A beautiful essay and an important message to our Brothers and Sisters in the Diaspora. The Torah, the Land of Israel and the nation of Israel are intertwined into one 🪢. United we Stand, Divided we Fall. One Holocaust was too many.
Well Joshua, I consider this the best, most consequential, and inspired, work of yours that I’ve read. And I think I’ve been following you now over the past couple of years. Kol Hakavod!
As the saying goes, “There’s no place like home”, and I have always had a very strong love for my native Florida.
I have travelled and worked in the Land of Israel a number of times over the past 17 years, and over much of the world during my professional career. But I have never felt such a powerful love for any other place that was even remotely similar to that which fills my heart when I step foot back in the Land of Israel.
Different people can make of that what they will.
But, as far as I am concerned, it is the love of God for the Land, and His people; His cherished inheritance, that overflows my heart when I am there. And I thank God that I share that love, especially in such a darkly foreboding time as this.
I am a Biblically-based Christian Zionist. As such, I know and pray to God in the name of, Yeshua Hamashiach. And, amongst many other things, it is in His name that I give thanks, pray for the salvation, blessing, and protection of His people, Israel, and that the Lord continue to richly bless and guide your life, making you fruitful in your labors - for your great good, His glory, and the glory of His Kingdom.
I am not Jewish, but I feel very much the sentiment "never again".
I have been examining Islam carefully - since the London bombings of 7/7/2005. I was living near London at that time, and it felt very close.
I have read the Koran and came to realise something, that others have too: The Koran itself justifies the existence of the State of Israel. If this fact could be widely recognised, and acknowledged, then just maybe it offers a pathway to genuine peace. See this article, and please share it:
"Allah is a Zionist
A key conclusion from reading the Koran. Please share this article widely - it is highly significant."
Thank you ! Hoping you don’t mind if I quote a line from Rav A.Y. HaKohain Kook’s Orot: Eretz Yisrael (today’s Modern State of Israel) is an integral entity bound by life giving bond to the People, united by its essential characteristics to its existence.
The antipathy for Israel among the young will remain. And perhaps intensify. as with my generation they want to be accepted...to belong.....then it was Vietnam war.....today's cause of causes for progressives is "free Palestine" from Zionism, from the Jews. Even Birthright is no guarantee that a kid will come away with the profound attachment you describe. This is something visceral and inexplicable .....so many Jews lack it....even within the same family.....my gentile friend....not evangelical, does not even believe Jesus actually was a man who existed, has this feeling. Why? Has never visited and wants to plan a trip with me. When I happened to come across a Birthright tour on a schwarma stop in the south in '22, I asked one young man...how it's going for him? "GREAT" one satisfied customer. Let's build on that.
A poignant and most important essay, Joshua! Every Jew in the world needs to read this article! The Jewish people now more than ever, needs something that binds them altogether. Israel is that something that can unite them. Israel is the Biblical land of milk and honey, the home of Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Moses, Joshua, Joseph with his coat of many colors, King David, King Solomon, and Jesus of Nazareth, the place where the Western Wall, Temple Mount, the Cave of Patriarchs, the Old City of Jerusalem, and Rachel's Tomb are all located, the home they were exiled from due to an economic recession, a series of failed uprisings and Roman repression, that Jews around the globe longed for thousands of years whether they lived in England, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Russia, Greece, Egypt, Syria, Morrocco, or Ethiopia, they survived the expulsions from European and Arab nations, the pogroms in Russia, the Holocaust in Europe and North Africa, the Dreyfus Affair, the Farhud, the Doctor's Plot, and much more to return to Zion, they withstood the persecution of Arab Muslims, Christian Crusaders, the Iranians, the Greeks, the Romans, the Ottomans, the English, the French, the Nazis, and Americans to rebuild their homeland there, and the land they fought the British Empire, the Palestinian Arabs and multiple Arab nations to restore their nation on it. Israel is the birthplace of the Jewish people. Where their faith, culture and heritage flow from. Theodor Herzl, Chaim Weizmann, David Ben-Gurion, Moshe Sharrett, Golda Meir, Yitzhak Rabin, Menachem Begin, Moshe Dayan, Shimon Peres, Ariel Sharon, Yitzhak Shamir, and Levi Eshkol dedicated their lives to serving and protecting. That hundreds of thousands of Jews, Arabs and others have fought and died defending in the IDF. That Gentile volunteers from around the world gave their support to and even volunteered to fight for. That every U.S. President from Harry S. Truman to Donald Trump has sworn to protect, stood by and helped to defend. The land of Eretz-Israel is connected to every single Jew on this planet and they to it whether they choose to be or not.
