My Heart in in the East

"My heart is in the East, and I am at the ends of the West;
How can I taste what I eat and how could it be pleasing to me?
How shall I render my vows and my bonds, while yet
Zion lies beneath the fetter of Edom, and I am in the chains of Arabia?
It would be easy for me to leave all the bounty of Spain --
As it is precious for me to behold the dust of the desolate sanctuary."

These words were written by the great 11th century Jewish poet Rabbi Yehuda HaLevi. According to legend, at the end of his life he decide to realize his dreams of Israel and when he landed in the Holy Land, as he bent down to kiss the sacred soil, he was trampeled by an Arab horseman. If only our leaders had the same love of Israel as Rabbi Yehuda HaLevi...