When I was fifteen, our principal walked into the classroom to make an important announcement:

“Next month, we will celebrate Israel Week.”

She gave us the instructions for our project, which included creating a large, bound journal filled with everything we could gather and learn about the State of Israel.

It was just a few years after the Six-Day War, and the world—including the country I grew up in—stood in awe of the tiny nation that, against all odds, had won an extraordinary victory. Israel had captured global attention, and for the first time in my life, so had the Jewish people.

I was appointed the director of the project—partly because I was the only Jewish........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)