When you read the Nevi'im, it becomes painfully obvious that every time the Jews assimilate, G-d mows them down. The pattern was established even before the Assyrians invaded, and then reiterated over and over throughout history.
My husband and I make Aliyah in a month. I was recently shocked to learn that in 2024, only about 1000 Jews from all of North America made Aliyah. I thought, did no one get the memo that there's a world war on against the Jews and that Israel is the only place where even if we're in danger, we have each other and we have an army?
When I tell American Jews that we're making Aliyah, they're completely confused, because all the news media have told them that Israel is the center of evil and it doesn't deserve to exist and to be associated with Israel is to have eternal cooties. They think I'm crazy to make Aliyah, and then they ask me how do you do it. I am absolutely certain none of them will follow me.
You and I, all of us grew up wondering how the Jews of Germany went like sheep into the gas chambers.
It recently occurred to me, the Jews of Germany were mostly Reform. They considered themselves German first, and Jewish a very distant second if at all. They were those assimilated Jews that G-d started mowing down in the *Book of Isaiah* and hasn't stopped. We American Jews, we're like the German Jews. Most of us are assimilated. Many are Reform. Many consider themselves American first, Democrats second, and Jews third, if at all. Israel? It's that place thousands of miles away where they drink baby blood, just ask the NY Times, the WaPo, The Guardian, the BBC, the AP, NPR, really every reputable news source, why would anyone want to have anything to do with such a place. Jewish issues? Not really their thing. In that way, North American Jews are very much like those German Jews who walked into the ovens, into the gas chambers, without making a scene, without offending anyone, because they were people who followed the rules. Like the German Jews, North American Jews do what they're told. They think what they're told, and most of them don't dig too hard to find out more. They don't knock themselves out for the right to think for themselves.
The German Jews walked like sheep to slaughter because the only thing they knew how to do was to obey the shepherd. I suspect most North American Jews will do just the same.
And G-d is there, right on time, doing what G-d does pretty much every 50 years: G-d mows, leaving only a remnant of a remnant.
Beautifully written. By cutting themselves off from Eretz Yisrael, the anti-Zionist as-a-Jews are actually cutting themselves off from the Jewish People.
From kibbutz Dan to Eilat, by car, it’s between 526km via Beer Sheva (5:34hrs) and 468km via Jordan Valley (5:40hrs), hiking 1,100km on foot is too tedious and often boring. Sharing from experience, did lots of the distance on navigation exercises in IDF and organized 50-100km public hikes.
A beautiful reminder, Joshua, of who we are, and where we come from. Unfortunately, today, in my opinion, too many young people in the US have tossed aside religion. From my own experience teaching college, they also have little appreciation for a real education. It was all about getting a grade and getting the heck out. All one has to do is turn on a YouTube program that takes you through all the extraordinary places in Israel, from the geography, to the foods, to the Biblical, and to its history. But to do that, one must have an interest in doing so. If they could imagine, or look at photos of what Israel was when settled, and how it became the Israel of today, they would see what hard work and faith had accomplished. Social media has poisoned their interest and motivation in all things Israeli, except for how many 'likes' they can get for trivial topics. False information about Israel has taken over any intellect they may have possessed. Fortunately, places like Chabad has worked hard to impact young Jewish students and adults, and is restoring their interest and pride in being Jewish. Programs like BirthRight have done the same. Just maybe, there will be a rebirth among young people to see Israel as a place of pride and not the demon the world has tried portray it as.
I am a South African, a Catholic with a Jewish great grandad on my Mum’s side, who fled Lithuania because of pogroms.
I have many Jewish and Catholic friends who are shocked at the rise of Antisemitism again.
Also, the antipathy of most people towards this awful situation.
Never again used to mean something.
I’m so sad about this.
Please know that many South Africans and Catholics support the love of Israel for their land and their identity.
