https://www.nationalreview.com/2024/06/israel-embodies-the-tension-at-the-heart-of-the-west/
Alongside high-tech marvels, a love of ancient traditions
El Al Airlines, the flagship carrier of the State of Israel, is the only commercial airline in the world that equips its fleet with anti-missile-defense systems. At times, that might have seemed excessive. But in 2024, no one is questioning that necessity as El Al 787s take off and land at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport, just an hour away by car from the Gaza Strip.
Security considerations have forced El Al to become arguably the world’s most modern and technologically advanced airline. It may also be the world’s most traditional. Passengers flying on El Al have access to a host of Western movies and TV shows, but many choose instead to spend their time 30,000 feet in the air watching or listening to one of El Al’s many Torah-study videos and podcasts. As I listened to one while above the Atlantic last week, I couldn’t help but notice the contrast: the ancient words of the Torah alongside the modern flourishes of the 787 aircraft. In many ways, it’s that tension, between the truly ancient and the decidedly modern, that defines the Jewish state.
After I exited the plane in Tel Aviv, I passed through the arrivals hallway in Ben Gurion Airport, which I had walked through many times as a child. This time, the hallway looked different. From beginning to end, it was lined with posters of Israeli hostages still held by Hamas — the Jewish state ensures that no visitor who arrives at Ben Gurion leaves the airport unaware of the ordeal the country now faces.
My face transformed from frown to smile as my gaze shifted from the hostage posters to my two cousins, both members of the IDF, who had come to pick me up. This was a tearful reunion, for my family had narrowly escaped the tragedy faced by so many other Jewish families in Israel since October 7. On that day, when my younger cousin was home for the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah, his unit was manning a base in southern Israel near the Gaza Strip. When Hamas invaded, they murdered one of his best friends. In the weeks and months that followed, my older cousin was one of the heroes tasked with fighting Hamas in Gaza. He told me of the horror he felt as he accidentally stepped on a land mine, likely one of the many booby traps the Hamas savages had placed for soldiers in the Israel Defense Forces. When he stepped off the mine, however, something miraculous happened: It didn’t explode. As I walked with my cousins past the airport’s large statue of David Ben-Gurion, I thanked God for the chance to see them again, and I remembered the words of Israel’s first prime minister: “In Israel, in order to be a realist, you must believe in miracles.”