THE PESSIMISTIC JEW REPORT

***HOLOCAUST TRIGGER WARNING*** Ofer's wife Ilil works at Yad Veshem, which is the Israeli national Holocaust museum. She is a researcher who specializes in photographs and film of people and places during the Holocaust. Knowing that I found some information about my family history when I was doing research back in 2014 to help me find Yehuda, she decided that this visit was the time that our family should finally officially submit what Yad Vashem calls "testimony" about our

On Jan 15th I went to the West Bank for the first time. I want to specifically thank my dear friend Amy Laura Cahn for having years of conversations with me about my feelings about visiting my family and not engaging with human rights work in Palestine (she gave me permission and helped me give myself permission). Then having conversations this past November about me feeling like I couldn't any longer give myself permission to not engage, and encouraging me to do it even whil

This is what has been going on: I developed a sinus infection, which happens to me when I am traveling sometimes. It hasn't happened in a while, but it happened the first time I came to Israel-Palestine in 2014. I think it's the combination of weird airplane pressure, dry air on the airplane, 10 hour flight, and the relatively dry climate here compared to where I live, plus "foreign" pollen, plants, dust. I felt just under-the-weather enough for several days to limit my activ

I'm here in Jerusalem. Flight felt oddly shorter than 11 hours. It was an overnight flight, as most of them seem to be, and I’m so sleepy. I’m staying tonight in a hotel not far from Ofer's house, just for tonight and then tomorrow I move into an Airbnb studio that I’ll have for the rest of my time here. My flight landed at 7 AM Israel time and it’s 12:14 PM now and my room should be ready soon. I am so so so sleepy. I used Google maps to find a place to have some lunch near

Hi everyone. It's been a long time. I stopped social media after 10/7/23 because I couldn't stand what people said on all sides. I haven't really missed social media at all but I've missed you all. Right this moment, I am in JFK airport about to board a flight soon nonstop to Tel Aviv. It’s the first time I’ll see my Israeli family in three years. Last time was January 2023. Yehuda is dead. He died in early 2024 and I never got to say goodbye to him although I sent him lots o

Today is day 2 of this year's trip to Israel/Palestine. I haven't been here for three years because of the war and conflict following the 7Oct23 attacks. I have missed my family here so much it's difficult to even describe. Just to bring everyone up to speed as a recap: My family here are all descendants of my maternal grandfather's brothers who came here in the 1920's as Zionists who were fleeing terrible persecution and genocide in Poland/Austria-Hungary, in their town in t