יום שישי, י״ח תמוז תשפ״וFriday, July 3, 2026
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Rabbi Uri Pilichowski is an educator who teaches in high schools across the world. He teaches Torah and Israel political advocacy to teenagers and college students. He lives with his wife and six children in Mitzpe Yericho, Israel. You can follow him on Facebook, and on twitter @rationalsettler.
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Although protesters feel justified blocking highways and disturbing the families and neighbors of elected officials, many Israelis find the practice abhorrent.
We must recognize that Jewish history rarely sees the exact same persecution twice.
Through its engaging conversational style, this book offers readers profound insights and practical steps to live a joyous Torah life, even amidst life's inevitable challenges.
There were even people who condemned Garner’s parenting, alleging that Garner must be a weak mother if she couldn’t convince her daughter to switch her shirt.
Any nation which declares that its policy is to destroy the Jewish people is Amalek.
It now seems that Zionism’s ultimate goal of acceptance by the Arab world is possible.
As well known as both Rabbi Rimon and Noa Kirel are in Israel, it’s not surprising they hadn’t heard of each other until they met this week on an airplane.
The idea of negating the Diaspora was initiated before the creation of the State of Israel when anything was possible, and every Zionist idea was being considered.
Jews would forever have been victims, left to the violent and antisemitic whims of their gentile and Arab neighbors.
When media reports measure the effects of a terrorist attack by the number of people killed and wounded, they are giving a superficial report of the true effect of a terrorist attack.
Zionism was a revolutionary nationalist movement unparalleled in its time.
Answering the question, “what is a Jew?” would seem to be straightforward. A Jew is an adherent of Judaism. While that seems like an easy answer, it’s completely incorrect.
The flag is widely accepted among all streams of Jews, although it isn’t without controversy.
Seventy-years later Zionism has become a continuously evolving movement. It has shifted from defense to offense. Zionism no longer worries about survival and focuses more on development.
There are many Zionist progressives. Indicting all progressives as anti-Zionist is not only unhelpful, it’s dishonest.
Ari’s greatest asset was his conviction in his beliefs. Unlike so many who are convinced of the righteousness of their convictions, Ari was not arrogant.
A legitimate argument can be made that Israel should be a state solely for the Jewish people.
Judaism isn’t a religion like other religions the world has become familiar with over the past two thousand years. Judaism isn’t just about G-d, beliefs, and action, it is about peoplehood.
When the criticism contains discrimination, it loses its legitimacy and becomes classic antisemitism. If the criticism of Israeli policy is honest, there is nothing wrong with it.
Writing ‘I'm an atheist’ to answer a rabbi's question is equivalent to a student telling their vegan teacher they love steak. It's not just a call for attention, it's a call to arms.
Early political Zionists weren't starting a new movement in the late 1800s. Herzl, Nordau, Jabotinsky, Weizmann, and Ben Gurion strove to fulfill 2,000 years of unfulfilled Jewish dreams.
The Jewish people were a nation long before they were considered a religion.
The factor that determines whether criticism is antisemitic is if it includes discrimination or hate.
Through tens of thousands of terror attacks and two intifadas, Israel continued to develop, build, and grow. It almost seems that opposition to Israel’s development furthers Israel’s growth.
I had to decide whether to support the construction of a fence which may provide greater security, but which evokes the very ghetto walls that Zionism aspired to topple.
Trump challenged the notion that America has to be an honest broker indifferent to its ally’s interests; instead, he felt that America should be a smart broker.
When healthy debate turns into hateful division, society begins to fall apart and violent scenes, like the one at the Ezrat Yisrael section of the Western Wall, begin to occur.
When the ‘children’ (Ben & Jerry’s) took immature positions, the ‘adults’ (Unilever) stepped in and corrected the mistake.
Why would I need to justify where I live or the policies of my government? I’ve never seen a similar talk given by people who live in other countries unless they were an official spokesperson of their government.
Israel doesn’t only aim to include and help Israeli Arab citizens but has helped Palestinian Arabs more than all other Arab countries combined.
If a person maintains Palestinians have a right to the land of Israel, Begin’s answer won’t come close to explaining how early Zionists were justified in their attacks against the British and the Arabs.
The most sacred place for the Jewish people isn’t Jerusalem or the Western Wall, it’s the Temple Mount.
AIPAC’s new strategy is a seismic change for an organization that has followed the same playbook for more than fifty years.
A government that is diverse, but whose diversity prevents improvement, is a poor government and has lost its mandate to govern.
One of the most influential parts of a student’s time in Israel is their time outside the classroom with Israeli families.
It is heartbreaking that a Jewish woman, smart enough to gain admission and rise to a leadership position at Harvard wouldn’t recognize that BDS will never lead to Palestinian advancement or peace between Israel and the Palestinians.
It infuriates me that the world ignores the three to six Palestinian terror attacks attempted in Israel every day.
Close to ten progressive members were elected to Congress, and they were led by just a few members who called themselves “the Squad.” By their own admission, these members had little to no expertise in foreign affairs issues.
Zionism doesn’t maintain Jews have a right to the land of Israel so that Jews will have a place of refuge, the Jewish right to their ancestral homeland stands irrespective of Jewish safety and security.
I was familiar with Congressman Deutch’s work on Israel in Congress and before that the State house but was in shock that he would volunteer to speak without even being asked!
As much as the Arab and charedi sectors must begin participating in Israeli national life, the rest of Israeli society must incorporate Arabs and charedim into Israeli society.
