Terror

Is Jewish “fear of the other” driving Israel’s response to the new coronavirus?

March 15, 2020

Israel’s response to the new coronavirus has been proactive and strong. Is it driven in any way by classic Jewish “fear of the other?”

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After Pittsburgh and Poway, is it time to make aliyah?

May 11, 2019

Thoughts after the synagogue shootings in Pittsburgh and Poway. In a world where no place is safe, where should you live?

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Under fire: a student in Sderot

September 3, 2018

My daughter Merav is a proud Zionist. But even Zionists get scared sometimes. And living in Sderot, there’s been a lot to be frightened of.

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About that Baka boom

May 28, 2018

I was in the shower when it happened: a boom louder than any I’ve heard since the suicide bomb at Café Hillel on Emek Refaim Street in 2003.

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A night in an Israeli hospital

December 7, 2017

I spent the night in the Emergency Room recently. I was expecting a nightmare. When it was all over, my verdict from my experience in the ER: surprisingly not bad.

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A terrible confession

December 7, 2015

I have a terrible confession to make. I’m ashamed to even let the words pass my lips, but I suspect I’m not alone. Each time there’s a terror attack overseas, that is to say, one outside of Israel, I feel a tiny twinge of hope. Then I am instantly overcome with guilt and I berate […]

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Climate change, Hitler and the Syrian civil war: how bleak is our future?

November 17, 2015

As the civil war in Syria shows no sign of slowing down, prompting millions of refugees to flee from that war-torn shell of a country towards an overwhelmed Europe, a study appearing in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences earlier this year added an entirely new perspective to my understanding of the causes […]

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Pepper spray and the loss of innocence

November 1, 2015

“At the beginning of the day, we had four full boxes with 50 in each,” Yaakov says, gesturing to the one remaining carton and the hastily hand-scrawled sign above the window reading “pepper spray” at the Talpiot Jerusalem branch of the popular trekker supply store La’metayel. “And now look,” he says, “there are just 8 […]

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Resilience in the Face of Uncertainty

November 30, 2014

When we made aliyah 20 years ago, did we come expecting that there would be war in our future? On a certain level, I suppose we knew that we were moving to a dangerous neighborhood and that conflict was probable. But we repressed that kind of thinking. You had to – why would we willingly […]

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Fire from Below

August 23, 2014

With our nerves already on edge from the air raid sirens and the heartbreaking mounting death toll as Operation Protective Edge raged on last month, the thick black smoke billowing out of our parking garage did not bode well. I was about to jump in the shower when my son burst in and told me […]

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