For many American Jews, Israel has traditionally been viewed as a political cause, a family inheritance or a destination visited through organized trips. For Logan Levkoff, a New York based educator, media personality and Jewish advocate, Israel has become something far more personal. It is the place where she can finally remove the emotional armor she carries through daily life in the United States.

In an interview on my Israel Insider podcast, Levkoff explains why she has visited Israel fourteen times since October 7, how her public support for Israel has affected her professional life and why she believes American Jews must stop minimizing their identity in exchange for social acceptance.

She does not present her frequent visits as evidence that she is a better Jew or a more committed Zionist. Instead, she describes a physical and emotional pull toward Israel that has become impossible to ignore.

You do not realize how much you carry until you unload that armor from your body.

The armor Levkoff describes was not created on October 7. It developed over many years, as hostility toward Israel became increasingly normalized within American schools, universities, media organizations and progressive circles.

Long before the current war, Jewish students were already being expected to defend Israel in environments where history was reduced to ideological slogans. Zionism was increasingly presented not as the national movement of the Jewish people, but as racism, colonialism or oppression.

October 7 did not invent these ideas. It allowed them to move from the margins into the center of public life.

According to Levkoff, one of the most dangerous responses has been the willingness of some American Jews to become quieter. Many have attempted to preserve their professional and social standing by distancing themselves from Israel, avoiding public debate or presenting themselves as Jews who do not make others uncomfortable.

Levkoff refuses to participate in that process.

I am not going to shrink. People are going to have to contend with me, my feelings and my beliefs.

The word shrink captures more than fear. It describes a gradual form of self........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)