View from Israel

Penning a column due to be published on America’s semi-quincentennial is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, so I better do a darn good job, right? As an American turned dual American-Israeli citizen, I see America’s 250th birthday as an opportunity to reflect on some of the values implanted within me growing up. One of those is dialogue across divides, or sharing friendship despite different communal, political or religious affiliations.

The first story we encounter in this week’s Torah portion of Shelach is the infamous, troubling narrative of the spies. They were sent to spy out the Land of Canaan in advance of the Israelite conquest. Ten of the 12 spies brought back a demoralizing report, saying that the Canaanites were too powerful for the Israelites to conquer. The most critical aspect of this Torah portion is our response to it — whether we learn from the spies’ mistakes and to what extent we incorporate the lessons into our own lives.

What to do on Yom HaZikaron (Israel Memorial Day)? Besides attending memorial ceremonies in the morning, we faced the task of finding appropriate activities for an entire afternoon with kids at home (school is dismissed at noon on Yom HaZikaron).

On the seder night, we have only two biblical commandments: eating matzah and retelling the story of our redemption from Egypt, sippur yetziat Egypt. Actually, in the nightly evening prayer (ma’ariv), we fulfill an oddly similar commandment: to remember the redemption, zechirat yetziat Egypt. This is an obligation we fulfill every day of the year when we recite the full Shema.

Two days before Purim is a thrilling day that Israeli kids mark off on their calendars long in advance: it is costume day! Everyone comes in costume to school, which …

After Jacob’s passing, this week’s Torah portion shares the largely unknown narrative of his funeral procession to Israel. In a lengthy description, one verse seems unnecessary. The Torah records, “And the people of Canaan saw the mourning in Goren Ha’atad (a place) and said, ‘What an intense mourning this is for Egypt!’ Therefore, they called the name of the place, ‘The mourning of Egypt’” (Genesis 50:11). With all due respect to the people of Canaan, is it important to know that they too saw Jacob’s funeral procession?

When Hollywood shut down during Covid and productions went dark, special effects coordinator Steve Wolf found himself out of work. Instead of waiting for studios to reopen, Wolf went back to a patent design he’d started meddling with a decade earlier. That pivot could end up reshaping one of the least innovative yet most dangerous fields in America today — wildland firefighting. And wouldn’t you know it, special effects from Hollywood played a role. Today, Wolf is the founder of Team Wildfire, a Boulder-based startup building what he calls “the first jet-engine-powered wildfire suppression system in the world.”

The was an irony not lost on either of us that, although we both live in Israel, I met YT (name redacted for security purposes) not in Jerusalem or Tel Aviv, but in Colorado. I met him last summer at longtime IDF supporter Brett Kingstone’s ranch, tucked into the foothills outside Boulder.

As we approach the second anniversary of Hamas’ brutal massacre, here is a lens into the sacred work of the IDF Rabbinate’s Identification and Burial Unit.

“Since you did not serve the L-rd, your G-d, with joy (simcha).” Thus concludes the Divine Admonition, which we read in this week’s Torah portion. Remarkably, whether G-d blesses us or curses us appears to hinge not only on whether we serve Him, but on whether we serve Him with joy (simcha). Though the common translation of simcha is joy, we will try to achieve a deeper understanding. What makes you joyous, or happy? Or unhappy? What we think is the answer is usually far from it.

In our rapidly and radically changing world, more people are staking the unequivocal, categorical claim that all Jews in the Diaspora should pack their bags now! Make aliyah plans now! I believe that reality remains more nuanced, there being several legitimate reasons not to make aliyah right now

On June 12, 2014, I flew to Israel for the summer, heading to my yeshiva in Gush Etzion upon my arrival. On Friday morning, June 13, 2014, rumors began to trickle in, confirmed only shortly before Shabbat: five minutes down the road from the yeshiva, the three boys — Eyal Ifrach, Gilad Shaer and Naftali Frankel — had been kidnapped. Not until 18 days later — 18 tense days of fervent prayer, hope and desperation — were their bodies discovered, murdered. That ignited Operation Protective Edge, the last Israeli ground incursion into Gaza prior to October, 2023.