I boarded the flight to Israel today around 11 am. We took off at noon for the 11 ½ hour flight from Miami to Tel Aviv. This is my least favorite flight to take as it’s very difficult to sleep during the daytime after a good night’s sleep and when we land, it’s the start of a brand-new day. It’s great to land and have the full day in front of you, but when you are tired and it feels like midnight, it’s not always so easy.
On the flight, I chose to get the internet package. Knowing it was daytime and I’d be awake for most, if not all, of the flight, I thought it was a good investment. As I spent the flight checking emails and responding to texts, I realized that when we landed in Israel, not only were we going to start by volunteering to help by picking fruits and vegetables, but we were also going to spend the afternoon at the Kotel, the Western Wall, one of the holiest sites in Judaism. One of the traditions is to write prayers and put them into the wall so they are close to God. Since I had such a long flight, I went on social media and offered to put prayers into the Kotel for whoever wanted one. All they had to do was message me what they wanted the prayer to be.
I didn’t think much of it and expected a few people would respond. I was overwhelmed as the requests kept coming in. Without sharing any specific people or what they requested, I will say that a great deal of them were related to health issues. It is a reminder that there is a reason the saying is, “healthy, wealthy, and wise.” Health comes first. Without health, we have nothing. There were requests for a better world. Requests to help loved ones who are struggling. Nobody was asking for the ‘wealthy and wise’ part of the saying. All the requests were truly selfless. A few people thanked me for offering to do this for them. I often take going to Israel for granted. This is my 22nd trip and the 23rd is already on the books this year. Israel is truly a core part of my soul and my personal identity. Today, on the flight, these requests were a reminder of how lucky I am to go to Israel once, let alone 22 times.
These requests also got me thinking about the world we live in today and the world it appears most people want to live in. They are not the same place. The world we live in is filled with selfishness. It is filled with ‘haves’ and ‘have-nots’. It is filled with people who desperately want to obtain and keep power. It is a world filled with ego. When half of the United States hates the other half, we are not living in the world that most people want.
These requests made me think about the world we would like to live in. A world where we cared about other people. A world in which doing the greatest good really mattered, whether it helped the individual or not. A world filled with love, not hate. A world in which we were more concerned with giving than getting, with doing rather than taking. What would it look like to live in a world where kindness was the most valued commodity?
Imagine a world where we didn’t hate but rather worked to understand each other. Our differences were celebrated rather than used to create a reason to hate. As I watched this video, I couldn’t help smiling when he said, “Babka is my middle name” or when he called rugelach, “roo ga losch”. He is filled with curiosity. He wants to explore a different culture. I want to watch him try gefilte fish, kasha varnishkas, shakshuka, cholent, and so much more. How much fun would it be to watch people of different cultures explore the unique foods of another culture?
On this trip to Israel, we have 12 young adults. 6 males, 6 females. Twelve very different people, who come from different backgrounds, with one similarity. As I met most of them for the first time, I loved their differences. I can’t wait to spend two weeks exploring a post October 7th Israel, leadership, and Jewish thought with them. I can’t wait to hear their thoughts, their impressions, their opinions, and their ideas. As I write that, I can’t imagine our world leaders saying the same thing about each other. I can’t imagine our country’s leaders saying that about each other. It shows me that there is a path back from the cliff we are on, if we want to take it. It’s not easy. It’s not comfortable.
A perfect example of how close to the cliff we are is the text exchange between Deans at Columbia University that was released by the Department of Education. The texts are bigoted. They are hateful. They are unbecoming a leader and an educational institution. Three of the Deans are currently suspended pending an investigation while one, Joseph Sorett, has falled on his sword and not only won’t be suspended, he is guaranteed to keep his job. Normally, with evidence this damning, you could count on them getting fired. Yet in the world we live in, with what we have seen in the past 3 months on college campuses, there remains a good chance they will all return to their positions with merely a slap on the wrist and by making an insincere apology. As you read the text thread, your blood may boil the way mine did.
Instead of approaching this with empathy, care and concern for Jewish students at Columbia, these four Deans, Susan Chang-Kim, the Vice Dean and Chief Administrative Officer, Matthew Patashnick, the Associate Dean for Student and Family Support, Cristen Kromm, the Dean of Undergraduate Student Life, and Josef Sorett, the Dean of Columbia College, utilize stereotypes, antisemitism, hate, racism, and everything they are supposed to fight against to mock Jewish students, Jewish professional leadership, and antisemitism. Their titles show how powerful the positions they hold are.
The 3 Columbia Deans that have been suspended
We all have a choice. Do we want to be like the Deans of Columbia University or do we want to work to change the world, seek to understand rather than to be understood, strive for the best for humanity, be kind, and treat others with dignity and respect. It seems like a simple choice, however in the world we currently live, it isn’t.
I choose the latter. I choose to do things like meet with my Palestinian friend in East Jerusalem to have meaningful and respectful discussions. I choose to listen and learn both with and from the twelve young adults on this trip. I choose the harder path, one that leads to a better world but isn’t easy. When I go to the Kotel later today with all these notes from other people, detailing their prayers, their hopes, their dreams, I choose to be an instrument of good, placing each one carefully into the wall. With each one I place, I will ask God to grant them their prayer, their wish.
We are not stuck in the world we live in. We have the ability to change the world one step at a time, one day at a time, one action at a time. I hope you will join me.
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