Kindest regards and respect
Carol Power
Johannesburg
South Africa
Thank you 🙏
A beautiful essay and an important message to our Brothers and Sisters in the Diaspora. The Torah, the Land of Israel and the nation of Israel are intertwined into one 🪢. United we Stand, Divided we Fall. One Holocaust was too many.
Never Again is Now!
I made Aliyah for all the points Josh makes. A beautiful and moving essay. עם ישראל חי, the land and our people. 💖
Powerful, heartfelt essay, Joshua. Thank you.
Well Joshua, I consider this the best, most consequential, and inspired, work of yours that I’ve read. And I think I’ve been following you now over the past couple of years. Kol Hakavod!
As the saying goes, “There’s no place like home”, and I have always had a very strong love for my native Florida.
I have travelled and worked in the Land of Israel a number of times over the past 17 years, and over much of the world during my professional career. But I have never felt such a powerful love for any other place that was even remotely similar to that which fills my heart when I step foot back in the Land of Israel.
Different people can make of that what they will.
But, as far as I am concerned, it is the love of God for the Land, and His people; His cherished inheritance, that overflows my heart when I am there. And I thank God that I share that love, especially in such a darkly foreboding time as this.
I am a Biblically-based Christian Zionist. As such, I know and pray to God in the name of, Yeshua Hamashiach. And, amongst many other things, it is in His name that I give thanks, pray for the salvation, blessing, and protection of His people, Israel, and that the Lord continue to richly bless and guide your life, making you fruitful in your labors - for your great good, His glory, and the glory of His Kingdom.
Am Israel Chai!
Great article, thank you.
I am not Jewish, but I feel very much the sentiment "never again".
I have been examining Islam carefully - since the London bombings of 7/7/2005. I was living near London at that time, and it felt very close.
I have read the Koran and came to realise something, that others have too: The Koran itself justifies the existence of the State of Israel. If this fact could be widely recognised, and acknowledged, then just maybe it offers a pathway to genuine peace. See this article, and please share it:
"Allah is a Zionist
A key conclusion from reading the Koran. Please share this article widely - it is highly significant."
https://hellish2050.substack.com/p/allah-is-a-zionist
Thank you ! Hoping you don’t mind if I quote a line from Rav A.Y. HaKohain Kook’s Orot: Eretz Yisrael (today’s Modern State of Israel) is an integral entity bound by life giving bond to the People, united by its essential characteristics to its existence.
The antipathy for Israel among the young will remain. And perhaps intensify. as with my generation they want to be accepted...to belong.....then it was Vietnam war.....today's cause of causes for progressives is "free Palestine" from Zionism, from the Jews. Even Birthright is no guarantee that a kid will come away with the profound attachment you describe. This is something visceral and inexplicable .....so many Jews lack it....even within the same family.....my gentile friend....not evangelical, does not even believe Jesus actually was a man who existed, has this feeling. Why? Has never visited and wants to plan a trip with me. When I happened to come across a Birthright tour on a schwarma stop in the south in '22, I asked one young man...how it's going for him? "GREAT" one satisfied customer. Let's build on that.
Folks in Wisconsin, USA feel the same way.
A poignant and most important essay, Joshua! Every Jew in the world needs to read this article! The Jewish people now more than ever, needs something that binds them altogether. Israel is that something that can unite them. Israel is the Biblical land of milk and honey, the home of Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Moses, Joshua, Joseph with his coat of many colors, King David, King Solomon, and Jesus of Nazareth, the place where the Western Wall, Temple Mount, the Cave of Patriarchs, the Old City of Jerusalem, and Rachel's Tomb are all located, the home they were exiled from due to an economic recession, a series of failed uprisings and Roman repression, that Jews around the globe longed for thousands of years whether they lived in England, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Russia, Greece, Egypt, Syria, Morrocco, or Ethiopia, they survived the expulsions from European and Arab nations, the pogroms in Russia, the Holocaust in Europe and North Africa, the Dreyfus Affair, the Farhud, the Doctor's Plot, and much more to return to Zion, they withstood the persecution of Arab Muslims, Christian Crusaders, the Iranians, the Greeks, the Romans, the Ottomans, the English, the French, the Nazis, and Americans to rebuild their homeland there, and the land they fought the British Empire, the Palestinian Arabs and multiple Arab nations to restore their nation on it. Israel is the birthplace of the Jewish people. Where their faith, culture and heritage flow from. Theodor Herzl, Chaim Weizmann, David Ben-Gurion, Moshe Sharrett, Golda Meir, Yitzhak Rabin, Menachem Begin, Moshe Dayan, Shimon Peres, Ariel Sharon, Yitzhak Shamir, and Levi Eshkol dedicated their lives to serving and protecting. That hundreds of thousands of Jews, Arabs and others have fought and died defending in the IDF. That Gentile volunteers from around the world gave their support to and even volunteered to fight for. That every U.S. President from Harry S. Truman to Donald Trump has sworn to protect, stood by and helped to defend. The land of Eretz-Israel is connected to every single Jew on this planet and they to it whether they choose to be or not.
