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In the summer of 1961 my mother, who was all but 16 years old at the time, made the Prilgramage to Israel as part of a group trip that started in New York, Ireland, Rome and then to Israel.  Long carreir jet flights were still a novelty at the time and the European stops were traveling necessities.    Her trip to Israel was life changing for her, and she kept a jounral of the entire trip which details the pathologies and adventures of a 16 year old Jewish Women as she escapes her comfort zone and adventures of an internation trip to the promise land amoung her Jewish brethern.   If of itself, it was an interesting read for me in my 50's.  She has been gone now for almost 30 years.   Evidently they got food poisoning on the way and she suffered a teenage crush with unrequited love back home.  But all in all, she had an excellent adventure and laid down the foundations for a return to our home after millinium, as I now have children and grandchildren who live, work and learn in Israel.

Here is a wonderful ancient Judean Zuz from the Bar Kolka Rebellion that I picked up last week and is now in the vault.  In is a token of our heritage and connection with the past, as Jews have suffered for self-determination frobably longer than any people in the world, although we are far from alone in this quest to find justice in a hostile world.