Ariela Davis

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Oct 23, 2024, 12:00 PM

Simchat Torah with no easy answers

Eli Bibas holds a Torah scroll that survived the Holocaust during a ceremony marking the donation of it to Kibbutz Nir Oz, southern Israel, December 20, 2023. Eli's son, Yarden, and daughter-in-law Shiri were kidnapped from their home in the kibbutz with their two sons, Ariel and Kfir, then ages 4 and 10 months respectively, on October 7, when Hamas militants crossed the border and took 251 captive to Gaza. With the help of Am Yisrael Together, the Torah was donated by the Hoschander family of New York, on behalf of the Hebrew Academy of Long Beach, in support of the community. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

Last year, we unknowingly celebrated while families in the south were being massacred. This year, I'm told to embrace the holiday, but I'm not there yet

Sep 13, 2024, 2:59 PM

Fighting to Save Our Olim-Friendly School

I haven’t slept for more than 3 hour stretches for over a month. These have been among the most stressful weeks of my life. I have hardly seen my own family. I just go back and forth to Misrad...

Aug 26, 2021, 12:11 PM

Impending September 1st Bidud Disaster

I write this piece with full disclosure that I nearly failed the Biology Regents when I was in 9th grade. I am the first to admit that I know absolutely nothing about the science behind vaccines or about how...

Jul 22, 2021, 2:34 PM

A Year of Tears

Last year at this time, we were loading my parents’ and brother’s cars with our 12 suitcases and 6 carry-ons, with lots of stress and mixed emotions. After years of longing, we were finally fulfilling our lifelong dream of...

Dec 30, 2020, 12:12 PM

Where is David Friedman Square?

It was a few days after the US elections when several states were still counting ballots but it was a foregone conclusion that Biden had won. As a fresh American olah to Israel, the US elections were very much...

Oct 29, 2020, 3:13 PM

Our Lech Lecha and What We Left Behind

I will not cry today, I resolve as I open my Chumash to learn the parsha. I can’t. I have a busy day ahead of me and after learning the first aliyah yesterday, I spent much of the day...

Jul 2, 2019, 7:57 AM

47 years later… a dream fulfilled

Forty-seven years ago, my grandparents announced they were making aliyah. They sold their house in Brooklyn, purchased an apartment in north Tel Aviv and enrolled my mother at a high school in Israel. But my mother, who was graduating...

May 4, 2018, 7:25 AM

We say ‘Never Again’ but, as an American Jew, I’m scared

Never Again. It’s the catchphrase of the Holocaust. And sometimes when a phrase is repeated so often with confidence and passion, we start to accept it without questioning what it really means. As of late, this phrase has begun to...

Mar 19, 2017, 10:25 PM

Discovering Prayer

It's Sunday morning and I am engaging in the same internal battle that many parents experience: It's the one "day off" of the week. My kids sleep late, take their time walking around in pajamas, make fancy breakfasts, skype with...

Jan 5, 2017, 8:15 PM

A mother kills her children and the danger of doing it all

Winter break is over and it’s back to school. There are so many things to get done both at home and at work and yet, all I can think about is a story that happened in Israel earlier this...

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About Me

Ariela Davis is an Israel/Jewish educator. Before making aliyah with her family in 2020, she served as a Judaic director and communal Jewish leader in the U.S. and currently serves as the Menahelet of Ulpanat Orly in Bet Shemesh. She is a freelance writer, editor and speaker about Israel and Jewish topic.