“Let us go up at once and possess it, for we are certainly able to overcome it.” — Calev ben Jephunneh, Numbers 13:30
With these words, Calev silenced the people who had just heard a fearful and pessimistic report from the other spies about the Promised Land. Ten of the twelve tribal representatives had returned from their tour of the Promised Land with tales of giants, fortified cities, and certain defeat. But Calev stepped forward — not merely with courage, but with conviction. “Let us go up at once,” he said. His words were not rash; they were rooted in faith.
Calev’s words “a’lo na‘aleh” were directional with spiritual intent. He was ready to ascend — not just to a higher elevation from the low points of the Jordan Valley, but to a higher calling. He didn’t deny the physical challenges highlighted by his fellow leaders, but he refused to let it override the spiritual promise of God’s gift.
God later singles out Calev, saying:
“But My servant Calev, because he had a different spirit with him and followed Me fully, I will bring him into the land to which he came, and his descendants shall inherit it.” — Numbers 14:24
A different spirit. God didn’t simply praise Calev’s bravery or loyalty. He pointed to Calev’s spirit — a divine quality within him that was distinct from the others. The Hebrew “ruach acheret,” suggests that Calev’s soul orientation was unique. It wasn’t just that he had faith — it’s that his spirit was attuned to God’s gifts and was willing to challenge the majority. That spirit led his body, not the other way around.
The contrast with Korach in a later story could not be starker. Korach, who led a rebellion against Moses and Aaron, was driven by status, jealousy, and material concerns. The Torah notes that “the earth opened its mouth and swallowed him, his household, and all their possessions” (Numbers 16:32). His physical attachments — both metaphorically and literally — dragged him into the ground.
In Judaism, man is not a duality of body versus spirit. The two are in dialogue, and one always leads. When the spirit leads and is drawn toward God’s gifts, it lifts the body with it. When the spirit is enticed by the physical, the body becomes dominant — and man falls.
God gave the Jewish people two primary gifts: the Land of Israel and the Torah — one is sanctified space, the other divine wisdom. Both require spiritual alignment to appreciate and receive. That’s why moving to Israel is still called aliyah, literally “going up.” It is not a political migration but a spiritual elevation. Studying Torah is described not as absorbing information but as learning — an intellectual and moral ascent, a rising above the mundane.
This understanding helps explain one of the most paradoxical modern realities: Israel is one of the happiest countries in the world. Despite being under near-constant threat, despite global condemnation and internal conflict, Israelis report remarkably high life satisfaction. Even more remarkable, Haredi Jews — who often live below the poverty line and avoid modern comforts — report even higher levels of happiness.
Why? Because they are immersed in both of God’s gifts: the land and the Torah. They are not simply physically located in Israel; their spirits are aligned with its divine purpose. Their joy is not circumstantial — it is directional. It flows from a life where the spirit leads, where God’s gifts are not just received but cherished.
Kotel after the rain (photo: First One Through)
Calev’s legacy is not just a historical footnote. It is a call to action. It is a message to challenge the masses who want to abandon God’s gifts, and both elevate and be elevated by God’s special blessings.
“God is love,” says the Christian scripture (1 John 4:8). In Judaism, Ahavat Hashem — love of God — is commanded and cultivated with blessing: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your might” (Deuteronomy 6:5). The love of God is a bond between man and heaven built on compassion, holiness, and peace.
But in far too many places across the Global South, another phrase is being taught: “The love of Jihad.”
It’s neither metaphorical nor poetic. It is proudly literal — sung by schoolchildren, broadcast on TV, etched into educational curricula, printed on flags held by terrorists. “We love death like our enemies love life” was a chilling Hamas slogan even before October 7, 2023. It isn’t a chant of a lone errant radical but a core tenet of Islamist extremism: to define one’s identity by war, death, and the annihilation of the other.
Two Loves. Two Worlds.
There is a love that sanctifies hospitals, schools, and synagogues. There is another love that sanctifies suicide belts and the murderers of civilians.
In the Judeo-Christian tradition, love flows downward from a Creator who gives life and asks for holiness in return. Morality is measured by how one treats the stranger, the widow, the orphan. The spiritual path is about elevating the self — resisting the urge to dominate, to hate, to take vengeance. I call it “Humble Faith.”
But in radical Islamist ideology, compassion is redirected from the divine to the destructive. Martyrdom is romanticized. The afterlife is promised not to those who love their neighbor, but to those who murder them. Jihad isn’t just war — it’s the highest expression of spiritual devotion.
Columbia University students call “Glory to the martyrs. Victory to the Resistance” supporting the Hamas war in October 2024 (photo: Mike Segar, Reuters, Redux)
People have attempted to sanitize “jihad” and “intifada” in Western media. We are told jihad means “inner struggle” and intifada means “shake off.” Perhaps it does for some Muslims. But the jihad of Hamas, Al Qaeda, Hezbollah, and Iran’s Revolutionary Guards is unmistakably violent. It’s the jihad of Kalashnikovs, tunnels under kindergartens, and paragliders into music festivals. It’s identical to Adolf Hitler’s “Mein Kampf” which similarly means “My Struggle.”
