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After October 7, Dreaming About Israel’s Future Is More Important Than Ever
Some 550 new immigrants from the Bnei Menashe community visited the Western Wall for the first time on March 9, 2022. Photo: Yehoshua Halevi/Courtesy of Shavei Israel.
Theodor Herzl, the founder of modern Zionism, famously declared: “If you will it, it is no dream.” It’s a memorable line — almost too neat to be true.
But what if Herzl got it backward? What if the dream comes first — and the will simply follows?
In 1927, J.W. Dunne, a British engineer and airplane designer, published a book called An Experiment with Time. It sent shockwaves through polite scientific circles — and then, just as quickly, vanished beneath the waves of mainstream disdain.
The book’s key idea was that dreams don’t just recycle our past — they preview our future. And this wasn’t mere idle speculation: Dunne meticulously documented his thesis, offering hundreds of case studies drawn from a broad and diverse group of subjects.
It all started with a nightmare. One night, Dunne dreamt that his watch had stopped — at exactly 4:30 p.m. The next day, his watch stopped. At exactly 4:30 p.m.
At first, Dunne brushed it off as a coincidence. But then it happened again. And again. He would dream about something — and shortly afterward, what he dreamt about would happen.
So Dunne began documenting his dreams with scientific precision. Over the next few years, he compiled hundreds of data points — not just from himself, but from friends and colleagues he recruited to do the same. The results were staggering: up to 40% of dreams contained elements of future events, not just recollections of the past.
Dunne’s theory, which he called “Serial Time,” suggested that our conscious minds move through time like a train on tracks — one moment after the next. But the subconscious is different. It floats. In dreams, we catch glimpses of events that haven’t happened yet, paths we haven’t taken, outcomes we haven’t lived.
The scientific establishment of his day dismissed him as a kook. But Dunne didn’t care. As far as he was concerned, the evidence spoke for itself — and no amount of scorn from the experts could make it any less real.
In one dream, Dunne had seen a volcanic eruption on a remote island — with ash, fire, and mass panic. The next morning, he opened the newspaper only to read about the catastrophic eruption of Mount Pelée on Martinique, with details uncannily similar to his dream.
On another occasion, a man Dunne studied described dreaming of a specific newspaper headline — which he then saw appear, word for word, a few days later. Bottom line: these weren’t vague premonitions. They were precise, time-stamped echoes from a future that hadn’t yet arrived.
I’ve often thought that if Herzl and Dunne had met, they would have gotten along famously. Because, in a way, Herzl was doing the same thing — drawing on vivid, internal visions to lay the foundation for the Zionist project.
He, too, had a dream — not the kind you have in an REM cycle, but the kind that burns behind your eyes when you’re wide awake. He saw Jewish soldiers guarding Jewish farms. He saw a Jewish airport, Jewish towns and cities, a Jewish parliament, and a Jewish society. At the time, these images were no less fantastical than Dunne’s dream volcanoes and predictive newspaper headlines.
But Herzl believed — and he dared to look absurd. And because he did, we now live in a world where his once-ridiculed vision became the world’s only Jewish national home: the State of Israel. Which brings us to the Torah readings of Tazria and Metzora — or, more precisely, their Haftorahs, the prophetic passages that accompany them. Both are taken from the Book of Kings, and both center around another man who saw what others couldn’t: the prophet Elisha.
The story goes like this: the city of Shomron is under siege, surrounded by the Aramean army. There’s no food, and the people are starving. Panic sets in. Elisha’s servant looks out at the horizon and sees only doom. But Elisha sees something else entirely. He tells his servant (II Kings 6:16), “Don’t be afraid. Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.”
Then Elisha prays: “God, please open his eyes so that he may see.” Suddenly, the servant sees what Elisha had already seen in his vision — the hills are filled with chariots of fire, an invisible army of protection.
This is exactly what Dunne discovered. This is what Herzl knew in the depths of his soul. This is what anyone who has ever glimpsed the unseen and refused to look away understands. Elisha didn’t invent the protection — he simply saw it before others could. That’s what prophets do. And it’s what any of us can do if we’re willing to believe it’s possible.
