Times of Israel Ops & Blogs Editor Miriam Herschlag, Allison Kaplan Sommer, and Noah Efron discuss three topics of incomparable importance and end with an anecdote about something in Israel that made them smile this week.

A Big, Beautiful Wall?

In building a massive 10 meter high wall all along the northern border with Lebanon and Syria, are we surrounding ourselves with ghetto walls of our own devising?

Primum Non Nocere

Nurses strike to keep from being punched, slapped and stabbed. How did our hospital wards and clinics become so damn violent?

Living Small

Co-housing takes off in Israel, launching an age of what some call “Kibbutz 2.0.” Is this the result of an admirable embrace of communal values, or because young folks here are being crushed by the levers of capitalism?

Extra Segment: Pen Pals

For our primo Patreon supporters, in our extra-special, special extra segment, we discuss, with ambivalence, a challenging Times of Israel essay by writer Yossi Klein Halevi called, “Letter to My Palestinian-Israeli Neighbors,” exploring what, if anything, is the thread linking Palestinian and Jewish Israelis.

Music

Arutz Hakibud

• Or Barvaz (עור ברווז)
• Kacha zeh Etzleinu (ככה זה אצלנו)
• Muzarnik (מוזרניק)
• Tania (טניה)