the idolatry of land

Many people feel connected to particular pieces of land, all over the world. The desire of Jews to be in Israel is but one example. I believe that all land is god's to give us, to lend us or to take away. We are meant to be good caretakers. Last year, I went to Slovakia where my mother's family had lived. I saw cemeteries (which is all that is left of many communities) that had been completely destroyed, pieces of gravestones where it was impossible even to recognize the name of the person buried there. That land is part of my history, but not part of me.

As is Montreal. I arrived here when I was about 5 and it has been good for me. I consider myself part of the (political) landscape, and I care very much about what happens here, yet this too is not my home. I live in a sukkah (a temporary dwelling) and wherever I am is the desert. The Torah tells of the people of Israel wandering in the desert for fourty years until the death of the generation of slaves before they arrived in Israel, a journey of less than fourty days. My journey is longer even than fourty generations.