"Jihad means the fighting of the unbelievers and involves all possible efforts that are necessary to dismantle the power of the enemies of Islam, including beating them, plundering their wealth, destroying their places of worship, and smashing their idols." - Hassan al-Banna, founder of the Muslim Brotherhood
And yet, around the world, there is a growing refusal to admit this unvarnished truth.
The West’s Romanticization of Jihad
Academics and activists in the West have twisted themselves into knots to justify the “rage” of jihadists. Excuses of “occupation,” “imperialism” and “colonialism” are concocted. New definition of “apartheid” and “genocide” are contrived. The love of jihad is recast as a legitimate cry for justice, while Israel’s efforts to protect its citizens is painted as cruel, racist, even genocidal.
When Hamas terrorists butchered entire Israeli families, raped women, and burned children alive, some depraved people in the West saw “resistance.” When Israel responded, the cries of “Ceasefire now!” emerged to protect Hamas, but not for Israel, which had been dragged into battle.
Hamas terrorist Ahlam Tamimi, who abetted the killing of 15 people and injuring of 122 – almost all women and children, celebrated her jihadi murders. She walks free in Jordan.
A World Turned Upside Down
Imagine a child in Gaza, raised on songs about martyrdom and vengeance, told that killing Jews is a way to please Allah. Compare him to a Jewish child reciting “Oseh shalom bimromav” — “May He who makes peace in His heavens bring peace upon us.”
Imagine a Christian child learning to “turn the other cheek,” and then hearing protesters on Western campuses chant “Intifada until victory” — a call for permanent war.
There are two radically different spiritual trajectories here. One aims upward, toward love, life, and sanctity. The other plunges downward into hatred, death, and hell.
It is no coincidence that the Islamic Republic of Iran calls Israel “Little Satan” and the United States “Big Satan.” The philosophy of radical Islamism is not oriented towards love and God but directed to violence and the underworld.
Choose Your Love
The West must stop pretending. To love God is to abhor the love of jihad. To defend life is not to disrespect culture; it is to preserve culture that can sustain a free and peaceful society.
Jihadism — like Nazism before it — dresses hatred in the garb of purpose. It seduces the young, exploits the poor, and destroys the innocent. And like Nazism, it will not stop until it is confronted with clarity, courage, and conviction.
We must stop asking why terrorists hate and start asking why we excuse it.
In an ongoing insult to Jews around the world, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said at the 32nd Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) Central Council meeting on April 23, 2025 that the two Jewish “Temples were in Yemen.”
PA President Abbas claiming the Jewish Temples were in Yemen, April 23, 2025
Abbas falsified history in an attempt to deny Jews any rights or privileges at their holiest location. The fact that it was an insult to over 2 billion Christians who believe that Jesus was in Jerusalem and not Sanaa was a slight he was willing to make to claim the site as purely Islamic.
The United Nations adopted the same position. In a 1949 map of the holy places in Jerusalem, the Temple Mount was marked as only holy to Muslims, while the Western Wall was marked as holy to both Muslims and Jews.
1949 UN map of Jerusalem’s holy places
The United States should therefore adopt a resolution called “Status of the Temple Mount,” similar to the twisted United Nations resolutions called “Status of Jerusalem,” to correct the wrong. Its passage in Congress will serve as a template for other countries to adopt before being submitted to the United Nations General Assembly.
Key phrases should be included in the resolution, to combat the disgraceful UN remarks about Jewish rights:
The United States abhors the “aggressive and dangerous” comments made by the president of the Palestinian Authority which “could inflame tensions and lead to a religious war that has no boundaries.”
Comments made by the PA president “serve the forces of extremism around the world.”
Incendiary remarks that deny Jews their heritage and history “do absolutely nothing to improve the lives of Palestinian Arabs,” and simply “push back the Middle East peace process.”
“The Temple Mount built by King Herod two thousand years ago has been and will always be the holiest location of Judaism.”
On December 9, 2021, Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) expressed his disgust with a December 3 UN General Assembly resolution about Jerusalem saying “The recent vote by the United Nations disavowing Jewish historical ties and exclusivity to the Temple Mount—the holiest and most sacred Temple in Judaism—is an outrageous act of religious persecution. This is a transparent effort, supported by 129 nations but opposed by the United States, to rewrite history, cleanse the holy area of its religious ties to the Jewish faith and deny that Israel has roots to the Middle East…. The Jewish Temple, located in the heart of Jerusalem’s Old City, is holy ground to Jews and it belongs solely to their faith. I object to any effort to ethnically cleanse the Jewish people from their sole historic claim to this land and temple.”
It is time for U.S. Congress to endorse a resolution to correct the shameful religious persecution and ethnic cleansing of Jews, by passing the “Status of the Temple Mount” resolution.
