Month: June 2024

Lies, Damn Lies, and Hamas statistics

Posted on by Keith Dvorchik

The lies continue to grow and get more absurd.  The newest one is that Israel has trained dogs to rape Palestinian women.  In 2018 it was that Israel sent lizards to spy on the Iranian nuclear program.

In 2010 it was Israeli sharks that were trained to attack Egypt and that Israel trained Eagles to spy on Hezbollah.  In 2011 it was Israel training vultures to spy on Saudi Arabia.

GENOCIDE

The lie of genocide is particularly appalling.  People use it because it is easy to say, a powerful word, and a way to get people to hate Israel and Jews.  They like accusing Israel of it while ignoring the real genocide that occurred in Syria and what is currently happening in Sudan and to the Uyghurs in China.  These are real genocides but don’t involve Jews.  Gil Troy addressed this lie powerfully, writing:

Genocide means trying to wipe out a nation. For years, Gaza averaged a growth rate of 1.99 percent, 39th in the world. Having started this war, Hamas is 100% responsible for every death, especially because its terrorists hide behind Gazans and Israeli hostages. Still, Israel has minimized civilian deaths in its just war of self-defense. Urban warfare, atop hundreds of tunnels, is treacherous. A U.S.-led coalition killed 10,000 innocents to defeat ISIS in Mosul. After Oct. 7, when Israel needed to protect its civilians from Hamas, and deter others from massacring innocents, what else could Israel have done? 

In fact, Jewish population in Arab countries decreased from 1948 to 2023 by 99.83%.  At the same time, Arab population in Israel increased by 1,296%.  That is not a genocide.  When the war is over, the facts will show that it was anything but a genocide.  In the meantime, we fight the lie that continues to be told over and over again.

ISRAEL IS AN APARTHEID STATE

Israel gets wrongly accused of being an Apartheid State because it’s an easy word to use, people know it is not a good thing, and most people don’t understand what it means.  It’s easy to repeat, easy to write on a sign, easy to post on social media.  Similar to the use of the word Genocide, it gets wrongly used by people who don’t know what they are talking about to convince other people who don’t know what it means to agree.  Gil Troy explains it well when he writes:

South Africa’s racist Apartheid Regime enacted 148 laws defining people as “white,” “mixed” and “colored.” No Israeli law ever defined anyone based on race or skin color. Israeli-Arabs enjoy equal rights. In the disputed territories, Palestinians and Israelis are often kept apart based on security and/or mutual preference. But apartness is not Apartheid. The Apartheid libel tries racializing the Israeli-Palestinian national conflict. Israel’s enemies want to demonize and Nazify Israel, finding it guilty of biological racism. This charge deems Israel evil and worthy of the international death penalty, rather than a country in a complicated, painful border dispute.

Knowing this information is important to combat this lie.  The facts are on Israel’s side.  Too many people prefer the easy language than learning what the facts and definition are for what they are saying.

ISRAEL IS A COLONIALIST EMPIRE

Gil Troy also addressed the issue of Israel being branded a colonialist empire.  He wrote:

“Colonialism” means settling a far-away land, to extract resources or extend power. Calling Israel “colonialist” negates Jews’ indigenous ties to their homeland, while rejecting Christianity too.  Jesus emerged in a deeply-Jewish land of Israel also called Judea. Jews are the original aboriginal people. They put the “in” in indigenous, being tied to the same land, praying to the same God, maintaining the same traditions and culture for millennia. Whether you’re religious and believe the Bible, or historically-oriented and trust archaeological evidence – or both! — “Eretz Yisrael,” the land of Israel, has always been central to “Am Yisrael,” the Jewish people.

Archeology proves the Jews were in the land thousands of years ago.  Just this week, a 3,300 year old shipwreck was found off the coast of Israel.  This was a Canaanite ship – the people in the land of Israel when the Jews arrived from Egypt.  That was 3,300 years ago! 

The archeological finds show the history of the Jews in Israel goes back thousands of years, not just to 1948.  The City of David, built by King David, has been excavated.  You can see the underground original city of Jerusalem from King David’s time at various locations in Jerusalem.  The Crusader capital city of Akko has been excavated and you see what things looked like in the 1100-1200s.  The Tombs of the Matriarchs and Patriarchs in Hebron go back even before the Canaanites to the time of Abraham.  In Rome, they have the painting on the Arch of Titus showing the Romans coming back after sacking Jerusalem, carrying the great menorah from the Temple.  Yet the lies continue. 

The Israel Antiquities Authority said the silver coin shows the obverse face with the chalice in the center, and above it the letter “Aleph” marking Year 1 of the outbreak of the revolt, and the inscription “half-shekel,” the value of the coin. (Emil Aladjem, Israel Antiquities Authority.)

ISRAEL IS CREATING A FAMINE IN GAZA

Israel continues to be blamed for the food crisis in Gaza despite the antisemitic UN saying there is more than enough food coming into Gaza.  The problem remains UNRWA giving the food to Hamas instead of the people.  Yet the media refuses to cover it and the Jew haters continue to state the lie over and over again.  You can read the UN report here.

There isn’t a question that the people of Gaza are not getting food. It is not because of Israel not sending food and aid nor is it because Israel is blocking the aid from entering Gaza.  There are plenty of pictures of the aid piled up, waiting for UNRWA to pick it up and distribute it.  The food stays there for days.  The food and supplies end up with Hamas.  As Israel clears the tunnels and other military encampments in schools and other places, they find more and more of the stolen aid.  The people of Gaza have commented that the food and aid is too expensive for them to buy.  This FREE aid is being sold on the black market instead of going to the people.  This is Hamas and UNRWA, yet the blame is put on Israel.

Mike Fegelman, the Executive Director of Honest Reporting Canada, wrote a great article about the famine lie in the National Post.  In it he states, “Not only is there a paucity of evidence to suggest there is an ongoing famine in Gaza, there is an overwhelming amount of data showing precisely the opposite: in addition to locally produced food, huge amounts of humanitarian aid enters the territory on a daily basis, thanks to Israel.”  

IPC_Famine_Review_Committee_Report_FEWS_NET_Gaza_4June2024Download

This is the full report for you to read.

ISRAEL IS KILLING MASSIVE AMOUNTS OF WOMEN AND CHILDREN

Every day, you will see new reports that are not cited nor documented by any facts, about more Gazan civilians being killed by Israel with almost all of them reported to be women and children.  This is another big lie.  The Gazan health ministry is run by Hamas, and they say whatever they want for the headlines.  People make up facts. 

In this BBC article, they report that on May 6, 2024, the UN reported 34,735 deaths – of which there were 9,500 women and 14,500 children, citing the Government Ministry Office (GMO) as its source.  Two days later, the UN released a further report, switching its sourcing to the health ministry.  The result of this was that although the overall recorded death toll was almost unchanged (34,844), the number of registered deaths of women (4.959) and children (7,797) had both fallen nearly 50%.  They consider children anybody under 18, so any Hamas terrorists who were 16 or 17 are not being counted as terrorists but as children. 

I chose to cite the BBC article and its statistics because they are not a fan of Israel.  They are typically anti-Israel so the facts really stand out. 

The death tolls being reported include NO Hamas terrorist numbers.  They include every natural death, and everybody murdered by Hamas.  The data is unreliable and has been proven to be unreliable.  Each time more research is done, the death toll changes, just like the famine issue was changed.  It is important to know the lie and to be able to address it.  The lie gets front page news, the correction and the truth gets buried on page 10 inside.

In a speech at the Sorbonne in Paris in 1910, Teddy Roosevelt spoke strongly about leadership.  He talked about those who actually get in the ring and fight.  Those who take action and those who take risks. If you want to end the lies, you must get in the arena and challenge them.  You must be the person Teddy Roosevelt talked about when he said:

“The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, and comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”

Teddy Roosevelt at the Sorbonne giving the historic speech

Are you willing to get in the arena? Are you willing to fight? To strive valiently for a worthy cause? I am. Come join me.

***Gil Troy’s full article about 12 Tough Questions and Simple Answers About Israel can be found here.

Racism and hate has always been here even if we didn’t want to see it.

Posted on by Keith Dvorchik

I grew up in a very multicultural environment.  My friends were many different religions and came from many different cultures.  They were of many ethnicities.  They came from different socio-economic backgrounds.  Some had intact families, some had parents that were divorced.  Some were straight and while some were not ‘out’ yet, we all knew they were gay. It was a great way to grow up as people were just people.  Friends were friends because of who they were, not any other reason.  Growing up this way shaped me as person.  To this day, my friends are my friends because of who they are, not based on their religion, culture, ethnicity, socio-economic status, sexual orientation or identification. 

I didn’t realize that how I grew up was a bubble in a world that was not like that until much later in my life.  As a Jewish, middle-class kid, I didn’t feel any different than my friends.  I would go to their house; they would come to mine. We all played together, hung out together, dated each other, shared our hopes and dreams with each other.  I wrongly assumed that everybody felt the way I felt.

It wasn’t until I went away to college that I began to notice the difference.  We went to different colleges, and some didn’t go to college.  A number of my friends had children when they were 19, 20 or 21.  Even my friends who went to college with me ended up having different social groups that were more aligned with their personal identity.  I joined a Jewish fraternity.  I had friends that joined the historically black fraternities.  Some joined fraternities that didn’t like Jews or black people.  Others joined no fraternity and had a totally different social circle.

