Photo Friday: Finding Your Home


Israel 60th Anniversary on the Mall

This photograph was taken on the National Mall, at an event celebrating the 60th Anniversary of the birth of the State of Israel. The women in the picture are tracing the roots of their family across the globe, along with other attendees.

I learned at the event that I am here because of Operation “Ezra & Nehemiah” – a massive, emergency airlift of 125,000 Jews from their homes in Iraq in 1950-1951, to the only country that would accept them. My parents were a part of that airlift, and eventually emigrated to the United States, where I was born.

My life experience as a social/cultural minority has, in a great way, connected me to people and ideas that I think I wouldn’t have appreciated otherwise. I am always drawn to stories about people, of all backgrounds, finding their home and belonging, whether it’s in their health care, or where they live and work.

Ted Eytan, MD