5.9. eve

On Shabbat evening, we talked about our growing aversion to travel. She hasn't left Israel in over thirty years. I told her that the thought of her, always "at home," comforted me when I had to go on speaking tours in Europe, and that I had

4.9.

Today I received this letter from a retired teacher in Berlin: "For over 35 years, I taught history in Berlin schools. In 9th grade, the topic was 'National Socialism and the Holocaust.' During this long period, I observed how students' attitudes toward the Shoah, a crime

1.9.

Every year on September 1st, an interesting figure is released: the number of students starting school. This year, it's over 2.6 million. This figure includes all young Israelis between the ages of 6 and 18. If we add half that number—assuming a constant birth rate—that

Ein Staat für den Emir

Wie das Königreich Jordanien aus der Konkursmasse des Osmanischen Reiches zustande kam Veröffentlicht in der Neuen Zürcher Zeitung am 31.8.2026 Das letzte der islamischen Großreiche, das türkisch-osmanische Reich, begann im achtzehnten und neunzehnten Jahrhundert rapide zu zerfallen. Zugleich gelang es den Engländern, sich in Ägypten festzusetzen, vor

31.8.

Decades ago, the leading German news magazine Der Spiegel (The Mirror) was a publication that took pride in its intellectual ambitions. Nowadays, it’s nothing more than a magazine for fools. Yesterday’s online edition (around noon) carried the headline: “Merz redet vom Wetter, aber tut nichts dagegen.” In English:

30.8. afternoon

Zudem ist es eine Frage der Zeit, bis Teheran sein letztes strategisches Druckmittel, die Straße von Hormuz, verliert. Schon sind auf der arabischen Halbinsel mehrere Projekte im Bau, die entsprechende Mengen Öl auf dem Landweg transportieren werden, so der Ausbau der Habshan-Fujaira-Pipeline durch die Wüste der Emirate oder

30.8. noon

Exil-Iranian journalist Dana Sadeh about cracks in Iran's loyal class: "Among broad circles of supporters in Iran — elements that in the past were staunch regime loyalists and hard-line nationalists — a deep sense of shock is growing over what is defined as complete 'feebleness'

27.8. morning

Once again, Sophie von der Tann, the Israel correspondent for German state television during the Gaza War, has been awarded a prize for her reporting, this time by an institution of the German Protestant Church. Sophie von der Tann knowingly misinformed and disinformed millions of Germans, confusing them with biased

26.8.

For German friends of Israel, teachers, and other thinkers: Lea Fleischmann, a writer and educator living in Jerusalem (retired senior teacher), has been dedicated to German-Jewish understanding for decades through her books. She combats antisemitism among German youth, which is often based on ignorance or false prejudices, by providing

24.8.

It is an astonishing, difficult-to-explain phenomenon that societies and states that succumbed to anti-Semitism and persecuted their Jews soon suffered decline, while others that knew how to manage their Jewish minority prospered. Historians place the expulsion of the Hebrews from Egypt in the time of Pharaoh Ramses

23.8.

Ahmad Mansour, an Islam expert and psychologist living in Germany, explains on Facebook that in Tel Aviv, where he is currently on vacation, he has “never seen so many French-speaking people as I do now. On every corner. While shopping. At the hotel. On the street.” He said he

21.8. afternoon

I just received the following email from a German reader, Ms. C.H., which I find aptly worded, and would therefore like to share it with you: Yesterday there were reports of radical, misanthropic statements by Ben Gvir. But Ben Gvir is not representative of all of Israel! Yes, even

21.8. morning

The last days of August, hot and lazy. In Rome we used to call the 15th of August "ferragosto", it was the turning point when everyone who was able to do so left the city to go to the sea. We could easily go to the beach in

14.8.

The Bedouin say autumn begins around mid-August. And indeed, today, August 14th, is the first day in weeks with cloudy skies. It's still warm, like summer, but there's already a hint of autumn in the air. Oh goodness, where has the time gone? I hardly

13.8.

On August 13, 1961, the Berlin Wall was erected. I was just seven years old and had to live in its toxic shadow for the next 22 years—until, as my Stasi file states, we were expelled from the “socialist German state” to West Berlin as “hostile persons.” Even in

12.8.

Many men of all cultures and skin colors struggle to accept that they, in their perception the stronger, taller, and undoubtedly more intelligent, in every respect superior examples of human creation, owe their very existence to a woman. The Quran resolves this issue by portraying women as inferior to men

11.8.

Yesterday in town, I struggled to find my way among new high-rises I’d never seen before. I talked to people. Most Israelis no longer care what Europe thinks of us. The younger generation, at least. In their eyes, Europe is a kind of tourist park with museums and

8.8. abends

Yesterday, 7.8., the publisher (Edition Achgut in Berlin) and the editors (Simone Schermann in Bavaria and I in the Negev desert) completed the book about the aftermath of October 7, 2023, which will be published in Berlin on October 7, 2026. Eighteen Jewish authors (from Germany, Israel, U.S.

7.8.

The following appeared yesterday in the Israeli newspaper Yediot Acheronot: “Cristiano Ronaldo’s partner and the mother of his children shared a striking video from the Spanish island of Mallorca during their family vacation, but it was the caption she added that caught everyone’s attention: ‘Healthy,’ written in Hebrew.

Archive

"Desertification" as a Global Challenge

Literary Transformations of a Landscape Besides the Earth’s natural deserts, there are those created by humans, and this process of fertile land becoming desertified, usually referred to by the English term desertification, is documented early in literature. Even in ancient Babylonian cuneiform texts, the ambivalence of arid regions with

6.8.

In my 2020 book, "The Desert," I addressed the problem of "desertification," the process by which formerly fertile land becomes barren. At the time, this didn't fit into the one-sided, ideology-driven concept of the left-wing Greens, who believed that "climate

4.8. afternoon

Last Shabbat afternoon, 30-year-old Bar Asraf shot himself at the gravestone of his girlfriend, who was killed by Hamas terrorists at the Nova Festival on October 7, 2023. Even three years later, he had not yet gotten over her loss. The wounds run deeper than we thought. We

4.8. morning

What the German-Persian writer Navid Kermani demonstrated in his speech at the swearing-in ceremony for recruits at the Bendlerblock in Berlin—repeating the old mantra of pacifism and thereby demotivating and discouraging young German recruits even before they had to fight at all, telling them that refusing to

3.8.

Surprising information in newspaper Jerusalem Post, 1st of August, 2026 : "Despite fierce rabbinic opposition, haredi (ultra-Orth0d0x) enlistment (in Israeli Army IDF) is rising. The numbers suggest changing incentives may be altering the draft calculus. According to a Yediot Aharonot report on Wednesday, at least 4,000 haredim enlisted