BEYOND MEMORY: PRAGUE’S LIVING JEWISH HERITAGE

Despite its complex millennium-long relationship with its Jewish community, Prague today actively preserves, honors, and celebrates its profound Jewish heritage.

By Motti Verses

A confession: Of all the places I have travelled beyond Israel, there is only one where I have truly felt that Judaism is not merely tolerated, but genuinely respected, cherished and embraced with warmth: Prague.

There is something profoundly moving about walking through the Czech capital as a Jew. Here, Jewish history is not hidden away as an uncomfortable reminder of the past. Instead, it is carefully preserved, proudly presented and woven into the very fabric of the city’s cultural identity. From its beautifully restored synagogues and the haunting Old Jewish Cemetery to the stories shared by guides and locals, there is a sincere sense of reverence rather than obligation.

Every visit leaves me with the same feeling: Prague is more than one of Europe’s most beautiful cities. It is the only place outside Israel where I have truly felt embraced as a Jew. That feeling alone keeps drawing me back.

A day exploring the synagogues of Josefov, Prague’s historic Jewish Quarter, is both inspiring and deeply emotional. Each synagogue tells a different chapter in the remarkable story of one of Europe’s oldest Jewish communities.

Few places leave such a profound impression as the Pinkas Synagogue. At first glance, its interior appears almost understated. Then the walls reveal their heartbreaking secret: nearly 80,000 handwritten names of Jewish men, women and children from Bohemia and Moravia who perished during the Holocaust. This is far more than a museum. It is a place of remembrance where silence often says more than words ever could.

Nearly 80,000 names cover the walls of the Pinkas Synagogue, transforming the building into one of Europe’s most powerful Holocaust memorials.(Photo: Motti Verses)

Adjacent to the synagogue lies the Old Jewish Cemetery, unlike any cemetery I have ever visited. Layer upon layer of weathered gravestones lean gently against one another, reflecting centuries during which the Jewish community was forbidden from expanding the burial ground. The grave of Rabbi Judah Loew, the legendary Maharal of Prague, is one of the most revered sites in the cemetery, attracting visitors from around the world. I felt an overwhelming sense of reverence. It is not simply a cemetery. It  is a place where memory, resilience and the enduring spirit of a people continue to speak across the centuries.

The grave of Rabbi Judah Loew, the legendary Maharal of Prague, is one of the most revered sites in the Old Jewish Cemetery, attracting visitors from around the world. (Photo: Motti Verses)

The Maisel Synagogue tells the remarkable story of a community that flourished against the odds. Built by the wealthy philanthropist Mordecai Maisel during Prague’s Golden Age of Jewish life, it celebrates centuries of scholarship, commerce and culture. 

The elegant Maisel Synagogue traces the remarkable story of Prague’s Jewish community through centuries of scholarship, prosperity and resilience. (Photo: Motti Verses)

Tucked beside Prague’s historic Jewish Town Hall, the High Synagogue is easy to overlook, yet it remains one of Josefov’s hidden gems. Originally built for the leaders of Prague’s Jewish community, its elevated prayer hall symbolised both dignity and responsibility. 

The Spanish Synagogue is an absolute feast for the senses. Beneath its soaring dome, every wall glitters with intricate gold ornamentation, vivid colours and magnificent Moorish designs inspired by Spain’s Alhambra Palace. 

Unfortunately, the Klausen Synagogue was closed during my visit as it undergoes an extensive multi-year restoration and redesign of its permanent exhibition.

Passing through the doors of my last station – the Old-New Synagogue was overwhelming. Stepping inside feels like travelling back to the Middle Ages. Built in the late 13th century, its weathered stone walls have witnessed more than seven centuries of prayer, celebration, persecution and resilience. The synagogue is also forever linked to Prague’s most famous Jewish legend – the Golem – said to have been created by Rabbi Judah Loew to protect the city’s Jewish community.

The Altneuschul (Old-New Synagogue), built ca. 1270 is not only the oldest building in Prague’s Jewish Quarter but also the oldest preserved synagogue in Europe. (Photo: From Antiquitates)

I couldn’t resist meeting Daniel Wechsberg, who may well be the only Jewish boy to have celebrated his Bar Mitzvah at Prague’s Old-New Synagogue during the Communist era. “It was 1961, and growing up in a deeply Jewish family under a Communist regime is something I will never forget,” he recalls. “Those years shaped who I am today and ultimately led me to build my life in Israel.”

1961: young Daniel Wechsberg – bottom left, at a Hanukkah festive candle lighting ceremony at the Old-New Synagogue (Altneuschul) with Bohemia Chief Rabbi Richard Feder (right). (Photo: Dr. Hans Wechsberg). (Inset right) Daniel Wechsberg today, a resident of Kiryat Ono, nearTel Aviv.

At the time, very few Jews attended synagogue services, especially at the historic Old-New Synagogue. “I return to Prague almost every year, and I never miss the opportunity to visit the synagogue where I celebrated my Bar Mitzvah. Whenever I tell curious visitors about my connection to the Altneuschul, they look at me as if I’m part of its history. They treat me like a hero and always invite me to stay and share more stories,” he says with a smile.

One aspect of visiting Prague’s Jewish Quarter nowadays surprises many Israeli visitors. Every entrance is protected by rigorous security measures, and unlike most of Prague’s churches, admission is not free. Some visitors quietly question why they must pay to enter synagogues while churches welcome visitors without charge.

Feature picture: The writer in the Old Jewish Cemetery, where every weathered gravestone tells another chapter in the remarkable story of Prague’s Jewish community. (Photo: Itzhak Rabihiya)

The answer lies in understanding what these sites represent. They are not simply synagogues. They form part of the Jewish Museum in Prague, one of the world’s most important Jewish museums. A single ticket (600 CZK, approximately €24) grants access to the museum’s historic synagogues and the Old Jewish Cemetery. Every ticket purchased directly supports the preservation of centuries-old buildings, priceless Judaica, invaluable archives and one of Europe’s most significant collections of Jewish heritage, ensuring that the story of Prague’s once-thriving Jewish community continues to be shared with future generations.

Pavla Niklová, Director of the Jewish Museum in the Spanish Synagogue, inspired by the Alhambra of Spain, with its Moorish architecture (Photos: Karel Cudlín and Motti Verses)

Pavla Niklová, Director of the Jewish Museum in Prague, believes preserving Jewish heritage means much more than maintaining historic buildings.

Says Niklová:

“The Jewish Museum in Prague has always had an important responsibility: to care for one of Europe’s most remarkable collections of Jewish heritage and to keep it open to the public. Since 2023, we have placed even greater emphasis on making the Museum welcoming and relevant to as many people as possible. Our synagogues are beautiful historic buildings, but they are much more than that. They are places where people can discover stories, ask questions and better understand Jewish history, culture and traditions. That is why we have expanded our cultural programme, introduced new exhibitions and educational activities, strengthened our partnerships and worked to make the Museum more accessible to Czech visitors as well as international guests.”

