The picture above is from my niece's wedding last March in Israel. There's nothing like a wedding to bring people together. 

Our family's weddings in Israel do more than that -- they bring worlds together. I missed the latest one in February because I had surgery. I've finally gotten the go-ahead to fly and am leaving Tuesday (tomorrow!).

My brother-and-sister-in-law have lived in Israel almost 25 years. They have 10 kids. Yeah, really. The top 5 are married. Already 7 grandchildren, two more on the way. They are religious Jews, kosher, hair covered, modestly dressed keepers of the Sabbath. Observers of the laws of Torah and Talmud.

Our part of the family here in America isn't religious. We're known as Secular Jews. Which is not to say we don't practice many of the customs of our faith and culture. The difference isn't so great really. It's not what you wear that defines your religion. It's what you believe and how you feel inside.

The feeling of love and spirituality I get when I visit our family in Israel can't be measured or even described. You just know it when it wraps itself around your heart.

As always, I will be welcomed back with joy and excitement. As always, my family will shower me with unconditional love. As always I will offer my love in return, plus a warm welcome and some of Aunt Sally's special guidance to my nieces and the newest family bride. And as always, I will come away having learned as much, if not more than I could ever teach.

The recent brouhaha over my Sex and Relationships post seems especially relevant since I am going literally to another world, where such discussions have a much different context. 

Except spouse to spouse or parents and children, men and women never touch each other ... not a hug, a tap on the shoulder, not even a handshake. Though my newest nephew-in-law and I created the "air handshake." And each visit I bring Hershey's Kisses in symbolic outreach to all the family men.

Few religious Jews in Israel watch television or go to movies rated higher than PG. Teenagers have iPods, but the music is also PG. In case you were wondering, everybody has cell phones (invented in Israel, by the way), BlackBerries and computers.

When young men and women reach marriageable age, dates are arranged with after both families have checked each other out. The daters go to restaurants, museums, zoos, the beach. They talk, share experiences, hopes, dreams, get to know each other. If they don't hit it off, they move on to another eligible suitor.

Not so different from the American mating game. Except religious daters never touch, not even to hold hands, much less kiss. Not even after they're engaged. I'm told some do--their dates are private, no chaperones--but most are spiritually committed to their deeply held belief in no premarital contact. And, I've also been told, in the end it's worth the wait.

Hard to imagine such a concept in America.

Married couples also adhere to specific religious rules on personal and intimate behavior. Rules designed to help them learn to respect their marriage and themselves. To bring out the best in each other and their relationship. To enhance mutual spirituality and sensuality. Not a bad combination.

But after all, they're working from a set of laws and teachings more than five thousand years old. Following a way of life that reveres faith and family over all else. That values learning, actual and spiritual growth, respect for self and others.

There's much to admire about our family in Israel, but the level of their commitment to a Higher Power is highest on my list. There's something deeply comforting about the purity of religious rituals, both simple and complex.

They provide so much more than merely rules. They offer guidance. And a path toward inner peace. I wouldn't trade that for anything. And every time I visit, I find myself further along that path.

It occurs to me there's something else I want to add. My family came to Israel (first Palestine) from the Fertile Crescent, not Europe or Russia. I've been going to Israel since I was a child. As a young woman I lived in Israel from 1977 to 1979.

I traveled everywhere, was especially moved by the confluence of the holiest sites of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. I visited Judiasm's holiest shrines and always go back to some whenever I'm there. But I also walked the Stations of the Cross. Sat in the Gardens of Gestheme. Visited the Church of the Nativity in Nazareth. Touched the Dome of the Rock. Climbed to the Mount of Olives. Went to Jericho. The Galilee. Golgatha. And so much more. Most of our collective history began right there.

Most memorable of my Christian experiences was to stand in Manger Square in Bethlehem on Christmas Eve watching thousands of people from around the world singing age-old carols and hymns in multiple languages to the same familiar melodies.

And I learned that if we can join together like that, we are not really so different after all. In the end, we are all the sum of our unique individualities. Which could be a positive way to walk the road to peace. Someday. We can hope.

So off I go. Have computer, will travel. If you don't hear from me for a while, I'll see you in July. Tawk amongst yourselves. I certainly know you can.