BINA Center for Jewish Identity and Hebrew Culture

Israel can drive you nuts, like a sibling or lover who knows just how to push your buttons. That’s what Israel does to me, pushing my buttons and making me crazy, challenging without quite threatening the deep love that I have felt, that I always feel.  Israel is where I lived for many years as a young man. At home in Seattle, I follow events in the Middle East closely, in part because I teach about them in my professional role -- I teach Social Studies at an independent college prep school -- but more so because of their impact on the my friends and family in Israel.  And now I’m back.  As part my yearlong sabbatical from teaching, I’m in Israel for six months.  My wife and I are living near Machane Yehuda in Jerusalem, visiting friends and relatives, taking great walks, hiking up wadis, eating well… not a bad life, really.  Israel...