This year is particularly significant, as the Museum celebrates its 120th anniversary. “We wanted it to be more than a celebration of our history,” says Niklová. “Throughout 2026, we are inviting people to experience the Museum in many different ways. The programme includes a Day of Open Synagogues, cultural events throughout the year and our anniversary exhibition, Prague Jewish Museum: 120 Years.”

“Looking after our synagogues remains at the heart of everything we do. Over the past 30 years, the Museum has invested more than CZK 500 million (around €21 million) in restoring its historic buildings, collections and professional facilities. We are now continuing this work with the renovation of our temporary exhibition gallery, the restoration of the Ceremonial Hall and the future renewal of the Klausen Synagogue,” Niklová revealed.

The Jewish Museum in Prague welcomes more than half a million visitors each year, making it one of the Czech Republic’s most visited cultural and historic attractions. Yet what makes Prague truly remarkable is not the number of visitors, but the way it embraces its Jewish legacy. Here, unlike in many cities around the world, Jewish heritage is not hidden behind museum walls or remembered only on memorial days. It is carefully preserved, deeply respected, and shared with genuine pride




About the writer:

The author is a seasoned hotel expert, traveler, writer, and videographer, and formerly served as Head of Public Relations for Hilton Hotels & Resorts in Israel. Today, as a travel writer and hospitality trends analyst, his insights and experiences are regularly featured in leading Israeli media outlets.




*Feature picture: Inside Prague’s Old-New Synagogue (Altneuschul), Europe’s oldest active synagogue, where over 750 years of Jewish history still come alive. (Photo: Motti Verses).





While the mission of Lay of the Land (LotL) is to provide a wide and diverse perspective of affairs in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world, the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by its various writers are not necessarily ones of the owners and management of LOTL but of the writers themselves.  LotL endeavours to the best of its ability to credit the use of all known photographs to the photographer and/or owner of such photographs (0&EO).

HANGAR OF HORROR TO GATES TO HEAVEN

I did not want to talk about it; so now I’m writing about it – my visit to Camp Shura in central Israel.

By David E. Kaplan

This article contains information of a sensitive nature.

I was descending an escalator at  Kfar Saba shopping mall in central Israel. Above were giant industrial fans with huge propeller blades. With the blazing hot summer weather, it should have brought relief. It didn’t!  It reminded me of horror when only days before I went on a tour of Machaneh Shura (Camp Shura) near Ramle and the first visual image that greeted our Shurat HaDin tour at a hangar was the same type of huge propeller blades. Three years earlier, in October 2023, these very blades rotated furiously above the ‘living few’ processing the ‘many dead’, as endless bodies  – or remains  – were being brought in refrigerated trucks for identification and preparation for burial following the massacres of October 7 across southern Israel.

I had visited earlier some of the sites where these people were brutally butchered – Nir Oz, Nahal Oz, Kfar Aza, Be’eri the Nova Music Festival memorial site and the totally destroyed Sderot police station. Now I was bearing witness of what gruesomely played out at this military and rabbinical wayward station where remains had arrived on their final journey and then left with their loved ones to burial sites across the State of Israel.

On could understand the condition of the bodies seeing the level of destruction caused by Hamas terrorists such as this bedroom (above) at Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7, 2023. (Photo: Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

I soon understood the caution we received before alighting the bus at this IDF central military base that handles casualty identification, death determinations, and prepares fallen soldiers and massacre victims for burial with military and religious honors.

A young soldier who had boarded our bus at the camp’s entry gate warned:

“What you are about to see and hear may distress you immensely. You may not be prepared for what you will experience. If you have any problems or feel nausea along the way, please advise us.”

One of the ‘living few’ who attended to the ‘many dead’ three years earlier was our  ‘tour’ guide, Rabbi and Stf.-Sgt. Bentzi Mann, born to US parents who as a reservist had reported here for duty on October 8.

Rabbi Bentzi Mann carried out the ‘holy work’ of identifying the bodies of murdered Israeli citizens and soldiers as part of the IDF rabbinate. (Photo: KRifkind Photography)

“This is the IDF Rabbinate morgue. I was in Rehovot when I received the call-up and arrived here totally unprepared for what came next. I had never in my life seen a dead body before and within minutes I was holding a blood-covered body,” he says.

We look around the hangar, imagining what unfolded here three years earlier.

“So just try envision what occurred here – this is one of the hardest parts of my job,” he began as he relives in the telling of the horror. “Israel had never before faced this many dead at any one time. There was no ability to separate the civilian dead from those of the IDF, police, and other security forces. There were so many bodies, including those of terrorists and Gazans who were intermixed with Israelis. Many, burnt beyond recognition were meshed together.” 

A number of bodies had been beheaded and in one case Rabbi Mann worked on, “the head was discovered two weeks after the body had been buried.” For this reason, in cases where body parts remained missing, “a grave was not fully sealed so that if possible, the missing parts could be added later.”

While a grisly undertaking, Rabbi Mann refers to his work with the dead as “dealing with angels.” This is the only way he could deal with the mass of death that came to Shura which President Herzog had called “the gate to hell,” but which Bentzi prefers to characterize – as reframed by Rabbi Ephrahaim Mirvis – as  “Gate of Heaven” because “those who died, did so sanctifying God’s name.”

Rabbi Bentzi Mann emotionally unpacks to our Shurat HaDin tour group the horror of what unfolded in this hangar where bodies were “unloaded” from endless refrigerated trucks. (Photo: D.E. Kaplan)

Believing this, he says, “is what kept me going.”

I thought to myself listening to this young and traumatized rabbi, “How many times has he given this tour?” and three years later, he still cannot hold back the tears.

Such WAS – and IS – the horror of October 7.

This experience will never leave Stf.-Sgt. Bentzi Mann. I sensed he feels he owes it to the fallen who passed through Shura to never forget and explains his need – as part of his miluim (military reserve duty) – to serve as a guide. A “guide” has a totally elevated meaning in the context of the service Stf.-Sgt. Bentzi Mann performs. As he explains:

 “It’s not Chessed what I’m doing, its gratitude for people who gave their lives so others, like myself and my family, and many of you and your families, may live. They are angels.”

We are standing at the entrance of the hangar and Rabbi Mann relates that when huge sums of money had been donated to build this important facility, “It was asked ‘Why do we need such a big hangar? There will never a need to process so many dead bodies all at once.’ ‘It’s overreach’.”

Overreach?

No one predicted October 7!

Rabbi Mann tells how the trucks lined up and bodies brough in “one after another, after another.” We stood in silence absorbing his words, processing the images. I looked down at my feet and wondered what had occurred here where my shoes now stood. “There were not even enough refrigerated trucks. They had to commission civilian commercial vehicles. An ice-cream truck arrived piled up –  not with ice-scream – but bodies. To this day, every time I and m ycolleagues on duty that day see these trucks on the road, we think …of dead Jews.”

He describes the refrigerated trucks parking, and bodies being lined up on the ground in the hangar, which proved too small; “there was not sufficient space so bodies were  laid outside,” exactly where I was standing.

