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An IDF Soldier’s Wisdom, and the Jewish Meaning of Belonging
Israel Defense Forces soldier Hillel Nehemiah Ofen died during training near the central city of Elad, Aug. 14, 2023. Photo: Screenshot
The modern thinker and social philosopher Brené Brown writes: “True belonging doesn’t require you to change who you are; it requires you to be who you are.” It’s a powerful idea — that real belonging isn’t about fitting in; it’s about being seen, accepted, and valued for exactly who you are.
In a world where we’re constantly encouraged to edit ourselves, curate our lives, and conform to expectations, this kind of authentic connection can feel rare — even revolutionary.
I’ve spent the last few days haunted by a simple, handwritten note. It wasn’t particularly long and didn’t come from a famous philosopher or great thinker. But it carried more meaning than a hundred speeches ever could.
It came from the backpack of Hillel Nehemiah Ofen, a 20-year-old IDF soldier who tragically collapsed and died during a training exercise last week. The day after Hillel’s funeral, Israeli journalist and author Tsur Ehrlich shared a remarkable discovery on social media: a handwritten note found in Hillel’s backpack.
“This note,” Ehrlich wrote on Facebook, “belongs in the pocket of every Jew. It’s a profound meditation on identity, on life, on what it means to be part of something bigger than yourself. In the midst of a kind of social heatstroke that’s overtaken us, Hillel’s words are like a cool drink of water — reviving, grounding, and deeply human.”
The note began with two powerful words: “Ani Shayach!”— “I belong.”
And it didn’t stop there. Hillel expanded the thought with breathtaking simplicity: “I belong — to my family, to my people, to the land of Israel. I belong to love. I belong to fear. I belong to hope and to disappointment. I belong to joy and to pain. I belong to this moment.”
Who writes like that? It’s profound. The thoughtful words of a soldier in the prime of life, reflecting on his future, somehow channel something timeless — even eternal.
In a world increasingly obsessed with individualism, self-branding, and curating flawless images for public consumption, here was a young man who had peeled all of that away. No filters. No hashtags. Just a raw, honest declaration of connection — to people, to place, to purpose.
And that’s when it struck me: this wasn’t just a private reflection scribbled by a young man on the cusp of adulthood. It was a sacred manifesto — reminding himself, and all of us, that real strength doesn’t come from standing apart. It comes from showing up. For each other. For our communities. For something greater than ourselves.
And as fate (or providence) would have it, this week’s Torah portion, Pekudei, makes precisely that point — in a different register, but no less powerful. Let me explain.
Pekudei is the final portion in the Book of Exodus — and let’s be honest, it’s the part many people skim or skip altogether. It’s filled with endless inventories of materials used in the Mishkan, the portable sanctuary the Israelites built in the wilderness. Gold clasps, silver sockets, blue and purple yarn, lists of beams and curtains — it reads like divine DIY instructions for a holy IKEA project.
But buried in all that detail is something deeply profound. Because the Mishkan wasn’t just a mobile synagogue — it was a collective creation, a spiritual home that every Jew had a stake in.
The wood was donated. The fabrics were hand-woven by members of the community. The silver came from the half-shekel that everyone contributed — rich or poor, no exceptions. Every person was part of it. Every soul was counted. Every Jew belonged.
And here’s the point: God doesn’t need a house. Let’s be honest — the Mishkan wasn’t for Him. It was for them. The people needed it. They needed a place that declared: We are here. We matter. We belong.
Just like Hillel Nehemiah Ofen. His quiet note, tucked into a backpack, was his own small contribution to the broader Mishkan — a deeply personal acknowledgment of his role in his family, his people, and his country. And in making that contribution, he uncovered something essential: “I belong.”
Hillel wrote it without fanfare, without drama — just truth. In doing so, he echoed Pekudei’s deeper message: that belonging doesn’t just happen. It’s not accidental. It’s something we must build and recognize — with care, with intention, thread by thread, soul by soul.
And maybe that’s what we’ve started to forget in our modern world. We’ve built towers of success, of status, of innovation. But somewhere along the way, we’ve stopped noticing the granular, sacred details — the threads and clasps that bind us to one another.
The Mishkan wasn’t about the grandeur of the finished product. It was about the togetherness, the humility, and the shared identity embedded in every piece. It was a space where everyone mattered. A space where everyone belonged.
Hillel saw that — and with his passing, he gave us that message. His note, written for himself, wasn’t just about himself. It was a blueprint, made up of feelings and fears and hopes — with space in it for everyone. It included not only love and pride, but also doubt, pain, and vulnerability. He understood what it meant to be whole and part of something holy.
And here’s the deeper truth: belonging isn’t simply a warm, fuzzy feeling. It’s an obligation. It’s on each of us to make space for others, to invite them in, to say: You are part of this, just like I’m part of this. You matter. You are not alone.
That’s what the Mishkan did. That’s what Hillel’s note does. And that’s what we must do.
