I traveled to Israel in the summer of 2008 for 5 weeks. I went as north as the Hannaton, a hotel commune, and as south as Eilat, the watersport capital of the country.
It was an incredibly moving experience, not only as a Jew, but as someone who loves to delve into culture and complex stories. Israel is full of a myriad amount of subplots in the history of the country.
The history speaks for itself. I got stuck in the traffic caused by the funeral of two prisoners of wars whose bodies were recovered by the Israeli government. And I floated in the Dead Sea only a week later, and when I reached down to pick up sand from the bottom of the saline body I only brought up rock salt crystals, which was surreal.