My parents are leaving on a jet plane

For my peers, going to Israel was a birthright long before Charles Bronfman incorporated the name and began offering young adults free trips to Israel.

When I was in high school most of my Jewish friends would spend the summer before their senior year of high school on one of many Israel summer programs. And in my family, there was never a question that my sister and I wouldn't go to Israel in high school. My parents and grandparents had purchased Israel bonds for us both, and their maturation meant our 5-week teen trips were partially paid for. I went in 1998 and my sister went in 2001. We loved the country, its people and its rhythms, its northern hills and southern sand dunes.

I've been blessed to return to Israel twice since that first summer in 1998, thanks to working here at J.

Meanwhile, my 59-year-old father has never been to Israel and my mother hasn't returned since her first trip in 1971, when she was just 21 years old and picked bananas on a kibbutz for the summer.

"It's hard to believe we're going after all the preparation," my dad, Mark Palevsky, said to me. "It's just amazing. I can’t put into words all that I'm feeling right now. "

He started packing for the trip two weeks ago. He also, in prime Dad style, put together a three-ring binder of Internet print-outs, coupons and notes from TripAdvisor. It is organized with dividers: Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, restaurants, etc.

He's that excited.

My mom is jazzed too, but for slightly different reasons. She has close relatives there who she hasn't seen since 1971, whereas I've seen them 3 times since then. Our cousin, Miriam, and my mother are the same age and were penpals when they were teenagers. They became good friends the summer my mom lived in Israel, and have lately corresponded via e-mail and even Facebook.

"I'm most excited to see Miriam and to go to the wall," she said. "And also to see how Israel's changed. There were no highways when I was there."

Hard to believe, eh? I'm so thrilled they'll be arriving in the Holy Land in a mere 11 hours. I can't wait to hear about their adventures, their fumbles, their perspectives on the complex, fascinating, weird, colorful place that is Israel, the Jewish homeland.

Bon voyage Mom and Dad!

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