Israel Matters!

How Can We Keep Dancing?

This is an article about Israeli folkdance. Except it’s not.

For over half a century, Israeli folkdance has been an important part of my life. I chose where to go to college and where I would live based on areas that had active Israeli dance groups. I met my husband at an Israeli dancing session at MIT, and I used nearly all of my 40 years of vacation days to attend Israeli dance events. Israeli dancing is my oxygen – it helps me relieve stress and clear my mind and cope better with those difficult things that go on in our lives. (more…)

What We Learned on Our Academic Visit to Israel

The article below written by Edward H. Kaplan and Evan Morris originally appeared March 29, 2024 on newsweek.com (https://www.newsweek.com/what-we-learned-our-academic-visit-israel-opinion-1885030). Reproduced with permission for Israel Matters

 We represent a group of 25 Yale faculty who have just returned from a five-day visit to Israel. Our mission was to learn from and make meaningful academic connections with our Israeli counterparts. Much of what we learned and observed astounded us. (more…)

Back to Israel

(David Margolis, Guest Columnist)

I was a guest contributor for this column last July where I shared my “Reflections on a First Tour of Israel” following TBS’ May 2023 Israel Trip.  I ended that column with: “On the flight back to the States I knew two things to be true – that I would return to Israel as often as possible, and if I no longer felt safe as a Jew in America I would be welcomed and protected in Israel.  Like Home.” (more…)

To think like an Arab Israeli

The article below written by Yahyah Mahamid originally appeared February 3, 2024 on ynetnews.com (https://www.ynetnews.com/article/sjoltmh56). We at Israel Matters found this so interesting and important that we are sharing it with you below.

As an Arab-Israeli, the events of October 7 and the fighting in Gaza have had a profound effect on me and the Arab community in Israel as a whole. These events put a spotlight on the complicated and complex dynamics of coexistence, the heavy price Israeli Arabs paid and are still paying, and the strong desire of Israeli Arabs to be part of Israeli society. (more…)