Later in the same story, four men afflicted with tzara’at — the Biblical skin discoloration condition — are camped outside the city gates. Cast out, ignored, and desperate, they decide to do the unthinkable: to enter the enemy camp and beg for mercy, so that they can get some food and survive.
But when they arrive in the camp, they discover something incredible — the Arameans have gone, and the siege is over. The starving city has no idea. But the exiles, the outsiders, the rejected dreamers — they are the first to know.
I’ve always found it fascinating that the Talmud — the most grounded, rational, detail-obsessed of Jewish texts — devotes pages of Masechet Berakhot to dream interpretation. Some of it is mystical, and some almost comical, but the message is hard to miss: dreams matter.
And then, just when you think the rabbis are taking a deep dive into ancient superstition, they hit you with the real shocker: “All dreams follow the interpretation.” And if that weren’t enough, the Talmud closes the whole discussion with a bombshell — essentially saying that if you don’t believe in dreams, then none of this applies to you.
Some interpret that as the rabbis quietly rolling their eyes — as if to say, “We’re just humoring the superstitious stuff.” But maybe it’s the opposite. Maybe they were saying what Dunne said 1,600 years later in a different language: don’t dismiss the dream — because that’s where prophecy begins.
The real danger isn’t in believing too much – it’s in believing nothing. Maybe the prophets among us are still seeing glimpses of what’s coming — but we’re too quick to call it nonsense. So we lose the message. We silence the signal. And the future gets left behind in the dust of our disbelief.
This Shabbat is Yom Ha’atzmaut. The modern State of Israel — vibrant, miraculous, flawed — turns 77. For 2,000 years, Jews dreamed of returning to the Land. Then someone woke up and said, “This dream is real.” And everything changed.
But lately — especially in the wake of the October 7th massacre and the tidal wave of anti-Israel hatred that has followed — I worry we’re losing our edge. We’ve traded vision for pragmatism. We’ve started to scoff at mysticism and to mock prophecy, choosing instead to focus only on what’s immediately in front of us.
But doing that is more than just short-sighted. It’s a rejection of what it means to be a Jew. The Talmud wasn’t joking when it said that dreams follow the interpretation. What you name, you shape. What you believe is happening is what actually happens. And what you dismiss — you surrender.
Dunne believed our minds were antennas, tuning into frequencies of time we don’t yet understand. Herzl believed our souls were pulling us home — because, on some level, we were already there. And Elisha knew that clarity isn’t about better eyesight — it’s about deeper insight.
And maybe, just maybe, the next great Jewish chapter is already written — waiting for someone to dream it, so the rest of us will know where to go next.
The author is a rabbi in Beverly Hills, California.
The post After October 7, Dreaming About Israel’s Future Is More Important Than Ever first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Brazilian Jews Rebuke President Lula for ‘Antisemitic Libel’ Condemning Israel’s Fight to Defeat Hamas
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva attends a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, May 9, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov/Pool
Jewish leadership in Brazil has accused President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of pushing “antisemitic libel” against Israel during a speech in Moscow on Saturday.
Lula accused Israel of “attacking women and children under the pretext of killing terrorists,” described its war against the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas as “a genocide,” and claimed the Jewish state struck hospitals which did not contain Hamas members.
The Brazilian Israelite Confederation (CONIB), the country’s leading Jewish organization, denounced Lula for his claims.
“It is regrettable and disturbing that the president of our country continues to promote this antisemitic libel throughout the world,” CONIB President Claudio Lottenberg said in a statement. “Brazil is a country where the Jewish community lives in peace and security, but President Lula, with his antisemitic statements, seems to want to create problems for our community by promoting antisemitism among his supporters, in an irresponsible and destructive attitude.”
Lottenberg added that “Hamas started this terrible war and is hiding behind the civilian population and Israeli hostages to promote its genocidal vision of exterminating Israel and the Jews.”
Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists launched the current conflict with their Oct. 7, 2023, invasion of and massacre across southern Israel.