While I faced antisemitism in college, I didn’t see my friends facing prejudice because of their skin color or their ethnicity or their sexual identity.  It wasn’t something that I lived with and so it was easy not to notice.  I was blind to the discrimination they faced.  When my childhood friends came out, it wasn’t a big deal to me because I had already known they were gay since childhood.  While I was happy that they could now publicly be who they were, I didn’t understand what they were now facing as openly gay men.

It wasn’t until I was in my 40s and living in Seattle that I began to notice what my friends faced.  I saw the Jew hatred starting and saw others ignoring it or not standing up for it.  I saw hatred against the LGTBQ+ community and saw people ignore it.  A friend of mine there told me that my leadership reminded her of Harvey Milk, and I’m embarrassed to admit that while I knew the name and that he was a gay man and leader in San Francisco, I didn’t know his story.  I read about him, watched the movie (I highly recommend watching Sean Penn as Harvey Milk in the movie Milk) and was amazed that this incredible leader isn’t taught to children.  I was more stunned when I learned it was his murderer who got off on the ‘Twinkie Defense’ which I had heard of. 

Harvey Milk

When the murders happened at Pulse in Orlando, it was shocking to me.  After Eric Garner, Michael Brown, Philando Castile, Botham Jean, Breanna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery were killed, I remember a friend of mine posting about how her son was driving across country and how worried she was about his safety because he would be driving while black. That was a slap in the face for me.  My children were just a little younger than hers and while I worried about them driving safely, I wasn’t worried about them getting pulled over and ending up dead.  It deeply affected me and made me realize how much I was oblivious to because of how I grew up and my own life experiences.  My heart broke for her.  It broke for my other friends who faced the same thing and were not comfortable saying it publicly.

When my son was recruited to play football by Howard University, a historically black college, I was excited for him.  Howard is an excellent school with a great alumni base, and a childhood friend of mine was one of the coaches.  When they offered him a full scholarship, I really wanted him to choose Howard.  I was surprised by the pushback I got from people.  He decided to attend UCF instead and I was sad about the process.  When he thought about transferring, he was recruited by 4-5 other HBCs and I encouraged him to consider them.  Again, there was pushback by others which saddened me. 

I began paying more attention.  One of my childhood friends posts regularly about black history and important black historical figures.  Most of them I have never heard of and as I read about them, I am sad that I never had.  When The Free Press wrote an article about Bayard Rustin, the architect of the March on Washington in 1963, I was stunned that I had never heard of him.  I learned about the March on Washington, the Reverand Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Malcom X.  Why had I never learned about Bayard Rustin? 

Bayard Rustin – if you haven’t seen the movie about him and the March on Washington, watch it!

When October 7th happened, it was my turn.  The pain I felt from the murders, rapes, and kidnappings that day was intense.  I was worried about my friends in Israel who lived in the south of Israel and could be murdered just because they were Jewish.  Those murdered and kidnapped from the Nova music festival hit me hard as that could have been my children and could have been me with them.  When my friend’s son was killed by the terrorists, it hit hard.  He was younger than both my sons.  When I learned of family members of my friends who were being held hostage, I was devastated.  As of now, there were 10 hostages that are related to my friends.  6 remain hostages to this date. 

When the violence against Jews increased after October 7th and people were silent, I was outraged.  When the denial of the rapes happened, I was outraged.  When the women’s rights groups are silent about the rape of Jewish women on October 7th, I was outraged.  When the hostages are forgotten or not mentioned by many of our leaders, I am outraged.  When Israel gets vilified for defending her citizens, I get outraged.  When the lies about what is going on become accepted, I get outraged. 

I got it.  While Jews marched with Dr. King and were active in the civil rights movement, that was 50 years ago.  Where have we been as real partners for other communities, building friendships and relationships, since then?  How could we expect them to be there for us when we haven’t been there for them?  Of course there are some people who have been, but as a community, we have not.  I made a commitment to not be that person any longer.  To build relationships with other communities so they know the Jews are there for them before we ask them to be there for us. To have my eyes open for hatred of all types and to stand up against it. 

On Thursday June 20, 2024, the SF Giants played the St. Louis Cardinals at Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Alabama.  It was a tribute to the Negro Leagues and to honor Willie Mays (z’l).  The fact that Mays died on June 18, 2024, days before the game, made it more poignant.  That June 19th is the holiday Juneteenth made it more powerful.  During the pregame interviews on television, Alex Rodriguez asked Reggie Jackson what it was like returning to a field that held so many memories of baseball’s past.  Reggie’s response was one of the most powerful things I have ever heard. He describes with bitter passion how horrible it was for him.  He shared the prejudice he faced.  How his manager, teammates, and even the owner, supported him.  How they likely saved his life because without them he would have reacted on his anger.  It made me commit even more to fight against racism and hatred.  Watch the interview – it is powerful.

Reggie Jackson sharing the powerful experiences he had with racism when he played in Birmingham

As I listened to Reggie talk, it hit me that we are back there again.  From violence against the black community, the LGTBQ+ community, the Asian community, the Muslim community, and the current horrific issues against the Jewish community, it is just like what Reggie described.  “No Jews” is now heard.  Being a Zionist means your teachers and other students will discriminate against you.  Being Jewish makes you eligible to be attacked.  Looking Jewish makes you a target for physical violence.  A 12-year-old Jewish girl was gang raped in France on June 19th because she was Jewish.  Jewish schools have been shot at in Canada.  The horrors Reggie faced are now being faced by Jewish students on college campuses, in public schools, synagogues, and other public spaces.  How have we come so far to be right back where we were?

This is why we need to do 3 things immediately.

  1. Get educated.  Learn the facts.  Don’t believe the lies and don’t just speak in generalities.  Know that Zionists so wanted a Jewish homeland that they accepted the partition plan immediately despite the challenges the plan presented.  It was a Jewish homeland, so they took it.  The Arabs rejected it and have continued to reject every opportunity for peace and a 2-state solution since 1948.  Most of the time rejecting with violence.  Learn about the State of Israel and the Arab supreme court Justice, the Arabs in the Knesset.  The Israeli-Arabs, the Ethiopian Jews, the Druze, the Bhai, the Bedouins, and the Christians.  Hasbarah is great but not enough.  Learn the history.  Learn the facts.  Be able to have an intelligent discussion and defend Israel.  Even when you are talking with people who know nothing.  Actually, especially when you are talking with people who know nothing. 
  • Defend Israel and the Jewish people.  The days of hiding or playing defense are over.  We play offense now.  We don’t take the beatings because we get to stay alive.  We fight back so we can live.  Go to Israel and be public about it.  Wear your Jewish pride, as a Star of David, a Chai, a kippah, a t-shirt, or whatever you want.  Stand up.  Speak out. 
  • Build relationships with other communities.  We need to have these relationships.  During Pride month, be visible as a Jew celebrating Pride.  During Black History month, be visible as a Jew.  Stand with the black community as they celebrate their history.  During Ramadan, go to a community Iftar and celebrate with your Muslim brothers and sisters.  Learn the right greeting and wish them a Ramadan Kareem or Ramadan Mubarak.  Know and use the greeting Eid Mubarak on Eid-al-fitr, the last day of Ramadan.  Build relationships with the Christian community, the Sikh community, and every other community you can.  We need them and they need us. 

Here is an example of what getting educated and defending Israel can look like.  Watch as this lie, this falsehood, is completely exposed by the speaker.

This is what we all need to be able to do.

And watch true experts, Douglas Murray and Natasha Hausdorff debate on behalf of Israel here.  Some highlights of the debate are below.

Some highlights of the debate.

Hate is on the rise.  Don’t think it isn’t.  Don’t think it hasn’t always been here.  I’m ashamed to admit that I didn’t see it for a long time while my friends had to deal with it.  I’m embarrassed it took what it took to open my eyes.  Now that they are open, there are only two options. 

  1. Keep my eyes open and take action to fight hate and bigotry.
  2. Put my head back in the sand and pretend that I never saw it. 

History has shown that only keeping our eyes open open and taking action has positive results.  This action includes making the effort to support other communities and show that we are there for them before we need them to be there for us. That’s my choice. What is yours?

Tikkun Olam? Tzedakah? Intention is how we change the world.

Posted on by Keith Dvorchik

There is always a lot going on in the world and there is, unfortunately, always people who need our help.  One of the essences of Judaism is our responsibility to repair the world, Tikkun Olam, and to help those in need, Tzedakah.

We do this in many ways.  We support our local Jewish community through our schools, synagogues, JCCs, Federation, Jewish Family Service (JFS), Hillels, Chabads, and the many other organizations that make up our Jewish community.  We give of our time, talent, and our treasure. 

We support financially organizations that do important work in our local community, our state, and in our country.  We may support organizations in Israel like the Friends of the IDF, Jewish National Fund (JNF), or others that we learn of that inspire us.

We may donate to ‘Go Fund Me’ campaigns that help those we know or are friends of people we know who are in need.  We sign up for meal trains to provide food for those going through hard times.  We visit the sick, make shiva calls (visits to people who have lost loved ones), and help our friends with whatever their need may be at that time.

We lobby our local, state, and federal legislators to take action on the things that matter to us.  Jews are not monolithic so there are plenty of social and economic issues that matter to different people and we have the ability to do that.

This is and has been the standard Jewish way to give Tzedakah and to be involved with Tikkun Olam.  Now I am going to challenge you to look at the world in a slightly different way.

Every day that we wake up and take that first breath, we have an opportunity to make the world a better place.  It doesn’t take a lot of money.  It doesn’t take a lot of time.  It doesn’t even take a lot of effort.  It does take intentionality.  It does take a conscious desire.

