The Jewish people have had a special relationship with this
part of the world for millennia.
My wife and I were able to visit the country
to take part in an international Jewish Choir Festival (Zimriya) in 1988.
Our son went with his high school graduating class to Israel in 1999, and
our daughter went to Israel on a "Birthright"
sponsored trip in
2001.
I
have combined our experiences into the following breakdown of our observations
of Israeli culture and of the land and the people.