Israel

Hear me out. (No good idea ever started with that, did it?) What if the entire Zionist idea was just a first draft for an even more Final Solution? At the time, Zionism was revolutionary. And it has had its benefits, to a degree. (Although if World War II had broken...

Even in this time of crisis, I am incredibly conflicted about the Israeli flag.  I completely support Israel’s right to defend itself. To strike, and strike first, at those who intend to kill Jews. The intentions of those who live in Israel’s own backyard have become crystal clear to many...

The way I was raised, race, peoplehood, and identity were intertwined with ethics and morals. In Teachings It started with Jewish texts and teachings. Muslims were descendants of Ishmael, “a nation who resembled donkeys,” destined to be perpetual shit-disturbers. Christians were sons of Esau, a bloodthirsty cutthroat who lived by the...

For the most part, I identify as left-leaning. In many ways, I am more critical of Israel than the average Jew. But I have long been aware of the dangers that far left ideologies pose - the prioritization of minority rights above all else, the justification of violence when it's...

Without the Holocaust, Zionism would not have succeeded. It was a fringe movement, ignored by assimilated secular Jews as unnecessary, and by religious Jews as oppositional to its beliefs. The Holocaust was critical for the formation of the state of Israel - it shifted the views of Jews around...

When my cousins were in the army, my aunt refused to leave the country. For years, she made sure to stick around just in case something happened to them. Aside from the level of devotion this demonstrated, which I can only be jealous of, it's illustrative of something that few...

My brother joins the Israeli military tomorrow. My main emotion is sadness, which is saying a lot because I don't usually let myself feel much sadness. Yosef is joining a special-forces unit, which means he'll be doing harder, more brutal training, get exposed to more dangerous situations, and do...

Flip the tables for a moment, and imagine the Jews as Palestinians - how would you interpret their behaviors? One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter Imagine the Jews were living in a country. Not even Israel, which holds much Sentimental Value. Just an arbitrary land, in which they happen...

The worship of Israel as a state, especially by Jews abroad, is a recent invention. Not even after its founding in 1948, was this the popular sentiment. Only after 1967 did this become the mainstream, a way for Jews to express their Judaism even if they didn’t believe in...

Growing up, the narrative that Ultra Orthodox Jews (aka "Charedim") had as to why they weren't serving in the military was that they were actually performing their own crucial service - they were protecting the country spiritually. The harder they studied and prayed, the more protected the soldiers on the...