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This evening I witnessed a political rally. Prime Minister Netanyahu was scheduled to give a much-anticipated address at Bar Ilan university, and just outside the campus stood a few groups of people. On one side of the road, on the pavement, stood groups of people who align themselves with the political right. And on the opposite side of the road stood a number of people who have taken a very adamant opposing stance, and who find themselves on the political left.

The demonstrators were relating to one of the hottest topics in Netanyahu’s, and in Israel’s, policy today, which is what to do with international pressure — specifically from USA — to create ‘peace’ with the Arabs, specifically with the steps demanded to create the much-touted “Two-State Solution.” There are many issues at play here, and the situation is complex.

Both groups of people waved signs and banners, and shouted slogans and chants. There was plenty media coverage, which meant that effectively the eyes of millions of people around the world were focused on the signs, the chants, and the general atmosphere at the demonstrations.

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Every year, after Yom Haatzmaut, I have a bunch of thoughts bottled up which end up being put down on paper. This year is no exception, so I thought I would dedicate my Monthly update to these thoughts. Only one thing – Beware, I’m sure it’ll be quite long. Maybe the first draft for a book lol. But I plan on communicating some incredibly important ideas – Ideas you can comment on, discuss, or simply just read and think about. I think it’ll be a worthwhile read. (more…)

With the momentous occasion of Birkat Hachama happening last week, I wanted to try something which is unusual for this blog but which I think can lead to an incredible discussion.

My friend’s wife gave birth on the day of Birkat Hachama and I told him: “Well, you will have a great story to tell your girl when she is 28 years old, married with two children”. He laughed, but it gave me an idea.

We often think about the immediate future and how to get by day to day. However, if we don’t have a broader goal which we are trying to reach, our day to day actions become cyclical and meaningless. Yes – even the deepest religious practices can become cyclical and meaningless if they are not done for a purpose, with a goal in sight.

And, so, I am asking each and every one of you: Where do you see yourselves in 28 years? What do you hope to accomplish?

In the same line of thought: Where do you see Klal Israel in 28 years? What do you hope Klal Israel will have accomplished by then, and if this is not accomplished yet, how do you foresee our progress towards a complete redemption unfolding?

I started getting involved with an absolutely incredible organization called Im Tirtzu. I encourage you all to join the facebook group of the organization and also to visit the website to learn of ways to support the organization.

‎Im Tirtzu is an extra-parliamentary movement that engages in on and off campus Zionist advocacy, in an effort to strengthen the values of Zionism in Israel, with the aim of securing the future of the Jewish people and the State of Israel and advancing Israeli society in its struggle to overcome the challenges it is currently facing.

Regrettably, in recent years, anti-Zionist trends have been proliferating in Israeli universities, which have gradually displaced, marginalized and excluded the Zionist discourse, preventing the Zionist majority from making its voice heard. For the past two years, Im Tirtzu has been the only entity that has provided a response to the spread of post-Zionist and anti-Zionist currents among the faculty and student body in Israeli universities.

Im Tirtzu believes in the capacity of every person to influence his environment. We believe that a return to Zionism and an ethical Zionist renewal is the solution to the problems and crises Israeli society is currently facing. Once we regain our belief in the validity and justice of the Zionist cause and in our ability to make a difference in steering our reality we shall be able to deal successfully with the challenges that confront us.

In the words of Herzl:

“If you will it is no dream … and if you do not will then everything I have told you is only a dream and will continue to remain a dream”. If we only dare to do so, we can transform the dream that is the State of Israel into a more just, more modern, more democratic and more Jewish place.

I was walking along Yaffo Street in Yerushalayim last night. As I came to the corner with King George, a group of foreigners reached me and waited with me at the traffic light. They were speaking in English. I listened quietly.

As we crossed the road, we all looked towards King George street and saw, behind the enclosed construction area where they’re building the light rail, an orange bulldozer. One of the girls in the group joked, ‘Oh, look, it’s a terrorist,’ to the general amusement of the group. Then one of the men said, ‘You know, I’ve heard that the bulldozer drivers are really scared to drive their bulldozers these days; they’re scared that some over-enthusiastic citizen will pull out a gun and shoot them.’

At this point, I decided to break my silence, and I turned to them and said, ‘Forget about the bulldozer drivers. You know who’s scared? We are! The people who walk in the streets!’ The man made a noncommittal comment in reply.

I ended my conversation with him by saying, ‘It’s very easy to get hit by a bulldozer. You don’t have to do anything; you just sit there.’ And I walked on.

What got me speaking? I’d been happy to walk on in silence until a certain point. What really got to me was when I heard these non-Jews, visitors to Israel, taking the side of those who hate us, of those who plan our murder in cold blood. Never mind the fact that totally innocent Jews, who were just on their way to work, or home, or travelling around the city, were murdered or severely injured, or the fact that this could happen at any time to anyone on the streets of Yerushalayim, G-d forbid. No, what occupied the concern of these people was the poor Arab tractor drivers.

The other thing that really got to me was this man’s use of the word ‘over-enthusiastic’. He used this word to express his feelings of superiority towards the heroic Jews who prevented more murder and injury by killing the murderers in their tracks, in the tractor attacks of a few months ago. He used this word to express his scorn; clearly these Jews are just getting over-excited. There’s nothing to worry about; is there really any need to shoot the poor Arab driver dead?

In answer to these unvoiced, implied messages, I say the following to him and to the rest of the world:

Yes! We need to kill the murderers. We will not stand silent and allow evil people to kill and injure us. The Jews who took out their guns and shot the murderers are heroes. May they be blessed. But, most importantly of all, we do not need to include you, world, in our reasoning. We do not need to be accountable to you. We are Israel, and we are proud to be Israel. We will act as we see fit — with our deeply-ingrained, sacred values of justice, righteousness, and goodness — values that you cannot hope to live up to, even as you attack us and rudely claim that we are lacking therein. And if you don’t understand, world; or if you choose to pervert our actions, or to believe the perverted lies you choose to feed yourself about us, about Israel, that’s your problem. Not ours.