"This is not a drill. I'm here to talk about a new community called Eden, which is forming in Beit Shemesh proper."

"She was talking about what is now, I believe, the most sensitive issue that the Jewish people have faced, really, in the last 2,000 years. I really believe that. That is the question of the draft. That is not what today's episode is about, but it is, undoubtedly, on a lot of people's minds. And the question of the draft, which is, specifically, for the listeners who don't know what I'm referring to, the question of drafting a Haredim. And Haredi, which is the ultra-Orthodox, part of the community in Israel, is a major question. Traditionally, they have not served in the army. We've spoken about this. There's a lot of history behind this. That's not what I want to talk about now, but I want to share the imagery that she shared at that time, because I think that imagery colors, in so many ways, what I hope to discuss in this next series, where we discuss the relationship between Israel and diaspora. I hate the word diaspora. Who likes the word diaspora? I've never self-identified. As a diasporic Jew, I think the word diasporic reminds me of neosporin, like a cream. You need some diasporic for your fingers. You have a cut. It's never how I self-identified. I never felt like I was in diaspora, maybe not until the last year or so, when I've begun to feel it much more. It's not a word that I love. It's not a word that I've heard organic, serious Jews ever really use. That's the honest truth. But it is what we're going to discuss, which is the relationship of Jews, primarily in the United States of America. We have listeners. There's all over. And these questions that we're going to be discussing are relevant, regardless of whether or not you live in Israel or whether or not you live in America, because we're all part of the Jewish people."

"a gap year in a Yeshiva at Hezder, meaning in a Yeshiva where the Israelis actually all served in the army. And instead of bringing us closer to Israeli culture, Israeli life, Israeli perspective, I think in many ways, to no fault of the Yeshiva, I think to the fault of the Americans who were there, myself included, it made us feel all the more distant."

"No, in many ways, if I'm being perfectly honest and candid, it is in many ways, not completely, but it is business as usual in America. And specifically, I felt it acutely during the World Series. You know, finally, we're New Yorkers. Our team finally makes it to the World Series. Yes, it was some of the worst weeks that we had in Israel. But you know, the World Series is the World Series. Not everybody has the sense of commitment and passion to be able to say no to that. And the fact is, given that, you know, most people don't have the commitment and the passion to say no to that, it highlighted for me how easy it is for us when we are not visiting shivitens, when we are not there, when we are not actively comforting families who are burying people, who are being murdered, defending the Jewish people in the land of Israel. You begin to wonder, am I going to, you know, drift off into indifference? Have I really changed? Are there connections to the land of Israel, to the people? That we could be developing in order to more acutely understand what it means to be a part of the Jewish people? Because that's what ultimately this is all about. This series is not about, you know, Israeli culture and having cherry tomatoes and hummus on your kitchen table. This is about what do we hope for when we close our eyes and think about American Jewry after 12 years?"