Also don’t presume that Christians that support Israel are part of some warped evangelical cabal. I personally view Israel as an indispensable country and I am not particularly religious or Jewish. It is now the frontline of saving Western civilization.
I think a good Jew is one who doesn’t want to see his fellow Jews dead. I think, stick with that. Go from there.
I also think that the more one identifies as Jewish the less they get stuck on our differences. If you’re Jewish to your bones, you understand that politics, and whatever else, is window dressing. We are all one.
I love what you wrote and agree completely. I have always felt my Jewishness in a good way and am an assimilated Jew with Jewish friends and other ethnicities and religions. After a trip to Israel 🇮🇱 we joined a synagogue and I started celebrating Shabbat. I keep our holidays. My grandchildren have married Jewish and are bringing up their children in our culture. They go to Hebrew school. We will have a Bat Mitzvah in ‘26 which makes me very happy. This is how I have dealt with living in the diaspora. Love to you all. Am Yisrael Chai 💙
Great piece. I agree with it all. But it makes think of those Jews who have chosen to join forces with our enemies. I understand that a person born to a Jewish mother is a Jew. But Bernie Sanders is not a member of Klal Yisrael. He is not part of our people or our nation. He is an abomination as are all those Jews who repeat the lies of the enemy. I turn away from them. They are the wicked. But the ignorant son? Him we can embrace and try to educate.
Interesting! I met Meir Kahane when he spoke at the program I was in when I first arrived in Israel, and became a follower of his, as well, some 40+ years ago! My hubby ( boyfriend at the time), on the other hand, used to think Kahane was too extreme, and thought everything could be done diplomatically. The main takeaway I got from Kahane and later when I was in Israel's civil guard program, was to be friendly to the Pals, but never turn your back to them, or they may stab it!
What a wonderful personal story. My dad admired Kahane and had a lot of articles, etc. Then years later I caught a great documentary which had the news clips from his showing up at synagogues being threatened by Jew haters, with clubs and words. So I began studying him and am inspired.
Jewish infighting and Jewish solidarity are not contradictory. An important factor in the success of Israel, and of the Jews in general, is the ability to challenge everything and everyone and their ideas and opinion. This challenging mindset enables cohesion without paralysing or coercive social pressure to conform - which often leads to stagnating societies.
I have raised my family to be highly spiritual, not " religious" in the dogmatic way, but to have a strong, personal connection with God, maintain a cultural connection to other Jews,. I've taught them to not be brainwashed, and always look for the hidden agenda and money trail ( they now taught me to also open my eyes to things that I never would have expected in US and our government. Family is foremost, so we celebrate Jewish holidays with as many family members as we can, and I always try to make the celebrations fun for both kids and adults (including our own homestead of 3 generations with my son's and daughter's families, from 1 year old to 69 years old - the oldest being my hubby who is now disabled due to MS). We talk a lot about kabbalah and faith, we fight the hate rhetoric against Jews and Israel the best we can in social media ( we discuss that much of it may come from China or from brainwashed individuals) and we do our best to help heal the physical world through being ethical and honest people, and having a property full of pollenater - happy trres and shrubs and organic veggie gardens. Plus, I am raising honeybees and helping to bring back monarch butterflies. I may not always be lucky in Mah Jongg, but I am lucky and blessed to have such a close and loving family. BTW, hubby and I met on a program in Israel in our early 20s, married, got dual citizenship, lived and worked in Israel. Hubby was in the IDF for one year. We both were in civil guard ( mishmar ezrachi) for 6 years patrolling Kfar Saba area plus the local West Bank towns . My daughter was also born in Kfar Saba.
Congrats on a quasi ‘Rabbinic’ perspective you are putting here to remarkably good use. I’ve shared this piece with my kids and hope they feel it like I did. One quibble. You said:
“…slogan, Am Yisrael Chai …has now become a rallying cry in Israel…This shift symbolizes a new sense of vulnerability.”
For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God. ... The Apostle Paul, writing in Romans 2:28-29, gives his definition of what a Jew is. This is exactly opposite to Islam, where you can be a Muslim if you just observe the outward forms.
agree fully with one leeetle quibble--this "chosen=superior" equation is baloney! (not the kosher kind either)--it's not what I learned in temple 'bout "chosen"--an' it's the source of so much animosity against us--an' I cannot think of any joos I know that feel superior just b/c this "chosen" epithet, just fer bein' joos / born "chosen"... nah!
"Chosen" as we learned it in Sunday skool (Reform)--
God was workin' on makin' humans, his creations, better (we are all "in his image") an' was already tryin' ta help some test subjects ("us") so he "chose" us joos simply cuz we joos were already close in proximity an' kinda like guinea pigs -- i.e. his current "workin' group" as they call it picked (fer this reason I like the word "designated" better than "chosen," less "baggage") to be part of his "experiment" to git humans to be better. , foller the Big 10 -- an' allowed ta mess up....
Also don’t presume that Christians that support Israel are part of some warped evangelical cabal. I personally view Israel as an indispensable country and I am not particularly religious or Jewish. It is now the frontline of saving Western civilization.
I think a good Jew is one who doesn’t want to see his fellow Jews dead. I think, stick with that. Go from there.
