I just returned from a short vacation in New York (hence I stopped blogging for two weeks). It was very enjoyable, although I must confess it is a pleasure to be home.

When meeting Israelis overseas, the question of 'why not live in Israel' inevitably pops up. It's this chip we carry on our shoulders, feeling guilty for coveting the riches of foreign soil and abandoning our motherland. As far as I know, no such collective guilt is shared by the members of any other nation.

Having gone through the same process of guilt-tripping myself, I think it is unnecessary to discuss it. One has every right to live wherever one chooses to, all the more in the globalised world of ours.

I'll borrow here a metaphor from the world of espionage and crime. To me, America is a honey trap: The big money, the convenience and comfort of consumer culture, the space, the grandeur. These all serve as a bait for many, including Israelis. We, who grew up on the premise that if it's from America then it cannot be bettered, that living the Israeli dream is to make it big in the U.S., we cannot help but succumb to this powerful conditioning and yield to the alluring baits that await us there.

But as I was driving from Ben Gurion Airport back into Tel Aviv, and the 'big metropolis' offered me an endless sky, a five-minute walk from the beach, the buzz and rattle of a young city that wants to prove itself, I knew I'm where I should be.

The honey can keep dripping elsewhere. I'll keep hackin' at it on the hard rock with a big smile on my face.