ACTION ITEM
Write Paul Gosar (if you are in his district), your representatives in Congress and the White House (comments@whitehouse.gov) to clearly stand by historic truth and correct the ongoing slander and religious persecution of Jews. “In light of the ongoing antisemitic insults by the Palestinian Authority and the United Nations, please pass a resolution which clearly states that the Jewish Temples stood on the Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem and that the site has been the holiest site for Jews for 3,000 years. https://primarybowman.com/2025/04/29/resolution-recognizing-the-jewish-temples-stood-on-the-temple-mount-in-jerusalem/“
This year’s Passover excursion kept us in the United States. American programs tend to be much larger and more expensive since the law of large numbers doesn’t seem to apply to matzah. This one was the same: 1,300 people spending $25 million, while complaining about the yeshiva tuition and shidduch crises.
Despite the price tag for a single room which could have purchased a small car (pre-tariffs), my family couldn’t pass up the opportunity to spend ten days with 33 extended family members, including 14 children under 10 years old. The challenge of migraines versus memories was too enticing to pass over.
Our small tribe descended on the destination “resort” nestled 47 minutes from civilization in desert foothills with panoramic views of ugly sand and rocks. The 99 degree heat baked every living thing except for snakes which blended into the brown landscape. We ran inside to escape the sun and scenery.
The hotel “lobby” had a couch and two chairs, insufficient for my immediate family let alone 1,300 other guests. It appeared that we were going to be left with few choices for hanging out together: either in the dining room, tea room, shul or our own rooms.
We grabbed keys and programs and headed to our rooms to unpack 75 outfits.
All of the rooms were essentially “suites” with a small living room which looked great for late night reading. However, the bathroom was so small that the door bumped into the toilet seat, so one needed to shimmy around the door and place a foot in the bathtub to enter. As I extended my hand to grab the shower door for balance, I actually grabbed a fistful of curtain. I let out a small shriek and heard someone next door do the same. A chorus of “a shower curtain?!” could be heard echoing through the halls.
Our horde unpacked and changed for the first of forty meals. On American programs, people seemed extra intent on getting their money’s worth by gorging non-stop. It was especially true at this location, as rooms normally go for $109 per night.
The first dinner was set up as a barbeque outside. The pieces of steak were larger than our plates to make us forget that the program lacked vegetables. It was delicious and set the stage for a carnivorous vacation theoretically focused on small tasteless pieces of flatbread.
We awoke early the next day and rapidly learned who was going to attend prayer services and who was tasked with looking over small tykes while their wives slept. We created a mini-WhatsApp group apart from the broader family chat to notify each other about minyan times and where to grab a nosh. There was a short back-and-forth about whether to label our chat “The Minyan 7” or “Tallis Toters” and settled on The “XYs” as none of the women attended other than for yizkor.
The conference room turned shul could seat 500 people, so the 70 men and 3 young women who came home from seminary in Israel had plenty of room, if not heat or decent lighting. The first ba’al tefillah launched prayers with “she asani aved” thanking God for making him a slave, dropping the important “not” in the blessing, making people wonder whether he had sold a kidney to pay for the program or was trying to set the mood for the Passover story of liberation.
The hashkama minyan flew by quickly, allowing people to enjoy another four hours of breakfast. It was our chance to see our family’s designated table for the holiday which occupied one-third of the dining room, a behemoth square of 28 feet a side. We had the staff reconfigure the table for the other meals so we could hear each other, but the reality of eating in a room with 1,000 other people including screaming children made a conversation beyond five feet impossible anyway.
The buffet in the center of the large hall was arranged as follows: wine table, omelet or carving station depending on the meal, various hot dishes, omelet/carving, hot dishes, omelet/carving, hot dishes, omelet/carving, hot dishes, and at the very back of the room, a small salad table with hearts of palm and shredded carrots. Perhaps the caterer didn’t want to check vegetables or wanted all-brown meals like the desert outside.
On rare occasion, there was plated food when we arrived, once consisting of gefilte fish with horseradish together with seared tuna and wasabi. If it was intended to placate both the Ashkenazi and Sephardi crowds it didn’t work as my Syrian niece threw up at the sight.
For some reason, despite the enormous quantity of cooked animal flesh at lunch and dinner, the dessert table only had 20 cookies. Everyone assumed we were being encouraged to head to the tea room for sweets so the staff could set up for the next meal.
We obliged and ran over to see what was in store.
Regrettably, it seemed that some guests had paid off staff to seize all the Bisli for their entourage. The rest of the attendees made due with “tropical” ices that tasted like antifreeze and various chocolate snacks that varied more in shape than flavor.
When snack time was over we were at a loss for what to do. We went to one of the pools to watch the water evaporate before our eyes. We then hunted for shade and were informed that the indoor cabanas were already reserved by guests for $12,000 for the week, a pretty penny to watch White Jews combust but many seemed content to do so.
My wife went looking for one of the shadchanim “matchmakers” to discuss our boys and various single friends. The boys refused to engage in the “meat market” and opted to sit at the poolside barbeque and talk to girls there.
People were kvetching that the program last year in the Caribbean was much nicer in terms of hotel and food quality. As one person voiced her disagreement, she was cut off by a loud thump of an older couple tripping on the broken cobblestone pathway, crashing to the ground. It would be the first of seven hospital calls during the holiday. By the last day of chag, thirteen orange cones dotted the heavily-trafficked walkway.
