HAARETZ: SWEDISH WINTER, FAR FROM THE STORM (click for article)

After 20 years in Israel, having immigrated from Ireland, I moved with my Swedish wife and our two young children to Stockholm for what was supposed to be a one-year stay, and which has now lasted nearly three. With the same population as Israel but a landmass 16 times larger, Sweden is full of vast, empty spaces — dense forests, quiet lakes, and wide fields — places that allow for complete disconnection from people and reality.

Many Swedes own simple houses in the countryside, traditionally painted red, sometimes many kilometres from the nearest neighbour. There they spend their summers and weekends picking blueberries and mushrooms, and hiking forest trails. Weekends are an opportunity for children and parents to spend time in nature, surrounded by family, far from screens and daily routines. And also far from the weekly protests against Israel, which we sometimes suddenly encounter, and find ourselves trying to answer our children’s difficult questions about.

We feel relief that our children have been spared the brutal tragedy and collective trauma that have shaken the country since October 7. But the sense of distance — from home, from extended family and close friends, from the society and the people to whom I feel deeply connected and who accept me unconditionally — is profound and painful.

The wild green beauty and the stunning tranquility of Sweden, which often feel like the complete opposite of Israel’s boiling, crowded reality, ultimately hold little real emotional meaning for me. They cannot serve as a substitute for living among your own people during such turbulent and formative times.

The long, grey, and lonely winters here seem to mirror those inner feelings and give them visual expression. The vast silence screams out what is missing.