Sprinting toward the self

I have a reoccurring dream where I’m frantically running to catch a plane to Israel. The dream is vivid and pulsing, as I try to get to the place where my relatives live – a place I’ve been to over thirty times, beginning with summers at my grandparents’ house when I was a child.

The dreams started about three years ago, a few months after I met my Christian boyfriend (now husband) – when things were getting serious. The dreams unfolded as follows:

I’m in a car on the way to the airport and I realize that I forgot my passport at home. I make the car go back to retrieve it, and I miss the flight. And, I’m in the terminal, all checked in and on my way to the gate, where again, I realize my passport is missing. I approach a woman in the duty free shop, a clerk selling chocolates, and begin speaking to her in Hebrew, asking if my dad can fax her a copy of my passport to fax ahead to Tel Aviv. No go.

One evening, while at my parents’ house in New Jersey for Sabbath dinner, I told my Rabbi brother-in-law about these dreams. I was attending the dinner without my boyfriend, not yet ready for him to meet the Fockersteins.

I told my brother-in-law that I assumed the dreams meant I was trying to get to Israel – my safe haven – the place that represents my home and sense of belonging.

He nodded in agreement , but then looked at me with a knowing twinkle in his eye, indicating there was more to it.

“Your missing passport,” he said.” It represents your misplaced Jewish identity.”

“It does?” I asked, bristling from the implication that I’d lost my grip on my Jewishness, even though he was right. Reinforced by the fact that I was in a relationship with a non-Jew.

“Yep,” he replied. “Do you know who has your passport?”

“Uh…no…” I said, my mind going through all the options. Did God have it? Was he testing me? Or, maybe my ex-husband took it! (that was back in my blaming the ex for every feeling phase).

When my husband and I got married, I noticed that the dreams stopped. And a few months later, we planned on going to Israel to celebrate the holiday of Passover with my family. It would be his first time in Israel, and my first time seeing the country from a new perspective, touring the Christian sites and the place of Jesus’s birth. My parents and relatives were excited and embraced our plans with the same wide-eyed excitement that we did. My mother even Googled “Holy Land Christian tours” and forwarded me links.

We got to the airport with plenty of time to spare, passports in hand. I smiled to myself, remembering how just a few months before, I had mentioned to my brother-in-law that the dreams had finally ceased.

“Can you tell me now, who had my passport?” I implored.

“You did,” he said. “You had it the whole time. You just weren’t willing to take it out and use it.”

It made perfect sense. My Jewish identity had been reclaimed; my faith in God and in my religious and ancestral roots restored. It made so much sense it almost felt like a cliché in retrospect. But I was glad I had put that mystery and its anxieties to rest.

Until last week, when the dream came back.

I’m running through the terminal, clutching my passport, but I can’t find the gate: Gate #11. The signs are hidden; the passageways to the gate a narrow labyrinth crowded with people I have to weave around. I rush down stairs as people rush up, like at the subway. This time, my husband is with me. I keep looking back at him, lagging several yards behind me. At 6’6”, he does not charge through crowds. But also, he is burdened by our belongings – carrying all of my baggage (how’s that for a metaphor). So I forge ahead, calling to him, my heart beating. When I finally get to the gate, a steel fortress hidden in a dark corner of the airport, the door is closing. Almost made it, but not quite.

As I explored in my last post, my husband and I are in the process of leaving our one bedroom apartment and its associated life stage (my post-divorce refuge), and moving to a more spacious home – our home, that represents a new life stage we hope to grow (even older) in. It’s no wonder that this dream has resurfaced in a slightly different form. Passport and Jewish identity are intact, but clearly I am sifting through my personal identity as it shifts from a divorcee, a phase I was in for seven years before I met my now husband, to one of a wife and mother.

I am seeking to connect with my self; my personal sense of belonging and comfort, represented by the place I grew up in called Israel. But I keep missing my connection.

But at least I’m getting closer. And hopefully, the next time I have the dream, I will finally arrive at the gate on time, with my husband beside me, and all my identities intact.

And a light carry-on for baggage.

12 replies
  1. Bob
    Bob says:

    I have a different take. I believe that traveling to Israel is just you looking for what it represents. Family. Love. Peace. What you’ve been searching for, for a long time. You couldn’t get on that plane because the passport you lost, you hadn’t found yet. I see the passport for what it does. It allows you to move to where you want to be. Your passport is 6’6″. And you found him. Now, you have all you need, but it’s not easy. Things are always going to be in the way. But you’re so close. I believe someday very soon you will make that plane.

    Reply
  2. cougel
    cougel says:

    What a beautiful and accurate interpretation. A lot of clarifying truth to it! Thank you so much for reading, commenting, and interpreting. 🙂 XO

    Reply
  3. Barbara
    Barbara says:

    Oh, you have made your “connection” and are all systems go! Sweet dreams and a sweet ride to you and yours! XOXO

    Reply
  4. Kelly
    Kelly says:

    Wow, I love Bob’s interpretation of this, too!! And it seems completely accurate.

    Great, descriptive piece, beautifully written. I also see it as an expression of that haunting sense we get anytime we move forward, something I don’t know if anyone is immune to. But our struggles get plowed under by bravado. So thanks for uncovering and revealing yours–it helps me to see mine.
    xox

    Reply
  5. Recurring Home
    Recurring Home says:

    “I am seeking to connect with my self…”

    Not you seeking you, but you in relationship to something bigger than you (the post reminds me of James Joyce’s short story “The Dead”). Family and home are pointers to a deeper belonging Pointers to a Jewish history of which you’re a part. Pointers to a narrative of all people who have been and who have yet to be, seeking home, of which we are all a part. I think it’s God trying to reveal himself to you.

    Reply
  6. Nina
    Nina says:

    I have always been fascinated with dreams and their meanings. I’m glad you documented it because maybe if you look back on it in days and weeks ahead it will become clear to you what the message is. Great blog!

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Want to join the discussion?
Feel free to contribute!

Leave a Reply to Kelly Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *