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From Museum to Mission: Why Some Jews Will Never Call Israel Home

From Museum to Mission: Why Some Jews Will Never Call Israel Home

Geula Movement

Nov 23

By Rabbi Josh Wander

 

 

Earlier this week, as I walked through the streets of Jerusalem, I found myself behind a small group of American Jewish tourists. They spoke with the excitement of people checking items off a bucket list.

 

One exclaimed, “The museums here are unbelievable!”

The second said, “For me it’s the archaeological parks — incredible history!”

The third added, “And the historic sites… I feel like I stepped back in time.”

 

Their enthusiasm was real — but so was the sinking feeling I had in that moment:

 

Perhaps this is exactly why they will never consider making Aliyah.

 

Because who decides to live in a museum?

Who raises a family in an archaeological park?

Who builds a future in a place they experience only as a memory?

 

As long as Jews view Israel as a sentimental trip down memory lane, it will never transform in their minds from where their ancestors lived to where they themselves belong.

 

When Israel Becomes Colonial Williamsburg

 

Some Jews relate to Israel the way Americans relate to Colonial Williamsburg:

a charming reenactment village where you watch artisans reenact “the good ole days.”

 

You stroll, you admire, you take pictures.

You visit it.

 

But no one relocates to Colonial Williamsburg.

 

And tragically, this is exactly how many diaspora Jews relate to the Land of Israel — as a beautifully preserved reenactment of their past, not a living, breathing home for their future.

 

A Place to Retire… or Worse, to Be Buried

 

Others treat Israel not as a place to live, but as a place to retire. And some view it only as the place to be buried after 120 — a final resting place rather than a vibrant national home.

 

I always remind people of the words we say every single morning:

 

“וְתוֹלִיכֵנוּ קוֹמְמִיּוּת לְאַרְצֵנוּ”

“Bring us upright to our Land.”

 

Upright — alive, strong, standing tall.

 

Yet for too many Jews, the only way they imagine arriving in Eretz Yisrael is horizontally.

A complete distortion of the Torah’s vision of return.

 

The Temple: Fairy Tale Abroad, Reality at Home

 

In my years guiding for the Temple Institute, one message was always drilled in:

 

“We are not a museum.”

 

The vessels on display are not replicas.

They are not models.

They are not educational props.

 

They are real halachic Temple vessels, ready for use.

 

But for many Jews in exile, the Beis HaMikdash is a fictional world — something you learn about in a Torah class but never connect to the present reality of today.

 

I once gave a tour to a group of Hasidic boys from Borough Park. At the end, one turned to me and said:

 

“This is amazing… it’s so real to you that it’s not even a fairy tale.”

 

I was stunned.

Because in that one innocent comment lay the entire tragedy of diaspora life.

 

I replied:

 

“I guess if you live in Borough Park, you grow up hearing about Little Red Riding Hood, the Three Little Bears, and the Beis HaMikdash — and all of them sound like fairy tales. But for us, who open our windows each morning and see the Temple Mount with our own eyes, there isn’t a day that goes by that we’re not thinking about how to rebuild the House that was lost.”

Continue reading…

From Geula’s Substack, here.

Jewish New Yorkers Arming Up Before Mamdani Takes Over

From JPFO – Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership:

BELLEVUE, WA –

Published reports confirm that many Jewish New Yorkers have been arming themselves in worrisome anticipation of Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani—described by the New York Post as a “Muslim radical socialist”—taking office and opening a floodgate of hatred toward the city’s Jewish population.

Even The Times of Israel is reporting how Jewish gun owners, firearms instructors and security professionals in the Big Apple are witnessing a major surge in demand for firearms training, and applications for concealed carry permits. Anti-Semitic rhetoric has led to increased violence against Jews across the United States.

The alarm is sounding, and Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership (JPFO) is paying attention. JPFO says it is hardly surprising that, when faced with the kind of social threat facing them, New York City’s Jewish residents are falling back on the rights guaranteed by the Second Amendment as a preventive measure.

A separate New York Post report revealed the Democratic Socialists of America agenda they want Mamdani to follow, and it is pure anti-Israel, and thus New York Jews feel threatened. The Times of Israel noted how more than 1,000 rabbis and cantors from across the U.S. signed a letter opposing Mamdani and “the political normalization of anti-Zionism.” The same report revealed how New York Police licensing data shows a 14-percent increase in carry permit applications after Mamdani won the Democratic primary.

From AAN here (excerpt).

Efraim Kishon: Jewish Arab-Lovers Are Mentally Ill

The Jewish/Israel Left in the Eyes of Efraim Kishon

Thursday, November 20, 2025

 

“The overt and joyful instinct for self-destruction is the national trait that has accompanied the conflicted Jewish tribe since its exodus from Egypt. The tradition of self-hatred has been woven like as a thread throughout Jewish history with its horrific consequences, as if it were a pathological curse passed down from father to son and son to grandson until the end of time.