 “One had walk carefully to avoid stepping on bodies. You then take them to the refrigerators.” I shook my head in disbelief reflecting on this hangar that the planners originally thought was too big for the purpose it was built ending up on October 7 to be inadequate!

Rabbi Mann addresses the difficulties:

“One way to identify a corpse is to have two witnesses come before a beit din (rabbinical court)  but the process of identification after Oct. 7 was made harder because of the state on the deceased, such as those who were burned. Also, it was harder to find witnesses because there were so many dead.”

And then the sensitivities of welcoming and preparing the bereaved families when they come for the remains of their loved ones.

“You want to prepare the bereaving families for the moment when they will reunite with their loved one in the Cheder Preda (the “Goodbye Room” set aside for the families),” says Rabbi Mann.

“Families deserve to know what they will be seeing. It is their decision to make. Very difficult.”  Bentzi tells of a Hayal Boded (A lone soldier – a member of the IDF who serves without immediate family support in Israel) who took a direct hit by an RPG to the head and there was no face to show “….and so we said to the mother “Why don’t you hold his hand.” She cried and said “Thank you. It’s all I needed; I felt it was him, I know it’s him.” That was all she needed.”

Rabbi Mann relates that for the first few days “I was working 18 hours straight. The IDC chief rabbi of the IDF, who had to sign off on every identification, was basically awake 24/7. In the beginning we had 80 funerals in one day.” Many of the bodies, “arriving by the truckload were in terrible condition,” and together with  his colleagues “we began to learn  a body was broken up or not, by the weight of the body bags we were unloading.”

Rabbi Mann takes us over to the finger print scanner that helps identify but explained that many bodies were brought in without hands so that they would have to move to the next stages of identification through teeth and then DNA matching.

He explained that “every soldier is given a wrist band with a bar code and a number,” and recalled when showing a group that included visitors from the USA, “this older guy  burst into tears. I asked what happened and he tells us of his late father that had been a Holocaust survivor with a number tattooed on his arm and that imagining all these burned bodies of dead Israelis with numbers on their arms, reminded him of his father and the Shoah. That it was happening all over again – to the Jews now of Israel.” Bentzi takes a deep breath, his voice choking with emotion, and continued:

 “I told him, ‘No, it is not the same. With the Nazis they turned beautiful names into numbers. Here, we are turning numbers back into beautiful names. We are restoring identity and they will be arriving in heaven with their names known.”

Someone asks:

“Are soldiers always buried in coffins in Israel?”

It was a question Bentzi may have been reluctant to answer as he only addressed the issue because asked.

It was quickly evident why.

“Yes, unlike civilians who are wrapped in traditional shrouds, IDF soldiers are always buried in coffins,” and cites as an explanation the case of a soldier brought in “but there was no body but over 100 body parts – all associated with the same person. We took every piece of small flesh up to our laboratory where specialists analyzed every single part, from muscle to tissue to cells. We go to extreme lengths to isolate and examine every human body part as it is all holy. But in the end, there is no body and no one else knowns outside the family what is in the coffin.”

While people are stoically processing the story and explanation, Rabbi Mann continues, “Every time we finish the identification process and the body comes out and we place the name on top of the flag and tallit, I know we have succeeded both on a personal level  and on a national level. Over and over again they try and destroy us but we survive.”

While watching and listening, my mind drifted of my visits down south and the destroyed homes I had visited where families had been brutally murdered, many burnt alive. I thought of vehicles ambushed and burned with people inside when terrorists fired heavy weaponry, RPGs, and set fire to hundreds of civilian cars along southern Israeli highways and access roads — notably around the Nova music festival near Re’im and surrounding kibbutzim.  Many victims attempting to flee in vehicles were shot, trapped, or burned alive inside their cars as the vehicles were deliberately torched by attackers.

Israeli soldiers carry the body of a victim of the massacre at Kibbutz Kfar Aza in southern Israel. (Photo: Reuters/Ronen Zvulun)

All this I thought of as I imagined all those beautiful lives cut short and ‘passing through’ where I was standing, here at Camp Shura.

This emotional rollercoaster culminated at the Cheder Preda (the “Goodbye Room”), a quiet space where grieving families can view and say a final farewell to their loved ones in a controlled, dignified setting following the identification and ritual preparation process. We sat, emotionally drained, looking at the bench in the center of the room coffin after coffin had been  placed, over 1000 in the early days following October 7, 2023.

“It was particularly hard,” said Rabbi Mann, “when bodies were brought in of soldiers I personally knew,” and cited Captain Yaron Chitiz from Ra’anana, who he knew, and his family, well.

So, did I and the South Africans in our group.

Our thoughts went out to his parents Clive and Debbie who would have stood where we were sitting now.

Rabbi Mann addressing our group in the “Goodbye Room’.

Yaron was killed one week before his 24th birthday in Gaza where he bravely fended off terrorists on a stairway in a building about to spring a surprise ambush on his unit. He was killed together with two other soldiers in the ensuing battle.

His mother Debbie would mention Shura when she later expressed how grateful she was that his body was retrieved whole following the battle:

“We were able to see him, touch him and say goodbye to him. At Shura, which is where the bodies are prepared for burial, we sang or should I say tried to sing המלאך הגואל אותי. This is the song that is sung at night to children before they go to sleep. The ironic coincidence is that this song appeared in the parshat hashavua – Parashat Vayechi – the week that Yaroni was killed.

We are also extremely grateful that his phone survived the four-hour battle.”

Yaron had left a letter for the family which he had written on his phone.

Included in his last words to his family:

“I feel proud to fight Hamas under the banner of the Chitiz family and the people of Israel.

Thank you for everything!

You are a family for the glory of the State of Israel!

שרים ומספידים לזכרו

Everyone that knows me knows that you are amongst the most important things in my life.

You are the air that I breathe, the laughter, this genuine friendship.”

And to his girlfriend:

“Dara, I love you, you are my life.

You give me the strength to continue….”

It was these messages on the phone that helped his surviving loved ones also “continue”….

And so too we all have to “continue” and we ended the tour of Shura with few words, many thoughts and a silent prayer that what happened here:

 “Will never happen again.”

Yaron Chitiz (z’l) who died heroically fighting Hamas terrorists in Gaza left a phone beside him that contained heart-wrenching messages to his family and girlfriend.






While the mission of Lay of the Land (LotL) is to provide a wide and diverse perspective of affairs in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world, the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by its various writers are not necessarily ones of the owners and management of LOTL but of the writers themselves.  LotL endeavours to the best of its ability to credit the use of all known photographs to the photographer and/or owner of such photographs (0&EO).

Lay of the Land Weekly Newsletter – 09 August 2026

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THE ISRAEL BRIEF – 03 – 06 August 2026
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Lay of the Land’s Image ‘Pick of the Week‘

THE ‘NEW’ – NEW YORK

It may look the same but does it feel the same?

Beneath the Veneer. New York City holds the largest Jewish population of any city in the world outside of Israel, with over 1 million Jewish residents living within the five boroughs. They came as immigrants to escape; are they going to leave again for the same reason?