When you have the conscious desire to make the world a better place every single day, it actually becomes really easy to do so.  Here is a brief list of six (6) things that you can do that take minimal/no money, minimal time, and minimal effort yet have maximum effort.

  1. Hold the door for others as you enter a building.  I do this regularly.  I let hold the door open and let people in before me.  Sometimes that means they get in line ahead of me.  They may get the table at the restaurant before me.  They may get the bank teller before me.  In the grand scheme of things, it doesn’t matter.  What does matter is the smile I get, the thank you I get, and the good feeling we both get from the interaction.  It can change their day and it certainly changes mine.
  • Offer to help somebody with their hands full.  The other day I was on a plane with my sons.  We had the bulkhead seats, and a mom came on board with her hands overloaded including two car seats.  Her kids were already in their seats with their grandmother.  It took no effort on my part to offer to help her take the car seats out of their carrying case, offer to help bring them back to the seats on the plane, or help with what she had in her hands.  The flight attendant did it and said he didn’t need my help, but afterwards thanked me for offering to help.  The mom got the help she needed.  The flight attendant felt appreciated and validated.  I was glad that I offered to help.  Everybody won.  All it took was the intention to help.
  • Pay attention at the grocery store and all around you.  There is usually an older person or a single parent with kids who is struggling to get through the checkout line or out to their car.  A few minutes helping them through the line and/or out to the car makes a huge difference in their day and has little to no impact on yours.
  • On the same flight, there were people who needed help taking their bags down from the overhead bin.  As I was taking mine down, I also took theirs down.  It took an extra minute to do that.  It made their life easier.  It had no impact on my time.  It took minimal effort.  It did take intentionality to ask if they needed help and then to give it to them.  A side benefit was to everybody else on the plane who didn’t have to wait longer to get off while they struggled with their bags. 
  • I was talking to a friend today who is very philanthropic.  She was telling me how much joy it gives her to give.  She gave me examples of not only gifts to organizations but how neighbors of hers had some significant unexpected expenses and didn’t have the financial ability to deal with them.  She gave them not only the money they needed but a cushion so that they didn’t have to worry and didn’t have to live with the stress.  It was something she could afford and had a huge impact on her neighbors and friends.  She got immense joy out of being able to help others directly.  Sometimes it only takes a little bit of money to make a huge difference in somebody’s life.  A couple hundred dollars may pay a utility bill that keeps it from being shut off.  A hundred dollars might clear a child’s school lunch bill, so they have dignity at lunch.  I know people who go to Wal Mart or K Mart and pay off layaway items so people can have gifts for the holidays.  It doesn’t always take big money, but it does always take intention. I promise you that helping somebody else will give you far more pleasure than anything you buy for yourself.
  • In 2018, on one of my trips to Israel, we stopped at the JNF headquarters in Jerusalem, and I had a chance to go through the records. I saw gifts that my grandparents made to JNF in 1967 and 1973.  It made me so proud to be their grandson.  My grandmother died in 1994 and my grandfather in 2001.  It was many years after the gift and after they died, yet their impact was still felt.  Intention.  Teaching your children and grandchildren about their responsibility to help others and make the world a better place is our obligation. Both sets of my grandparents did this. My parents did this. I do it with my children. If we use intention to teach our children and grandchildren, they will understand how important it is and they will make sure it is part of what they do in their lives.

Intention is always the key.  There are so many opportunities to make a difference, to change the world, that it is easy to miss them. I heard a story years ago about the father of the author Alex Haley. One interaction with one random man, changed his life forever. It allowed Alex Haley to become the person he was. The world got the gift of Alex Haley’s writing, all because of this one man, his intention, and his decision to help somebody in need. That man truly changed the world. Read the story, “The Man on the Train” and realize that you too can change the world, one person at a time.

The Man On The Train

I want to highlight two things that I have found to be meaningful and make a difference. Maybe one or both speak to you. Maybe neither does. I hope one or both do.

When I was in Israel in May, we met with Lt. Colonel Rabbi Yedida Atlas.  His title is Director of Special Projects.  What he really does is oversee the part of the IDF that ensures that their Torahs (yes, they have a torah with every unit) and their mezuzahs (yes, they have a mezuzah on all the doors of the barracks) are kosher.  As we talked, he mentioned that with all the reserves called up and with all of the new barracks being constructed near the Gaza border and now in the north, they need approximately 5,000 mezuzahs!! 

Rabbi Atlas talking to us about what they do and what they need. He is showing us the special IDF tzitzit that soldiers have asked to wear.

I work with a client that is in the business of providing fair trade, kosher mezuzahs, so I reached out and told Rabbi Atlas we would find a way to make it happen for the IDF and the soldiers.  Because Rabbi Atlas’s unit does the checking on the mezuzahs to make sure they are kosher, the cost is only $60 for each mezuzah.  That means our challenge is to raise $300,000.  Working with my client, we secured a match, reducing the need to only $150,000.

Each mezuzah now only costs $30.  So if you are interested in supporting the IDF and helping with them getting mezuzahs for their barracks, here is the link to buy them.  It’s also fully tax deductible!  You get to do a mitzvah, help the IDF, help Israel, get a tax deduction, and feel good about what you are doing.  How many ways do you need to win?

Protect the Space Where IDF Soldiers Sleep and Gather

The second really amazing thing also has both a serious and fun component.  Many people don’t know that Israel has some amazing vineyards and a booming wine business.  Some of the wines from the Carmel mountains are incredibly highly regarded.  My friend Adam Bellos, founder of Wine on the Vine, has amazing Israeli wines available for sale.  So if you like wine and want to support Israeli vineyards you can order wine on his website.  That’s not the cool part of what I want to highlight.

On October 7th, not only were 1,200 people murdered, 257 were taken hostage.  There are 120 still hostages today.  Adam works with some of the families of the hostages and got their permission to use their pictures on certain bottles of wine to create Wines of Hope. As such, every bottle of wine tells a story. Wines of Hope tells the story of the 257 hostages who were taken captive by Hamas terrorists on October 7, 2023, and specifically the 120 people who remain there until today. With every sip you take, you drink the wine as a symbol of hope and a yearning for the return of the hostages.  One day, we will be able to drink together with them, fully rejoicing and celebrating true freedom.

In addition, one-third (1/3) of all the proceeds will be donated to the Hostages and Missing Families Forum.

You can support the families of the hostages, you can remember the hostages, you can support Israeli vineyards, you drink good wine, all while doing a mitzvah.  Imagine the conversations about the hostages while you drink the wine.  The awareness brought to those who may not know or really understand what happened on October 7th and what is happening with the hostages now. 

Hersh Goldberg-Polin, an American-Israeli who has been a hostage since October 7th.
Noa Argamani, recently rescued from being a hostage in Gaza.

You can order your bottles of wine here

We are often too focused on the people who can make large donations. Bill Gates. Mackezie Scott. Warren Buffet. Michael Bloomberg. Susan and Michael Dell. Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan. Bernie and Billi Marcus. The people who named the performing arts center in your town. In reality, we can all have the same effect every single day if we use intention. People don’t think about the big names every day, but they do remember the person who held the door for them. They remember the person who helped with their luggage on a plane or helped them at the grocery store. They appreciate the person who helped pay their utility bill or paid off the student lunch debt far more than the big name donors.

Intention is everything. If we live with intention, we change the world around us. The person that you help today may be the parent of the next Alex Haley. They may become the next Alex Haley. We never know what will happen, other than the life of the person we help will be better because of it and our lives will be better because we did something to make the world a better place.

What will you do today? How will you change the world today? Because you can. With intention.

Common Sense isn’t so common

Posted on by Keith Dvorchik

We often generalize way too much.  My father used to tell me all the time to be specific. Be detailed. Don’t just generalize as you miss too much.  He was right.  I used to joke that the older I got, the smarter my dad got.  As a parent, I now joke that the older my kids get, the smarter I get.

Today’s world is crazy.  The growing hatred is hard to believe.  The lack of basic knowledge is shocking.  Often, it is very easy to generalize about people, places, things, beliefs, etc. and wish it all away.  Fortunately, that isn’t true and with just a little effort, it is possible to learn that generalizations don’t work, and that people are people.  It’s possible to make friends with people who have different political beliefs, different religions, different ethnic backgrounds, come from a different socio-economic status, have different criminal histories, different educational backgrounds, come from different parts of the country or different countries, and speak different languages.  We can choose, if we desire, to focus on our similarities, not our differences, and make the world a better place.

When I was in Israel in May, I made it a point to go visit my friend Mahmoud, a Palestinian Muslim who lives in East Jerusalem.  I wanted to walk there, through East Jerusalem, through Arab neighborhoods, because I chose not to believe the stereotypes and generalizations.  It was a beautiful walk and I saw many families and people living their daily lives.  It was not what you see on television.  It was not what you read in the newspapers.  It was real life. 

Mahmoud and I have many different beliefs.  We come from different backgrounds.  I’m an American Jew who loves Israel.  I have lived my entire life in the United States with the safety and privileges that come with living in the US.  Mahmoud is a Palestinian Arab, who has lived his entire life in East Jerusalem.  He has lived with the challenges that come with living in that region, not being an Israeli citizen, and having a limited voice in his government.  We could easily not be friends.  We could easily be enemies. We could easily demonize each other.  Instead, we have chosen to invest time in a relationship based on mutual respect, on trust and on respect.  Our conversation in May was challenging in many ways.  It was refreshing in others.  I was relieved by some things he said and discouraged by others.  We spend 90 minutes talking deeply as friends, sharing thoughts, feelings, and opinions.  I wish I had more people in the United States that I could talk with the way that Mahmoud and I talked.  I’ll be back in Israel in July and hope to be able to see him again and talk more.  Invest more in our friendship. 

