To my newfound Love,

I came to you, Israel, wanting to hate you. To be confirmed in my reasonable European certainty of your arrogant oppression, lounging along the mediterranean coast, facing West in your vast carelessness and American wealth. I wanted to appreciate your history, but tut over the arrogant folly of your…

Once Upon a Bus

If I’m honest with myself, what I’m going to remember most about the past ten days is the bus. There are other images that stick: the slate grey mud of the Dead Sea smeared across our stomachs and foreheads, fishermen in dampened jeans, at work on the rocks of Acre’s ancient harbor, the Tel Aviv…

Israel/Palestine: Negotiations between Traumatized Groups

On top of the Bental Mountain in Golan Heights, I asked an IDF Spokeswoman what the biggest challenge was that she faced in dealing with foreign journalists. “The story is often already written,” she said. “Journalists are pressed for time and energy, so most stories…

Unsolicited Letter #1

Dear Old Man at the Dome of the Rock,

Security in Israel: Finding Out Your Enemies

Who are the biggest enemies of the state of Israel? What strategies should they pursue?

Israel’s Security: Getting Your Enemies to Fight Each Other

Hummus Withdrawal

24 hours ago, I was sitting on a plane, irascibly trying to tune out two screaming toddlers and reflecting on the past 240 hours of my life. And so here is the first of hopefully many recorded reflections on a transformative experience.

Unsolicited Letter #2

Dear Gilly (the amazing future roboticist body percussionist from Roguzin Elementary School)

I didn’t sneak a picture of you because I thought that would be rude, but I will never forget you. For…

Holy Sepulchre

The crippled church pulses with boredom and devotion, and disinterested, cursory glances.

Sunglasses cast their unnecessary shade on uninformed, uncaring eyes,

And tired legs shift from side to side in an unceasing dance — a lame waltz of tedium and…

To Israel

As Doncieux did it, hum-green cloth

trapped on that lingering shoe. Your back is turned and all my instincts say

back away. But then you are young and thrusting forward

Paper Prayers

Slips of paper jammed in every crevice. A waterfall of leaflets between the stone bricks. I wondered what secrets each slip contained: Prayers for a family member? An ask for better grades next year? A confession of sin? As I stood at the base of the Western Wall, the small chasms in the holy wall…