ISRAEL

For years I had contemplated touring the Jewish Homeland; however, every time I considered making the trip, a new round of fighting with its Arab neighbors would break out, causing me to choose another country to visit instead. In 2008, we bit the bullet and flew to Tel Aviv. Over the next two weeks, I came to realize how seeing and experiencing life in this small country on the south-eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea was essential to understanding how Jewish, Muslim, and Christian cultures have evolved since the early 2nd millennium BCE.