Israel says it has gone to unprecedented lengths in its military response to try and avoid civilian casualties in Gaza, noting its efforts to evacuate areas before it targets them and to warn residents of impending military operations with leaflets, text messages, and other forms of communication. Another challenge for Israel is Hamas’s widely recognized military strategy of embedding its terrorists within Gaza’s civilian population and commandeering civilian facilities like hospitals, schools, and mosques to run operations and direct attacks.
In February, Lula also received pushback for comparing Israel to Nazi Germany and the war in Gaza to the Holocaust — a comparison described as an example of anti-Jewish hate under the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism.
“What is happening in the Gaza Strip with the Palestinian people does not exist at any other historical moment … In fact, it existed when Hitler decided to kill the Jews,” Lula said at the time.
“Brazil is a country of peace, with a historical message of coexistence and balance. President Lula’s deplorable comparison between Israel’s just war against Hamas with the truly genocidal crimes of Hitler and the Nazis against the Jews during the Holocaust is rejected by the vast majority of the Brazilian population,” Dr. Ariel Gelblung, the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s Director for Latin America, said in response. “What is worse, he denies the antisemitic nature of his statements, hiding behind Brazil’s IHRA observer status. However, his national administration does not adopt the definition or present plans to become a full member.”
In May 2024, Lula recalled Brazil’s ambassador from Israel, resulting in a persona non grata status according to Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz.
In January, an unnamed Israeli tourist fled Brazil when a court started an investigation into his time as a soldier fighting in Gaza.
“I am embarrassed for Brazil and its government, who surrendered to the pro-Palestinian legal terrorism,” Yuli Edelstein, chair of the Israeli parliament’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, said in response.
According to the World Jewish Congress, 92,000 Jews call Brazil home, which ranks as 10th largest globally and second in Latin America after Argentina. The group says that “Brazilian Jews usually enjoy comfort, security, and wealth in a country known for its amicable coexistence of various ethnicities.”
Brazil saw a 961 percent spike in antisemitic incidents during October 2023 in comparison to the same time in 2022. Israel’s Ministry of Diaspora Affairs reported that in 2024 from January through October, complaints of antisemitism rose 70 percent compared to the same period in 2023.
The Center for the Study of Contemporary European Jewry at Tel Aviv University released a report on 2024 antisemitic incidents globally, drawing from data collected by CONIB which showed 1,788 incidents in Brazil in 2024 compared to 1,410 in 2023 and 432 in 2022.
In January, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) released the findings of its newest Global 100 Survey of antisemitic attitudes by country. Researchers found that about a percent of the country’s population — 41.2 million people — expressed “elevated levels of antisemitic attitudes.” These numbers rank Brazil as the 21st least antisemitic country out of 103 and third lowest in the region.
On March 10, the ADL and CONIB announced plans to partner and increase efforts to counter domestic antisemitism.
“With antisemitism and anti-Zionism on the rise worldwide, partnerships like this are key to ensuring that Jewish communities in Latin America and other regions have the tools to protect themselves,” said Marina Rosenberg, the ADL’s senior vice president for International Affairs. “By collaborating with CONIB, we are strengthening the fight against extremism in Brazil and expanding the global reach of ADL in monitoring and combating antisemitism and hatred.”
Lottenberg added that “by joining forces with such a prominent organization, our goal is to strengthen the fight against growing antisemitism in Brazil, promoting the security and well-being of the Brazilian Jewish community.”
The post-Oct. 7, 2023, surge of antisemitism in the South American state inspired the city government of Rio de Janeiro to adopt the IHRA antisemitism definition.
“The IHRA definition has proven to be the most effective tool to identify and counter antisemitism, and we encourage other governmental bodies at all levels, throughout Latin America and worldwide, to follow Rio de Janeiro’s lead and join the distinguished club that has made an impact in the collective effort against antisemitism by taking this vital step,” said Shay Salamon, director of Hispanic outreach for the Combat Antisemitism Movement.
Two Brazilian states — Goiás and São Paulo — adopted the IHRA definition in 2024.
Goiás Governor Ronaldo Caiado said at the signing ceremony that “President Lula’s statements do not represent the people of Brazil. Today we begin to rebuild the respect that he made us lose.”
