Lt. Amitai Granot was killed on the northern front last week. Days earlier, his father R. Tamir Granot, Rosh Yeshivat Orot Shaul in Tel Aviv, R. Tamir published an essay in Makor Rishon about the implications of the Hamas massacre, the meaning of an old-world pogrom in modern Israel, and the task before us as a nation. Yitzchak Blau presents this summary with the hope that these efforts honor the Granot family and the memory of Amitai z”l.

Twenty years ago Israel ranked 28th in the world in proportional live kidney donations. By 2020, the WHO ranked Israel the world leader in altruistic live donor kidney transplants How did this come about and how did attitudes particularly within the religious community change? Apparently, a few good and dedicated people can change the world.

The content of Israeli television and films reveals dynamics working in the Jewish State. Who is being featured and how they are being portrayed help tell the tale of Israeli society. Yitzchak Blau’s Alt+SHIFT offering works off recent cultural surveys and criticism on the growing presence of religious characters in movies and TV alongside a recent documentary series on Israeli secularism.