Category: Uncategorized
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Oh, The Old Emergency Room
It doesn’t matter why, and everyone’s okay, but we had to go to the emergency room last night. It was not pretty. There was a man bent over himself, his face not visible at all. He was crouched over and sleeping. His shoes were nothing but rags. A few feet away, through the looking glass…
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Leaving Eretz Yisrael
It’s painful to say it but I am glad to be home. The human mind is weird that way. When I was in Israel I definitely saw myself retiring there. Maybe I still will, who knows. Because it’s holy there. But in the airport, and on the plane, sexist encounters with Israeli men had me…
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December 25, Jerusalem
At the Western Wall, on the way out, everybody wanted a picture with the graduating soldiers. We’d visited, and prayed, and cried a lot. With God’s help, these young people protected us, and all the other visitors, too.The approach to the Wall is dramatic and powerful. But when you leave in the dark, things start…
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On Zionism
The central tenets of Zionism are these: Jews have a right to statehood in the historical land of the Jews. Jews have a special need for self defense because we are targets. Especially since we are targets, Jews have an affirmative duty to preserve the human rights of others. The Israeli flag is a symbol…
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I Want To Remember Tel Aviv
I am here, and I am happy. With God’s help, forty-six years of tumult over what kind of Jew to be is over. “Chayim Sheli,” it says on the balloon. My life, my choices.I love that in Tel Aviv, a photo of the Lubavitcher Rebbe (z”l) is plastered everywhere I go.I love that there are…
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Some Unfiltered Observations From A Trip To Israel
We’re here to celebrate the wedding of our daughter, to an Israeli young man of Moroccan descent. But along the way we observe things. And, each in our own way, we feel a duty to capture them. Why we do this is unclear. Nobody reads anything anymore. Trying to make a difference through blogging is…
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Engage Civil Servants, Don’t Attack Them
I read with dismay this morning about a no-bid contract let by the government to conduct opposition research on civil servants themselves. Aside from the legal question, and despite the unprecedented “resistance” movement launched from within the civil service in the aftermath of the election, the appearance is disastrous and it is a disastrous employee…