Read the first text, Time of Trouble, Time to travel, and the second text, My Life Changing Israel Experience by Jaclyn.

A bomb exploding in Israel is now status quo for the struggling young nation that thought not long ago it was on the brink of true peace. What an illusion peace was, an idealistic notion that swept the nation into conceding valuable territory, all in the name of harmony, of brotherhood at last. Hod Ha'Sharon, the quaint city I called home for two months, is a premier example of the peace that failed to come to fruition, of the peace that tarries in the horizon, not to be seen anytime soon. A mere day after I departed from the Ben Gurion airport, eight citizens of Hod Ha'Sharon were injured by a bomb that erupted by apartment buildings directly adjacent to the high school in Israel campus.

Peace? No, in fact, it is war over there. Nothing's declared, of course, but what else can you call daily acts of terrorism aimed deliberately at innocent citizens with a menace that overshadows any peaceful attempts at reconciliation? I call it war, and so does the majority of the Israeli population. Each day of my two-month stay in Hod Ha-Sharon, I strolled across the cobblestone pathways facing those targeted apartments, and I distinctly heard the shouting and laughing of the inhabitants. I would turn right to go to the supermarket, left to enter the main section of town. I have many memories of that particular intersection, of walking with friends there. And, only a day after I left, a bomb shattered the peace I once felt in my Israeli home.

Intermixed with daily lessons on Jewish and Israeli history, my teacher, David, reported to my class the violent acts committed by Islamic terrorist organizations. We listened to the terrible description of the bomb in Netanya, a mere twenty minutes away, and we were horrified, but still we thought it could not happen to us. We were at Mt. Herzl when gunshots rang out, and we were told that fighting was occurring in Gilo, a neighborhood of Jerusalem. The gunshots splintered the silence with consistent bangs, but David explained there was no danger; we were far from the conflict. While I was afraid, I returned to Hod Ha'Sharon and again I felt safe. Nothing could happen in our haven of security, or so I thought. I was scared, but I was more fearful for the future of Israel and for the fate of my people; I was never really scared for myself.

I suppose I should have been. I wasn't in Israel to confront the terror enacted in my town, in Hod Ha'Sharon, but I easily could have been. It was luck that the bomb went off a day after, not a day before, because it might have been me walking along the street; it might have been my world shattered.

How real it all became-this is my Kosovo, the Vietnam of my generation. Israel, the land of my brothers, is in danger, and as a result, so am I.

My experience in Israel, amidst the history I can finally comprehend, was incredible beyond words. I learned more in two months than in all four years of high school; I learned to appreciate my past, and to enrich my future with a Jewish pride that comes only with knowledge of my heritage. I made friends that I miss dearly, and I formed a connection with my homeland that is everlasting. Israel is my home now, I feel that fact deeply, and my heart pangs for the country I had to leave, for my country in peril.

Despite my fear, despite the uncertainty of the current situation, I would not hesitate to go again, to go now, even. The Palestinians want us to be afraid; they want the Jews of Israel to feel alone, to feel like the outside world doesn't care enough to provide support in person. Monetary help is quite familiar to American Jews, so are solidarity rallies and banquet-style dinners to aid worthwhile Jewish charities; these are all good causes, I am not discounting the effort. But Israel needs us now more than ever, and they need us face-to-face, fighting beside them, not continents away. Never should any Jew be afraid to travel to our homeland. Israel is the only place we can count on in a time of need. Surrounded by enemy nations, Israel fights our battles and endeavors to make peace for our children; the least we can do is show up every once and awhile to demonstrate our concern. We are Americans, but we should be Jews first, and the history of our people, and thus the heart and soul of our Jewish identity, lies in Israel; we must never forget that.

Jaclyn Hannah Goldis is the news editor of her high school paper. She's a senior now, and a future freshman at the University of Michigan.