For shabbat, we were handed a few velcro strips to disable the electronic door locks. Later in the week, I saw some men using them to extend their belts to accommodate their bulging waists.
During shabbat and yomtov prayers, the program auctioned off aliyahs for different charities. It got more people to attend the earlier hashkama minyan in hope for a better deal. Az Yashir went for $5,000 at hashkama, but the winner didn’t realize he had to hand the aliyah over to the program’s rabbi. It crushed the fundraise for the next much larger minyan and people wouldn’t go above $100. I suggested bridging the tzedakah gap by bidding out the right to be the sole person to yell “ka’eleh” during the second torah reading, as the masses cannot keep themselves from drowning out the ba’al koreh.
The night activities alternated during shabbat and yomtov on talks about Israel at war, antisemitism and rabbis put into herem for heresy. Very uplifting and spiritual. During chol hamoed, the nights alternated between unfunny young comedians ripping off older comics’ material, to a couple of Sephardic singers singing the same popular four songs that they didn’t write. The band behind them pretended to play various instruments while their prepared music mix blared for the stablehands six miles away. It was the Israeli version of Milli Vanilli.
And the kids loved it. They cheered their Instagram star despite his lack of stage presence and joined the 45 year old bearded male singer when he asked for girls under 14 years old to join him on stage.
For some reason, I think I was the only one to find the spectacle creepy.
As the three-day shabbat-yomtov continued, people bemoaned their Wordle streaks ending. The various right-wing speakers suggested to all that it was a perfect time to terminate their New York Times subscriptions.
People slowly became aware that the entire hotel was not reserved for the Passover guests. Loaves of bread were in the hallways and a Christian wedding party which booked the second weekend created a stir. A ruckus broke out when the hotel insisted that all Jews leave the pool area for the wedding. Fewer men complained the following day when tall blonde women came out in their bikinis.
The Latin staff seemed nonplussed by everything and kept smiling. The Jewish staff looked perpetually perturbed by the incessant demands of one thousand over-entitled kvetches from friends and neighbors.
Overall, the holiday was a win. Getting so many family members together for a week is an accomplishment in itself, and there were no major blowouts. We had a chance to meet some nice new people and collectively discover why Jews left the desert over 3,300 years ago.
Well before the brutal October 7 massacre of 1,200 people in Israel, antisemitism in the United States had reached horrific levels. Jews were shot in synagogues and supermarkets. Held hostage and hacked with machetes. Vilified by famous athletes and entertainers. Accused of being too powerful in the news and told by the leading powers in the country to hide their Jewishness.
“Experts” said that the antidote was to teach people about the Holocaust. If only potential Jew-haters saw what results from “big” antisemitism they would avoid smaller antisemitic acts.
The author Dara Horn scoffed at the idea in April 2023 and now in April 2025. She argues that a narrow focus on the Holocaust limits people to thinking that Jews were wiped out as a people in the past. Israel is framed as a consolation prize awarded by Europe to appease their guilt in the genocide. Lost is the rich history of Jews.
In fact, Jewish history is not passively lost but actively obliterated and vilified. To attend universities in America about “Palestinian Studies” is not a review of any positive history of Arabs in the small slice of the Middle East that Jews view as holy, rather a demonization of Jews.
Visit the University of California, Davis website regarding reading materials on “the Situation in Palestine and Israel,” last updated on October 18, 2023, right after thousands of Gazans massacred people in Israel. The materials are completely anti-Israel, whether books, blogs or articles. Israel is condemned as a “colonial project” over again, tied to “imperialism” and “militarism.” The boycott, divest and sanctions (BDS movement) is advanced everywhere. People are urged to “revolt” against Zionism and Zionists.
Nowhere is there an iota about the thousands of years of Jewish history in the land, nor about the centrality of Jerusalem in Judaism. Rather, it includes links to articles by groups like Palestinian Youth Movement which the Israeli government has tied to U.S.-designated terrorist group, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).
Palestineism is not a study about Arab culture or history but a rank course in antisemitism, denying thousands of years of Jewish history and the centrality of the land – and Jerusalem in particular – in Judaism.
Jewish History In Israel and Judaism
There is over 3,000 years of history of Jews in the land of Israel. Well before the modern idea of countries was formulated, Jews lived throughout their holy land. They had kings and kingdoms. They had holy temples which Jews would visit at least three times every year, ensuring they remained close to Jerusalem.
Jews have been a majority of Jerusalem since the 1860s, before the advent of modern Zionism. For hundred of years, Jews have ended their passover seder with a call “Next year in Jerusalem!” The Israeli national anthem, Hatikvah, was written in 1878, well before the First Zionist Congress, in a song about Jews being in Jerusalem and Zion. Israel is the only country in the world whose national anthem is all about its capital city.
There are certain religious Jewish practices that can only be observed in the land of Israel. Jews are the only religious group with a diaspora, defined as those Jews living outside of the land of Israel, because it is the only religion tied to a specific land.