I also think that the more one identifies as Jewish the less they get stuck on our differences. If you’re Jewish to your bones, you understand that politics, and whatever else, is window dressing. We are all one.
I love what you wrote and agree completely. I have always felt my Jewishness in a good way and am an assimilated Jew with Jewish friends and other ethnicities and religions. After a trip to Israel 🇮🇱 we joined a synagogue and I started celebrating Shabbat. I keep our holidays. My grandchildren have married Jewish and are bringing up their children in our culture. They go to Hebrew school. We will have a Bat Mitzvah in ‘26 which makes me very happy. This is how I have dealt with living in the diaspora. Love to you all. Am Yisrael Chai 💙
That’s exciting. A bat mitzvah in 2026.
Am Yisrael Chai 🇮🇱
Yessss thank you! XO
Great piece. I agree with it all. But it makes think of those Jews who have chosen to join forces with our enemies. I understand that a person born to a Jewish mother is a Jew. But Bernie Sanders is not a member of Klal Yisrael. He is not part of our people or our nation. He is an abomination as are all those Jews who repeat the lies of the enemy. I turn away from them. They are the wicked. But the ignorant son? Him we can embrace and try to educate.
עם ישראל חי 🇮🇱
"Kid Charlemagne" .... love it (we could use a new one in Europe!)
I agree. I recalibrated after October 7. I am now a follower of Rabbi Meir Kahane. My jewish faith is a verb.
Interesting! I met Meir Kahane when he spoke at the program I was in when I first arrived in Israel, and became a follower of his, as well, some 40+ years ago! My hubby ( boyfriend at the time), on the other hand, used to think Kahane was too extreme, and thought everything could be done diplomatically. The main takeaway I got from Kahane and later when I was in Israel's civil guard program, was to be friendly to the Pals, but never turn your back to them, or they may stab it!
What a wonderful personal story. My dad admired Kahane and had a lot of articles, etc. Then years later I caught a great documentary which had the news clips from his showing up at synagogues being threatened by Jew haters, with clubs and words. So I began studying him and am inspired.
Jewish infighting and Jewish solidarity are not contradictory. An important factor in the success of Israel, and of the Jews in general, is the ability to challenge everything and everyone and their ideas and opinion. This challenging mindset enables cohesion without paralysing or coercive social pressure to conform - which often leads to stagnating societies.
Indeed, that is The Talmud in its entirety.
I have raised my family to be highly spiritual, not " religious" in the dogmatic way, but to have a strong, personal connection with God, maintain a cultural connection to other Jews,. I've taught them to not be brainwashed, and always look for the hidden agenda and money trail ( they now taught me to also open my eyes to things that I never would have expected in US and our government. Family is foremost, so we celebrate Jewish holidays with as many family members as we can, and I always try to make the celebrations fun for both kids and adults (including our own homestead of 3 generations with my son's and daughter's families, from 1 year old to 69 years old - the oldest being my hubby who is now disabled due to MS). We talk a lot about kabbalah and faith, we fight the hate rhetoric against Jews and Israel the best we can in social media ( we discuss that much of it may come from China or from brainwashed individuals) and we do our best to help heal the physical world through being ethical and honest people, and having a property full of pollenater - happy trres and shrubs and organic veggie gardens. Plus, I am raising honeybees and helping to bring back monarch butterflies. I may not always be lucky in Mah Jongg, but I am lucky and blessed to have such a close and loving family. BTW, hubby and I met on a program in Israel in our early 20s, married, got dual citizenship, lived and worked in Israel. Hubby was in the IDF for one year. We both were in civil guard ( mishmar ezrachi) for 6 years patrolling Kfar Saba area plus the local West Bank towns . My daughter was also born in Kfar Saba.
Please check out substacks: Brucha Weisberger, Unbekoming, Dr. William Makis. For your hubby.
Congrats on a quasi ‘Rabbinic’ perspective you are putting here to remarkably good use. I’ve shared this piece with my kids and hope they feel it like I did. One quibble. You said:
“…slogan, Am Yisrael Chai …has now become a rallying cry in Israel…This shift symbolizes a new sense of vulnerability.”
Don’t you mean ‘invincibility’?
I would like to see brief bios of all your writers. I think they deserve as much. Thank you.
For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God. ... The Apostle Paul, writing in Romans 2:28-29, gives his definition of what a Jew is. This is exactly opposite to Islam, where you can be a Muslim if you just observe the outward forms.
agree fully with one leeetle quibble--this "chosen=superior" equation is baloney! (not the kosher kind either)--it's not what I learned in temple 'bout "chosen"--an' it's the source of so much animosity against us--an' I cannot think of any joos I know that feel superior just b/c this "chosen" epithet, just fer bein' joos / born "chosen"... nah!
"Chosen" as we learned it in Sunday skool (Reform)--
God was workin' on makin' humans, his creations, better (we are all "in his image") an' was already tryin' ta help some test subjects ("us") so he "chose" us joos simply cuz we joos were already close in proximity an' kinda like guinea pigs -- i.e. his current "workin' group" as they call it picked (fer this reason I like the word "designated" better than "chosen," less "baggage") to be part of his "experiment" to git humans to be better. , foller the Big 10 -- an' allowed ta mess up....