The post Brazilian Jews Rebuke President Lula for ‘Antisemitic Libel’ Condemning Israel’s Fight to Defeat Hamas first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Norwegian Hotel Refuses Israeli Traveler Amid Boycott Against Israel
A demonstration of the group Europe Palestine to demand the boycott of Israel, in Paris, France on May 15, 2022. Photo: Xose Bouzas / Hans Lucas via Reuters Connect
A Norwegian hotel has refused to accommodate an Israeli traveler, citing a nationwide boycott against the Jewish state launched last week by the country’s powerful trade union, the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions (LO).
Upon receiving the request, the hotel — located in the village of Geiranger in western Norway, one of Scandinavia’s top tourist destinations — indicated it would need to consult with the trade union to determine whether hosting the Israeli traveler would be permitted under the new boycott guidelines.
“The Norwegian Labor Organization (LO) will soon enforce a boycott that will affect Israeli tourists and Israeli goods due to the catastrophic situation in Gaza,” read the response to the Israeli traveler’s booking request.
“We need to inform you that our staff is organized in LO unions, and they will not break the boycott. I will need to consult with the employers’ organization as I see this as a force majeure situation,” the hotel told the Israeli traveler.
BREAKING:
Norwegian hotels to boycott Israeli tourists.Source: @StoppNRK
See: https://t.co/0tr55jwvFl pic.twitter.com/Mhy2pICn1n— On Elpeleg
(@onelpeleg) May 12, 2025
According to the hotel management, the organization’s boycott qualifies as a “force majeure” event, an unforeseen circumstance that prevents parties from meeting their contractual obligations and shields them from liability when exceptional situations disrupt normal expectations.
The hotel’s response was shared in a Facebook group, sparking outrage and widespread condemnation among its members.
“As a Jew who has been fighting antisemitism for 40 years, I have never experienced something so shocking. It’s like traveling back in time 85 years to 1940, to the period when Norway sent its Jews to Auschwitz,” one of the group’s members wrote in a comment.
“I am simply in shock – Norway was the last country in Europe to allow Jews to enter, and now it’s closing its doors again,” he continued.
Last week, Norway’s LO trade union voted in favor of a full economic boycott of Israel, while also urging the government to direct the Government Pension Fund Global (GPFG) to divest from Israeli companies, similar to how it mandated the divestment from Russian companies after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
The GPFG, also known as the Norwegian Oil Fund, is a sovereign wealth fund owned by the Norwegian government and managed by its central bank, created to manage surplus revenue from oil and gas exports, with investments in a diverse array of global assets and companies.
Despite its close ties to the LO union, Norway’s Labour-led government said it would not push for divestment from Israeli companies, arguing that it is best to allow the fund’s ethics watchdog, the Council on Ethics, to operate in accordance with the ethical guidelines approved by parliament.
“We don’t plan to change our strategy,” Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere told Reuters on Friday after the LO vote.
“But I hope Israel is reading that this [the boycott] is an expression of a significant part of public opinion,” the Norwegian leader said.
Based on government guidelines, the GPFG follows an ethical investment strategy that includes avoiding companies involved in human rights violations, environmental harm, or other unethical practices, and has the authority to divest from such companies or sectors when necessary.
The Palestinian terrorist group Hamas praised the LO’s decision to boycott “the Zionist occupation and ban trade and investment with its companies,” calling the move “a courageous step that embodies a clear alignment with truth and justice, and advocates for the rights of the Palestinian people.”
On Sunday, the GPFG — which is one of the largest funds in the world — announced that it had divested from Israel’s Paz Oil Company, citing its ownership and operation of infrastructure that supplies fuel to “Israeli settlements in the West Bank.”
“By operating infrastructure for the supply of fuel to the Israeli settlements on the West Bank, Paz is contributing to their perpetuation,” the fund’s Council on Ethics watchdog said in its recommendation to divest. “The settlements have been established in violation of international law, and their perpetuation constitutes an ongoing violation thereof.”
