Writing from Jerusalem during the war years.
Well now. The murderer whose life was saved not once but twice by Israeli doctors – and who nevertheless then went on to risk the entire population of Gaza in a savage and bloody invasion of the southern cities and towns of Israel that left thousands dead and ultimately resulted in the abysmal destruction of … Read more
A meditation and a prayer. Last year, we were truly a mess on Yom haKippurim. Publicly fighting over how and where to sit during services, with acrimony and venom and self-righteousness and hatred. On the day when we should have been most united in love for each other and for our Creator, we showed our … Read more
Imagine having a holiday dinner with your family and enjoying a cup of coffee in the autumn night air afterwards and going to sleep with grateful thoughts of how blessed you are, and then you’re woken up by gunfire and shouts and gunmen storming into your home and they literally capture you and you starve … Read more
Imagine going to a festival and just a few hours after the last set ends you’re still up and revved and decide to watch the sunrise with some new friends and it’s amazing, and then gunmen come and start shooting everybody and they literally capture you and you starve in captivity for an entire year. … Read more
This should go without saying but given what I’m seeing shared these days (to be fair, after six months of warfare, psychological and actual, and antisemitism erupting worldwide, but nonetheless): Palestinians are not The Enemy. Arabs are not The Enemy. Muslims are not The Enemy. Hamas is The Enemy. Hezbollah is The Enemy. Khomeini and … Read more
I used to hold space for anti-Zionism. Not any longer. The reaction since Oct 7 has clarified for me where anti-Zionists actually stand. I don’t begrudge Jewish anti-Zionists their right to an interpretation or a conscience but miss me with all that misguided rhetoric and propaganda. We can thoroughly criticize our own state without directly … Read more
Neutralizing Hamas’s military capacity is the stated goal of this war (Bibi’s jingoistic propaganda aside). Achieving that goal is necessary and while I have a lot of Questions, I don’t have access to nearly enough information to armchair quarterback the IDF in this war. So as long as the IDF is aiming to keep civilian … Read more
If the IDF wanted to genocide Palestinians, the war would have been over within a week. The Palestinian populations of Israel and the West Bank would be gone. The facts are that while the airstrikes have been devastating for Gazans… …the death rate (less than 1 out of 100, and that’s INCLUDING Hamas fighters) hasn’t … Read more
Two thoughts for you as the early ground operations are underway in the Gaza strip, after three weeks of continuous airstrikes against military targets embedded in a densely populated civilian area. Two thoughts. One about the present and one about the future. Right now I see so many friends and influencers calling for a ceasefire. … Read more
“Sinwar will soon meet our rifles” – Gallant No. This is not the way. What we need is not an endless cycle of vengeance killings. Not more death for death. What we need – what all of us need to begin moving on from this mess towards a better security and political situation for everyone … Read more