A field in Israel with a sign that it observes “shmita,” meaning the land is resting, a Jewish tradition only observed in Israel in keeping with laws in the bible (photo: First One Through)
Whether one likes the current government of Israel and its policies is irrelevant. The LAND of Israel is the Jewish homeland. That fundamental fact is not only omitted but deliberately erased in socialist-jihadi schools like UC Davis.
It is time to rethink education and focus more on the land of Israel and its centrality to Jews and Judaism, than Holocaust studies. We need to prevent anti-Jewish lessons and teach Jewish education. To prevent another genocide of Jews, start with thousands of years of Jewish history and culture in the holy land, instead of classes about the European Holocaust.
The Book of Esther has several primary and secondary characters. One of the seemingly minor players is Hatach, the eunuch who appears in four sentences in chapter 4:4-11:
When Esther’s maidens and eunuchs came and informed her, the queen was greatly agitated. She sent clothing for Mordecai to wear, so that he might take off his sackcloth; but he refused.
Thereupon Esther summoned Hathach, one of the eunuchs whom the king had appointed to serve her, and sent him to Mordecai to learn the why and wherefore of it all.
and Mordecai told him all that had happened to him, and all about the money that Haman had offered to pay into the royal treasury for the destruction of the Jews.
He also gave him the written text of the law that had been proclaimed in Shushan for their destruction. [He bade him] show it to Esther and inform her, and charge her to go to the king and to appeal to him and to plead with him for her people.
“All the king’s courtiers and the people of the king’s provinces know that if any person, man or woman, enters the king’s presence in the inner court without having been summoned, there is but one law for him—that he be put to death. Only if the king extends the golden scepter to him may he live. Now I have not been summoned to visit the king for the last thirty days.”
The Ishtar Gate from Babylon, now in the Pergamon Museum in Berlin
In the plain reading of the text, we see that Hatach is one of several eunuchs and attendants that the king had assigned to Queen Esther. Esther uses Hatach as a messenger to find out what so distressed Mordecai that he sits in mourning at the city gate. Mordecai must have recognized Hatach as one of Esther’s attendants, as he not only shares everything that he knows about Haman’s plan, but hands Hatach the written order to show Esther. He further tells Hatach to direct Esther to intervene for the Jewish people. Esther sends Hatach back with a reply to Mordecai that she cannot intervene, lest she be put to death.
The text then stops using Hatach’s name. Perhaps he continues to be the trusted messenger between Esther and Mordecai or perhaps another messenger takes his place. See Esther 4:12-17:
On the contrary, if you keep silent in this crisis, relief and deliverance will come to the Jews from another quarter, while you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows, perhaps you have attained to royal position for just such a crisis.”
“Go, assemble all the Jews who live in Shushan, and fast in my behalf; do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my maidens will observe the same fast. Then I shall go to the king, though it is contrary to the law; and if I am to perish, I shall perish!”
So Mordecai went about [the city] and did just as Esther had commanded him.
The back-and-forth language switches to a passive verb. Hatach no longer delivers the messages but messages were somehow delivered. What is the text trying to teach the reader?
Hatach was fine following Esther’s order to find out what was troubling Mordecai and return with such information. He also accepted the queen’s order to respond back to Mordecai with a message that she couldn’t go against the king’s rules to simply show up at the palace.
And that is when Hatach disappears.
Perhaps Hatach felt that his role had ended. He was not Mordecai’s servant and only brought back his initial message because Esther specifically asked to find out what was happening with Mordecai. Without the expressed order to hear what Mordecai had to say, he was done at delivering Esther’s message.
Or maybe he never delivered the message.
Sentence 12 reads that Mordecai “was told” the message from Esther. It is possible that when Hatach heard about the possible penalty of death for showing up at the palace unannounced, he became frightened. Perhaps he felt that a plot was unfolding of which he wanted no part.
There may be more. The assumption that eunuchs are safe to have around the queen typically relates to the inability to have sex. But the point is deeper.
Voluntary castration is a sign of profound loyalty to the king. To give up so much to be in the king’s graces must mean that the eunuchs have completely aligned with everything the king desires. Eunuchs are safe to have around the queen not only because they cannot have sex but because they have proven that they will do anything for the king and never harm the king.
When Hatach heard the back-and-forth between Mordecai and Esther, his loyalty to the king came into play. While he was a trusted messenger between Esther and Mordecai, his true allegiance was with King Acheshverus.
While sentences 11 and 12 are in sequence, it is possible that there is a significant gap in the story. Did Hatach just not deliver the message and Esther found a new messenger? Did Hatach find another way to get the message to Mordecai without delivering it personally?
Sentences 12 to 17 are the start of the plan which put either Esther or all Jews in the kingdom at risk of death. It is possible that Esther and Mordecai used multiple messengers and did everything in writing to make the scheme difficult to comprehend if a messenger only had one part of the story and thereby not risk the plan with people loyal first and foremost to the king.
Queen Esther likely viewed Hatach as HER trusted messenger when this communication began but came to realize that “the king had appointed” him and his loyalty was actually with king. It likely made her feel even more isolated and vulnerable in the palace, questioning even those attendants whom surrounded her.
A deeper review of the text and minor characters adds more color to the terrifying story of 2,500 years ago that we continue to celebrate today.