ARTICLES

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(1)

THE MORAL DECAY OF THE WEST

Are we seeing the decline of Western values?
By Rolene Marks

Fearing the Future. If “You can tell a society is in moral decay by the way it treats its Jews,” asserts the writer, then what does it say about crowds in cities across the world that “before the bodies were cold,” on October 7, 2023,  gathered to celebrate the worst mass murder of Jews since the Holocaust?

THE MORAL DECAY OF THE WEST
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(2)

WORN DOWN BY WAR

A Jewish perspective of ‘anticipatory grief’, loss and mental health during war.
By Bev Moss-Reilly

Fearing the Worst. The dread that sits in the chest when “a loved one is at the front”, when “a mother keeps checking her phone”, or when “a father looks at the door and wonders who will walk through it next.” Anticipatory grief is exhausting and a way of daily life in Israel.

WORN DOWN BY WAR
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(3)

ROTH’S WRATH AT JUSTICE DENIED

Arnold Roth’s 25-Year fight for justice for his daughter’s murder and accountability for a Hamas terrorist.
By Jonathan Feldstein

Downtown Devastation. Among the dozens killed was 15-year-old Malki Roth whose father, Arnoldhas has not ceased to bring the mastermind of his daughter’s murder – a resident of Jordan – to justice.

ROTH’S WRATH AT JUSTICE DENIED
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LOTL Cofounders David E. Kaplan (Editor), Rolene Marks and Yair Chelouche

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While the mission of Lay of the Land (LotL) is to provide a wide and diverse perspective of affairs in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world, the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by its various writers are not necessarily ones of the owners and management of LOTL but of the writers themselves.  LotL endeavours to the best of its ability to credit the use of all known photographs to the photographer and/or owner of such photographs (0&EO).

THE ISRAEL BRIEF – 03 – 06 August 2026

03 August 2026 – Will Hamas really disarm and who has Uganda honoured? This and more on The Israel Brief.



04 August 2026 – Who is “Unbelievably Duplicitous” and you can show Boy George support – this and more on The Israel Brief.



05 August 2026 – Has Israel agreed to the Gaza plan and remembering a very special boy on what would have been his birthday on The Israel Brief.



06 August 2026 – A father’s tribute to his son, Theodore Herzl’s grandparents buried in Israel, your news, mensches and morons on The Israel Brief.






While the mission of Lay of the Land (LotL) is to provide a wide and diverse perspective of affairs in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world, the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by its various writers are not necessarily ones of the owners and management of LOTL but of the writers themselves.  LotL endeavours to the best of its ability to credit the use of all known photographs to the photographer and/or owner of such photographs (0&EO).

WORN DOWN BY WAR

A Jewish perspective of ‘anticipatory grief’, loss and mental health during war.

By Bev Moss-Reilly

(*To assist readers, a glossary appears at the end of the article)

War wounds people long before the final phone call, the funeral, the shattered building, or the unbearable silence. One of its deepest cruelties is anticipatory grief, that aching state of living in fear of loss before the loss is even confirmed. It is the dread that sits in the chest when a loved one is at the front, when a child is missing, when a siren sounds, when a family waits for news, when a mother keeps checking her phone, or when an elderly father looks at the door and wonders who will walk through it next.

It is grief in advance, and it is exhausting.

Anticipatory grief affects mental health profoundly. It keeps the nervous system on constant alert. People struggle to sleep, eat, think clearly, or regulate their emotions. The body remains tense, braced for impact. Anxiety and helplessness grow. So does guilt. People feel guilty for being safe when others are not, guilty for carrying on, guilty for moments of laughter, guilty for not having done more. In war, the mind rarely gets to rest. Even when tragedy has not yet struck, the soul is already trembling.

Then, when loss does come, it often arrives in layers. War does not only take one thing. It can strip a person of home, family, routine, livelihood, identity, faith in the world, bodily safety, and the simple expectation that tomorrow will look like today. This is why grief in wartime is not only about death, although death is devastating enough. It is also about every other form of loss that leaves a person disoriented, raw, and altered.

PHYSICAL LOSS

 A person may lose a limb, mobility, eyesight, hearing, strength, or independence. A child may lose the sense of safety that once came from being held by a parent in a familiar room. A family may lose a house filled with photographs, books, toys, mezuzot, candlesticks, wedding gifts, kiddush cups, and all the ordinary holy clutter of Jewish life. Possessions are not merely objects. They hold memory, tradition, continuity, and meaning. When they are gone, part of a person’s story can feel erased.

EMOTIONAL LOSS

People lose trust. They lose innocence. They lose the emotional energy required to keep showing up in the same way. They lose the version of themselves that existed before trauma. Some lose the ability to cry. Others cannot stop crying. Some become numb. Some become irritable, angry, frightened, withdrawn, or hypervigilant. Mental health in these moments is not a neat or tidy thing. It is often about survival. It is getting through the next hour, the next night, the next funeral, the next alert, the next memory.

SPIRITUAL LOSS

This can be especially painful because it is often invisible. War can shake a person’s relationship with Hashem, with prayer, with community, and even with meaning itself. Someone may ask, “Where was God?” Another may feel unable to daven. Someone else may go through the motions while feeling empty inside. Others may feel their emunah deepen, not because they understand suffering, but because faith becomes the only place left to stand. Spiritual grief is real grief. It is the mourning of certainty, of order, of the feeling that the world makes sense.

In Jewish life, however, grief is never meant to be carried alone. This is one of the great strengths of our tradition. Judaism does not deny pain, rush mourning, or ask people to be strong in a performative way. It creates structure around sorrow. It gives the mourner something solid when everything else feels unsteady.

When someone dies, Jewish mourning practices provide an emotional and spiritual container. Sitting shiva is one of the most compassionate responses to grief imaginable. The mourner does not have to host, perform, or explain. The community comes. People bring food. They sit low. They share silence. They tell stories. They cry. They pray. They remember. There is no pressure to be polished. Grief is allowed to be visible. It is witnessed. There is no timeline and it’s not linear, neither is it expected to be. That matters enormously for mental health.

Shiva says to the mourner, “You are not abandoned in this pain.” It acknowledges that loss is not something to “move on” from quickly. It slows life down and lets the heart catch up with reality. Shloshim continues that process, recognising that mourning does not end after one week. The rhythms of aveilut honour the fact that the soul needs time. In a world that often demands productivity and emotional suppression, Judaism insists on presence, tenderness, and community.

This is not incidental. It is the essence of emotional support. In many ways, it is the essence of mental health. To be held by others, to be seen, to have meals arrive without asking, to hear Tehillim being said, to be surrounded by people who understand the sacredness of memory, this is not small comfort. It can be life preserving.

SHAPING SURVIVAL

Jewish tradition also understands that grief belongs not only to the individual, but to the collective. We are a people shaped by memory, by exile, by destruction, by rebuilding, by mourning, and by survival. We know what it means to carry names, stories, and absences across generations. That collective memory can be heavy, but it can also be deeply connecting. Jews inherently know how to show up because we have inherited the language of showing up. Nichum aveilim, comforting mourners, is not an abstract value. It is lived chesed. It is practical love.