It’s time more of our columns, op-eds, posts and tweets focused on how well we’re doing and less on what others think about us.
Was it really fair, I asked myself, to seek my own closure and need to fulfill my mitzvah of tochechah at the expense of her self-confidence?
Repeated attacks on Jewish synagogues, tombs and people can partially explain why a synagogue being burned to the ground by Palestinians garnered little or no attention.
Zionism is a romantic prophetic vision of the Jewish people put into action daily in the Jewish people’s historic homeland.
We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.
I believer that Israel’s future is in the hands of Hashem, but I also recognize that Hashem created a world where we must secure our people’s future. The Jewish people must enlist Christian friends … to ensure America’s support of Israel.
As Jews missed an opportunity to tell their story, their enemies told it for them. Zionism was declared racism and Jewish autonomy became known as oppression.
More insidious an accusation is the denial of the historical connection of the Jewish people to their own land. Anti-Zionists frequently peddle the false claim that Jews are colonialist foreigners who came from Europe to occupy a native people’s land.
The lack of a definition allowed Zionists to stretch the meaning of Zionism to almost absurd dimensions.
He told them that he doesn’t care about them or how much they learn. They were to sit on the side of the room and do their best not to disturb the good students in the middle of the room.
We can choose to focus on those who have veered from our ways or focus on those looking to build the dream of Jewish peoplehood.
Shop at most major malls in the United States and you’ll find Israelis who have overstayed their visas, selling Dead Sea salt products. The draw of America, the land of dreams, is too good for many Israelis to forgo.
When I described the fear our children experience due to Palestinian terror, I didn’t feel a sympathetic heart in the room.
At first I was horrified by these stories. How could we, the righteous settlers, stoop to the level of Palestinian rock throwers and terrorists?
Israel advocacy shouldn't be defensive, and its arguments should be strong enough to allow for nuance and an understanding of our opponents, and even our enemies.
Whether they’ve walked thousands of miles over the burning hot sands of the African desert or walked on to a charter flight from New York, every Jew who has followed Avraham’s path has a story.
Often, opposing foreign aid is a cover for xenophobia and jingoism.
Palestinians have rejected tens of Israeli peace offers over the past eight decades and have never once countered with their own. It is clear Palestinians do not value peace as Israelis prioritize peace.
The Israeli Prime Minister walked into the most important office in America proudly displaying his Judaism and his Torah observance.
Israel can request America not open its consulate to the Palestinians in Jerusalem, put a deadline on U.S.-Palestinian growing diplomacy if ‘pay to slay’ isn’t ended, and stop American funding of UNRWA until it stops hosting Hamas tunnels and rockets in Gaza and teaching anti-Semitism in its schools.
Arafat had engaged in bad faith negotiations with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and rejected all Israeli offers without a counter-offer. Later revelations made clear Arafat had ordered the intifada while still at Camp David.
Calling liberals anti-Israel or anti-Semitic is inaccurate. Lumping all liberals together as followers of progressive elected officials and their anti-Israel positions is a mistake.
Ben & Jerry's didn't boycott a place, they boycotted a people - the Jews of Judea and Samaria.
Palestinians love repeating the line that house demolitions don’t deter attacks on their own. The answer is that house demolitions together with other policies combine to create a terror shield.
It is every parent’s right to talk privately with their child about their family’s values and balancing modern values with Torah practice. It is not your right to publicly discuss other people’s observance.
It is naïve to think Palestinians or their advocates will be placated by an easing of Palestinian restrictions. Only when Israel cedes control of all the land and ends the Jewish state will Palestinians be satisfied.
There's simply no excuse for generalizing about an entire group based on the actions of a few people in the group.
The only people who think a potential Palestinian state will be confined to the West Bank are Americans who aren’t familiar with actual Palestinians.
Many right-wing Israelis are furious at Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett for joining a coalition that contains left-wing parties opposed to settling Judea and Samaria.
The accusations against Israel can be divided into two categories. First, the Jews stole Palestinian land. ... The second category of accusations against Israel is that Israel mistreats Palestinians.
Many of the media advocacy campaigns waged on Israel’s behalf during the latest Hamas rocket attacks didn’t recognize the pitfalls of playing victim.
If there are symptoms of antisemitism, it's impossible that it's isolated; the community must also possess the hate to some extent.
I don’t know anyone who speaks of making Aliyah out of guilt and shame. Why would anyone want to move to a place where the people are judgmental and obnoxious?
What should our response be when a leader, rabbi, friend, or family member says something offensive? Rebuke AND FORGIVE.
Systemic racism means that the unwritten rules of society provide less opportunity for black people than white people.
I’m proud of Anbassador Friedman’s foresight on this issue. I hope that Pres.Trump sides with him and recognizes that the State Department’s adoption of the Palestinian narrative has only aggravated the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
A few times a year I take an extreme left-wing tour in Israel. These tours aim to show why settlers, the IDF, the occupation etc. are all evil. What I didn't appreciate on the tour was being lied to by the Leftist organizations, T’ruah and Breaking the Silence
To prepare our teens for when they enter the lion’s den of the anti-Israel and anti-Semitic college campus, our students need first hand exposure to the settlements.
The land of Israel was one of the three great gifts God gave to the Jewish people,those gifts. I don’t consider myself to have suffered during my Aliyah, in fact, I think I’ve been living the dream.
Most of my fellow Israelis' (especially my neighbors here in YESHA) objections to Secretary Kerry’s speech stems from assumptions he makes. We find these assumptions absurd. Here's the SHORT list:
June 26, 2026 
