Modern Pilgrimage
WILL OUR ATTITUDE TOWARDS TRAVEL CHANGE?
Today, in the wake of an epidemic that has blocked most countries in the world, we often wonder if we will be able to travel again to realize our dream of modern pilgrimage. In times when we are confined in our own homes, many people spend time fantasizing about the destinations they have visited or would like to see.
How much traveling will change in the future? In the past, travel, or rather pilgrimage, has survived through the centuries, despite wars or epidemics of plague and other infectious diseases. It will survive now also. However, maybe our attitude toward travel will change. At a time when the world became small, and the farthest corners easily accessible, trips, especially to distant destinations, became like status symbols. Modern pilgrims counted the countries they visited, witnessing which destinations they had seen throughout thousands of photographs that circulate on the internet. All the places where they stopped briefly. More and more we traveled for the sake of travel itself, not for the destination.
The future of travel and modern pilgrimage
Perhaps this affliction will force us to reflect and change attitudes towards life, the environment, and even travel. Now when we realize how much we lack the freedom to go out, the freedom to choose where we want to be, maybe we’ll appreciate more the goal of the trip. We may again discover that the meaning of a journey is to learn, to spread knowledge, and to get to know others. We may once again become sincere pilgrims who will deeply appreciate their modern pilgrimage; the people and places we come to visit.
The journey is deeply inscribed in human code. Even Christianity says that we are all just travelers through this material world, God’s pilgrims on the earth. Therefore, we will travel, despite the epidemic, despite the economic stagnation it has caused, despite all the obstacles. Perhaps that is why we will appreciate the places we want to visit even more. We may finally realize that we cannot tour the world in 7 or 70 days if we want to get to know it. I hope that in future trips we will leave ourselves much more time for the little pleasures, for relaxing and absorbing the places we pilgrimage, learning about them, enjoying them. Not just to make another checkmark on the bucket list of the best world pilgrim sites.
If you would like to go on a Jewish pilgrimage tour check out my Jewish Heritage Tour in Croatia and Bosnia & Herzegovina.