With my friend Mahmoud. I hope to see him again in a few weeks when I am back in Israel.

There are often generalizations about liberals and conservatives.  That there is no real center left or center right.  That a Democrat can’t talk to a Republican and vice versa.  That there is no common ground – you choose a side and that’s where you have to be.  I hate that absolutist way of thinking because that isn’t real life.  Real life is complicated.  Real life is complex.  Absolutes rarely, if ever, work in real life.  It is truly consumed by the gray and how we navigate the gray.

I consider myself a slightly right of center person.  I am liberal on most social issues and conservative on most fiscal issues.  I believe in small government and the rights of the individual.  I’ll be vulnerable here and share some of what that means for me. It means I am pro-choice (which isn’t pro-abortion, it means that a woman has the right to choose whatever is best for her).  It means I don’t want the government telling me what I can and can’t do in my personal life.  I am pro-marriage equality because people love who they love and should be able to marry who they love.  As a fiscal conservative, more marriages (and then divorces) mean a better economy so there is a practical side of it as well.  People should be able to use the pronouns that they want because it matters to them.  It doesn’t affect my life in any way to use somebody’s preferred pronouns once they tell me what they are.  Just like I don’t need to share mine if I don’t want to. 

We live in a time when common sense isn’t so common.  We focus on the things that don’t affect us because somebody else tells us it should matter.  Don’t believe in marriage equality?  Then don’t marry somebody of the same sex.  Other people’s life choices are their choices.  Let them make them.  Common sense.

Let’s use common sense and focus on the things that do matter.  How do we keep people safe so they can enjoy their inalienable rights of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness?”  How do we not discriminate against people when it comes to things like jobs, housing, or education?  What can we do to ensure equal access to things like jobs, housing, or education?  Instead of fighting about forgiving student loans, how do we find a solution to the exorbitant cost of a college and/or graduate school education?  How can we use our intellect to find a solution to the rising cost of housing instead of trying to socialize housing?  What can we do to deal with the rising costs of food and clothing?  A number of years ago, I was very frustrated by the government’s incentives to put solar panels on your roof.  You had to have the funding or the ability to get a loan to pay for the panels and at the end of the year, when you filed your taxes, you’d get the money back.  Why not just have the government pay that money to the solar company upon installation so it was affordable?  Simple solution.  Same money.  Only now it would be accessible.

It used to be that our leaders and most Americans wanted the same things, and it was merely a question of how to get there.  We focused on how to improve lives, how to improve our country, how to keep the world safe.  It was about the HOW, not the WHAT.  Today, I’m sure we even agree on the “what”.  The hatred that comes from the far left and the far right is powerful but isn’t the majority, even when it feels like it.  We have the ability to take the narrative back.  We have the ability to build relationships with our elected officials to get things back on track.

I have the gift of working with many local, state, and federal officials.  I have their cell phone numbers, we text, we meet, and we talk.  I choose to invest my time talking with our elected officials, regardless of their party, about the challenges we face.  I don’t care whether they are a Democrat, Republican, or Independent.  I care about what their positions on issues are.  I care about the policies they believe in.  Like with my friend Mahmoud, we can differ on many things but that doesn’t mean we can’t talk about them and have meaningful and deep conversations.  It doesn’t mean that I can’t learn something from them, or they can’t learn something from me. 

Our country was built on being able to talk with our representatives and share our views, our hopes, dreams, needs, concerns, and fears.  It seems we have forgotten that.  I live in Central Florida and have relationships with all my local elected members of the US House of Representatives.  I have a relationship with both Florida Senators.  I have relationships with Florida Representatives and Senators.  Not because I am special.  Not because I have any sort of special access.  It is because I made the effort to connect with them.  I spent the time and continue to spend the time investing in a relationship with them.  When there is a new candidate who I want to get to know better, I reach out and introduce myself.  We can get coffee.  Talk about why they are running for office.  Talk about my concerns.  It’s building a relationship.  We can all do this if we want. 

Larry Hogan, former Governor of Maryland and a current candidate for the US Senate from Maryland, wrote a letter to 60 Maryland Rabbis concerned about rising antisemitism and Jew hatred.  In it, he wrote:

“This is a moment when our leaders must be held accountable for their words and their actions. There are times in history when leaders must stand up for what is right regardless of party affiliation or personal interests.”

This is what we can each make happen with our own advocacy.  This is within our individual power.  Pick up the phone and call your elected officials.  Local and state elected officials will easily meet you for coffee and begin a conversation (not an argument) and build a relationship.  Write to your US Representatives and call their office to request a meeting.  It may take a few months, but you can get the time with them.  Make an appointment in their local or DC office.  You may get 30 minutes so use it wisely.  Ask questions, listen, highlight your concerns. 

I often highlight the movie, The American President, because the writing is so brilliant.  The last speech by President Shepard speaks to this and still gives me chills decades later. 

“America isn’t easy.  America is advanced citizenship”. 

“We have serious problems to solve, and we need serious people to solve them.”

Despite the challenges of our Congress not working, despite the challenges we face in our individual states with their legislation, we do have serious people ready to work to solve our serious problems.  It’s our job to make sure they know that it matters to us. It is our job to make sure they know that when they take on this work, we have their back.  It is our job to be their citizen partners as they address these problems.  And it is our job to get to know them so that if they are not serious people ready to take on serious issues, we replace them with people who are. 

That means we vote.  I always vote.  I hate it when people say, “what does one vote matter?”  Many years ago when I was in graduate school, I went to vote and there were two local positions where nobody was running.  As a joke, I voted for my roommate and ‘brother from another mother’, Aric, for both of them.  I told him that he could tell his future children that he got votes in an election and would have the proof for it.  We laughed and forgot about it.  A few weeks later he got TWO certified letters.  He had won BOTH elections with my ONE vote.  While he didn’t choose to serve in either role, it shows the power of one vote.  If you choose not to vote, you don’t get to complain because you were not part of the process.  I don’t care who you vote for, just vote.

Common sense isn’t so common.  That doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.  It doesn’t mean we get to throw up hands up and quit.  It means we double down on our efforts.  It means we advocate for the things that we value with the decision makers.  It means we build relationships with them.  It means we hold them accountable in a respectful manner.  It means we actively vote and encourage others to vote. 

The time to take action is here.  What are you going to do?  That’s the question that only you can answer. 

What world are we living in??

Posted on by Keith Dvorchik

The amount of lies, misstatements, and falsehoods I have seen since October 7th are truly amazing.  I had stopped watching most major media news because of their agendas a while ago.  I now see their ‘highlights’ on social media and it disgusts me even more.  Critical analysis is to be expected.  Factual and fair discussions are to be expected.  Disagreements on policy is to be expected.  None of that is what we are getting.

What we are getting is truly unethical journalism.  It’s agenda based, largely focused on Jew hatred.  What we are getting is completely unanalyzed propaganda being spread as fact.  I remember going through Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust Museum, the first few times and wondering how that type of crazy propaganda actually worked.  We are now seeing it in real life, in real time.

I watch somebody like Piers Morgan go for ratings instead of the facts.  I listen to him say the most ridiculous things to get views and clicks on social media.  When faced with the facts, he chooses to bulldoze over people and shout them down unless they push back powerfully and argue with him.  Which then gets him more views, more clicks, and more ratings.  He is now the news version of Jerry Springer. Watch his interaction with Fleur Hassan-Nahoum. He could have asked, “Why don’t Palestinians have the same rights as Americans?” When caught, he quickly shuts down the conversation.

I listen to what Christiane Amanpour says regularly and it makes me sick.  A once respected journalist is a shill for terrorists and those who hate Jews.  When interviewing people from the UN, UNRWA or UNICEF, she never bothers to ask why Hamas terrorists are being found in their schools and medical clinics.  She doesn’t seem to wonder why the entrance to Hamas tunnels are found near the UNRWA schools and clinics.  She is happy to highlight that the people near the schools and clinics are in danger but leaves out the reason why – the connection to Hamas.  She is happy to report on the Israeli people being unhappy with Netanyahu but neglects to discuss that there is an electoral process that will enable them to choose somebody else.  She fails to discuss how Abbas is now in year 20 of a 5 year term or how Hamas has been in power since 2005 with no opportunity for the people to select another form of government.

The lies I see in the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal or told on the nightly national news make my stomach turn.  I’ve been to Israel since October 7th and am going back in a few weeks.  I see the pain and struggle of the Israeli people.  I see the impact of the war and how everybody wants it to end as soon as possible.  The hostages are on the minds of everybody, and their return is felt throughout the country.  Other than far right extremists, nobody is talking about taking Gaza in a land grab.  They are talking about a military grab of the hostages.  They are talking about eliminating Hamas and their leadership as a risk to Israel.

On my last trip I went to both Kibbutz Kfar Aza and the site of the Nova music festival.  It was one of the most powerful experiences of my life.  At Kfar Aza I saw what Hamas did.  I had seen it on the 47-minute Hamas video and other clips.  I saw it in the Sheryl Sandberg documentary, “Screams of Silence”.  Yet standing there, listening to the story of each family at each house, burned my insides.  Seeing the street of young people where EVERY SINGLE PERSON was either killed or taken hostage was brutal and I’m not sure I will ever truly recover from that.  Walking up to the back gate where the Hamas terrorists came through followed by the second and third wave of ‘innocent Gazans’ who came to rob the people they had become friends with and ate lunch and dinner with regularly, was infuriating.  Seeing how close Jabaliyah was (less than a mile from the gate, less than half a mile from the back of the Kibbutz) was a bit shocking.  Knowing I could walk to Jabaliyah in 10 minutes or less from the Kibbutz was a reality check.  These are the things the media doesn’t show to the masses. 

