Will the State of Israel dare to dream a new dream, or will they follow the Maccabean dynasty into corruption? — Dreams were a recurring theme in the philosophical conversations my grandfather and I had back when he was alive. We would sit in the kitchen long into the night over biscuits and cups of tea debating passionately about our dreams; that of our people, our country and ourselves. Two weeks…

God walks Moses through his fear of communicating The phone rang, and even before I could see the name on the screen, a wave of fear swept through my body. As I look over, my fears are realized as the writing across the screen ominously reads, “Don’t Answer!”. The input…

How Ice Cream can change the Middle East — When the dust settled, I could finally see myself. Sitting on a sidewalk downtown Jenin, not quite sure what had just happened. …

ט֗וֹב לְהֹד֥וֹת לַיהֹוָ֑ה וּלְזַמֵּ֖ר לְשִׁמְךָ֣ עֶלְיֽוֹן׃ It is good to praise the LORD, to sing hymns to Your name, O Most High, לְהַגִּ֣יד בַּבֹּ֣קֶר חַסְדֶּ֑ךָ וֶ֝אֱמ֥וּנָתְךָ֗ בַּלֵּילֽוֹת׃ To proclaim Your steadfast love at daybreak, Your faithfulness each night. My teacher, Even Leader, once gave a Drash on psalms 92 saying…

Eighty years ago, the Jewish people experienced a traumatizing event in which we lost half of our people. Hurt and scared, our wounds still bleeding, we came together and created the State of Israel. …

Revolution does not know nuance, Nuance does not allow change. I once met a painter while walking through a Jerusalem Market. …

Last week I spoke about those we see and those we don’t. This weeks Parsha seems to continue this theme with a very relevant and significant statement on our lives today. The focal point of this weeks portion is the somewhat odd ceremony that the Israelites enact upon their arrival…

“What is your Jerusalem?” I asked my group one morning, on an old city Jerusalem rooftop. It was a Friday in July, and we had been working on similar questions all morning. The group pondered the question for a while, and then one participant, a Muslim Palestinian teen decided to…

This evening, with incredible humility, I set out once again to guide the story of the battles of San Simon and Katamon to a mixed group of Israeli and Palestinian teens. I have to admit that of all the guiding I do this is the most complicated guiding of all…