Returning to Jerusalem

I’m leaving for Israel-Palestine tomorrow night. And while I’ve been packing, I’ve been looking over some old notes from my last trip to Israel in 2003. Pastor Brian Morganstern wrote this poem for me,

Fellow pilgrim and poet, you are here!
Walk in its ways, feel the texture of its walls,
feel the weight of the divine presence
penetrate your consciousness;
allow its night to confer the weight of nostalgia upon you.
Sneak out into the dawn, while everyone else sleeps
and view heaven and earth as they split asunder
so as to make way for the twilight.

Will you find David here, or Elijah,
or the poet Judah Halevi?
Will you find yourself here
lost in the Shekinah glory?

Remember, one doesn’t go to Jerusalem,
one returns to it,
That’s one of the mysteries (Elie Wiesel)

Your constant friend and fellow pilgrim,
rabbi morganstern