Jabaliya from the back of Kibbutz Kfar Aza. The fence is halfway to the back. It’s less than 1 mile away.
All those killed or taken hostage at the Nova Music Festival on October 7th.

I listen to the cries for a cease fire, and I wonder what these people are thinking.  A cease fire with people who say they will do what they did on October 7th over and over and over again until all the Jews are dead?  How do you have a cease fire with that type of person?  You certainly can’t trust them to keep their word.  You know that it’s only temporary and the end result will be even more people killed.  It seems that the long-standing complaints about our education system are finally showing themselves with so many people unable to do any critical thinking or analysis.  Before September 11, 2001, I understood American’s lack of understanding about the risk of terrorism because we had not experienced it.  After 9/11 I can’t understand the desire to defend terrorists, especially those who merely call Israel, “Little Satan” because the United States is the “Great Satan”.  They openly call for our destruction and American’s still defend them.  Who have we raised?  Where is basic intelligence? 

In the last week, I have begun to see the next wave of this propaganda.  Israel is now going to take over Lebanon in the next land grab.  The bombs Israel is dropping and the attacks they are involved with in Lebanon are somehow not related at all to Hezbollah sending rockets into Israel on a daily basis for the past month.  The fact that Israeli’s who live in that northern area have been evacuated for months due to the bombing by Hezbollah is ignored.  Israel fighting back to keep her citizens safe isn’t reported.  Once again, it is framed as Israeli (Jewish) aggression and a land grab.  They are denying that Arab nations kicked out Jews and that Jews left freely of their own will. They deny their own Judenfrei stated goals. The lies continue.

France has banned Israeli citizens and companies from attending a defense technology trade show. 

The Maldives banned everybody with an Israeli passport from entering, now creating an issue for the Christians, Muslims, Druze, and Baha’i Israelis.  That’s because the Maldives really only intended to ban Jews and is now trying to find a way to backtrack. 

The tent cities are popping back up on college campuses, now not covered by the media because interest in that story has passed.  Gabby Deutch highlighted in her X posting that, “The New Republic, a historic institution in American journalism, has a writer covering antisemitism who spent the morning of Oct. 7, after the crimes of Hamas were clear, calling the actions a “rebellion” & writing “good morning” above a picture of the attack.” 

Just today, the Department of Education brought the first cases brought since October 7th to a close, finding that The University of Michigan and CUNY didn’t adequately investigate campus antisemitism and Islamophobia There are still more than 100 cases open.  Think about that.  100 open cases on college campuses in the United States where they have not protected Jewish students from antisemitism. 

This is the world we live in today. I know most people who read this know most of this already. The key is for those of us who know, to keep learning. For those of us who don’t know to learn. And for everybody to educate those who don’t know. There are plenty of people who hate Jews and do this intentionally. There are far more who simply know nothing and believe what they see or read because they don’t have a way to get information. This weekend, I spent time with some friends in Central Illinois. I had a long conversation with one of them who told me he really didn’t know. He didn’t believe what he was reading and seeing because it made no sense, but he didn’t know the history. He didn’t know what was going on. He didn’t know the basic facts. That’s our job. To educate. To challenge the lies. To show proof. When they claim there were no rapes, we need to shout them down and show the facts. When they claim Israel murdered the Israelis on October 7th, we need to shout them down and show the facts, the Hamas self taken videos.

As my friend said today, it’s time to play offense. As Jews, we have hidden or played defense for thousands of years. Playing defense is no longer acceptable. We need to play offense. We need to be educating those who don’t know. We need to be speaking out loudly about what is going on. We need to challenge the lies. We know from our many thousands of years of history that it never just goes away. We can’t hide and escape. Just as Israel is fighting back from the pogrom of October 7th, so must we, in the diaspora, fight back against the lies and hatred since October 7th. Never again is now. How will you answer your grandchildren when they ask what you did to protect the Jewish people after October 7th? This is your chance to choose your answer.

Father’s Day – thank you Barry Dvorchik z”l

Posted on by Keith Dvorchik

A friend of mine’s father was dying. He is in the music industry and shared this song with me. My father died on September 6, 2022. The haunting voice and lyrics speak powerfully to me. It describes my relationship with my father. I had three weeks with him at the end where I got to spend hours daily together. Some days we had deep conversations. Some days he wasn’t doing well and I sat with him. I was there through procedures we thought would get him better. And I was there at the end when my mom and I went to his hospital room just after he died.

Those last three weeks we were not father and son. Like the lyrics say, we were two men saying goodbye. I think he knew that’s what we were doing. Deep down, maybe I did as well. I remember getting him food delivered the first time he could eat non-hospital food. Ordering Philly cheesesteaks shipped from the famous Pat’s and then reheated for him. Taking walks around the floor of the hospital. He knew my mistakes and I knew some of his. We had long got past those things.

So every day, I strive to make him proud. Every day I hold my actions against what he would think of them. Every day, I judge myself by the standards he set for me. Every day I am a better human being because of him. So on this father’s day, I say thank you Dad. For being yourself. For teaching me how to be a good human being. For having values and ethics. For ensuring I have something to stand for. For being an example of how to be a father to my children and one day, a grandfather to my grandchildren. To be a husband, a leader, and a Jew.

Happy father’s day Dad. You may not be here physically, but you will always be here with me.

My dad and me at Evan’s bar mitzvah. Filled with joy. A treasured moment.

Lyrics

Oh, before they turn off all the lights
I won’t read you your wrongs or your rights
The time has gone
I’ll tell you goodnight, close the door
Tell you I love you once more
The time has gone
So here it is

I’m not your son, you’re not my father
We’re just two grown men saying goodbye
No need to forgive, no need to forget
I know your mistakes and you know mine
And while you’re sleeping I’ll try to make you proud
So, daddy, won’t you just close your eyes?
Don’t be afraid, it’s my turn
To chase the monsters away

Oh, well, I’ll read a story to you
Only difference is this one is true
The time has gone
I folded your clothes on the chair
I hope you sleep well, don’t be scared
The time has gone
So here it is

I’m not your son, you’re not my father
We’re just two grown men saying goodbye
No need to forgive, no need to forget
I know your mistakes and you know mine
And while you’re sleeping I’ll try to make you proud
So, daddy, won’t you just close your eyes?
Don’t be afraid, it’s my turn
To chase the monsters away

Sleep a lifetime
Yes, and breathe a last word
You can feel my hand on your own
I will be the last one
So I’ll leave a light on
Let there be no darkness, in your heart

But I’m not your son, you’re not my father
We’re just two grown men saying goodbye
No need to forgive, no need to forget
I know your mistakes and you know mine
And while you’re sleeping I’ll try to make you proud
So, daddy, won’t you just close your eyes?
Don’t be afraid, it’s my turn
To chase the monsters away

The last picture I took of my dad, just before we left the night he died. The love and peace in his face brings tears to my eyes and always will. Such a sweet and generous man.

Nes Gadol Hayah Sham, a great miracle happened there.

Posted on by Keith Dvorchik

There hasn’t been a lot of joy since October 7th.  Sure, there have been family simchas.  There have been birthdays and anniversaries.  Life continues which means meaningful events occur, but there hasn’t been much sheer joy.  Briefly when the hostages were released in December after 50 days of captivity.  There has been a lot of stress, a lot of grieving, a lot of worry about friends and family members serving in the IDF.  Concern with the rise of antisemitism on campus and in our cities and towns. 

This morning was joy.  It was announced that four (4) of the hostages were rescued from the market in Nuseirat.  They were being held captive in private homes by ‘civilians’.  The same ‘civilians’ that participated on October 7th.  The same ones that held hostages after October 7th.  The same ones that hide guns and rockets in their children’s bedrooms, a baby’s crib, in the schools and in the hospitals. 

Noa Argamani (25), Almog Meir Jan (21), Andrey Kozlov (27) and Shalom Ziv (40) are free today. The IDF had a very detailed and daring rescue planned and got them out. They were being held in “civilian homes’.

Almog Jan spoke after being released and said that they were moved from house to house during the 8 months of captivity. When the media and other groups talk about the innocent people being killed, remember that the innocent people helped with October 7th. They were involved with the second and third waves of the attack. They turn their homes into military bases, even their children’s rooms and baby’s cribs. They hide hostages in their homes. The definition of ‘innocent’ seems to not fit very well.

The rescue of the hostages has reverberated throughout the Jewish world. Friends in Israel reached out with a joy I haven’t heard in a long time. Friends in the US shared their excitement and gratitude. It has been the topic of the day. These two videos are what it is all about. It’s the importance of Jewish community. They are why we want and need Israel. When I read that Noa Argamani said, ‘There was a knock on the door. A voice said, “It’s the IDF. We’ve come to take you home.’” I got chills.

Noa Argamani reuniting with her father. I cried watching this.

Shlomi Ziv talking to his wife for the first time in 8 months.  I am not embarrassed to admit that I cried watching it too.

