Question:
We are planning a trip to Israel and many of our friends and family have said that we are crazy for doing so. Do they have a point? How should we respond?

Answer:
Unfortunately, your situation is more the rule than the exception. Based on sensationalized media coverage, many perceive Israel as a perpetual war zone, in which chances are better than not that a Katyusha rocket will join you for breakfast any given morning.
Visiting Israel is statistically safer than staying in the US.

Now that America's Fox News has made its way to Israeli cable TV, a colleague of ours mentioned that he was nervous about his upcoming trip to the US. He told us that the terror alert level has just gone from "elevated" (yellow) to "high" (orange). When investigating the government's recommended activities to properly respond to this heightened alert level, he came across the list of elements to be included in the emergency preparedness kit. Due to his lack of hand-crank radios or dust masks, he explained, he was considering canceling his trip and staying home in the relative safety of Israel.

In reality, visiting Israel is statistically safer than staying in the US. Based on a study by the University of Maryland comparing homicide rates in 33 different countries between 1955 and 1996, Israel's average rate was 1.26 compared to 7.88 in the US. When taking the last intifadas into account, Israel's rate rose to 4.80 which is still significantly lower than that of America. This fear of visiting Israel is no less rational than the trepidation so many share of flying considering the fact that the chances of dying in a car accident, according to the US Department of Transportation, is 1 in 7,700, while the likelihood of a airline accident is less than 1 in two million.

So much for rational phobias. (As a matter of fact, Ari Abramowitz was stabbed in the back in Manhattan after serving on active duty in Lebanon, Hebron, and Gaza.)

Yet, statistics are irrelevant. G-d created the universe and controls every event from the global to the minute. David did not consider probabilities when confronting Goliath with a pocket full of river rocks, and Gideon did not consult a military statistician before whittling his army down to a mere 300 to slay the Midianite force of 135,000. We are to put our fates in G-d's hands by determining our actions based on their merits, and not on the probability of our self-preservation.

Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzato, one of the most revered Jewish mystics, explains that while every country in the world is appointed an intermediary angel to oversee its affairs, G-d's level of interaction in the Land of Israel is of the most direct and intimate nature. David Ben-Gurion, the first Prime Minister of Israel, explained that, in Israel, "in order to be a realist, you must believe in miracles." The State of Israel is the culmination of scores of prophecies in the Bible and G-d warns that those who seek her harm will surely meet their demise and are harming "the apple of his eye" (Zechariah 2:8).

Despite the plethora of European countries meeting with Hamas and supporting the Hizbullah, when seen through the eyes of the prophets, there is nowhere safer than the Land of Israel. Ezekiel clearly proclaims, "When I gather in the House of Israel from the peoples among whom they were scattered, then I will be sanctified through them in the eyes of the nations, and they will dwell on their land that I gave to my servant, to Jacob. They will dwell upon it in security and build houses and plant vineyards and dwell in security when I execute judgments upon all those who despoil them from their surroundings and they will know that I am HaShem, their G-d." The nations to which many flee for safety will not always be safe, the countries of material affluence and spiritual bankruptcy will not always provide refuge.

Lot chose the greenest and richest pastures of Sodom.

When Abraham and his cousin Lot separated, Lot chose the greenest and richest pastures of Sodom. Before long, the city was destroyed. He and his daughters were the sole survivors. Despite our greatest efforts at keeping the wool over our eyes, we are facing a world war that may very well dwarf the past two. Governments are preparing for nuclear fall-out and no one is sure where it will strike first. In Kings II, Chapter 19, Isaiah the prophet warns that "from Jerusalem shall emerge a remnant, and survivors from Mount Zion." Jeremiah explains that "Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will dwell in security," (33:16) while Obadiah reassures, "On Mount Zion there will be refuge...." (1:17). If you count the prophets as geopolitical experts - and according to their track record, you should - Jerusalem is the safest city in the world today.

In this life, you have to put your faith in something. While many of the cynics who laugh at you for coming to the Holy Land may place their faith in money and politicians, simply explain that your faith is in the G-d of Israel and his prophets, and that your destination is the Holy Land because only in G-d's hands is there true safety.