On Friday we returned home after being away for eight weeks. It's the longest time we have ever been away from our home.

We were all very excited to be back, it felt really good. The kids went to their room and could not get enough of their toys and stuff, while Chanie and I felt a sense of comfort being back in our own home.

Yet in a funny way it did not really feel like our own home. The first room we entered, which is also the largest in our house, is the dinning room. Walking in there I felt the presence of the hundreds of students who sit around the many Shabbat tables every week, come for classes or just hang out to chat. It felt like walking into the house we share with them. Unlike our apartment in NYC which, despite hosting alumni every Shabbat, was small and our own.

An observation.