As wonderful as the news of the rescue of the hostages was, there was sad news as well. Arnon Zamora (z’l), an IDF soldier who was a part of the force that broke into the apartment where the hostages were being held, was severely injured during a battle, and later died in the hospital. This brave IDF soldier risked, and lost, his life for Israel, for the Jewish people, and for the hostages. Arnon left behind a wife and two children. On October 7th, he led the battle at the Yad Mordechai Junction, eliminating dozens of terrorists and preventing the terrorists from infiltrating northwards. He then went on to fight in the battle at Kibbutz Nahal Oz and Kibbutz Be’eri. Unlike America, who still does nothing to rescue the American hostages in Gaza, Israel takes action. Arnon knew the risks. He also understood that rescuing the hostages was far more than saving these four people. It was saving a nation. It was saving the Jewish people. What a hero. What a huge loss. What a lesson. What an inspiration.

Arnon Zamora (z’l), killed in the rescue of the four hostages. May the memory of this hero always be for a blessing.

Almog Meir, shown above with his grandfather, learned today that his father died today. When they went to notify Yossi Meir about his son, they found his body. Yossi died before learning his son was alive and had been rescued. I can’t think of much worse for a parent, not knowing if your child is alive or what type of abuse they are undergoing as a hostage. Almog celebrates his freedom by preparing for the funeral of his father a day later. I can’t imagine what he is going through. Hamas stole his time with his father and may even be the reason his father died, so worried about the fate of his son.

Those who hate Israel and Jews have already come out strong with criticism. They focus on the approximately 200 dead and 400 injured in Gaza during the rescue. They like to overlook the fact that the hostages were kept in personal homes. They like to forget that the market and the UNRWA camp had become Hamas military installations. They don’t like to admit that Hamas firing at the IDF killed many of the people. They call them ‘innocent civilians’ despite the fact that they participated in the keeping of the hostages, they allowed Hamas to have military bases inside their community, and were actively involved with Hamas.

They also use the pictures of Noa Argamani and claim that she wasn’t raped (we don’t know if she was or wasn’t on October 7th or since then) so there was no sexual violence or rape by Hamas and that she gained weight so was treated great and somehow got food when there is none available and Gazans are starving. In their rapid Jew hatred, they actually are proving that UNRWA is giving the food to Hamas and not the people. They are showing their Jew hatred because Noa isn’t pregnant which automatically means there was no rape or sexual violence by Hamas. The rabid antisemitism is unbearable to watch especially with the lies they spread.

They criticize the tactical approach Israel used which involved pretending to be humanitarian vehicles to get into the area. They neglect all the times Hamas has used ambulances, hospitals, schools, and mosques to attack Israel and Jews. It’s a very self-indulgent approach to attack Israel and the Jews. It is their pattern. We cannot allow it to continue. We must call out the lies every time we hear or read them. We must call out the Jew hatred and antisemitism when we see it.

The IDF showed us today the importance of fighting back. We each have that responsibility. We cannot allow the lies and half-truths to stand unchallenged. We cannot allow the facts to be manipulated and twisted. At my age, I can’t join the IDF to fight back but I can fight back with advocacy, with knowledge, and with relationships. I can stand up and speak out. I wear my Magen David everywhere. I wear my dogtags for ‘We will dance again’ and for ‘Bring then home now’. I wear my lapel pins, one for the hostages and one with the US and Israeli flag on it. I wear short sleeves to show off my ‘We will dance again’ and ‘Nova’ tattoos.

The world we live in is one filled with Jew hatred. We have a choice. We can fight back or we can try to hide. Throughout history, our attempts to fit in and hide have not worked. Fighting back has been the only way to ensure our safety. I choose to fight back. Just like the IDF rescuing the 4 hostages today by fighting back, so will I fight back. I refuse to run and hide. I refuse to pretend I am not Jewish and try to fit in, hoping that they will leave me alone. Those who side with evil because they hope they will be spared should look at history. It never works out that way.

Israel and the IDF showed us how we fight back today. They showed us how every Jew matters. They inspired us. Now it’s our turn to show them how we fight back. How every Jew matters to us. We need to inspire them. We fight back by speaking up. We fight back by writing to our legislators and holding them accountable. We fight back by voting and making sure the incumbants and challengers know that Israel matters to us. We insire our Israeli brothers and sisters by our actions. We visit Israel to show them we care and they matter. We visit the Kibbuzim that were devastated on October 7th, the Nova festival site, the displaced Israelis from the North and the South, and soldiers on bases to give them a hug and remind them that they matter to us. After my trip to Israel in May, it became clear how important just showing up was to Israelis. I’ll be back in July in part to do the same thing all over again.

Today was a great day as 4 hostages were rescued. There are 120 more to get home. The leadership of Hamas must be stopped. There is a lot left to do. One of the famous sayings in Pirke Avot, the Ethics of our Fathers, is, “You are not required to finish your work, yet neither are you permitted to desist from it.” This holds true with the war in Gaza. We must engage. We must fight back. The world thinks they can bully us and as the IDF showed today, they are wrong. Let’s make sure they see it from all of us.

Normal? What’s normal? Lessons in what is most valuable in life

Posted on by Keith Dvorchik

Normal.  Such a simple word.  I remember when we argued about the meaning.  I remember when it was considered offensive because what was normal to me might not be normal for you and vice versa.  Over the last few years, it seems that distinction has fallen away as nobody has felt ‘normal’.  I was thinking today, “When was the last time we felt normal?”

In January 2017, a few months after I started at The Roth Family JCC, we received our first bomb threat in a series of threats that would terrorize JCCs for 6 months.  We received the very first one.  A few days later, we got a second one.  We got our third in two weeks before our security director guessed that these were robo-dialed calls and not only blocked robo calls but also put in other steps that stopped us from getting any more.  The bomb threats cost us huge revenue.  As they continued for five more months, security became a priority and an additional expense.  Revenue was down.  Expenses were up.  Morale was down from staff and members.  It created an economic hole that took a few years to dig out of.

Just as we began to recover from the bomb threats and everything that created, there was a new virus that was beginning to go around at that time.  We were concerned a little bit about what it could mean but we had other scares like SARS and Bird Flu and H1N1. We were conditioned that this would be another thing that was no big deal. March 13, 2020, we closed the JCC for two weeks to ‘slow the curve’ and the spread of the virus.  A week later we laid off 136 of our 139 employees as we shut down for an undetermined amount of time.  While we began the reopening process in early May and rehired most employees (some didn’t want to come back because of Covid), nothing was normal again.

Covid, while better in Florida than most of the rest of the country, was filled with stress.  Running a nonprofit, trying to deal with a new business model, keeping people as safe as we could with changing protocols and knowledge, was incredibly difficult and challenging.  For over two years it was a different reality.  As we came out of Covid, we now had to deal with the employment crisis, people not wanting to work, the rising cost of labor, inflation and the rising cost of everything, and nationwide inflation.  This year plus was challenging in an entirely different.  Staffing was at a crisis level.  Everybody wanted more money.  Managing through yet another crisis was exhausting.

Then it was October 7th.  The world changed.  My world changed.  For each of the prior crises they were business related and there was a way to manage through them.  While there were personal impacts of each, they felt temporary.  All three together had taken a huge toll.  October 7th was different.  It ripped to my core.  8 months later it’s still an open wound.  It’s still stressful with no end in sight.  I still worry about my friends and family and their children who are serving in the IDF. 

It’s been 7 ½ years of stress.  Not many breaks.  Not much time to rest and recover.  One thing after another.  I’ve had the good fortune to get to go to Israel five times during these 7 ½ years.  It was the spiritual salve I needed to survive.  This last trip in May was not only incredibly needed after October 7th, it also gave me the opportunity to really take a deep look into who I am, what matters to me, and what I am going to prioritize.  As Saul Blinkoff, our trip leader said to us, “What you will die for determines what you will live for.”

In the past few weeks since I have been back from Israel, this has resonated greatly for me.  There are some easy answers.  I’d die for my family.  I’d die to save the world.  There are also some clear other things.  I would not die for any material item.  If money got it or can replace it, it is not worth dying for.  But what about ideas and ideals?  What about values?  Would I die for freedom of speech?  For freedom of religion?  If I saw a bunch of people being attacked, would I jump in to save them and risk my life?  What if they weren’t strangers and were people that I knew?  What if they were clearly Jewish people being attacked because they were Jewish?  These are all real questions now.

While I’d like to say I would jump in regardless of who they are, I am not sure that I would.  If they were people that I knew, I think that I would.  What about if they were a group of Jews being attacked because they were Jewish?  Prior to October 7th, I probably would have called the police and not jumped in.  Today I would jump in.  I would risk my life to save a group of Jews.  It’s amazing how that has changed for me.  As a Jew, post October 7th, I do feel it is my responsibility and obligation to save other Jews.  While I don’t like the fact that I probably would only call the police if they weren’t people I knew or weren’t obviously Jews, that is also my post October 7th reality.  I have seen as the world has been silent when it comes to Jews.  My obligation, as a Jew, is greater when it comes to Jews because I don’t believe others will protect or save us. 

With IDF soldiers who are risking their lives to protect Israel, the Jewish people and me. They are babies and they inspire me.

What about a mass shooter or a terrorist?  Would I risk my life to save people in that situation?  Before October 7th, I probably would have said something like, “I like to think that I would but I’d probably hide and hope.”   After October 7th, I would fight.  I would risk my life.  I have watched my brothers and sisters in the IDF risk their lives.  I have seen those who have lost their lives.  Their bravery inspires me to do more.  I couldn’t live with myself if I stood by or hid and let terror win.

Rami Davidian, a farmer who saved 750 people on October 7th from the Nova Music Festival. This ordinary man is a hero. He stepped up when called. I have to do the same.

