This place must be what protects the entire nation of Israel!” exclaimed the chasid from Ramat Bet Shemesh.
We were seated for kiddush on Shabbat morning in Moshav Amirim, a secular community in the Upper Galilee, having just concluded the Shabbat prayers surrounded by every type of Jew — secular, religious, traditional, haredi and chasidic. “I see the way everyone here embraces each other, supports each other, and lives together and I have no doubt — this is what G-d wants and this is a tremendous merit for Am Yisrael,” the chasid continued.
Unfortunately, such a broad tapestry of Jews praying together in one synagogue is rare these days in Israel. However, it does happen quite often during summer vacations, so why was this chasid taken aback? Well, it turns out that all those different types of Jews were not vacationing in Amirim — they live together in Amirim and pray together every week!
Amirim is about 20 twenty minutes from Safed and 30 minutes from Tiberias, two of the four holy cities in Jewish tradition. We visited both Safed and Tiberias on our weekend up North, but it was this secular hilltop moshav, with stunning views of the Sea of Galilee and the Golan Heights, that offered my wife Ronit and me one of the most spiritual religious experiences we have ever had.
What is more, Amirim was founded as a vegetarian moshav and, to this day, all property owners must be vegetarian.
While vegetarianism largely aligns with Torah values — particularly given the oppressive conditions of modern mass dairy and meat production — sociologically vegetarianism is generally not the province of the religious. (Full disclosure: I do not purchase meat or chicken for weekday consumption.) So to me, making vegetarianism the ideological banner of the moshav is a signal that this is a secular moshav.
This feeling was evidenced by an anecdote shared by a religious resident. At a local poetry event she was instructed not to include any reference to G-d in her poem.
All this being said, Amirim is the place where there is an active synagogue with Jews of all stripes. A synagogue filled with joy, respect and love. Many different opinions and ideas harmonize to create a genuine unity borne out of mutual respect and recognition of a shared heritage.
This[dropcap] chasid didn’t even have the privilege of meeting Esther, as my wife and I later did as Shabbat ebbed away.
Esther is a secular woman who has lived in Amirim for about 60 years. She is the daughter of Holocaust survivors from France who founded the moshav. She came to the synagogue late Shabbat afternoon to say Psalms as she prayed for her children to find Jewish soulmates.
Talk about an ayin tov, seeing the good in others (Ethics of the Fathers 2:9): Over the course of our conversation Esther related that she once saw on TV that a resident of Yitzhar donated a kidney to a secular woman who was a total stranger. Now, Yitzhar is generally regarded as the most extreme settlement in the West Bank and Esther is a secular woman from vegetarian Amirim.
What was Esther’s reaction? “I must find this person!”
She couldn’t find his name in the phonebook, but she persisted. Other people with the same last name were called — including, unbeknownst to her, the dean of Merkaz HaRav yeshiva — until, at last, she found a relative of his.
With his phone number in hand, she called up the kidney donor. “Hello, I heard about your life-saving kindness, and I would like to invite you to a weeklong getaway with your wife in my rental apartment up North.”
He was so appreciative, but explained that they had no one to take care of his five children in their absence. “No problem,” Esther said, “I have another rental apartment which you can use as well.”
[dropcap]The chasid also wasn’t around Sunday morning when Ronit and I had a first-in-our-lifetime experience of attending the remarriage of a divorced couple.
Sadly, a third of Israeli marriages end in divorce, but how many divorces end in remarriage? With the motley crew of synagogue attendees as the primary guests, this local Amirim couple remarried at the Galilee Lookout in the moshav. What a special, joyous occasion it was.
Another gem from Esther. As is well known, tensions with the haredi community regarding IDF service are at an all-time high. Yet it was with love and reverence that Esther told us about her brother who became haredi in his younger years, and now has eight children and over 60 grandchildren! She was clear that the issues of army service and lack of proper education and employment for haredi males bother her in general. She was equally clear that she would not let such issues damage her family bonds.
“A tzaddik, a righteous person,” she said of her brother. All of his children are engaged in the holy endeavor of raising future generations of Jewish children,” she declared, and she is so proud of them. What is more, she said that she would never vote for an anti-haredi party, and not even for a party that would have an anti-haredi party as a coalition partner. She was adamant about never doing such a thing to her brother and his family.
Can you imagine what Israel would look like if everyone’s voting priorities were as selfless and family-oriented as Esther’s?
Remarkably, all this positivity emanates from Esther — an artist by profession — despite the fact that her livelihood has crumbled from the combined damage that Covid and the ongoing wars in Israel have done to the tourism industry. Since Oct. 7, she has dedicated most of her waking hours to volunteer initiatives benefitting IDF soldiers stationed in the North.
We tried to buy one of her paintings Saturday night, only to hear this generous, heartbreaking sentence. “Take it for free! I’m in debt anyways, so what’s one more picture anyway?”
We intended to surreptitiously leave an envelope Sunday morning, but she was in her garden when I arrived. My only recourse was to hand her the envelope and run while she tried to hand me back the money!
Many businesses in the North have suffered since Oct. 7 and we learned of multiple other businesses which, sadly enough, are closing up shop at the end of this summer. One was an enchanting, outdoor wooden bowling set and mini-golf course (a rarity in Israel) designed by an Australian immigrant 30 years ago.
On your next trip to Israel, include the Galilee and Rocky Mountain-esque Golan Heights on your itinerary. Share some love with its wonderful residents holding down the fort under the shadow of war.
© IJN 2026
