Israel is an anomaly in the Western landscape.

While most Western nations grapple with plummeting birth rates, identity crises, and a creeping existential emptiness, Israel consistently ranks among the happiest countries in the world – placing 8th in the 2025 World Happiness Report – and leads by a significant margin in fertility rates compared to other Western nations. Notably, according to research by the Taub Center for Social Policy Studies in Israel, even secular and traditional-non-religious Jewish women maintain a fertility rate above 2.2 children – higher than any other OECD country. A third striking data point is Israel’s startup density: according to Start-Up Nation Central, Israel produces one startup for every 1,400 citizens.

How is it possible that a society living under constant security threats, wracked by sharp internal tensions, and burdened by a punishing cost of living still produces such high levels of happiness, hope, and desire to bring new life into the world — alongside a relentless drive to create, innovate, and build new companies?

The answer, it seems, lies not in another economic indicator or pop-psychology framework, but in a concept that has been quietly pushed to the margins of contemporary Western discourse: faith and meaning.

Postmodern culture has done a thorough job dismantling the traditional sources of human meaning. In the name of freedom and individual autonomy, the great structures that once anchored a person’s identity — family, community, religion, nationhood — have........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)