Dr. Rich Swier had just returned from his first trip to Israel. He sent us this report of what he found there that he posted on the blog for his daily international internet radio program, The Dr. Rich Show, First Impressions: My Trip to Israel.  He will discuss what he found there on his upcoming radio program, Monday, May 7^th that airs at 11:00 AM EDT in the US.

Rich Swier is a fellow Nam era serving US Army officer and a colleague in The United West. His daily program, The Dr. Rich Show has garnered a wide international audience via the internet. I have been a guest on several episodes with both he and co-host Johnny Jackson. Having family and friends and been to Eretz Yisroel a number of times, I know what Rich has found there. A warm sometimes fractious people who have literally turned a desert waste land into a veritable Garden of Eden. Just look at a satellite photo of the country and notice the green of Israel contrasted with the arid dryness of its Arab neighbors. Israel's founders and several generations of Jewish immigrants and their descendents have labored to return the land to its productive origins. The tragedies of the Shoah that killed Six Million European co-religionists and the pogroms in Arab Muslim lands in the Ummah .sent millions of Jews and their progeny into sanctuary in this land. They have transformed it into a vibrant democracy and leading edge modern technology based economy. They did it by themselves with the support of the Jewish Diaspora and allies like the US, Germany and other friends in the West. This has produced what authors Dan Senor and Saul Singer called in their book a veritable, Start Up Nation. A Jewish nation that treats its minorities, women, gays, Christians and Muslims fairly. It is truly a light unto the nations, surrounded as it is by fundamentalist Islamic neighbors threatening to extinguish it in a religiously inspired Jihad equipped with tens of thousands rockets, missiles, suicide bombers and soon nuclear weapons. Israel's largely citizen Army, Zahal, with its professional core, assures this vibrant country with the means of thwarting those threats. Americans support this valued ally in the troubled cockpit of the Middle East, because it shares common Judeo-Christian values of liberty, freedom and the Future. As Rich has found out on this his first trip to Israel, Jerusalem is the spiritual center of the Judeo-Christian West. Kol Hakavod ("Outstanding in Ivreet") to my chaver, Lt. Col. Rich Swier.

Read my friend Rich Swier’s blog post and tune in to his program via the internet to hear his first impressions of Israel.

First Impressions: My First trip to Israel

By Dr. Rich Swier. Lt. Col. US Army, Ret.

I recently returned from my first trip to Israel. I thank the Jewish Federation of Sarasota-Manatee for making this trip possible. People say first impressions are lasting ones. I came home with three everlasting impressions of Israel.

First, Israel is ancient on the surface yet new at its core. My first days were spent in two adjoining cities, Jaffa founded over 4,000 years ago and Tel Aviv founded in 1912. These cities symbolize how Israel's ancient roots gave birth to a modern and cosmopolitan culture. Viewing Tel Aviv from Jaffa one can see why Israel is called the “startup nation". Corporations like Google, Microsoft and Yahoo have a major presence there. When you check out at any Publix super market in Florida you will be accessing a software program developed in Israel. Haifa is where the anti-missile defense system named "Raphael", part of Israel's Iron Dome, was developed. Read More