Listening to Ronen Shoval describe his October 7th morning, I was stunned by how profoundly it crystalized the divide between Israeli and American Jews. Ronen Shoval is the founder of Im Tirtzu and is currently the Dean of the Tikvah Fund and head of the Argaman Institute. On October 7th he was in America because he is … More Couldn’t you hear them calling?
It was a few months after the invasion when a visiting American politician asked me how much October 7th affected the people of Israel. I tried to explain what it’s like to live in a country with one degree of separation. For anyone coming from a large country like America, it is hard to comprehend … More How much has October 7th affected the people of Israel?
“Take a look at this picture. This is my sister Carmel. Actually, this is not my sister, this is just a photo of her. What I am here today to tell you is that she is not just a piece of paper, she’s a real person and she’s still a hostage in Gaza” When I … More Hostages and the spiral of devastation and hope
Cucumbers don’t wait for the politics to be right or the nation to stop grieving. They need correct care, at the right time – as do all crops. The plight of Israeli farmers has bothered me for years. In the early years of the country working our ancestral homeland was a miraculous act that took … More Redeeming the land is a process (update on Omri)
This is the entrance to the shelter from which Hersh Goldberg Polin was taken hostage to Gaza. Here Aner Shapira, Hersh’s best friend stood, placing himself between the people crammed in the shelter praying to be saved and the evil coming to drown them. Here Aner faced the invaders, throwing back grenades they threw in … More Exterminate the memory of Amalek
A beautiful image that represents a very ugly reality. The structure with the colorful mural is a type of bomb shelter scattered along the roads of communities in proximity to Gaza. They are made for times when our neighbors decide to begin bombing us, to give people outside, on the roads, a small chance of … More Shuva – return what was taken from me
I was granted a preview of a special exhibition about the Hamas invasion of October 7th. The exhibition will open to the general public in October. Its Hebrew name translates to “The Courtyard of Evil” but the intention is more “The evil in the backyard”. The atrocities were so extensive and their impact so enormous … More Evil in our backyard
Many of the hills of Samaria are barren and empty – except for those touched by Jews who came back and are renewing the love story with our ancestral homeland. When Vered and Erez Ben Saadon got married in 1997, they chose to live in the village of Bracha, located on Mount Gerizim in Samaria, … More “Again you will plant vineyards on the hills of Samaria”
Words are tools that describe and create reality. Powerful yet only representations, a reflection, not the experience itself. There is a gap between the two which usually goes unnoticed. But when the experience is profound the gap becomes sharp and painful. The words fall broken and twisted into the chasm that they cannot bridge. … More Beautiful, beloved Amit Man – words are not enough
The farmer wears a shirt that says “To the last furrow” and carries a personal gun. This isn’t the “Wild West”, this is Kibbutz Erez located north of the Gaza Strip. The Kibbutz is located just one kilometer (approx. half a mile) from the border with the Gaza Strip but their orchards are just 500 … More This isn’t the “Wild West”, this is Kibbutz Erez
Inspiration from Zion: This is a Love Story 