Netanel Goldberg

No one saw me as a child, and I deserved to be seen.

When I put myself on the stage—because this is what my father and my mother did—it was also because of my creativity, but also to please my parents. It’s not by mistake that I’m on stage today. From time to time, I’d been a slave to those acknowledgements.

And this voice talked to me and said, “From now on, you don’t have to be acknowledged, because you’re acknowledged by me. Not anymore. You don’t have to be acknowledged by people anymore. I see you. I’m with you." And I remember myself just crying and crying. But since I was a child, being acknowledged had been my topic.

After that, I went to a concert. It wasn’t full, and I loved it. Why? Because inside the emptiness—all the empty chairs—I saw the Spirit sitting there. It said, “Hey, I’m with you.”

Then, the event was full. It excited me. I sat there and I saw a few people and a lot of empty chairs full of this Spirit sitting there with me. We were all praying together.

So now I am asking, “Am I willing to give up my identity to being Israeli and a Jew for the opportunity to connect to Divinity that connects to all? To connect to the same spirit that gives life to the tree; that gives life to the bird, gives life to people who call themselves Muslims?”

If I am, then I’m connected to all—and to my Israeli, to my Hebrew, to my Judaism. But I don’t belong to it. I belong to the Spirit.