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What Makes Israel and Jews Different: The Light in Our Hearts
This fall, my son joined the Me’ever Youth program at the Safra Center in New York City.
Me’ever is focused on building teen leadership skills. In stark contrast to millennial stereotypes, GenZers are eager to learn how to become Maccabees, especially right now.
“We teach high school students how to become their best selves,” according to Me’ever’s mission statement. “We believe that Zionist Youth Movements are — and have always been — the engine of change in the Jewish world. We take the same foundational ideology that built the State of Israel and apply it to transforming youth’s relationship with their Jewish values and identity.”
Last month, we learned that the beloved founder of the group, Asher Katz, had been called back to Israel to serve in the war against Hezbollah.
The news felt like a bullet to my heart. Asher is one of those rare souls of beauty who is preternaturally wise, kind, and strong. There have, of course, been hundreds of bullets to the heart this past year, but this one was personal: Asher had steered my son through his bar mitzvah project.
There was an immediate outpouring of notes to Asher from parents, praying for his safe return. Many of us finally felt the raw intensity Israelis are forced to feel every single hour.
I will never fully understand, from a spiritual perspective, why Judeans have had to suffer this type of anguish for nearly 3,000 years. But unlike Israelis, I didn’t grow up with this incessant sadness and fear, and my grandparents prayed that my brother and I never would.
I’m angry, yes, but I know that to be able to live up to Asher’s incredible role model, I need to turn that anger into strength. Perhaps because he’s dealt with antisemitic incidences all of his life, my son is already better at this than I am.
“Swords are forged in fire,” says my Israeli friend Forest Rain Marcia.
Still, I will never forgive those in the Arab world who took our souls of beauty away from us, and I will never forgive the leftists here who have allowed them to do so. At least in the 1930s and 40s, most of the world recognized evil — even if, early on, they didn’t have the courage to fight it.
In 2024, evil has become just another noun. After the assassination of Hassan Nasrallah, his Washington Post obituary claimed his followers viewed him as a “moral compass,” and “father figure.”
Fortunately, these descriptions soon had to compete with photos of Syrian children holding “thank you Netanyahu” signs, and Iranians expressing gratitude outside of the Israeli embassy in London.
As George Orwell put it: “In times of universal deceit, telling the truth will be a revolutionary act.”
In the midst of all of this, I went to see a screening of White Bird, a beautiful film starring Helen Mirren about the kindness of (some) French people during the Nazi occupation.
Sitting next to me was a seasoned Black film critic. When the film ended, I was caught up in a river of tears, but managed to eke out: “What did you think?”
He then gave me a highly professional critique of the film. By that time, the lights had come on, and he saw the tears still streaming down my face.
“All Jewish films end sadly,” he said gently.
We then walked out into a morass of keffiyeh-garbed millennials screaming absurdities. He shook his head and looked me in the eyes. “Stay safe, OK?” I thanked him, trying to adjust from the horror of the 1940s to the horror of today.
But what he said is in fact the message of the film. There will always be people who have the courage to be kind, even in the face of evil.
“Evil will only be stopped when good people decide to put an end to it,” says the French mother in the film. “It is our fight, not God’s.”
The “white bird” represents hope — Hatikvah. We will get through this evil, too. But only with the resilience of young men like Asher and the bravery of those not willing to accept today’s universal deceits. Perhaps most important, we will get through these times by strengthening the Judean soul.
“Why do they hate us?” the young Sara asks her father in the film.
“All people have a light that shines inside of them,” he responds. “This light allows us to see into other people’s hearts, to see the beauty there. The love. The humanity. Some people, though, have lost this light. They have darkness inside them, so that is all they see in others: darkness.”
“Why do they hate us? Because they cannot see our light. Nor can they extinguish it. As long as we shine our light, we win. That is why they hate us. Because they will never take our light from us.”
Karen Lehrman Bloch is editor in chief of White Rose Magazine. A different version of this article was originally published in The Jewish Journal.
The post What Makes Israel and Jews Different: The Light in Our Hearts first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.