I do agree about the rebirth of spirit among orthodoxy. Led by Chabad and Shlomo Carlebach, and by the sheer enormity of the fact of the re-creation of Jewish sovereign life in Israel and the (partial) reconquest of our holy sites, Jews-- both orthodox and not-- are rediscovering what it means to stand tall and proud after millenia of exilic submission.  While by your address I can guess that you haven't yet taiken the full leap of faith and moved to Israel (next year in Jerusalem! look me up when you get here), I think we agree on the essentials on that issue.

I don't think critiquing socialism is entirely fair-- Israel IS the only place in the world that communal living was experimented with in a non-coercive, democratic, state-supported way.  The fact that many kibbutzim have 'failed' shouldn't overcome our pride in the many that still succeed, and the many more that DID succeed for generations in building Jewish life and a Jewish state out of practically nothing over the last century.  We ARE a light unto nations for many reasons beyond just the moral message of Torah, and I only disagree with Joey that these other ways are what defines a Jew. 

The world DOES need to figure out how to move beyond cannibalistic capitalism and hypocritical nationalisms, we need and thirst for sustainable and meaningful community... we can and should take the lessons of the (oft disastrous) experiments of intentional communities and radical socialisms of the last century and LEARN from them, and COMBINE those lessons with the wealth of wisdom Judaism has accumulated over our thousands of years in the wilderness.  And make something old and new, and better, and whole. And as Jews, and in Israel first.