We are now safe and sound back in The Land, and I’ve had to put together my “elevator speech,” the thirty second or one minute response when someone asks you a question like, “Well how was it?” or the follow-up question that one perspicacious person asked: “Was it worth the money?” Barbara has had no trouble putting together her answer. “It was amazing,” she will tell the world in no uncertain terms. It’s not that I disagree with her; the OU-Israel trip to India was unquestionably a unique experience, well thought out and organized, one that will leave a lasting impression in the minds of all the participants. It’s just that, as I made clear from the very beginning, I had a very different agenda from that of the other participants (what a surprise!). Visiting synagogues in obscure places, houses of worship that haven’t been prayed in for fifty years? Ehhhh! I’ve seen my share of abandoned shuls in and around NYC, read enough about failed “experiments” in Jewish living in the Exile. Getting decent seats for those of us who hang out nowadays at Musar Avicha in Ma’ale Adumim? Now you have my undivided attention! Continue reading →