David Schocken revisits Jerusalem and finds a more open path into Judaism

David Schocken, a descendant of the family that founded Haaretz, says he has spent recent years on an unusual personal and spiritual journey into Jewish texts and tradition. In an interview with Channel 7, he says the path began as he reconnected with Jerusalem, the city where he was born and which he once experienced as deeply traumatic.

Schocken recalls that growing up in Jerusalem left him feeling as though he was leaving a dark fog whenever he traveled to Tel Aviv or farther north. He says he left the city at age 20 and never looked back, calling it a release because of painful memories that were “real trauma.” One formative event, he says, was seeing a stabbing attack below his home when he was 10. He adds that growing up in Jerusalem in those years was difficult in any case.

Now, he says he returns to Jerusalem with wonder and can see its good side more clearly. That shift, he says, has also shaped his broader encounter with Judaism. He describes it as both an “treasure” and a source of “very complicated baggage” and deep pain. Having encountered Judaism largely from the outside through many Shabbat meals, he says his curiosity remains mixed with suspicion, because he believes good and bad always exist together and that people never see the full picture.

Schocken says his reduced anxiety helped him build a family and a relationship, and made him willing to experiment, listen, and try to understand others. He is especially moved by the intergenerational transmission he sees in religious families, particularly fathers teaching sons at Shabbat tables and in synagogues. He also says some people fear he has become observant, while others instinctively worry about religious return, which he sees as evidence of ignorance and fear. His biggest surprise, he says, is how central love is in Judaism, and he argues that love should guide life, debate, boundaries, and even conflict. “We need to awaken the possibility of looking at it without being afraid of it,” he says.