Mt. Vernon, New York, was my home until I got married at age 22. I then moved to the Washington Heights neighborhood in New York City and Manhattan became my home. I then moved to Atlanta in 1970 for my first real job and stayed there for 27 years. Atlanta became my home and I thought my moving days were over. But they were not. After Atlanta, I moved to Columbus, Denver, and Dallas for three to four years each, and then my wife and I moved to Israel where we wanted to arrive vertically.
After living here for a few months, my wife and I both felt that we had finally arrived at our life’s destination, the ultimate homeland of our people. As Jews we felt truly at home here. All the other places we lived were nice and we enjoyed living there, but we never felt truly at home until we took up abode in Israel.
The desire to come home is a central theme of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, the story of an alien from a distant planet who finds himself lost on earth when the spaceship which brought him here precipitously departs and unintentionally leaves him here.
ET wanders through a suburban housing development and is discovered by Elliot, a young boy who, after initially being frightened of the unknown, befriends the creature from another planet. Sharing the secret of ET’s presence with Michael, his older brother, and Gertie, his younger sister, they resolve to help ET and promise to reveal his existence to no one else.
In a short time, they learn that ET has special powers, is highly intelligent, and can even communicate with them in English. This enables ET to enlist their aid in assisting him to find a way to return home. Under his guidance, they help him find materials to contact his compatriots from space.
Regrettably, ET’s health deteriorates, and there is a race against time to save ET before he dies or is too sick to take the voyage home. Parallel to their efforts is the pursuit of ET by a scientific governmental agency that wants to find him in order to further scientific research. The kids, truly concerned about his welfare, know that ET must return home to fulfill his own destiny. In spite of the fact that people on earth love him, they understand that ET belongs elsewhere.
The notion of going home to fulfill one’s purpose in life echoes the commandment given to Jews to live in the land of Israel. In spite of possessing creature comforts and friends in the Diaspora, the ultimate homeland is God’s chosen land, Israel, where His holy presence is more acutely felt. The Bible tells us that it is a commandment of God to live in Israel based on the verse in Numbers 33:53: “you shall possess the land and dwell in it.” Moreover, the Talmud tells us that the very air of Israel makes one wise. Merely living in a holy environment and walking on its holy soil connects us to our ancestors and to our history as a nation.
ET’s yearning to return home is a metaphor for everyone to return home to their historic roots. When we are away from our true home, we may be fascinated by our new surroundings and we may make good friends; but, in the final analysis, there is no place like home to nurture our souls and to fulfill our spiritual destinies.
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