During war, that support becomes even more vital. Not everyone is mourning a death. Some are mourning a son who returned from battle alive but changed. Some are grieving a daughter who lost her home. Some are living with the anguish of a hostage situation, not knowing whether to hope or prepare their hearts to break. Some are mourning the loss of livelihood, community, safety, or country. Some are grieving while still in danger, which means there is no neat beginning, middle, or end to the process.

That is why compassion matters so much. People living through wartime grief may not look “grief stricken” in the expected way. They may be functioning, making meals, going to work, caring for children, even laughing at times. But beneath that, they may be carrying terror, heartbreak, and spiritual fatigue. We need to be gentle with one another. We need to understand that trauma and grief can coexist with faith, resilience, and even moments of gratitude.

The Jewish way does not promise that grief will disappear. It offers something truer. It teaches that sorrow can be honoured, shared, ritualised, and held with dignity. It teaches that broken hearts still belong in community. It teaches that when a person cannot stand alone, Am Yisrael stands with them.

In wartime, anticipatory grief, loss, and bereavement can shake mental health to its core. Jewish tradition reminds us that comfort is not found only in answers. Often it is found in presence, prayer, remembrance, community, and love. In the candle lit for a soul. In the hand on a shoulder. In the meal left at the door. In the whispered words, “HaMakom yenachem etchem.” In the quiet, enduring truth that even in unbearable loss, no Jew should ever have to mourn alone.

For when one Jew feels pain, every Jew feels pain, and in that shared sorrow lies the quiet, enduring strength of our people.



Glossary of Hebrew Words and Expressions:

Hashem
Literally “The Name.” A reverent way of referring to G-d.

Shiva
The first seven days of mourning after the burial of a close family member. During this time, mourners remain at home and are supported by family, friends, and community.
Note: “sitting sheva” is commonly intended to mean “sitting shiva.”

Shloshim
The thirty-day mourning period following burial. It includes the first seven days of shiva and continues as a gentler, extended phase of mourning.

Aveilut
Jewish mourning practices and the broader laws and customs of bereavement.

Daven
To pray.

Emunah
Faith, trust, or deep spiritual belief, especially in G-d.

Tehillim
Psalms. These are often recited in times of sorrow, danger, illness, or communal need.

Nichum Aveilim
Comforting mourners. This is considered a deeply important mitzvah, or sacred obligation, in Jewish life.

Chesed
Loving kindness, compassion, and acts of generosity or care toward others.

Am Yisrael
The people of Israel, or the Jewish people as a collective.

HaMakom Yenachem Etchem
A traditional phrase said to mourners, meaning:
“May the Omnipresent comfort you.”
It is part of the fuller condolence expression used during mourning.

Mezuzot
Plural of mezuzah. Small parchment scrolls containing sacred verses, placed in a case and attached to the doorposts of Jewish homes.

Kiddush Cup
A ceremonial cup used when reciting Kiddush, the blessing over wine, usually for Shabbat and festivals.




About the writer:

Bev Moss -Reilly is a Jewish freelance content writer living in South Africa with a deep and heartfelt focus on mental health, emotional wellbeing, trauma, grief, and the unseen struggles people carry every day. Through her writing and her Mental Health Packs, she aims to bring comfort, awareness, compassion, and practical support to individuals, families, workplaces, and communities. Her work is rooted in empathy, dignity, and the belief that nobody should feel alone in their pain, especially in times of crisis.









While the mission of Lay of the Land (LotL) is to provide a wide and diverse perspective of affairs in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world, the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by its various writers are not necessarily ones of the owners and management of LOTL but of the writers themselves.  LotL endeavours to the best of its ability to credit the use of all known photographs to the photographer and/or owner of such photographs (0&EO).

THE MORAL DECAY OF THE WEST

Are we seeing the decline of Western values?

By Rolene Marks

Sometimes I think that I have stepped into some kind of time machine that has whisked me back to a time in our history, where rhetoric demonizing the Jewish people was the precursor to the darkest chapter in our history. I feel like I have been transported back to Germany in the 1930’s, when Jews were routinely demonized and excluded from society before the Nuremberg laws and eventually the Holocaust would result in the wholesale slaughter of over six million European Jews. Our numbers have never recovered to pre-World War II statistics.

I know that for many people, I may sound alarmist and others may feel I am overreacting but it does feel like there is an ominous cloud that sits like a sword of Damocles over the Jewish people. The number one target for vitriol is the symbol of our nationhood – Israel.  Jews in diaspora communities are seen as fair game because they are seen as de facto representative of the Jewish state.

You can tell a society is in moral decay by the way it treats its Jews. Jews are the proverbial canaries in the coal mine – and what starts with us, never ends with us. Since time immemorial, this has been the cycle. Rinse and repeat.

Since the atrocities committed by Hamas on October 7th, before the bodies were cold, crowds gathered in cities around the world to celebrate the worst mass murder of Jews since the Holocaust. From the streets of the London to Times Square in New York and the Sydney Opera House and places in between, the gleeful cheering of the mass slaughter, rape and kidnapping was celebrated. Defiant chants of “gas the Jews” were heard on the steps of Australia’s great cultural landmark and similar rhetoric travelled around the world – including chants of “from the river to the sea” which calls for the eradication of the Jewish state.

Cheering Slaughter in Sydney. Hatred towards Jews among the protesters (seen here burning the Israeli flag) in the forecourt of the Sydney Opera House on October 9, 2023, was terrifying. Footage shows protestors chanting: “F… the Jews,” “F… the Zionists”, “Where’s the Jews?”, “Allahu Akbar” and “Gas the Jews”. (Photo: NCA NewsWire/Jeremy Piper)

The IDF were still clearing the communities of the south of terrorist infiltrators, and ZAKA had only started to collect the remains of our dead. The most bizarre phenomenon surfaced that Black Sabbath – the ability of many to both deny the atrocities – and celebrate them at the same time.

The years since the gruesome attacks of 7 October 2023 have seen an exponential rise in Jew hatred in its most current iteration – antizionism.

Distressing Data. Recent data shows a roughly 20% to 21% rise in total recorded antisemitic incidents across the UK for the first six months of 2026, with antisemitism in schools spiking significantly by 59%.

Zionism in its most simple definition is the belief in the right of the Jewish people to their nation state in their historical, ancestral homeland, Israel. It is the national liberation movement of the Jewish people, a belief in our inalienable civil rights and the right of the modern State of Israel to exist. Determining that out of all the nations in the world, ONLY the Jewish people have no right to this basic civil right, is both racists and a denial of history, both biblical and antiquity.

Everything old is new again – albeit wearing more updated clothing and messaging. There really is nothing new under the sun. The genie out the bottle.

