The magical rollercoaster
What it was like before hell descended
You should know…
…that before the Middle East and the world changed a week ago, the delegation I was on was having a powerful, magical, amazing trip through Israel. It was an emotional rollercoaster — one we helped each other through — and an adventure of a lifetime.
We visited sites of unimaginable horror in the October 7, 2023 attacks. I learned things I hadn’t known about what happened that day, and about even more efforts the people of southern Israel had made to try, desperately, to build positive relationships with people in Gaza.
But we also experienced the incomparable beauty of Jerusalem, home to thousands of years of history. We visited colleges and universities, recording studios for artists, and a thriving, modern society. (I’ll have so much to report on in coming episodes.) Some delegates were discussing how soon they could come back — even within weeks or months.
Then came Iran’s rain of hell. Here’s part of what I wrote to the group of us who found ourselves stuck in Tel Aviv, hiding in bomb shelters:
As tough as this time can be, know that we are living through history and will be able to testify to the incredible strength and resilience of a peoplehood that has lasted thousands of years for a reason. This is the part we were hoping to avoid experiencing ourselves. But we will be safe, we will get out and the people here will continue to stand for the right to exist as a minority in the world.
The fight for democracy is underway here in America, in Ukraine, and in Israel. To deny any part of this is to help democracy fall. That and more in my latest column for The Times of Israel, which digs into Iran’s nuclear threat and why mutual assured destruction is not an adequate deterrent:
“It takes no logical jump to think that Iran would be willing to ‘sacrifice’ many of its own citizens in order to kill as many Jews as possible. This is especially likely given that Iran routinely kills its own dissidents, even exiles. Iran’s leaders may also think of it as a perverse numbers game.”
What’d I miss in U.S. news while I was away? Fill me in. I’m already working on next week’s episode, which includes a dangerous media failure that affects women’s health at hospitals across America.
Big love,
JL