Homecomings are always meaningful. Some are ancient, even Biblical. It is the theme of modern films and music, depicting the draw we all have and feel toward home. Until this week, I was caught up in my own attempts to come home, stranded in the United States amid the unfolding war against the Islamic Republic of Iran. My trip started surpassing one million miles on United, and ended after six canceled and changed flights, finally arriving home, one of hundreds of thousands doing so amid the war.

Historic parallels are uncanny—and profoundly Jewish. Amid countless miracles, the Israelites complained throughout the Exodus from Egypt. Dorothy overcame hurdles along the Yellow Brick Road to Oz, and eventually back to Kansas. And today, fellow Israelis are grumbling through cancelled flights, rerouted journeys, and, in a twist only God could script, detours through Egypt to reach the Promised Land once more amid different challenges. This is doubly relevant at the season when we celebrate the Exodus and our redemption 3,500 years ago, many have contemporary stories of finding their way back to the Land of Israel.

Then, fresh out of Egypt, the Children of Israel didn’t break into a victory song and march straight to Judea. They complained. Repeatedly. They chided Moses: “Was it for lack of graves in Egypt that you brought us to die in the wilderness?” (Exodus 14:11). When hunger hit, material nostalgia kicked in: “If only we had died by the Lord’s hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted” (Exodus 16:3). Manna rained down, water burst from stone, yet the desert felt endless. Forty years of wandering wasn’t just geography; it........

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