Would I die for the United States?  There was a time I would have said yes.  Not today.  Not with the rise of antisemitism and the weak responses to it.  This is not the country I grew up in nor do we follow the beliefs that I grew up with.  Equality of opportunity is false.  A country accepting of our differences is false.  I’m not saying I don’t love America or don’t want to live here.  I am saying I wouldn’t die for America because I don’t believe America wants to live for me.  As a Jew in America, I don’t think America cares about me.  America is an idea and an ideal.  Both are failing today.  I have always wondered how the Roman Empire, one of the greatest countries/empires ever, fell.  I see it in America.  I understand how the Roman Empire fell. I wouldn’t sacrifice my life for the fall of America.

This is a theme that I will continue to think about.  The stress and lack of normalcy in the past nearly 8 years have had a huge impact on me.  I’m not sure I really understood the impact until after October 7th.  This last trip to Israel has begun to clear things up for me.

We live in a world where things are valued.  Where hate is an acceptable way to deal with stress.  People don’t live with values, morals or ethics.  It becomes, “How do I get away with doing the wrong thing?” because it is financially beneficial or makes me feel better instead of asking, “How do I do the right thing” regardless of the benefit.   We trade time for money when money can be replaced but time cannot.  We miss out on our families because we value our title at work more than our families until we lose or the other.

My dad always taught us that family came first.  I believed it.  I preached it at every organization that I ran.  By the end, I found myself enforcing that for everybody in the organization instead of myself.  What a mistake.  As I experienced October 7th and learned of family of friends who were hostages or who were murdered, it made me value my family even more.  The combination of my father’s death and October 7th made me value time highest of all.  It made health just behind time.  It changed my choices and what I value.  There is no employment position that is ever worth dying for.  If that’s the case, that means there is never an employment position that is worth living for. 

The tombstone you will never see.

I love what I do today because I get to make an impact, work with people I like, on projects that are exciting, and we do things the right way.  I have the ability to take on projects that excite me and decline ones that don’t.  I can balance my time.  I’ve spent more time both working and being present than ever before.  It’s really cool.  I also have realized how unique it is.  That part makes me sad.

After Covid I saw people beginning to ask different questions about work.  I didn’t quite get it.  After October 7th I did.  I grew up in a generation that valued hard work.  That valued titles and money.  Gordon Gecko’s ‘Greed is Good’ speech was a rally call to my generation.

I was in college when Michael Douglas gave that speech as Gordon Gecko and it defined what we all wanted to be.  More was better.  Less not so good.  A big house was good.  A bigger house was better.  Two bigger houses was even better.  More, more, more.  And we only got that by sacrificing time.  October 7th reminded me that time is what is precious.  That if I am going to be greedy, I want it to be with my time.  I want the way I use my time to be meaningful and impactful.  The great Rabbi, Jim Valvano, in his farewell speech at the ESPYs in 1993 talked about the three things you should do every day. Laugh.  Think.  Cry. 

Laugh, Think, Cry. That’s a full day. “Rabbi” Jim Valvano (z’l)

That’s how I want to spend my days.  Days of meaning.  Days of fulfillment.  Days of joy. 

The great thing about life is that as long as we are breathing, we have the ability to do whatever we want.  We can make the changes that we want.  We can be the people we want to be.  If you want to be inspired to be better, to do better, watch the entirety of “Rabbi” Jim Valvano’s (z’l) final speech.  It never gets old for me.  It always inspires me.  And now it teaches me about the person I want to be in this lifetime.

“Rabbi” Jim Valvano’s (z’l) final speech in full. It always makes me think. It always makes me cry.

My head hurts as the world spins out of control

Posted on by Keith Dvorchik

 Every day, I find myself getting more and more frustrated at the lack of leadership in our Jewish communities, in our country, and around the world.  The rise of Jew hatred is not just what we see on college campuses.  It’s not just the ICC and the charges from South Africa that other countries are now joining.  It’s not just the shooting at Jewish schools in Toronto and Montreal or a synagogue in Vancouver.  There is a systemic effort going on to make us think we are safe while the walls close around us.  We are once again putting our heads in the sand and failing to see what is actually happening.  This scares me.

As things in the north of Israel are now literally on fire, we have reached a new point in both the war and the Jew hatred around the world.  Israel has been attacked from the south and many people are no longer living there while the war in Gaza continues.  Evacuations from the north are well known but not appreciated.  Kiryat Shemona, where I have visited numerous times, now has only 8 houses left standing because of the bombing.  Iran has said any offensive by Israel against Hezbollah in Lebanon will result in a full war with Iran.  And yet the United States continues to kowtow to Iran and its role as the number one sponsor of state terror in the world.  Israel is literally being squeezed from three sides (the third is the Mediterranean Sea).  How much longer before the terrorists get an uprising in the West Bank/Judea and Samaria to squeeze Israel on all four sides while the United States plays games with Iran and our upcoming election?  This chalkboard image describes a scary future.

My great-grandfather told us that once, we could go traveling in Syria.

My grandma told that once, we used to be able to travel in Lebanon.

Mom tells me that once we could travel in the Galilee.

And yet, as Jews in the diaspora we continue to fight with each other.  We continue to ignore the existential threat to ourselves and work to defend those who openly declare their hatred and desire to murder us.  The Jewish apologists in the diaspora, specifically in America make me physically ill. Their efforts not only undermine Israel, they put every Jew in America at risk. They encourage the hatred of Jews by legitimizing it. The encourage attacks on Jews by legitimizing it.

Former Staff member of the US Department of the Interior, Lily Greenberg Call, was quoted as saying,

Instead of fighting for peace and the end of Hamas, true evil, her ‘Jewish values’ requires her to sacrifice the lives of Jews.  Instead of being a Queen Esther, a Hannah Senesh, a Golda Meir, she gives up the ability to save Jewish lives.  This is the same thinking in Spain prior to 1492 and in Germany in the 1920s and 1930s.  It is what led to the destruction of the 2nd Temple by the Romans in 70 and our 2,000-year exile.  We refuse to learn.  We refuse to stand up for ourselves and fight back.  Thankfully we have Israel now who fights back.  Israel inspires many of us in the diaspora to also fight back and not put our heads in the sand. Lily Greenberg Call represents a generation that would have Jews eliminated because of their sense of fairness. They, like generations before them, believe that if they stand with those who hate Jews, they will treated as if they aren’t Jews. That never works out. History has shown us that a Jew is a Jew is a Jew.

Somebody I follow on Twitter posted this.

I would add to the bottom, “Don’t defend their actions.” the Lily Greenberg Calls of the world excuse this behavior and blame the victim. The wouldn’t do this for any other group, just for Jews. It is amazing how quickly the world has forgotten the horrors of October 7th. Of the videos made by Hamas of what they were doing that day. I’ll never forget the joy in the voice of the Hamas man who was telling his parents that he personally murdered 10 ‘Yehuds’ (Jews). The joy in his father’s voice. How proud his mother was of him. I’ll never forget watching a terrorist behead a Jewish man on October 7th. Of the father jumping on a grenade to save his children who, traumatized, are taken to their kitchen by the terrorist while he gets a drink. The pain in their voices will never leave my mind. I’ll never forget walking through Kibbutz Kfar Aza and seeing the destruction from not just Hamas, but the second and third wave of Gazan civilians who came in and did more damage, robbed and mutilated Jewish bodies. These were people who the day before had sat together, talking peace, sharing a meal, hoping for a better future. A day later, these Gazans had no problem mutilating them. My friend from the trip, Mikey, posted this on Instagram that captures the feeling of being in Kfar Aza better than I have.


I haven’t given up on the many Palestinian people I have met who do want peace. Who want to live next door to Israel. Unfortunately I am giving up on the world who would rather support terrorists that want them dead than those who want peace. Iran and their proxies Hamas and Hezbollah have been clear that they want a Caliphate. They want the world to be their type of muslim and sharia law to be the law of the world. No more England, France, or Spain. No United States, Canada, or Mexico. No China or Russia. Everywhere must follow their version of Islam and live under sharia law. It won’t take too much longer for the first of these countries to experience this impact. Some are struggling with it again. It continues to be a self-inflicted wound.

I can only hope that our American leaders wake up to the threat. That they decide it is more important to lead than it is to plan for the next election. That being a leader means you do what is needed for the benefit of the country, not what is needed for you to be re-elected. That the threat of Iran, almost a nuclear Iran, is so great that action must be taken. That the corruption of the UN, UNRWA, and the Palestinian Authority is so great than none deserve to survive. That the Abraham Accords, bringing never before seen peace in the region, are a good things and worth investing in. Saudia Arabia and Indonesia were ready to normalize relations with Israel prior to October 7th. The world was changing.

Today we have UNRWA turning their schools in Gaza into military institutions. Tunnels with openings inside or next to the schools. Weapons stored and fired from the schools. These are UNRWA schools, funded by the UN and by the world.

We have Hamas using homes as militiary bases and the world cries when these homes/bases are destroyed. The picture below was from a child’s bedroom in Gaza.

The world wants to be social justice warriors and ignore the realities. I am fearful for the future of not just the United States but the world as a whole. What happens when Europe falls? When mass casualty events are occuring in the United States, Canada, South America, Europe, and around the world? Are we really that far away from the post-apocalyptic world of the Mad Max movies? I’ve been watching the new TV show Fallout on Prime with my kids. Is that our near future?

I am also amazed at the power of the protesters who know nothing. They attend Ivy League universities. The attend top academic institutions and yet show their indoctrination and lack of knowledge every time they open their mouths. We all saw the Columbia woman who wanted food delivered to their illegally occupied building at Columbia. We have seen many interviews of people who don’t know what river it is nor do they know what sea it is. This woman might be the worst of them all, self proclaiming she spent a semester in Israel/Palestine yet not knowing anything when asked. She even thinks Israel is a muslim country!