Our crew brought out a minivan for the Brooklyn Chanukah Donut Crawl for 2024, as we added two new people to the crawl. Going on Christmas day meant some of the bakeries had lighter staffs, and going later in the day meant some stores had run out and donuts were not at their peak freshness.
We added several new destinations based on people’s Instagram posts. Let me share that some of the IG posts may be paid advertisements (this blog takes no money or ads- please just get friends to subscribe on topics covering Jews, Judaism and Israel) since some were quite weak and overpriced. We also added a nice new bakery based on conversations with people we met at the stores. The list for 2024 is (in the order we visited them):
Oneg Bakery, 188 Lee Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11211 [Williamsburg]
Almah Cafe, 87 Utica Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11213 [Crown Heights]
Ricotta Coffee, 513 Albany Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11203 [Crown Heights]
Schreiber’s Homestyle Bakery, 3008 Avenue M, Brooklyn, NY 11210 [Flatbush]
Pita Sababa, 540 Kings Hwy, Brooklyn, NY 11223 [Flatbush]
Maison Valero, 501 Avenue M, Brooklyn, NY 11230 [Flatbush]
Sesame – Flatbush, 1540 Coney Island Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11230 [Flatbush]
Taste of Israel, 1322 Avenue M, Brooklyn, NY 11230 [Flatbush]
Ostrovitsky Bakery, 1124 Avenue J, Brooklyn, NY 11230 [Flatbush]
For those familiar with Brooklyn, you will note that these are a bit scattered, but there is a method to the madness that you will see in the descriptions below.
Oneg Bakery
We’ve skipped Oneg over the last couple of years since Williamsburg bakeries do not, in general, stand out. Oneg is the exception. It is famous for its babkas which are among the very best in NYC. You should pick one up (do not get overwhelmed by the size which looks prepared for a synagogue kiddush; they will cut it in sections. Note that they freeze very well.) You can order from Goldbelly if you do not want to visit in person.
Oneg is small “Old World” bakery and has a small staff during Christmas. Here, a worker prepares dough for their apple strudel
There is not a large selection of donuts at the small store, and they didn’t have frittle when we visited as they were short-staffed on Christmas. Some of our tasting crew thought the plain jelly donut was “fantastic!” and others really enjoyed the Boston cream.
Oneg’s jelly, custard, caramel and sprinkle donuts
Almah Cafe
Almah is a new addition to the donut crawl, being flagged on Instagram. We decided to taste some of their other baked goods like the olive and mushroom focaccias, which were great. It’s a small and fantastic place to visit for brunch. However, I would NOT suggest going for the sufganiyot. They are small, very expensive at $7 each, and not that tasty. We tried two, including strawberry cheesecake. There was little filling and the flavor is so subtle to be virtually non-existent.
Ricotta Coffee
Ricotta Coffee is a pretty new establishment that doesn’t even have signage on the doors. The small place was packed with people eating lunch which looked very fresh. Unfortunately, we did not know that you have to order in advance, so please do so at (347) 365-5177, the day before you plan on picking up donuts. We were very fortunate to meet a Chabad rabbi and his wife that we know who very generously gave us their order of three donuts, as they lived nearby and were able to pick up another order the next day. So nice!!
We found the raspberry donut to be okay and the pistachio to be interesting- it is much saltier (like salted pistachios you might normally eat) with bits of pistachios in the filling. It’s a much more crunchy, saltier version than Sesame which is creamier and sweeter.
Schreiber’s Homestyle Bakery
We visit Schreiber’s each year to get their lace cookies, which they do to perfection (I know that it’s a simple cookie but we love places that perfect things).
The sufganiyot were all in the back and they have simple jellies for about $2, and fancy ones for $5. They have a nice selection of packaged donuts for quick takeaway or you can select the ones you want. We bought one pretzel and one graham cracker donut. Both were good, not too sweet.
At this point, we had our first sugar rush. We broke for sushi at Sushi Meshuga, 1637 E 17th Street. The sushi was fine, and helped cleanse our palates for the second half of the donut crawl.
Pita Sababa
As a non-Brooklynite, (and non-Sefaradi) I did not know Pita Sababa, a large Moroccan bakery. I heard about the bakery from a woman on line at Almah who told me she absolutely loved the bakery. It seems so do many others!
The bakery was totally sold out when we visited. Tal, who runs the store, told me he thought he’d sell 10,000 donuts on Christmas! He expects to sell closer to 5-7,000 on the other days of Chanukah. One needs to order in advance on the website. We decided to try a sfenj which is a Moroccan donut. It’s basically just fried dough, somewhat like a churro. It was straight out of the oven, warm and delicious.
Sfenj
You can also pre-order at sabababakery.com or with the QR code below. There are just a few flavors, including chocolate ($48/dozen), custard ($42/dozen) and jelly ($42/dozen). They also sell mini donuts in smaller sizes.
Maison Valero
Some of the smaller bakeries only cook in the morning (as opposed to larger one’s like Sesame and Pita Sababa which bake all day). As such, one needs to come early to get donuts at the smaller shops, and this store was closed by the time we arrived in the afternoon.
