So Now I AM a Zionist

I never was a Zionist, I thought. Nonetheless, I ended up living in Israel and thought of myself as an Israeli patriot. It was truly unexpected.

As a kid growing up in the Philadelphia area, I wasn’t very aware of Israel. My mother was active in the League of Women Voters, not in Hadassah. When the rabbi of our small and traditional Conservative synagogue moved to Israel in about 1965, that seemed strange. I didn’t know any Israelis. Israel did show up occasionally. I remember celebrating Yom Ha’atzmaut in Hebrew school on Israel’s 16^th and 17^th birthdays—such early days! I remember the Six-Day War, but mostly because it overlapped with my last day of 6th grade, the day a girl came in a paper dress!

That lack of interest in Israel is surprising since both of my parents came from families with deep connections to Israel reaching back before independence in 1948. My father’s father lived in the old city of Jerusalem until 1892, and regularly visited. I remember my grandmother leaving us in a chilly Rome only to discover it was snowy in Jerusalem.

My mother’s side were equally connected. Her aunt Rose Halperin was president of Hadassah. Her father was involved in a Zionist newspaper. They supported Israel bonds.

I was in college when the Yom Kippur War broke out. Maybe that explains why I rediscovered our religion. The years after found me in Jerusalem. Eventually, married with 2 children, we set up housekeeping here and here we stayed.

I would still have said it’s my choice to live here, where being Jewish is natural and fits the flow of life. Where keeping kosher and Shabbat are easy. I would have said I am a proud Israeli citizen, a patriot.

I would still have said that on October 6. Even on October 8. Maybe even on September 1, 2026.

But today I won’t say that. Today I am a Zionist. A Zionist who believes that this state of Israel is the native homeland of the Jews and that those who don’t live here better hurry up and move here before the countries where they live become unlivable. Paris is burning. Obama is speaking in Ireland, fanning the flames of “colonialism” claim against us Israelis. The elections in the United States seem likely to bring in a large number of Democratic Socialists of America anti-Israel/anti-Jewish officeholders. My family and friends (mostly living in the northeast) are facing midterm elections where they may vote straight Democrat.

So now I am a Zionist, not only for me but also for you. Come home. Build a life in Israel. Build a better Israel.