I couldn’t get a seat at a Tel Aviv Restaurant. I loved it

(12/22/25, JNS) Five years ago, I left Israel for the United States. My career had brought me to Washington, D.C., but soon after my arrival, I met my wife. Our choice to build a family together was also my choice to make America my permanent home. Still attached to my original homeland, and to the family and friends I left behind, I remain committed to visiting Israel at least once a year.

With every visit, I find the Israel I’d left behind a bit changed. In America, I try to keep up with the country’s evolving atmosphere through frequent conversations with Israelis, social media, and the TV shows that I continue to watch regularly. However, only when I land at Ben Gurion Airport and begin my one- or two-week-long Hebrew-speaking journey through the country, I’m able to connect the dots and see how the home I left behind is actually doing. In Israel (as in America), I feel like an insider and an outsider all at once. While not without its challenges, it is a perspective I continue to hold onto.

My past visits to Israel always found a concerned, if not outright troubled, country and society. The first two were in the COVID era. I recall making any plans I had in the country on my first visit contingent on the results of the test I had taken upon landing. On my second visit, my spouse and I stood in line at the local pharmacy to get her tested just before her flight back. My third visit saw the gearing up of mass protests against Israel’s current government, in the wake of the proposed judicial reforms. My fourth was just two months after October 7th, and my fifth was on the heels of the Jan. 2025 hostage release deal, which left dozens still in captivity.

This visit has been different. The pandemic is long-forgotten. The IDF is still very much active in Gaza, Lebanon and Syria, but the country, and in particular the home front, is no longer in a state of war. Potential pathways to a permanent calm are being considered and pursued in all arenas. For the first time in years, Israelis can breathe easy and make plans for their futures. These circumstances, and the results I saw on the ground, have led me to one conclusion – Israel is booming.

High above the ground, skyscrapers are popping up on Tel Aviv and Jerusalem’s horizons. What’s more impressive than the number of buildings is the number of cranes. All over the nation’s two largest cities, much is being built and rebuilt, with a commitment to preserving historically significant structures for generations to come. In Tel Aviv, the three towers that will soon become the country’s tallest are currently in advanced stages of construction. In Jerusalem, dozens of high-rises were built over the last decade, or are currently under construction, as the city plans to double its population over the next quarter-century.

Underground, a whole different type of construction takes place. In Tel Aviv, construction has begun on three different Metro lines. While their completion is far off, they will be added to a network of light rail lines, to be finished over the next five years. Jerusalem’s light rail line, which was extended on both ends earlier this year, will get two new siblings, opening gradually between 2026 and 2031. Two new underground rail stations, already being worked on, will bring people from all throughout Israel directly to downtown Jerusalem, and even to the outskirts of the old city.

All of these are meant to serve those who themselves occupy the grounds and streets of Israel – the people. That’s where I’ve seen the biggest change. Restaurants are jam packed, and in too many of them, I could not find a seat for myself. Parks, markets and train stations are filled with kids and parents, out and about on Hanukkah break. What can be seen by the naked eye is also backed by numbers. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) expects Israel’s economy to grow by 4.9% in 2026 and by 4.6% in 2027. This is the highest expected growth among all of the organization’s members – which average at 1.7-1.8% annually over the next two years. Unemployment remains extremely low at 3.4%. In the United States, where I live, it stands at 4.6%.

Israelis are coming out of this war with a lot of pain, particularly those who have lost loved ones, their homes, or both. At the same time, they’re plunging with great hunger into an era of new and renewed opportunities. As other developed countries, once dubbed “The West,” are experiencing an undeniable decline, Israelis are incredibly well-positioned to seize this moment and make the country from a regional powerhouse, to a global one.

At the end of 2025, and after five years of living outside Israel, I can say with confidence that this is the most optimistic I’ve been for its outlook and people.