What you may be wondering:

What is all this stuff they keep telling me and my kid about ‘homeland’? What, am I supposed to completely ignore the fact that I was born in the US? I mean I do connect to Israel, and I’d really like my kids to do so as well, but this whole connection between people and place just makes me feel uncomfortable.

The conversation you may hold with your child:

• Do you live at home, or at house?
• What do you think is the difference between your house and your home?
• Do you have more than one home?
• If our family were to move to a new house, would you still feel at home?
• Are there other places where you feel ‘at home’?
• Can you imagine walking into a house you’ve never visited before, and discovering that it looks exactly like our own home. The same furniture, same rooms, same pictures on the wall, even the same smells – but different people live there. Would you feel at home?
• Are there degrees of feeling at home? For example, are there places you feel very ‘at home’, places you feel slightly ‘at home’?
• Does home mean a place, an atmosphere, people? Other things? A combination of them?
• Have you ever heard of the word ‘homeland’?
• (In what way) do you feel the USA to be your homeland?
• (In what way) do you feel Israel to be your homeland?

Perhaps leading to:

Either a family trip to Israel, or a conversation about the trip you already took… ! Beyond this, any conversation about Israel from now on can draw on this range of emotional connections that you have sketched together.