Sometimes it feels that wherever we turn, this ancient and irrational hatred is ubiquitous. Nobody is saying that Israel cannot be criticized. Criticism of government policies is the national sport of the Jewish state – and Israelis have a variety of robust views; but holding every citizen as well as diaspora Jews responsible for political decisions that you don’t like, is a sign of something a lot more nefarious.

Expecting Jews to take an ideological litmus or purity test by denouncing the Jewish state in order to be considered socially acceptable, has crossed the line between legitimate criticism and demonization. Despite the overwhelming evidence to the contrary, the accusations of genocide, apartheid, mass starvation and colonization persist. As someone once said, antisemites or Jew haters know the Jew is not guilty – but they enjoy the process of watching him turn his pockets inside out to prove his innocence. History rhymes. We are not your collective Alfred Dreyfus, your cause celebre to be falsely accused and humiliated in the process.

Eruption in Europe. Across Europe, Jews are AGAIN living in constant danger being threatened and attacked for simply being Jews.

We don’t need world leaders posing with Holocaust survivors or making their annual pilgrimage to Auschwitz or remembrance ceremonies looking suitably solemn for the obligatory photo op, while piously declaring Never Again. Never Again is now. We don’t need you making vows to dead Jews. We need you taking action against the threats posed to living Jews. The Jews who are rapidly ostracized from society. The Jews terrified to seek medical help because of growing antisemitism in healthcare. The stories that have already been told are terrifying. The Jewish businesses, more often than not restaurants and bakeries facing threats and intimidation until they are forced to close. The Jews, many of them Israeli, routinely humiliated and threatened at vacation spots. The rabid pandering to sectarian politics which necessitates the routine demonization of the Jewish state for political expediency. The unwillingness of the media to report events that are related to Israel with balance – and the blatant refusal to correct misinformation and malinformation. The hate marches on the streets of capitals calling for the extermination of the Jewish state. The fear of Jewish students to go to university or school because of the growing climate of hate. Jewish employees reporting hate in the work place. The stars of stage, screen and new media like podcasters with their vile conspiracy theories, Holocaust revisions and demonization of Jews and the Jewish state. The political backbenchers and leaders currying votes because pandering to ideological whims pays more than maintaining a strong, moral centre. The abandonment of organisations whose Jews marched proudly with in their fights for civil rights, who have turned their backs on us in our hour of need.

Hell at Harvard. Jewish and Israeli students at Harvard University reported experiencing severe distress, intimidation, and fear for their safety following the October 7, 2023, Hamas attacks and subsequent anti-Israel protests. (Photo: Joseph Prezioso/AFP)

We don’t need your platitudes. We don’t need your words of condemnation. We don’t need your photo opportunities. We need action!

Suicidal empathy is costing us our lives. Trust in institutions has eroded. Jews have lost trust and faith in many  institutions including law enforcement, judicial systems, local and state government and many civic organisations for their failure to enforce the law or to prosecute the truth and for their growing inability to not bow to the mob baying for our blood.

Are the halcyon days for Jews in many western countries over? This is not the first time in our history that we have endured this type of gross discrimination. It is not the first time in our history where we are steadily eroded from publishing, the arts, sports and other industries. It is the first time in our history we have a nation state of our own. Israel. It is also very important to remember that we are NOT powerless. Jews have been part of the fabric of society that have built their countries. We need to remember we still have the law on our side and use it as an instrument to fight back against hate. We must expose the haters, let them know that there are consequences for their actions. Educate the next generation and set an example for them about what it looks like to be proud, knowledgeable and strong. This is a fight where we are all called up to be foot soldiers, we cannot abdicate responsibility. Think about how you can use your own unique skills to organize, educate and fight back against the hatred When future generations ask how did you fight back, how did you show up in the post 7 October Jewish world, what will your answer be? There are so many ways to express our pride in our identity while sending a resounding

We can defend ourselves in a myriad of ways, the big question is whether or not the West is prepared to fight for its values amid constant assaults by those who would see them destroyed. We are the mirror of the western value system. When our values and identities are attacked, you have to ask yourself, who is next?

The question is, are you up for the fight to defend them?





While the mission of Lay of the Land (LotL) is to provide a wide and diverse perspective of affairs in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world, the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by its various writers are not necessarily ones of the owners and management of LOTL but of the writers themselves.  LotL endeavours to the best of its ability to credit the use of all known photographs to the photographer and/or owner of such photographs (0&EO).

ROTH’S WRATH AT JUSTICE DENIED

Arnold Roth’s 25-Year fight for justice for his daughter’s murder and accountability for a Hamas terrorist.

By Jonathan Feldstein

This week is the 25th anniversary of one of the most horrific terror attacks in Israel during what is referred to as the Second Intifada. During the period from late 2000 through the first half of 2005, more than 1000 Israelis were killed and several thousand wounded as a result of countless Palestinian Arab suicide bombings, shootings, stabbings, and more. While hardly a week went by without some such terror attack, the August 9, 2001 bombing of the Sbarro pizza restaurant in central Jerusalem remains one of the most vivid and vulgar, still today. 

The image of Malki found in an undeveloped camera years after her murder. © Arnold Roth

Among the dozens killed and injured, 15-year-old Malki Roth was one of the victims for whom justice has yet to be served. Since then, her father, Arnold Roth, has worked tirelessly to bring the mastermind of his daughter’s murder to justice. Roth discussed this in a powerful and emotionally charged conversation on “Inspiration from Zion,” marking the anniversary of his daughter’s murder, and his continued efforts to bring the terrorist mastermind to justice. The conversation reveals not only the enduring pain of a grieving father but also a scathing critique of:

– international inaction

– Jordanian defiance, and

–  American reluctance to enforce its own laws.

On August 9, 2001, Hamas terrorist Ahlam Tamimi, then a 21-year-old Jordanian journalism student, deliberately targeted the Sbarro pizzeria because it was filled with Jewish children. Tamimi was not the bomber, but the one who selected the site and guided the Hamas suicide bomber there carrying a guitar case filled with explosives and shrapnel to maximize the carnage. Fifteen people were killed immediately, including Malki, an American-Israeli citizen. 130 were wounded. Roth described the period leading up to the attack as tense but not yet at the peak of the Second Intifada violence. “Had we known that Malki and her best friend… were going … into the center of town to take a quick lunch,” he said, his wife Frimet “would have said, don’t go.”

Killer on the Loose. The FBI ‘MOST WANTED TERRORIST’ poster for a terrorist responsible for the death of a US citizen currently residing freely in Jordan.

Tamimi was arrested, and tried in an Israeli military court, where she proudly confessed to the crime. Roth noted chillingly:

 “She admitted joyously, with a smile on her face that chilled the three judges.”

Yet in 2011, as part of the Gilad Shalit prisoner exchange, Israel released 1,027 terrorists including Tamimi. The Roths were only informed of her impending release by a phone call from an Israeli official the morning after the deal was announced.

Since her release, Tamimi has lived openly in Jordan as a celebrity, hosting a television program that glorified terrorism and incited violence against Jews. Roth described her transformation:

“She became a phenomenal performer for the promotion of the redemptive value of killing Jews… This is a compelling story.”

