On Tu b’Av, the full moon rises. The same people who mourned begin to dance. The same nation who splintered begins to seek one another out again in the vineyards, in the fields, in the moments of vulnerability and return.
The question for the Jewish people today is not merely whether we believe in the future but whether we are willing to become the kind of people that the future requires.
Just as the women of Hanukkah held the nation accountable, turning domestic spaces into fortresses of faith, Jewish women have again emerged as symbols of resilience in the face of profound loss and fear.
Israeli culture and national service has given me a renewed understanding of American identity.
Is it a day for the martyred, a time to be honored and remembered? Or is it a day for us, the living, to immerse ourselves in grief and memory?
The contrast between what I experienced at the Grammys and my life in Israel since 10/7 — exactly four months ago — is proving difficult to process.