When you read the Nevi'im, it becomes painfully obvious that every time the Jews assimilate, G-d mows them down. The pattern was established even before the Assyrians invaded, and then reiterated over and over throughout history.
My husband and I make Aliyah in a month. I was recently shocked to learn that in 2024, only about 1000 Jews from all of North America made Aliyah. I thought, did no one get the memo that there's a world war on against the Jews and that Israel is the only place where even if we're in danger, we have each other and we have an army?
When I tell American Jews that we're making Aliyah, they're completely confused, because all the news media have told them that Israel is the center of evil and it doesn't deserve to exist and to be associated with Israel is to have eternal cooties. They think I'm crazy to make Aliyah, and then they ask me how do you do it. I am absolutely certain none of them will follow me.
You and I, all of us grew up wondering how the Jews of Germany went like sheep into the gas chambers.
It recently occurred to me, the Jews of Germany were mostly Reform. They considered themselves German first, and Jewish a very distant second if at all. They were those assimilated Jews that G-d started mowing down in the *Book of Isaiah* and hasn't stopped. We American Jews, we're like the German Jews. Most of us are assimilated. Many are Reform. Many consider themselves American first, Democrats second, and Jews third, if at all. Israel? It's that place thousands of miles away where they drink baby blood, just ask the NY Times, the WaPo, The Guardian, the BBC, the AP, NPR, really every reputable news source, why would anyone want to have anything to do with such a place. Jewish issues? Not really their thing. In that way, North American Jews are very much like those German Jews who walked into the ovens, into the gas chambers, without making a scene, without offending anyone, because they were people who followed the rules. Like the German Jews, North American Jews do what they're told. They think what they're told, and most of them don't dig too hard to find out more. They don't knock themselves out for the right to think for themselves.
The German Jews walked like sheep to slaughter because the only thing they knew how to do was to obey the shepherd. I suspect most North American Jews will do just the same.
And G-d is there, right on time, doing what G-d does pretty much every 50 years: G-d mows, leaving only a remnant of a remnant.
Beautifully written. By cutting themselves off from Eretz Yisrael, the anti-Zionist as-a-Jews are actually cutting themselves off from the Jewish People.
Excellent! This should go out to every diaspora synagogue. I have never been to the Land but plan on it, hopefully next year. Am Yisrael Chai!!!
Thank you, Joshua
From kibbutz Dan to Eilat, by car, it’s between 526km via Beer Sheva (5:34hrs) and 468km via Jordan Valley (5:40hrs), hiking 1,100km on foot is too tedious and often boring. Sharing from experience, did lots of the distance on navigation exercises in IDF and organized 50-100km public hikes.
A beautiful reminder, Joshua, of who we are, and where we come from. Unfortunately, today, in my opinion, too many young people in the US have tossed aside religion. From my own experience teaching college, they also have little appreciation for a real education. It was all about getting a grade and getting the heck out. All one has to do is turn on a YouTube program that takes you through all the extraordinary places in Israel, from the geography, to the foods, to the Biblical, and to its history. But to do that, one must have an interest in doing so. If they could imagine, or look at photos of what Israel was when settled, and how it became the Israel of today, they would see what hard work and faith had accomplished. Social media has poisoned their interest and motivation in all things Israeli, except for how many 'likes' they can get for trivial topics. False information about Israel has taken over any intellect they may have possessed. Fortunately, places like Chabad has worked hard to impact young Jewish students and adults, and is restoring their interest and pride in being Jewish. Programs like BirthRight have done the same. Just maybe, there will be a rebirth among young people to see Israel as a place of pride and not the demon the world has tried portray it as.