Other than the unthinkable loss of his daughter, the core of Roth’s frustration lies in the failure of the United States to secure Tamimi’s extradition and bring her to justice. Malki was an American citizen, and the U.S. has both an extradition treaty with Jordan and domestic law allowing prosecution of terrorists who murder Americans abroad. Charges were filed against Tamimi in 2013 and unsealed in 2017. Despite this, Jordan has refused to comply, citing a technicality in the treaty that Roth and legal experts dismiss as a self-invented loophole. The U.S. has failed to insist of Jordan’s compliance.

Roth expressed deep disillusionment with the U.S. response. In a recent letter from a senior U.S. official, he was told the administration was doing more than any other to bring Tamimi to justice. His reaction was blunt: “I’m flabbergasted… They’re telling me things that I know that I tell them.” He added, “No Attorney General, no senior figure… has ever responded to us… The United States has betrayed its own values.”

The Merry Monster. Only disappointed she did not succeed in killing more Jews!

Roth emphasized that the issue transcends personal grief. “If we fail to act in the face of grotesquely open and provocative actions by individuals and countries who twist terrorism… then we’re all lost.” He rejected pity as a motivator, instead calling for a defense of core principles: “Hug your children… remember what we can do… We’re different, and if we’re different, we’ve got to guard that difference.”

The conversation also addressed media complicity. Roth criticized BBC Arabic for platforming Tamimi and promoting narratives that glorify her actions. He has worked with media watchdog CAMERA to expose these issues and highlight the broadcaster’s willful failures if not compliance.

At the 25th anniversary of Malki’s murder, the Roths have launched a petition urging the U.S. Secretary of State to enforce the extradition treaty and bring Tamimi to justice in America. Roth stressed: “This is really an effort by my wife and me… We need as many [signatures] as we can get.”

Roth’s message is both personal and universal. The failure to extradite Tamimi represents more than bureaucratic inertia. It signals a troubling willingness to subordinate justice to political convenience. For Roth, this is not merely about one terrorist or one family. It is about whether the United States and the international community will uphold the values of accountability, truth, and the protection of innocent life.

The 25th anniversary of the Sbarro bombing and Malki Roth’s murder come a month before the 25th anniversary of the September 11 terror attack on U.S. soil killing 3000. The attacks took place thousands of miles apart, but the same Islamic terrorist ideology is the perpetrator. For justice and in memory of the victims, we cannot sit by and allow those who carried out these acts to walk free, especially where there is law in place to bring them to justice.

Mind of a Monster. She selected a fast-food restaurant in downtown central Jerusalem popular with children.

As Israel and the Jewish world prepare to commemorate the anniversary of the Sbarro attack on August 9, there have been hopeful developments, but Roth knows better than to get his hopes up too much after all these years of justice denied. But it’s not just about Israel and the Jewish world. Bringing terrorists who murder Americans to justice is a global issue.

Roth’s words serve as a sobering reminder:

true justice remains elusive, but the fight for it must continue. He refuses to let his daughter’s memory be erased or her murderer celebrated. Their call is clear: sign the petition, demand action, and reject the normalization of terror. (Follow the full conversation with Arnold Roth on Inspiration from Zion by video or by audio.)



About the writer:

Jonathan Feldstein ­­­­- President of the US based non-profit Genesis123 Foundation whose mission is to build bridges between Jews and Christians – is a freelance writer whose articles appear in The Jerusalem Post, Times of Israel, Townhall, NorthJersey.com, Algemeiner Journal, The Jewish Press, major Christian websites and more.







While the mission of Lay of the Land (LotL) is to provide a wide and diverse perspective of affairs in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world, the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by its various writers are not necessarily ones of the owners and management of LOTL but of the writers themselves.  LotL endeavours to the best of its ability to credit the use of all known photographs to the photographer and/or owner of such photographs (0&EO).

Lay of the Land Weekly Newsletter – 02 August 2026

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What’s happening in Israel today? See from every Monday – Thursday LOTL’s The Israel Brief broadcasts and on our Facebook page and YouTube by seasoned TV & radio broadcaster, Rolene Marks familiar to Chai FM listeners in South Africa and millions of American listeners to the News/Talk/Sports radio station WINA, broadcasting out of Virginia, USA.

THE ISRAEL BRIEF – 27 – 30 July 2026
(Click on the blue title)



Lay of the Land’s Image ‘Pick of the Week‘

HE STOOD OUT BECAUSE HE STOOD UP – BOLD ‘BOY GEORGE’

Under fire, a rare stand-up in the entertainment industry for Israel

Refused to be Silenced. British musician and songwriter Boy George faced backlash after releasing a reggae-style song called, “We Will Dance Again” (a reference to the slogan of October 7 Nova Music Festival), that opens with the lyrics:
“You say genocide / I say war / When you’re attacked / That’s what the army’s for /
Did it get ugly? You bet it does / When I know you want to kill every last one of us.”

He continues:
“You never mention October 7 / Young girls raped against trees /
Murdered brutally / For the crime of dancing
When asked earlier this year, whether he would turn his back on his Jewish friends, Boy George replied:
“ That is not going to happen – it will never happen.”




ARTICLES

Please note there is a facility to comment beneath each article should you wish to express an opinion on the subject addressed.

(1)

EXPLOSIVE EXPOSÉ

What is the connection between the bombing of the King David Hotel 80 years ago and Moshav Gan Ner in Northern Israel?
By David E. Kaplan

Painful Past. Marking 80 years since the bombing of Jerusalem’s iconic King David Hotel, brought back memories for the writer of an old interview with a British lord, illuminating how out of destruction, emerged construction.

EXPLOSIVE EXPOSÉ
(Click on the blue title)



(2)

COLLAPSE OF THE BLOOD LIBELS

Every pillar of the genocide accusation against Israel has crumbled. The institutions that built it have suddenly lost their voices.
By Andrew Fox

Same Old, Same New. One by one, the multitude of menacing voices accusing Israel of “genocide” and other alleged crimes have been discredited as false or fabricated revealing bias, antisemitism or both.

COLLAPSE OF THE BLOOD LIBELS
(Click on the blue title)



(3)

ISRAEL MUST CHOOSE THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE

The coming elections offer Israelis an opportunity not merely to choose another government but to reaffirm the national commitment to the values on which the state was founded.
By Prof. Uriel Reichman

Founding Values. As Israelis prepare to go to the polls in October, the writer cautions that “the question before them is about far more than who will form the next government.” It is about the kind of Jewish state Israel intends to be!

ISRAEL MUST CHOOSE THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE
(Click on the blue title)



LOTL Cofounders David E. Kaplan (Editor), Rolene Marks and Yair Chelouche

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While the mission of Lay of the Land (LotL) is to provide a wide and diverse perspective of affairs in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world, the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by its various writers are not necessarily ones of the owners and management of LOTL but of the writers themselves.  LotL endeavours to the best of its ability to credit the use of all known photographs to the photographer and/or owner of such photographs (0&EO).

