this presentation, knowing that someone could have gone through so much, and still be in such a state of awe of being a Jew and belonging to the Jewish nation. I feel empowered and only want every other Jew to feel this. I'm not sure how this will happen, but hopefully along my journey I'll figure it out.