Sesame
Sesame has a well-earned reputation for excellent donuts so the few bakery locations are packed. Because they bake all day, people stand around and clamor over the next flavors to emerge from the ovens, shouting “lotus!” and “white chocolate!” Pareve flavors include Oreo, Halvah, Lotus, Pistachio, Peanut Butter, Lemon and classic jelly. Dairy varieties include White Chocolate, Nutella, Caramel and Cheese. All of the fancy sufganiyot were about $5.25.
Crowd standing outside of Sesame bakery in Flatbush waiting to fill in boxes of donuts with the next great flavor to emerge from the kitchen next door to the retail store
Note that these sufganiyot and large and have very rich flavor. We suggest cutting them in quarters so you can try from their wide variety. All are excellent. We ordered a dozen and brought them to friends for dinner.
If you are not planning on eating them for a while and not so particular of the flavors you get, consider picking up packaged Sesame donuts at stores like Sprinkles. We met people at the Oneg bakery who had done just that.
Inside Oneg bakery, people show the Sesame sufganiyot they purchased at Sprinkles. Many people like to sample baked goods from several bakeries
Taste of Israel
Taste of Israel is small general store, but you can order sufganiyot in advance at (347) 554-8133. They have eight varieties ranging in price from $4 to $6, and all are very good. We bought another dozen here to bring to people.
Ostrovitsky’s Bakery
Ostrovitsky’s was cleared out of their fancy sufganiyot (Rosemarie, Chocolate Mousse…) when we arrived around 4pm. We tried a custard donut which was just okay. Dough gets heavy as the day goes on which weakens the experience.
Summary
If one budgets $2-$4 for a donut, look for simple jelly donuts or custard which are usually quite good at most locations (including Pomegranate). The more expensive varieties run $5-$6 each. There is absolutely no reason to spend $7 for a small donut at Almah.
Sufganiyot are much, much better fresh. If one is planning to eat them at the time of purchase, go early to the smaller bakeries which only bake in the morning. The larger locations like Sesame and Pita Sababa can be visited at any time and recommended if one is planning on having them at dinner.
Some places require ordering at least a day in advance, including Pita Sababa, Ricotta Coffee and Taste of Israel. It is very unlikely that you will be able to get any if not ordered early. However, I imagine that it will get easier on the last few nights of the holiday.
Sesame sufganiyotTaste of Israel sufganiyot
Lastly, talk to people! We discovered Sababa from talking to a woman in line and got gifted donuts at Ricotta from speaking to a Chabad rabbi. People are out enjoying the holiday and you should view the bakery hop as an experience to enjoy with everyone, and not just picking up donuts because pictures looked pretty on Instagram.
BONUS: Latkes (Pomegranate and Essen Deli)
We sampled latkes from Pomegranate (across from Sesame-Flatbush) and Essen Deli (not far from there, next to Ostrovitsky’s). Pomegranate had a few flavors like potato, sweet potato and zucchini which were flat and wide. Essen had potato which were very crunch and thick. The Essen latkes were a bit saltier and people preferred them to Pomegranate’s which candidly, did not look as appetizing when placed side by side.
Wishing you and your families a very wonderful Chanukah!
The story of Chanukah happened in 164 BCE. The Seleucid king Antiochus IV Epiphanes had defiled the Second Jewish Temple in Jerusalem and enacted several laws against Judaism, including banning circumcision, celebrating Shabbat and Jewish holidays, forcing Jews to eat pork, and making it a capital offense to have a torah scroll. The Jews of the holy land revolted against the Syrian-Greek king and got rid of all the anti-Judaism decrees and rededicated the Temple.
This was a war of pagans against the Jewish religion, before Herod built the expanded Temple Mount plaza and before Christianity.
Over the following centuries, King Herod (72 BCE – 4 BCE) built the expanded Temple Mount and Jesus was crucified in Jerusalem by the Romans. Jewish revolts against the Romans in 66CE-70CE and 132-135CE led to the destruction of Jerusalem and expulsion of Jews from the area, renaming the city to “Aelia Capitolina” and the region to “Palestina.”
This was a war of pagans against Jews and Christians, before the birth of Mohammed and creation of Islam.
Mohammed’s quest to bring Islam from the Arabian Peninsula to the world brought a Muslim invasion into the Jewish holy land in the 7th and 8th centuries. Muslims built their third holiest site on top of Herod’s Temple Mount, the Al Aqsa Mosque. Christians and Muslims waged several wars over the holy land between 1095 and 1291.
Those battles between Christian crusaders and Muslims, were over the Jewish holy land and Judaism’s holiest location.
In 1948, Muslim Arab armies invaded and tried to destroy the newly declared State of Israel. The Jordanian army ethnically cleansed all of the Jews on the western bank of the Jordan River all the way through the Old City of Jerusalem. In 1954, it granted citizenship to all Arabs, as long as they were not Jewish.
This was a war of Arab Muslims countries against the physical presence of Jews in the Jewish holy land.