These days, this Jewish tendency is expressed in the fashionable, overt and covert skepticism regarding our right to resettle in the Land of Israel. Many people ask themselves whether the Palestinians are not entitled to demand our departure from here, and those with a conscience are tormented by the injustice we did to the refugees at the end of the Arab war of extermination that turned into a Jewish war of liberation. The Russians have no scruples about having conquered vast territories after their last war, which never belonged to them or their ancestors, and they have no scruples about tormenting the Czech people for the organized deportation of three million Sudeten people. The Poles also have no noticeable pangs of conscience about their cheerful annexations, the Turks have no scruples about wholesale ‘population transfers’, the Greeks have none, the Bulgarians have none, the Indians have none, the Pakistanis have none, and the Americans have none. Only the Israelis possess them.

The intellectual of conscience among us sees the expulsion of the million Jews from Arab countries as a historical process that cannot be reversed, while the flight of the Arabs, due to their campaign of killing along the lines of the Gush Etzion bloc, he sees as a terrible crime. The conscientious man believes that the twelve million square kilometers of Arab countries, an area larger than that of Europe, are not enough to absorb the refugees. The conscientious man finds that the residents of Bir’am and Ikrit were uprooted from their homes and transferred to another place in stealth and deceit, while the Jews of Hebron were massacred in a brutal manner, and therefore the people of Bir’am must be returned, but the residents of Hebron are forbidden.

The Israeli-with-a-conscience understands the spirit of Yasser Arafat; is remarkably matter-of-fact and realistic about the national motives of this mass murderer; about our cruel and vile enemy and he is impressed by the legitimate right of the Palestinian liberation movements to chop off the heads of our children in schools with axes…

The Israeli-with-a-conscience is full of universal understanding. He hates only one thing: hate.

The Israeli-with-a-conscience is mentally ill.”

 

From “A Smile Amidst a Drought“, 1978

From My Right Word, here.

Instead of Reading Economic News, I Read Ron Paul’s Summaries…

The Real Affordability Agenda

Ron Paul

Donald Trump’s victory in the 2024 presidential election was due in large part to his promises to pursue an America First foreign policy and rein in inflation. One year later, prices remain high, and President Trump is more focused on overseas meddling than on the American people. This has helped enable Democrats to win governor races in Virginia and New Jersey, and self-described Democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani to win the New York City mayor race by running on “affordability.”

Since the election, President Trump has made a number of proposals to ease the burden of high prices. One of the president’s proposals is changing federal housing regulations to encourage lenders to offer 50-year mortgages. Though a 50-year mortgage in comparison to a 30-year mortgage could reduce monthly mortgage payments by over a hundred dollars for a median price home, it could also roughly double interest payments made over the life of the mortgage. So, while the longer mortgage may provide a short-term benefit, in the long run it is a losing proposition for potential homeowners.

President Trump also proposed using the revenue from his tariffs to give most Americans at least 2,000 dollars. This may provide some help for struggling Americans, but it does not compensate for the damage inflicted on the American economy by the tariffs.

President Trump has also announced plans to reduce tariffs on some countries in regard to coffee, bananas, and other agricultural products. This reduction in the tariffs has come with an admission from the Trump administration that the high tariffs have led to increased prices and thus harmed Americans. Hopefully, President Trump will provide more relief from his tariffs, including relief aimed at helping American manufacturers who rely on imports for raw materials and tools.

While Democrats talk about “affordability,” most are unwilling to support the free-market policies that produce abundance and affordability. Instead, they want more government interventions in the marketplace — even though history shows government interventions cause price increases and shortages. For example, New York City Mayor-elect Mamdani thinks the way to address housing costs in New York City is through new price controls on rent. He does not seem to understand that a reason housing costs are so high in New York City is because of the city’s existing rent control law.

Another example is congressional Democrats’ “solution” to the large increases in Obamacare premiums being to extend the 2021 “temporary” Obamacare subsidies enacted as part of covid relief legislation. Unfortunately, the Republican alternative appears to be to just send Americans money to use to pay medical costs.

Politicians with both parties ignore the real cause of price inflation: the Federal Reserve. When the Federal Reserve increases the money supply, it reduces the dollar’s value, thus increasing the average American’s cost of living. A major reason the Fed devalues the dollar is to monetize the ever-increasing federal debt by purchasing Treasury securities. Therefore, an important action the president and Congress could take to make America affordable again would be to reduce federal spending and start paying down the over 38 trillion dollars debt. Congress should also pass legislation forbidding the Federal Reserve from purchasing federal debt.

Congress should also pass the Audit the Fed bill, legislation exempting precious metals and cryptocurrencies from capital gains taxes, and a repeal of any other laws that prevent Americans from using alternative currencies. Auditing and ending the Federal Reserve is the true affordability agenda.

Originally published by the Ron Paul Institute. 

From Mises.org, here.