JewishGPS

Can a tent hold everything and still be a safe haven?

In our effort to be inclusive, have we forgotten that Jewish identity requires boundaries?

When we talk about the “Jewish tent,” we often emphasize its warmth, openness, and moral imperative to welcome difference. That impulse matters. But it is not the whole story.

Judaism is not just a feeling of belonging. It is a structure, held up by core anchors such as collective memory, peoplehood, land, text, tradition, and ritual.

When those anchors are untethered or gradually chipped away in the name of inclusion, especially by ideologies that ultimately undermine the tent itself, such as anti‑Zionism, a hard question emerges:

Can those who reject the foundational premises of Jewish peoplehood still claim refuge inside the tent?

My latest piece explores why anti‑Zionism is not merely critique, but rather a departure from the shared foundations that hold the Jewish people together.

Read the full perspective here:

👉 https://jewishgps.online/2026/04/24/when-the-storm-comes/

Sharing this today, as Yom HaZikaron emerges into Yom Ha’atzmaut, as a unique way to reflect on Israel's story and consider Israel's future.

I’ve spent the last few years turning a series of pivotal moments in Israel’s history over and over in my head. I keep coming back to the idea that if things had gone even slightly differently at those moments, the trajectory of the last 75+ years might have been drastically altered.

This piece grew out of that sustained reflection. I explore a series of “What If(s)”—not as an exercise in hindsight, but as a framework for thinking about responsibility, repair, and the role of education in breaking cycles that can feel inevitable.

🔗 💭 https://jewishgps.online/2026/04/21/what-ifs/

As someone who works at the intersection of education, systems, and values, I’m increasingly convinced that the first step forward isn’t policy. It’s narrative. And the second is restorative approaches to repair.

I know this is a complex and often painful topic. I’m sharing it in the spirit of serious engagement, not easy agreement.

Is it a media bias issue or a PR issue? Or Both?

With roughly 30,000+ missile/projectile attacks on Israel since 10/7, why don’t the images from Israel look even remotely as devastating as the ones from Gaza?

The difference isn’t accidental.

It reflects the systems and the choices made long before the moment of crisis.

We tend to read images of war as if they tell the whole story.

They don’t.

What you have been seeing from both places is the result of what existed (or didn't) before the moment of impact and what happened upon onset of the crisis.

My latest blog explains what the world sees — and what it misses.

When Israel Is at War: What the World Sees — and What It Misses Jewish Peoplehood Becomes Infrastructure When Crisis Hits and the Safety Net Activates The image represents a very difficult reality. A woman embraces Chana, an evacuee from Beit Shemesh. Her home …

What makes an object holy?

Is it the material?
The history?
The blessing?
The intention?

In Judaism, holiness is rarely about inherent magic. It is about designation. About human beings choosing to elevate something. Choosing to mark it as sacred.

For this week’s JewishGPS blog, I wrote about the quiet, profound power of making holy objects — and what that act reveals about identity and agency.

If holiness can be created, it means we are participants in it.

Read here:
https://jewishgps.online/2026/02/10/the-magic-of-making-holy-objects/

I’d love to hear: What object in your life feels holy to you?