"Leaving Israel", a poem by Raize Guttman

Raize shared this poem with participants of the Gem 7 and Gem 8 Israel Trips on their final day of the program. She wrote it when she had to return to the States after learning in seminary in Jerusalem (Yerushalayim) many years ago. Since then, she has returned to Yerushalayim where she and her husband are raising a beautiful Torah-true family with many kinderlach (children) k'neinah hara.

I hope never to lose this feeling,
This special feeling my heart,
For I will need it to sustain me,
For very soon I will depart.

A place so filled with holy people,
Their deeds, their lives with Torah goals.
The air so sweet, each breath we take,
Puts life anew inside our souls.

Here the tune of children learning,
A love for Torah that can't be erased.
How is it - all Hashem's precious
ingredients,
He put into making this one tiny place.

A feeling of love so deep, so real,
So special beyond any cost.
How could it be- when we leave for awhile,
This deep-rooted feeling is suddenly lost?

That feeling that was so burning inside us,
That with it nothing could equate,
Now just lives inside of us,
In a sadly dormant state.

We have to strive to bring it forth,
To never let it die or fade,
For there is no place in this world,
Worth Yerushalayim as a trade.

I hope never to lose this feeling,
This special feeling in my heart.
For I will need it to sustain me,
All the time we are apart.