Author Archives: dknopf

The feeling is halfway between anxiety and excitement. A nail biting thriller was about to unfold and whether my team was ready or not we were going in. At a red light, the car parked next to ours honks and it’s passengers cheer and wave to us, as if we we are their town’s championContinue reading “Firefighting on the Homefront”

?מה זה להיות ישראלי .לדבר השפה של התנ”ך . לגור בארץ של אבותנו, ושומרים את הארץ בישביל היהודים בעתיד .ישרלים יודעים עבודה קשה, אחריות וכונה .ישראלים יודעים מה לעשות בצבע אדום, וילדים נולדים בבלגן ?מי זה ישראלי ?מישהוא שגר במדינה ושומר העם של המדינה ויהודים בכל העולם .מישהוא שדבר עברית ואין לא ארץ אחרת .החייםContinue reading “העם הנצח לא מפחד מדרך ארוכה”

Kids laugh and chase each other around the kitchen table while adults clink wine glasses and toast. They wine and dine for hours feasting on delicious food. As the children retire to their bedrooms, the hard liquor is brought to the table and the conversation transitions from lighthearted banter to that of an existential matter:Continue reading “Talk of War”

    The turquoise water splashes leisurely at my ankles while soft powdery sand mushes between toes. The ocean’s air is salty on my lips as I stare into the setting sun which illuminates the calm waters beneath a crimson sky. As dusk welcomes night, I continue to stare out into the vastness. One star becomesContinue reading “Dreaming”

6:30 AM Valerie is smoking a Marlboro red. I find it funny a guy from Kazakhstan likes the taste of an American cigarette. On the side of the courtyard, men wrap themselves in Tefillan and chant silently as the sun begins to rise on the Michve Alon Base. I wish the Men in my tsevetContinue reading “A review of Week #1”

Tomorrow, I make the plunge. A forfeiture of innocence, an unveiling of reality. Throughout history and evolution, brave women and men have raised arms in preservation of their ideals, today I join in their ranks. It has been an upward battle to get to this point, and I don’t expect to see the peak justContinue reading “יום הגיוס”

Draft day in five days. We will go from kibbutz Erez to Be’er sheva and from there to the בקויים. Dog tags, kit bag, uniforms, medical tests and lots of hugs and pictures with friends and family. Finally, when it is all over, a long bus ride up north to Michve Alon, my home forContinue reading “The Best is Yet to Come”

12/05/19 -10 days until draft 10:30 am local time Munich International Airport This right now is my first time ever in Germany. Somewhat ironically, I started and finished Elie Weisel’s Night on my flight here from Boston. This was my second time reading it. I finished with weary and red eyes and reflected on hisContinue reading “Thoughts on a layover in Munich”

Kibbutzim, the Gazan Envelope and Red Alert A kibbutz is a hard concept to explain, but here I go. Traditionally, they were voluntarily socialist societies with Utopian aspirations. Well that was not so hard. But kibbutzim of the past resemble little to the realities of today. In the early days, Kibbutzim were full of JewishContinue reading “קיבוצים, עוטף עזה וצבע אדום”

Growing up, the 4th of July was my favorite holiday. My family celebrated at Cape Cod. Watching impressive firework shows late into the night while eating hamburgers and hot dogs. This past July 4th was the most nontraditional and yet the most meaningful. July 4th 2019 I touchdown at Ben Gurion Airport and begin myContinue reading “Summer Loving in Herzliya in the Early Days of Aliyah”