A Rosh Hashanah of Resilience
During Operation “Am K’Lavi” (Rising Lion), a senior Israeli official gave a press conference explaining efforts to bring stranded Israelis back home. At one point, she addressed those Israelis abroad and used a single word that drove everyone in Israel crazy: “Enjoy.”
An outsider—say an Italian or Swiss citizen—wouldn’t understand the uproar. But here in Israel, it was obvious. Enjoy? While we’re vacationing in Athens or Miami, rockets are falling from Iran on Israel. We need to come home now!
Because we are the only nation in the world where “rescue flights” means not evacuating people from war zones to safety, but exactly the opposite—bringing them into the conflict zone. That’s the paradox of Israel: our very presence here brings us comfort and peace of mind, even when the Middle East swirls with chaos all around us. As I said, only Israelis can truly understand this.
Well, not only Israelis. Jews around the globe understand it too. A decisive majority of our fellows who were in Israel during the recent war with Iran chose to stay. Those who left did so with heavy hearts. But let’s not forget: these are young Jews who made the decision to come here during a war—a choice that, frankly, few outside the Jewish world would ever comprehend.
Our tradition teaches us: “The more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread.” We see that ancient truth unfolding again before our eyes. The more complicated Israel’s reality becomes, the more the Jewish people rise to support it. And this new Jewish year is no exception.
If I were leading an educational exchange program in, say, Spain, and Spain were at war, I’d likely have to shut business down. But in Israel, against every normal forecast, we see something extraordinary: growth.
Compared to this time last year, registrations for Masa programs are already up 32%. And let’s remember—this is only the beginning of the year. Full registration is still to come, yet the signs are already clear: young Jews continue to show up for Israel.
Our flagship programs remain strong and diverse; Gap Year and Career Development tracks—showing that young Jews today want to connect not only through heritage but also through their professional and personal journeys. On average, our fellows spend nearly seven months in Israel—long enough not just to visit, but to live, breathe, and integrate into Israeli society.
And they come from everywhere. Almost half are from the United States, followed by France, the UK, Mexico, and Canada. But just as exiting are the fellows coming from unexpected countries: Azerbaijan, Monaco, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Hong Kong, Morocco, even Uganda. These are small, sometimes hidden communities on the global Jewish map—yet they too are sending their young people here. That’s the magnetic pull of Israel, the unshakable bond that unites us.
At Masa, each fellow is not a statistic but a story. Each one chooses to be here: to volunteer, to teach, to study, to build a career, to walk the streets of Tel Aviv or Jerusalem, to sit at a Shabbat table in Be’er Sheva or Tzfat. In doing so, they become ambassadors for Israel, carrying their experiences back home.
So, as the Jewish year begins, my message is simple: despite wars, uncertainty, and hardship, the young Jews of the world are with us. They are coming to Israel. They are strengthening Israel. And they are ensuring that the next chapter of the Jewish story is not written with despair, but with resilience, pride, and hope.
Am Yisrael Chai. The people of Israel live—and thanks to the next generation, we thrive.
