All too many Americans flip out (become much more religious) while in Israel, and it seems President Barack Obama is no exception.
In his arrival speech, he basically straight-up endorses religious Zionism:
I’m so honored to be here as you prepare to celebrate the 65th anniversary of a free and independent State of Israel. Yet I know that in stepping foot on this land, I walk with you on the historic homeland of the Jewish people. More than 3,000 years ago, the Jewish people lived here, tended the land here, prayed to God here. And after centuries of exile and persecution, unparalleled in the history of man, the founding of the Jewish State of Israel was a rebirth, a redemption unlike any in history.
By later that day, he's already giving a Gemara shiur (class/talk) to Shimon Peres:
They opened their meeting with a planting ceremony. Obama brought Peres a magnolia tree from the White House garden. Advertisement: “This is the work of generations,” Obama said about peace. He framed that quote with a story from the Talmud about Honi and the carob tree. The tree yields carobs 70 years after it’s planted. So what’s the point of planting one, if you may never eat its fruits, Honi asks a man. The man tells him that when he came into the world, his father and grandfathers had planted carob trees for him to enjoy. The man said he was planting carob trees for his children and grandchildren.
I think we can be sure he'll fulfill that request to come to B'nei Brak and make a minyan. Frankly, at this rate, by the end of the trip he will have built at least 13 (illegal) outposts and will be a rosh yeshiva at the Mir; we may be stuck with President Biden.
