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Brendon Stewart Freedman

Jul 7, 2026, 12:33 AM

Helping People Live Until They Die

AI-generated illustration inspired by the memories described in this essay. The figures are fictional.

Many people believe that palliative care begins when medicine has run out of ideas, and they are right. But they are also wrong, and wrong very significantly, because of the unspoken assumption that goes with this belief. That assumption...

Jul 3, 2026, 7:11 PM

Dear Olim, explore more of Israel

We all love the beaches of Tel Aviv. We enjoy walking through Shuk Ha Carmel and the Levinsky Market, and few things are better than sitting at one of the city's many cafés with a good cup of coffee,...

Jul 2, 2026, 8:54 PM

Finding Home on the Kibbutz

Of everything I loved about Israel, the kibbutzim are probably what I think back on the most. There's something about that place that just stuck with me, and it's not the version of Israel you see on the news...

Jun 25, 2026, 6:31 PM

To the Farm We Go

Image Source: Gemini

I have always been a terrible kibbutznik. As a sweaty woman used to the gray skies and freezing temperatures of Chicago, the Middle East was not the ideal place for my complexion. In addition to moving to a place that felt...

Sharona Margolin Halickman

Jun 23, 2026, 10:05 AM

The Origins of Rosh Tzurim and Gvaot

Bilam’s first bracha (Bamidbar 23:7-10) declares: “From Aram, Balak, King of Moav brought me, out of the mountains of the east saying, ‘Come curse Yaakov for me. Go denounce Yisrael.’ How can I curse whom God has not cursed? How...

Jun 21, 2026, 8:58 AM

Just Another Lemon Tree

Note: these posts will not be in any sort of chronological order, but just based on what my brain decides on any given day. This story is based on how the kibbutz was 13 years ago. Since then, some...

Jun 18, 2026, 6:22 AM

What India Might Learn from Israel’s Involuntary Urbanism

A class is held in front of the iconic stained glass windows at the old National Library of Israel building in Jerusalem, in an undated photo. (Source: The Times of Israel)

Most comparative analyses begin in the wrong place. They ask: what has Israel built that India should copy? Drip irrigation. Iron Dome. Mossad. The startup ecosystem. Unit 8200. These answers are not wrong, they are simply shallow. They describe outputs...

Jun 10, 2026, 12:38 AM

Why the left should like Israel

The media coverage and the common discourse about Israel are all too often reduced to conflict and politics. In many political discussions, particularly on the left, Israel is viewed primarily through the lens of conflict and security. However, there are...

Jun 6, 2026, 10:34 AM

The Accidental Socialist

Image Source: Gemini

Being a socialist is hard. Being an accidental socialist is harder. Because I didn't really choose this life per se. I was never into the ideology. I don't like hammers (manual labor, gross) and red bandanas (I'm more of...

Michael J. Lewis

May 25, 2026, 7:14 PM

Flashback Half-a-Century: Saying Goodbye to ‘My’ Kibbutz (Kfar Blum) – A Homage!

Personal photos of Kibbutz Kfar Blum taken by the author

50 years ago to-the-day - ”On This Day” in May 1976 - I left the Kibbutz where I had spent almost two, personally-transformative, years as a volunteer: Kibbutz Kfar Blum in the Upper Galilee alongside the Jordan River with...

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