This is the latest move by a European financial entity to sever ties with Israeli companies, amid growing pressure in Norway for the GPFG to fully divest from Israeli businesses following the outbreak of the Gaza war.
Overall, the Council on Ethics reviewed approximately 65 companies in the fund’s holdings across sectors such as energy supply, infrastructure, travel and tourism, and banking, but has not yet disclosed whether it made additional recommendations for divestment.
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Israel’s Eurovision Participation Under Scrutiny as Singer Yuval Raphael Faces Threats
Yuval Raphael in the music video for her new song “New Day Will Rise.” Photo: YouTube screenshot
Organizers of the Eurovision Song Contest have agreed to have a broader discussion about Israel’s participation in the contest after receiving a formal request by Ireland’s public broadcaster, RTÉ, and following threats made to Israeli singer Yuval Raphael for competing in the competition.
The European Broadcasting Union (EBU), which organizes the Eurovision Song Contest, has been facing growing pressure from former contestants and public broadcasters around the world to ban Israel from this year’s competition. Critics are citing opposition to Israel’s military actions in the Gaza Strip, during its war against Hamas-led terrorists from Gaza who orchestrated the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre in southern Israel. Following Monday’s release of Israeli-American hostage Edan Alexander, Hamas is still holding 58 Israeli hostages in Gaza whom they abducted during the Oct. 7 attack.
The EBU has repeatedly insisted that despite criticism against Israel, the Israeli public broadcaster Kan meets all criteria to participate in the 2025 Eurovision contest, held this year in Basel, Switzerland. Yuval Raphael — a survivor of the Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel — will represent the Jewish state in this year’s competition.
Most recently, RTÉ Director-General Kevin Bakhurst called for the EBU to review Israel’s inclusion in the Eurovision. Bakhurst confirmed that he, along with RTÉ’s Director of Video Steve Carson, had a meeting on Friday with the EBU about the Irish broadcaster’s concerns. In response, the EBU committed to having “a wider discussion amongst members in due course” about Israel’s participation, RTE said in a released statement on Friday.
“I am appalled by the ongoing events in the Middle East and by the horrific impact on civilians in Gaza, and the fate of Israeli hostages,” Bakhurst said last week. “Notwithstanding the fact that the criterion for participating in the Eurovision Song Contest is membership of the European Broadcasting Union, RTÉ has nonetheless asked the EBU for a discussion on Israel’s inclusion in the contest. In doing this, we are mindful of RTÉ’s obligations as an independent, impartial public service news and current affairs provider, and of the need to maintain RTÉ’s objectivity in covering the war in Gaza. We are also very mindful of the severe political pressure on Israel’s public service broadcaster, Kan, from the Israeli government.”
Public broadcasters in Iceland, Slovenia, and Spain have also raised concerns about Israel’s inclusion in the 2025 Eurovision Song Contest.
On Sunday, the Israeli delegation to the Eurovision was participating in a parade in Basel for the competition when a man made a threatening hand gesture toward the delegation, including Raphael, that showed him slitting a throat, the Israeli publication Ynet reported. The man was also carrying a Palestinian flag and wore a black T-shirt that called for a boycott of Israel, as seen in footage shared by Ynet from the incident. Kan said it made a complaint to local police about the threatening gesture, and members of the Israeli delegation told Ynet the gesture was a clear indication of a threat to commit murder and should be taken seriously.
Several anti-Israel protesters attended Sunday’s parade carrying Palestinians flags, as well as signs that accused Israel of apartheid and criticized its participation in the 2025 Eurovision amid the war in Gaza. Raphael appeared in the parade waving an Israeli flag as her Eurovision song, “New Day Will Rise,” played in the background. She walked on stage during a segment of the event and was accompanied by a bodyguard who kept an eye on the crowd, as part of increased security measures for the Israeli delegation due to criticism surrounding Israel’s participation in the contest.
“New Day Will Rise” is a ballad written by singer and songwriter Keren Peles. The song is mostly in English but features some French and Hebrew lyrics. Raphael will perform the song in the second semi-final of the 2025 Eurovision Song Contest on May 15 and if she advances, she will compete in the grand final two days later on May 17.
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