Today is Day 615 of Hamas induced Hell in the Holy Land as this horrific asymmetrical war continues to radically reshape the physical and psychological terrain of Israel, “Palestine,” Israelis and Palestinians. As Donald Trump exercises his unchecked power, it appears that Israel is preparing to finally use the firepower at Her disposal to make the world safer for all. That is the essential story. But as every reader of the Times of Israel knows, the story of Israel, the Jewish People, Zionism, the conflict with the Palestinians and the role of Hamas in galvanizing the Social Justice Warriors of our times to action is being told through a variety of distorted and dysfunctional lenses. Competing narratives if you will.

615 days into our traumatized New Reality, my urgent question is simple. What role  does someone like me, a late stage American Jewish Baby Boomer, play in rebuilding the Jewish State and the Jewish Future? Once upon a time, and frankly to this day,  I am invested in and play an active part in building and supporting the Jewish State. Those of us who were on the Young Leadership Cabinet of the UJA in the 1990’s participated in the rebirth of Jewish life in the Former Soviet Union. We flew with Russian olim from Warsaw to Tel Aviv and supported programs that integrated them into an Israeli society that would be changed by their presence. Through the Jewish Agency’s Partnership 2000 program (now called Partnership Together) Federations partnered with peripheral communities and development towns like Beit Shean and the surrounding regions, cultivating relationships abroad and civil society within. Our affluence and our influence helped transform Herzl’s dream of a Jewish State into a technologically sophisticated well armed Start Up Nation that was the envy of a cynical world. Yet, it was also our arrogance and deference that allowed the Core Values of the Zionist enterprise to slowly erode from within. 615 days since the worst attack against the Jewish people in our lifetime on our sovereign soil, we are still in the midst of a terrible dream. When do we finally awake? How do we finally awake? And what does waking up look like?

New York Times columnist Thomas L. Friedman often compares the United States and Israel through the framework of Broadway/Off Broadway. Smiling as I merge my micro with our macro (I literally live right off Broadway at the corner of W. 108), I offer my thoughts on these meta questions for this new stage of Jewish history.

Several years ago I invested in a beautiful musical retelling of two Greek myths called “Hadestown”. Singer/songwriter Anais Mitchell wrote songs that wove together the sad love story of the impoverished wanderer Eurydices........

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