Day One of the Omer

My sister in law called last night from the hotel in Tevariah. She was excited to be able to call after only keeping one day, a decision she and husband came to after consultation with their Rav, and reviewing the sources for why some people keep two days and some keep one when visiting Israel.

Keeping the second day of Chag while in Israel has always felt foreign to me, as does Israeli's keeping only a single day when traveling outside Israel. From a logical perspective, and based on the reasons for the original creation of the second day, it makes sense that one should follow the minhag of the place where they are spending their chag. Chutznikim in Israel should keep one day; Israelis in the diaspora should keep two.

But that isn't how it generally works. Admittedly, I have never looked into the sources for why Israelis keep one day when they leave Israel and tourists keep two days in Israel. I have seen, more and more, though, that when tourists come to Israel, they are keeping only one day of chag.

And I think its wrong.

Keeping one day is the privilege of those of us who are fortunate enough to live in Israel. Call it a motivating factor toward Aliyah, not a privilege purchased for a flight and two week hotel stay.

And so I told this to my sister in law when she called.

In retrospect, I was wrong to say it then.

I could have told her beforehand. But my timing was wrong here. They were excited about a big decision that they made, and I should have either said something before or not said anything at all. It was wrong to tell her what I thought minutes after Havdala.