My relationship with Israel has always been complex.
I am Jewish and was born in Soviet Russia but have lived in America for two thirds of my life. My family immigrated to the U.S. in 1991 and has never looked back. (I pinch myself all the time because I get to live in this wonderful country.) I am an agnostic. Israel is supposed to be my historical homeland, the land of my ancestors — a very academic concept, since I struggle to relate to ancestors more than a few generations back, most of whom came from Belarus or Ukraine.
After October 7, something changed inside of me. But it was not just the horrific events of October 7 alone. It was a combination of the massacre in Israel, which echoed the cruelty of the Nazis, and the demonstrations that took place in the U.S. and Europe, as well as letters signed by Ivy League students, all condemning Israel before it had a chance to fire a…