I returned from Israel two weeks ago. I go back to Israel in four weeks. Just as I wasn’t sure what Israel I was going to in May, I’m not sure what Israel I will be returning to in July. Will the hostages, or at least some of them, be freed? Will there be a ceasefire? Will Hamas leadership still be in place? Will there be a full war in the north? Can we go further north than Tel Aviv and Jerusalem? What will my second visit to Kibbutz Kfar Aza and the Nova site feel like? How will the world have changed in just the 6 weeks between visits?

Since my return from Israel, I have dug deeper into what is going on and it makes me sick the more I dig. The systemic hate. The lies that are told. Some of our ‘leaders’ who are filled with hatred and misinformation. I am usually a very optimistic person. I usually can find the good in any situation. I’m known for finding a pathway through challenges to a better place. As I sit here today, I am at a loss. As a world traveler, there are few places other than Israel that I would visit today. As an American, I don’t want to visit many of our states. Part of me thinks the only solution is what some of my Israeli friends have told me – to make Aliyah, to move to Israel where I will be safe. Yet I also know that running from the fight for security isn’t the answer either. The fight is here. There is no escaping it. Leaving it to people like the woman in the video who knows nothing isn’t acceptable. Abandoning people like Mikey who are fighting the fight here isn’t acceptable. Leaving it to apologists like Lily Greenberg Call is doing self harm and not acceptable. So I will stay and fight. I will urge you to join me. The future of the Jewish people is at stake. The future of the United States is at stake. The future of the world is at stake. Don’t sit by idly. Don’t stay uninformed or be quiet because you are afraid of the consequences of speaking out. I promise you, the price of your silences is far worse than the price of using your voice.

The words of Elie Weisel are more important now than ever.

We are the ones suffering and being humiliated. The people of Gaza are suffering and being humiliated because of Hamas, Iran, and those who would sacrifice them on the idol of Jew hatred. We cannot be silent. We cannot be neutral. We are the tormented. And we refuse to the victim once again.

You must choose – so choose wisely

Posted on by Keith Dvorchik

Having been to Israel so many times, I know what is reported in the media isn’t true.  I know they exaggerate and like to say and show what they think will draw eyes and clicks.  It used to not bother me that much because it was so obviously not the truth and people would ask me about it.  It used to be like that.

Since October 7th, the media’s coverage of Israel has been worse than ever.  The big difference is now people believe what they are being fed is true and don’t bother asking questions.  They see something on social media and that becomes the truth.  A perfect example is the recent fire that occurred in Rafa after Israel dropped a bomb on Hamas terrorist leaders.  The bomb was a smaller caliber one, targeted to hit an exact spot, which it did, to eliminate the terrorists (which it did).  However, the terrorists had additional weapons with them that created a secondary explosion that started the fire that killed civilians.   

The media was all over the fact that Israel bombed a civilian area.  That Israel attacked a safe zone.  That Israel was burning civilians alive.   That the explosions beheaded babies.  The “blame Israel” narrative from the media and on social media has been brutal.  Now that Israel is responding to the daily massive rocket attacks from Hezbollah in Lebanon, the “blame Israel” narrative is growing.  The tent cities are returning on campuses.  There were shootings at Jewish Day Schools in Toronto and Montreal and a synagogue in Vancouver (luckily nobody was there when they happened so there were no injuries).  Yet the media stays quiet.  Since returning from Israel, what I have noticed the most is the combination of silence in defending Israel and the massive attacks on Israel and Jews from all over the place, including Jews.

I understand well-meaning Jews who care about morals and ethics having issues with the Israeli government’s decisions with the war.  I don’t understand those who haven’t been to Israel or at least those who haven’t been since October 7th leading the charge against Israel.  Being at Kibbutz Kfar Aza was an unbelievably powerful experience. Hearing the stories, seeing the devastation, and seeing Jabaliya so close, there was clarity in the war and the need to eliminate Hamas.  Standing at the site of the Nova Music Festival, sitting in front of the pictures of those murdered or kidnapped brought clarity of the evil of Hamas.  Stopping to visit the bomb shelter where Lee Sasi hid and survived while so many others died was deeply moving.  When I see Jews defending Hamas or using terms like ‘genocide’ for what’s going on, I am reminded of an old joke.

Throughout our history, we continue to make the same mistake over and over and over again.  We forget that we will always be Jews first.  We think we are Americans.  We thought we were Germans.  Polish.  Austrian.  We aren’t. We are always Jews. So those who forget this often times are at the front line of our persecution and then are shocked when they find themselves facing the hatred they denied existed or fought to defend. When I see these Jews posting on social media or being used as props in demonstrations, it makes me sick. We know the ending as we have seen it repeatedly over the past 3,000 years.

Since I have been back from Israel, the other thing I have noticed is the pressure being put on Israel to unilaterally solve the problem without the answer being war and defeating Hamas. It’s as if Hamas never videoed the events of October 7th for the world to see. Or that they didn’t publicly state that there will be many more October 7th events in the future. UNRWA is treated as a legitimite agency despite the proof that their employees participated on October 7th, were involved in hiding the hostages, and their schools and hospitals not only store weapons for Hamas, not only are the base for tunnels built by Hamas, but Hamas uses them to fire rockets at Israel. UNRWA gets the aid coming into Gaza and somehow it ends up in the hands of Hamas instead of the people. This is the agency people are listening to about humanitarian issues – one that behaves as anything other than a humanitarian agency.

Tunnels found under an UNRWA school – they were filled with weapons.

We have a leadership crisis. In the Jewish world. In America. Around the world. In Israel. Our leaders are determined to continue doing what has failed. The President of Iran, Ebrahim Raisi, dies in a plane crash. Raisi, The Butcher of Tehran, is then eulogized at the UN, in the US Congress. A man who murdered tens of thousands of people in Iran is treated as a great leader. Our lack of leadership is appalling and yet we do nothing about it. One of my favorite movies, The American President, addresses leadership incredibly well.

  • Lewis Rothschild: People want leadership, Mr. President, and in the absence of genuine leadership, they’ll listen to anyone who steps up to the microphone. They want leadership. They’re so thirsty for it they’ll crawl through the desert toward a mirage, and when they discover there’s no water, they’ll drink the sand.
  • President Andrew Shepherd: Lewis, we’ve had presidents who were beloved, who couldn’t find a coherent sentence with two hands and a flashlight. People don’t drink the sand because they’re thirsty. They drink the sand because they don’t know the difference.
The quote begins at the 2:44 mark but the whole scene is amazing

We often get hung up on our elected leaders and think that they are the only ones who can be leaders. I’m reminded of Rami Davidian, the farmer who lives near the Nova music festival site. Rami is a farmer. A regular guy. Nobody special. Elected to nothing. And yet on October 7th, he rescued 750 people from the Nova festival while Hamas was trying to murder them. We can all be Rami. We can all step up to lead when it is our turn, elected or not. We can speak out and speak up. We can change our small part of the world which changes the entire world. We can get educated and confront those who lie and spread lies.

As Spain recognizes a Palestinian State and calls the war genocide, they quickly backtrack when they realize that by doing this they make every person in Gaza a political refugee able to enter Spain on a humanitarian visa. They quickly stopped being public about either because they realized their words and actions had consequences.

As the Maldives now refuses to allow anybody with an Israeli passport to enter the country, they will see the impact as people with resources and morals refuse to visit the Maldives and pick other options instead, hurting tourism, their top industry.

As politicians lose their seats in the upcoming election because they tell lies and support terrorists, our leaders will shift what they say and what they do.

All of this happens because we take action. We lead by our example. We stand up and speak out when we hear people telling lies about Israel and about Jews. We refuse to be silent and refuse to stand by and allow others to attack us. For generations we were visitors in other countries and so we tried to fit in and keep quiet. We wanted to stay under the radar until it was impossible and then, too late. Today, with the modern state of Israel, we have a homeland. We don’t need to stay under the radar and quiet. Yet too many of us do. Too many of us remain convinced we are Americans first. Too many of us are afraid to lose what we have by standing up and speaking out when history tells us time and time again, if we don’t stand up and speak out, we are guarnteed to lose what we have. We each get to choose if want to be lambs to the slaugher or fight back. We have our examples. Abraham argued with God about Sodom and Gemmorrah. Queen Esther risked everything for the Jewish people. Moses gave up the chance to be Pharoah and rule Egypt to serve God and the Jewish people. King David took on Goliath. Hannah Senesh risked it all and paid the ultimate price for the Jewish people. The list goes on and on.

Hannah Senesh sacrificed her life for the Jewish people

So in these crazy times that we live in, who are you going to be? Are you going to be Nachson, who bravely walked into the Red Sea until it was over his head before God parted it to save the Jewish people or are you going to be the one who served the Egyptians and the Nazis to harm the Jewish people? Are you going to speak up for Israel and the Jewish people like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. did or are you going to be Mark Ruffalo who constantly criticizes Israel for existing and posts his own antisemitic digs at Jews?

I choose to be Dr. King. I choose light over darkness. I choose love over hate. I choose peace over war. I choose hope over despair. I choose being Jewish over hiding who I am. I choose good over evil. I choose action over inaction. I choose speaking up over being silent. Like our historical ancestors, I choose risk to flourish over safety to hide and eventually lose everything.

We each have to make our own choice. I hope you choose wisely.

The wise choice will give you life but the wrong choice will take it from you