So, here’s a thought for this Shabbat, as we read Pekudei and close out Sefer Shemot: Let’s ask ourselves — where is my Mishkan? What am I building that brings people in? That helps others feel seen, valued, and connected enough to say, “I belong,” as Hillel did so simply and so powerfully. “I belong — to my family, to my community, to my people, to this moment.”
We need to remember that we are all architects of belonging. Every kind word, every act of generosity, every moment of presence — these are the silver sockets and golden threads of a modern-day Mishkan.
May we merit to build it with the same love, clarity, and quiet strength that Hillel carried in his heart. And may we all one day look around — at our homes, our communities, our people — and say, in unison and without hesitation: “Ani Shayach.” I belong.
The author is a rabbi in Beverly Hills, California.
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How the Left and Right Converge to Form a Horseshoe of Antisemitism
US Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) speaks at a press conference with activists calling for a ceasefire in Gaza in front of the Capitol in Washington, DC, Dec. 14, 2023. Photo: Annabelle Gordon / CNP/Sipa USA via Reuters Connect
“One of the things that antisemitism does is, it creates coalitions,” Rabbi David Wolpe recently observed.
How ironic that he made this comment on the show of Theo Von, a right-wing podcaster who interviewed Trump during the 2024 election campaign. Some months later, upon his return from a trip to Qatar, Von suddenly felt the need to talk about the alleged “genocide” in Gaza, only to be quoted favorably in the hard-left music magazine Rolling Stone.
The far-right and the far-left have been coming together over antisemitism at least since 1961, when 10 members of the American Nazi Party attended a Nation of Islam (NOI) rally. Members of the NOI escorted the Nazis to front-row seats for a speech by Malcolm X, who was filling in for the originally scheduled speaker, Elijah Muhammad.
More recently, in 2019, former KKK Grand Wizard David Duke called Congresswoman Ilhan Omar (D-MN) “the most important member of the US Congress” for her “Defiance to Z.O.G. [Zionist Occupied Government].”
That same year, the shooter at the Chabad synagogue in Poway, California, left behind a manifesto that both embraced white supremacist ideology and incorporated tropes promoted by the Nation of Islam’s Louis Farrakhan and the anti-Israel BDS movement, such as the false claims that Jews had a “large role in every slave trade for the past two thousand years” or that Jews persecute “Christians of modern day Syria and Palestine.” In 2021, left-wing academics adopted the language of David Duke and of the Nazis when they accused Israel of “Jewish supremacy.”
So it shouldn’t really have been a huge surprise to see this marriage of convenience beginning to make its way into today’s free-for-all media landscape. Rolling Stone, whose political slant generally is hard left and whose coverage of Israel, as CAMERA has documented at length, is egregiously biased, gushed over Von:
On Tuesday [May 19], comedian and podcaster Theo Von — who promoted the president during his 2024 campaign and accompanied him on a trip to Qatar last week — said the U.S. was “complicit” in creating the horrors that were taking place in Gaza.
“It feels to me like it’s a genocide that’s happening while we’re alive here … in front of our lives. And I feel like I should say something,” Von said on this week’s episode of the This Past Weekend podcast….
Pope Leo and Von couldn’t be more different, but frustration with the lack of progress toward a sustained cease-fire in Gaza, and the looming threat of more devastation to the region, reflect sentiments both in the U.S. and abroad.
There was a similar love-fest between Dave Smith, the conservative libertarian comedian best known for spouting nonsense on The Joe Rogan Experience, and Krystal Ball, the hard-left host of the online political news show Breaking Point, on Monday. Once again, Dave Smith let loose a dizzying blitz of false information, including making the claim that Iran was in compliance with non-proliferation agreements.
Smith said, “we’re left in the position where you’re supposed to sit here and justify a sneak aggressive, preemptive attack, like somehow you’re supposed to feel like you’re the good guys in an absolute war of choice, against a country that does not have nuclear weapons … Iran is a member of the non-proliferation treaty….”
But despite Iran’s (partial) ratification of the NPT, there have long been concerns about its enrichment capabilities, its building of new nuclear facilities, and its lack of cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency, leading up to the June 12 declaration by the IAEA that Iran was out of compliance with its NPT obligations, just a day before Israel’s attack. After that report, Iran threatened to leave the NPT altogether (although it’s clear it was not complying with the treaty).
And yet, instead of pointing any of this out, Ball responded, “and they’re [Israel] a rogue nation attacking like six of their neighbors as we speak and are not part of the non-proliferation [treaty] and we’re supposed to be cool with that” — while Smith nodded in agreement. Later in the show, in what may have been the only accurate claim made on that program, Ball remarked, “that’s the Israel horseshoe, between you and me, Dave.”
The October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel functioned as a siren call to antisemites everywhere: “It’s open season on the Jews.” Not only has this signal been heeded by certain individuals from both the far-left and the far-right, but a media environment that has no guardrails provides ample opportunities for these two nefarious groups to come together over their ignorance-fueled bigotry.