THE ISRAEL BRIEF – 27 – 30 July 2026


27 July 2026 – ICC prosecuter gets the boots, Bibi heads to Washington and more on The Israel Brief.



28 July 2026 – Boy George’s Karma chameleon smacks the haters, Bibi lands in Washington and more on the Israel Brief.



29 July 2026 – A romance in the Oval Office? Bibi and Trump meet and more on The Israel Brief.



30 July 2026 – Is Hamas about to surrender? Your headlines, morons and more on the Israel Brief.







While the mission of Lay of the Land (LotL) is to provide a wide and diverse perspective of affairs in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world, the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by its various writers are not necessarily ones of the owners and management of LOTL but of the writers themselves.  LotL endeavours to the best of its ability to credit the use of all known photographs to the photographer and/or owner of such photographs (0&EO).

ISRAEL MUST CHOOSE THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE

The coming elections offer Israelis an opportunity not merely to choose another government but to reaffirm the national commitment to the values on which the state was founded.

By PROF. URIEL REICHMAN

(Courtesy of The Jerusalem Post where first appeared this adaptation of the author’s address at the 2026 Herzliya Conference).

As Israelis prepare to go to the polls in October, the question before them is about far more than who will form the next government. It is about the kind of Jewish state Israel intends to be. That question did not begin with the judicial overhaul initiated in 2023, nor will it end with the coming elections. It has been unfolding for decades, rooted in competing visions of Zionism and the identity of the State of Israel.

Jewish history offers a warning. Following the death of King Solomon, the kingdom split in two under his son Rehoboam. The rival kingdoms gradually weakened until both were destroyed. The lesson — that internal division leads to national catastrophe — remains painfully relevant.

To understand this moment in time, we must return to one that the country never fully confronted: the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in 1995.

I will never forget the morning after Rabin was murdered. Hundreds of students gathered outside the university’s administration building, their eyes red from tears and a sleepless night, to light memorial candles. I spoke to them, my voice choked with emotion, about the Rabin I had known and about the stain his assassination would leave on Israel’s history.

I also told them that it would be a mistake to focus solely on the assassin, Yigal Amir. We had to examine the ideological environment that made the murder possible. Instead, under the banner of national unity, Israel largely avoided that reckoning, leaving the ideological roots of the assassination largely unexamined.

The Oslo Accords were the subject of legitimate public debate. Yet among some extremist elements within the religious settlement movement, opposition went beyond politics. Certain rabbis invoked the halachic doctrine of moser — a Jew who informs on fellow Jews or delivers their lives or property into the hands of hostile authorities. Under halachic law, a moser may be killed, and a Jew who kills him is considered to have performed a mitzvah.

Amir later stated that he had received rabbinic authorization to regard Rabin as a moser.

Leading rabbinic authorities, including the Chazon Ish and Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, had ruled that the moser doctrine had no place in the sovereign State of Israel. Yet Israel never fully confronted how such ideas had entered public discourse or what they signified for the future of the state.

The roots of that ideological transformation reach back to the Six-Day War.

Like many Israelis, I experienced the war as a moment of profound national renewal. As a paratrooper officer, I remember hearing Motta Gur announce, “The Temple Mount is in our hands.” It was a deeply emotional moment. Many Israelis, secular and religious alike, felt they had reconnected with the biblical sites of Jewish history.

But two very different conclusions emerged from that victory.

Prof. Uriel Reichman addressing the 2026 Herzliya Conference at Reichman University.

Most Israelis saw it as an extraordinary military achievement, won through blood, courage, sacrifice, and comradeship. We did not regard settlement throughout the territories as a religious obligation. Their future, we believed, should be determined by Israel’s democratic institutions, weighing security, diplomatic, and moral considerations.

Another current, inspired by Rabbi Abraham Isaac HaCohen Kook and developed by his son, Rabbi Zvi Yehuda Kook, saw the war as a decisive stage in the divine process of redemption. From this worldview emerged Gush Emunim, which regarded settlement throughout the biblical Land of Israel as a religious commandment and viewed the Six-Day War and the settlement enterprise as expressions of divine will.

This outlook gave rise to the question of the limits of obedience to the state when its decisions conflicted with the commandment to settle the Land. Over time, part of the movement underwent a deeper transformation. Increasingly, some held that the state lacked legitimate authority whenever it conflicted with the redemptive vision.

Following the disengagement from Gaza in 2005, this evolution accelerated. For some, the evacuation violated a divine commandment to “inherit the Land.” Among influential religious educators, particularly within the Bnei David pre-military academy and circles associated with the Mercaz Harav yeshiva, a new constitutional vision gained ground. Their objective was not merely to influence public policy but to reshape the state itself — replacing a Jewish and democratic state with one whose constitution is the Torah — while building the political, educational, and public power needed to advance this goal.

In this conception, democracy is understood primarily as majority rule. Judicial independence, checks and balances, and the protection of minority rights are not regarded as essential features of democratic government but as obstacles to establishing a halachic state.

It is against this background that the judicial overhaul proposed in 2023 must be understood. This is not merely a dispute over the powers of the Supreme Court or the role of the attorney general. It reflects a much deeper debate over the source of Israel’s authority: whether it should remain faithful to the vision embodied in the Declaration of Independence or move toward a fundamentally different, religious model.

To this day, political theory continues to rest on Aristotle’s foundational insight that it is not the role of the state to enforce ideological or social unity. On the contrary, the purpose of the state is to enable people with different beliefs and convictions to live together, while promoting stability, openness, and moderation as guiding values.

The architects of modern Zionism — from Theodor Herzl and Ze’ev Jabotinsky to David Ben-Gurion — rejected the idea of a theocratic state. They envisioned a Jewish state that would be democratic, committed to liberty, equality, and the rule of law. The Declaration of Independence captured that remarkable synthesis. It established Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people while pledging to “ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex” and guaranteeing “freedom of religion, conscience, language, education, and culture.”

The judicial overhaul seeks to alter the very essence of the State of Israel and depart from the vision of Zionism embodied in the Declaration of Independence — a Jewish state committed both to national self-determination and to the principles of liberal democracy.

The coming elections offer Israelis an opportunity not merely to choose another government but to reaffirm the national commitment to the values on which the state was founded and finally provide them with the constitutional framework they deserve. Israel’s future as a Jewish and democratic state depends on it.


About the author:

Prof. Uriel Reichman is the founding president and chairman of the Board of Reichman University. In July, 2026, he received the Presidential Medal of Honor, Israel’s highest civilian honor, awarded in recognition of his exceptional contribution to academia, Israeli society, and the State of Israel.This essay is adapted from the author’s address at the 2026 Herzliya Conference.








While the mission of Lay of the Land (LotL) is to provide a wide and diverse perspective of affairs in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world, the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by its various writers are not necessarily ones of the owners and management of LOTL but of the writers themselves.  LotL endeavours to the best of its ability to credit the use of all known photographs to the photographer and/or owner of such photographs (0&EO).