In 2018, I set foot in Israel for the first time. I didn’t know then that this land would awaken something in me that had been waiting quietly — a longing, a remembering.

Jerusalem embraced me — not just with its golden light, but with its holiness. I found Hashem in the silence between stones, in the way the wind carried blessings through alleyways. It was there that I discovered I’m far more religious than I ever knew — and that my soul had always belonged there.

And through my mother, I carry Finland as well. A land of clarity and clean beauty, of long summer days and snow-covered quiet. It gave me a love for nature, for craftsmanship, and for the peaceful kind of strength.