Like so many others in the Jewish community, I grew up hearing a simple narrative about Israel. I learned of the miraculous return of our people to our homeland and…
By Matan Rudner It’s been a month since I finished my military service and I’d be lying if I said it’s been anything but utter bliss. I’ve gone to bed…
Here in Israel we are blessed with a strong civil society that keeps our democratic institutions accountable to the people. Our political parties, over a dozen of which are currently…
In the almost three years that I’ve lived in Israel, I’ve found that being gay here isn’t so different from being gay in America. Though there are differences in the…
Throughout the intense distress caused by this unprecedented global health crisis, quarantine has actually been something of a blessing. It’s given many of us the opportunity to connect with ourselves,…
One of the things Americans come to notice upon socializing with Israelis is that there’s a cultural gap in the way we plan things. Whereas generally Americans plan trips and…
I began learning Hebrew as a toddler at Levine Academy. We began with the letters and then over the years dedicated more and more time to learning the ins and…
I spent a lot of my time over the past several years explaining to friends, family and strangers why I made aliyah and why I encourage others to do the…
People don’t really like us. We’ve been chased out of country after country, persecuted and discriminated against on six continents (the penguins seem generally averse to anti-Semitism) and in the…
I’ve always loved fast days. Maybe because feeling the dedication and mourning in my empty stomach makes my abstract faith feel suddenly very tangible, or maybe because I love breaking…