I JUST landed in Israel, my home when I served at the Bahá’í World Centre in Haifa in 2000-2004. I’m not familiar with the new Ben Gurion International Airport at Tel Aviv; it’s been modernized beyond my recognition. But I’m familiar with the sense of being here. In fact, the sense of being in this moment, right here, right now, is hitting me mightily today. It’s like the scent of earth after the rain: sweet, memorable, lingering. It feels like I never left the land at all.
I’m here for a few days to attend the wedding of Isra Ramirez to Nathan Liebman. Isra and I served together at the World Centre. When we met for a brief reunion in New Delhi in December last year, I promised that I’d attend her wedding anywhere it‘d happen.
And so here I am, in an exceptional place holding the holiest sites of my faith, and headed for an exceptional occasion. The moments ahead are going to be as treasured as the place itself.