From the Chanukah story to the creation of Israel in 1948, many groups laid siege to Jerusalem, often attacking Jews through anti-religious actions, or lumped in with other religious groups. Since 1948, the war has been about the physical presence of Jews in Jerusalem, a place where Jews have been the majority since the 1860s.
At the story of Chanukah, there was no Temple Mount, no Christianity and no Islam. It was a battle of pagans against a small local tribe’s religion, who lived at the intersection of Africa, Asia, and Europe.
Chanukah marks the beginning of Jews in the holy land being attacked for their religion. The successful battles proved to be short-lived, as most Jews were forced into the diaspora over the following centuries, until the recent past. Celebrating the holiday today amidst a multi-front defensive war and global antisemitic chants that Jews are “European settler colonialists” is a chance to reassert Eight Attestations On Jerusalem:
Jews have an Inalienable right to pray on the Jewish Temple Mount
Banning Jews from living and praying in their holiest city is blatant anti-Semitism, as is denying Jewish history
There is no “Judaizing” Jerusalem, as Jews have been the majority in Jerusalem since the 1860s, and have devoted themselves to the city since 1000BCE
The security of Israel demands that its capital sit well within its borders
Divided capitals are a function of war, not peace. The place known as “East Jerusalem” only existed for a few years, 1949-1967
No part of Jerusalem was ever contemplated to be part of Palestine. Not only is “East Jerusalem” not an actual city, but there is no basis to call it “Occupied Palestinian Territory”
Jerusalem Arabs have been and are continued to be offered Israeli citizenship
There is no ethnic cleansing of Arabs. The Arab population in Jerusalem has grown faster than Jews since Israel reunited city
On Chanukah, diaspora Jews should pay particular attention to the direction of their prayer, the Jewish Temple Mount in Jerusalem, Israel, as Jews have done for thousands of years.
Happy Chanukah signs on the walls of Jerusalem, 2021
One of the most famous stories in the Book of Genesis is about Jacob’s ladder with angels ascending and descending. The famous biblical commentator Rashi (1040-1105) said that the angels going up were tied to the holy land and had to leave Jacob as he journeyed to live with his uncle Laban outside of the land. The angels coming down were new angels who would accompany Jacob while he lived outside of the holy land.
Jacob’s Ladder by Frans Francken II the Younger (1581-1642)
I would like to share an alternative interpretation: the angels on the ladder represent Jacob’s relationship with Esau.
There is no tool that connects hands and feet like a ladder. Both are required to go up as well as to come down. If several people are on a ladder at one time, hands and feet would likely be touching.
That is a reference to Jacob. His name literally came from his act of holding onto the heel of his brother Esau at their births. “Jacob” stems from the Hebrew word for heel, “akeb” (Genesis 25:26):
The clutching of the heel in the world’s first recorded twins set the primogeniture battle for the ages.
Birthright
There are two stories of Jacob angling to take the birthright from Esau. First, Jacob operates on his own and trades food with a hungry Esau for the birthright (Genesis 25:29-34). Years later, as their father Isaac wasn’t likely to abide by the earlier exchange between the brothers, Jacob acts at the urging of his mother Rebekah to trick Isaac into giving the special blessing intended for Esau to himself. Esau was so distraught by this action, that he swore he would kill Jacob, forcing Jacob to flee to live with Laban. (Genesis 27:1-21).
Jacob had the dream of angels on the ladder while he was fleeing from Esau. Jacob was not sure whether he had the advantage of the blessing or was a hunted man. On the ladder, the person higher up is only ahead while ascending; the elevated person actually trails the person below him when they are all descending.
The story of Jacob clutching Esau’s leg finally comes to a close when Jacob returns to the holy land. In Genesis 32:25-33, Jacob wrestles a man/angel who dislocates Jacob’s hip. As the angel breaks free he blesses Jacob by changing his name to Yisrael:
“Said he, ‘Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with beings divine and human, and have prevailed.'”
Jacob/Israel, together with his wives and children, are then able to meet with Esau with his 400-person army, no longer carrying the weight of the contest. After they meet, Jacob gets affirmation from Gd about moving beyond the Jacob-Esau heel connection in Genesis 35:9-13.
And God said to him, “I am El Shaddai. Be fertile and increase; A nation, yea an assembly of nations, Shall descend from you. Kings shall issue from your loins.
The land that I assigned to Abraham and Isaac I assign to you; And to your offspring to come Will I assign the land.”
Jacob’s view of himself was tied to his name which conveyed a pursuit of his brother and his blessing. Once he broke free of that pursuit – together with a limp and a new name – Israel was able to accept that he was the heir to the blessings Gd bestowed upon his forefathers.
The angels on the ladder in Jacob’s dream were not geofenced protectors of Jacob but a reflection of his link with Esau, together with confusion of his actions. Esau would always be older and above him on the ladder, but descending and on the ground in the holy land, Jacob/Israel was entitled to the blessings and inheritance.
For the sin of believing in Kamala Harris the moment she became the presidential nominee when I had believed her utterly incompetent for three and one-half years;
For the sin of not believing that Donald Trump is a megalomaniac;
For the sin of wasting time debating Trump-Harris for hours, when I live in a deeply blue or red state;
First One Through 