Karen Bekker is the Assistant Director in the Media Response Team at CAMERA, the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis, and frequently writes about antisemitism in the media.
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Anti-Israel Activists Damage Planes at UK Military Base
An activist from Palestine Action sprays a military aircraft engine with red paint at RAF Brize Norton, to damage it, in Carterton, Britain, June 20, 2025, in this still image obtained from handout video. The group’s action was in protest of British military assistance to Israel, claiming that they, “interrupted Britain’s direct participation in the commission of genocide and war crimes across the Middle East”, stating on their website. Photo: Palestine Action/Handout via REUTERS
Anti-Israel activists broke into a Royal Air Force base in central England on Friday, damaging and spraying red paint over two planes used for refueling and transport.
Palestine Action said two members had entered the Brize Norton base in Oxfordshire, putting paint into the engines of the Voyager aircraft and further damaging them with crowbars.
“Despite publicly condemning the Israeli government, Britain continues to send military cargo, fly spy planes over Gaza and refuel US/Israeli fighter jets,” the group said in a statement, posting a video of the incident on X.
“Britain isn’t just complicit, it’s an active participant in the Gaza genocide and war crimes across the Middle East.”
Prime Minister Keir Starmer condemned the “vandalism” as “disgraceful” in a post on X.
Britain’s defense ministry and police were investigating.
“It is our responsibility to support those who defend us,” the defense ministry said.
A spokesperson for Starmer said the government was reviewing security across all British defense sites.
Palestine Action is among groups that have regularly targeted defense firms and other companies in Britain linked to Israel since the start of the conflict in Gaza.
The group said it had also sprayed paint on the runway and left a Palestine flag there.
The Gaza war was triggered when Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists attacked Israel in October 2023, killing 1,200 and taking about 250 hostages.
US ally Israel subsequently launched a military campaign in Gaza aimed at dismantling Hamas and freeing the hostages.
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US Supreme Court Upholds Law on Suing Palestinian Authorities Over Terror Attacks
The US Supreme Court building is seen the morning before justices are expected to issue opinions in pending cases, in Washington, DC, June 14, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz
The US Supreme Court upheld on Friday a statute passed by Congress to facilitate lawsuits against Palestinian authorities by Americans killed or injured in terrorist attacks abroad as plaintiffs pursue monetary damages for violence years ago in Israel and the West Bank.
The 9-0 ruling overturned a lower court’s decision that the 2019 law, the Promoting Security and Justice for Victims of Terrorism Act, violated the rights of the Palestinian Authority and Palestine Liberation Organization to due process under the US Constitution.
Conservative Chief Justice John Roberts, who authored the ruling, said the 2019 jurisdictional law comported with due process rights enshrined in the Constitution’s Fifth Amendment.
“It is permissible for the federal government to craft a narrow jurisdictional provision that ensures, as part of a broader foreign policy agenda, that Americans injured or killed by acts of terror have an adequate forum in which to vindicate their right” to compensation under a federal law known as the Antiterrorism Act of 1990, Roberts wrote.
The US government and a group of American victims and their families had appealed the lower court’s decision that struck down a provision of the law.
Among the plaintiffs are families who in 2015 won a $655 million judgment in a civil case alleging that the Palestinian organizations were responsible for a series of shootings and bombings around Jerusalem from 2002 to 2004. They also include relatives of Israeli-American Ari Fuld, who was fatally stabbed by a Palestinian in 2018.
“The plaintiffs, US families who had loved ones maimed or murdered in PLO-sponsored terror attacks, have been waiting for justice for many years,” said Kent Yalowitz, a lawyer for the plaintiffs.
“I am very hopeful that the case will soon be resolved without subjecting these families to further protracted and unnecessary litigation,” Yalowitz added.
The ongoing violence involving Israel and the Palestinians served as a backdrop to the case.
US courts for years have grappled over whether they have jurisdiction in cases involving the Palestinian Authority and PLO for actions taken abroad.
Under the language at issue in the 2019 law, the PLO and Palestinian Authority automatically “consent” to jurisdiction if they conduct certain activities in the United States or make payments to people who attack Americans.
Roberts in Friday’s ruling wrote that Congress and the president enacted the jurisdictional law based on their “considered judgment to subject the PLO and PA [Palestinian Authority] to liability in US courts as part of a comprehensive legal response to ‘halt, deter, and disrupt’ acts of international terrorism that threaten the life and limb of American citizens.”
New York-based US District Judge Jesse Furman ruled in 2022 that the law violated the due process rights of the PLO and Palestinian Authority. The New York-based 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals upheld that ruling.
President Joe Biden’s administration initiated the government’s appeal, which subsequently was taken up by President Donald Trump’s administration. The Supreme Court heard arguments in the case on April 1.
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