Masa Israel Journey Blog

Inside Look into Masa Israel through Executive Director Ezrachi

August 19, 2007

By Erin Kopelow

"Israel, is about to celebrate its 60th birthday," Masa Executive Director Dr. Elan Ezrachi says with an air of determination, "and the Jewish world of today is dramatically different than what it was sixty years ago."

The level of growth Israel has experienced over these past sixty years has significantly changed the face of this country. Compared to the Israel of 1948, which was a small country struggling to survive and define itself in the midst of mass immigration, war, and conflict, Israel today is a productive and thriving economic and cultural hub, one that now contains the largest single population of Jews in the world.

This demographic reality has lead many to believe a strong relationship between Diaspora and Israel crucial for the longevity of both communities. "We already know that more Jewish...

Read More | Comments (0)

The people you meet

August 01, 2007

By Eric Lightman

A year after I left Israel I found myself on my couch, in my low-end apartment in the West End of Richmond Virginia, with the girl I was dating at the time. An expression on her face prompted me to ask her what she was thinking about.

She paused. “Remember our first date, when I was really nervous and stressed? It was the three month anniversary of the shootings at Tech.” She was a Virginia Tech student and an EMT with the volunteer fire department in Blacksburg. “Being back home for the summer,” she continued, “without my friends from school, is really hard.”

I blinked. And then I held her because I knew I understood.

I glanced at my IKEA coffee table and saw, under the removable glass top, my collection of photos I put there when I...