Highway 1

Highway 1

Seventy-six years in the car
I travel and I look out
at things that were and things that are
and I know
that we are moving.

The road began in Tel Aviv
under a famous roof with a piece of paper
and slowly wound its way out of the city
the traffic became heavy
and I got stuck in Tel Aviv for hours

But now Tel Aviv begins to recede into the distance
and though I still hear the noise and the beeping traffic
my mind is elsewhere
on the road ahead
and the journey we all make

For I see the signs
and watch the numbers count down
as we travel further into Israel
past kibbutzim and JNF forests
past an uprising in Modiin
and slowly winding our way up the mountain
a long haul
but ever climbing
towards Jerusalem

This I see
and this I know.
Highway 2 has never been an option for Israel
for we are one nation
in one Land
with One God
and there is no other way.

But highway 1 does not end in Jerusalem,
it extends further
over hills and down through deserts
not stopping at rivers
through borders drawn and redrawn again
all the way to the Euphrates

Highway 1
the most important road in Israel
and I know
that we are moving.

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