In my new home!

I write this first blog post from my new apartment and I couldn't be happier :-)
I'm living now with 2 girls, one American-Israeli and one Belgian-Israeli, in a gorgeous duplex in the center of Tel Aviv, 2 minutes from the beach. (pictures to come once it's all set up!) we have a view of the ocean from our balconies (one on each floor) and watched the sun set over the sea last night from the comfort of our home. Living here feels too good to be true.
In talking to my sister Rachel this week, she pointed something out to me that's really amazing and I hadn't quite formulated for myself yet - I am like an emissary of Israel to so many diaspora Jews. Between all the friends from different stages of my life, family friends, and random acquaintances, for many people I am the only person they know who lives in Israel. In just a month here I've gotten several messages from people wanting to know if they can visit me or if I can help them visit Israel. It's nice to know that I can be like a port of support for so many Jews who don't have a strong connection to Israel themselves. I have a feeling my apartment is going to be like an international hostel! But it's a wonderful thing.
My friend Zeev also made an interesting insight to me this week - when we look at the past 2,000 years of history and under what circumstances Jews moved to Israel, the vast majority of Jews came to Israel as a safe haven from persecution. The number of Jews who actually chose to leave a safer "better life" (such as America) to come struggle in Israel for no reason other than that it's the Jewish homeland, is an extremely small number. I'm like a "statistical anomaly" Zeev said. And it's true - after 2,000 years of praying to God to be able to return to Israel, it's like a metaphorical slap in God's face to not follow up on our prayers. I don't know how so many religious Jews in the diaspora justify it to themselves. But, we all can make Israel stronger in our own way.
When I was out buying paint 2 days ago for my apartment, there was a man standing beside the salesman staring at me while I was explaining what I needed in broken Hebrew. He was making me very uncomfortable. After the salesman walked away he asked me where I was from. I said Boston. He said, what are you doing in Israel? I said, I made aliyah! He responded, why? I said, "because I'm Jewish, this is my home!" and he responded, "no, not exactly." I was caught off guard - my stomach just went cold - and my friend pulled me aside and told me he was Arab. I would have responded to his last comment but the moment had passed. It made me sad though. Especially when I walked outside and I saw a band set up on the street playing music and people dancing, and a huge banner behind them read: "Rotzim Shalom". (We want peace). It seems like it's impossible to get that message across sometimes.
Anyway - off now to a Shabbat lunch and then the beach.
Shabbat Shalom!