On my recent trip to Israel, we were in the Lower Galilee on a jeep ride. It was beautiful to ride through the lush area, climbing the mountain in the jeeps, until we reached an amazing view.

In the background, you see the Golan Heights. The Golan is a strategic area as whoever holds it has complete control of the valley below. Prior to 1967, Syria would sit there and shoot at the people living in the villages in the valley. In the 1973 war, the Golan was almost lost. The story of the tank unit in the 188th armored battallion is legendary. I first heard it a few years ago when we visited the unit as they proudly told the story of their unit. Totally outmanned, they managed to hold off the Syrians as the cost of their lives until support could arrive to fight and eventually win.

What I didn’t know is that my friend David’s cousin, Benny Katzin, was one of the leaders of that unit in 1973. While looking at that view, David told us his story. As he was preparing to leave for the weekend to spend both Shabbat and Yom Kippur with his family, Benny sensed that something was going on and there was something wrong. His overall commander told him not to worry and to go home and enjoy Shabbat and celebrate Yom Kippur with his family. He told him he had earned it.

The uneasy feeling wouldn’t leave him. As much as he wanted to see his family and spend the holiday with them, Benny couldn’t leave. His responsibility was too great. Instead of leaving that Friday afternoon to go home, he stayed on base just in case something happened. Something happened all right.

On Saturday October 6, 1973, the armies of Syria and Egypt attacked. Not only was it Shabbat, it was Yom Kippur. Israel was not prepared. On the Syrian-Israeli border, the Syrian army made incredible progress. They were so successful, so quickly, that they thought it was a plot to trick them into going to far so they stopped. This gave Bennie and his immediate commander, Yitzchak Ben Shosham the time to move any tanks that still worked to try to delay the Syrian army. They managed to hold off for another day while reinforcements were sent north, ultimately defeating Syria on the border. Bennie and his commander were fighting in the last 2 operating tanks against a Syrian force of 177. When only one tank worked, they both jumped into it to continue to fight. The were found dead together in that last tank. It had stopped being able to move so they used whatever ammunition they had until they ran out and were then killed.

What makes this story any different from hundreds of other acts of heroism at that time? Why bother with this specific story? Benny was a hero, not for what he did when the war began on October 6 or for what he did to defend Israel on October 7, 1973 when he died. It isn’t for taking on 177 Syrian tanks with just two Israeli tanks. If itsn’t because they were successful in delaying the Syrian army until reinforcements could arrive. Benny is a hero for what he did on October 5th. For choosing to stay. For listening to his gut and deciding it was more important to be there in case he was right rather than go home and hope he was wrong.

How many times have we been faced with that type of situation? We have a feeling something is going to happen. We know deep down that we should stay but we want to go home. We want to see our spouse, our children, our parents. We want to relax, eat a good meal, and not deal with the ongoing stress. How many of us do that instead of listening to our gut and doing the hard thing, staying.

Here in America, many of us have that feeling in our gut. Something is wrong. Something bad is going to happen. Whether it is something with women’s rights, individual rights, assassination attempts of leaders, school shootings, the rise of antisemitism, or many other things, we feel it deep within ourselves. The question is what are WE going to do? Are we going to ignore the signs that we see, the feeling in our gut, go home and hope it doesn’t happen? Are we going to sit at home and ignore the feeling, hoping if it happens, it is not to us or those we love? Are we going to leave the responsibility to somebody else because we can? Or are we going to be like Benny? Are we going to act? Are we going to say, “Not on my watch! I refuse to allow this to happen without doing what I can to stop it.”

We have the choice. Nobody would have faulted Benny for going home that Friday to spend Shabbat and Yom Kippur with his family. He would have been recalled on Saturday and been fighting against Syria on Sunday. He would have known. He would have to live with the fact that he knew in his bones that something was going to happen and left. He would have known that he could have made a difference on Saturday and didn’t.

The truth about Hamas, UNRWA, and Gaza is slowly coming out. The UN has already cut in half the number of women and children that have been killed in the war. If you take the numbers reported by Hamas/Gaza Health Ministry/UNRWA (they are all the same terrorists), in the UNRWA report from Tuesday July 9, 2024, they reported that 38,193 people have been killed. They don’t discern between terrorists and civilians. They don’t include anybody dying of natural causes. The same report estimated that 50,000 babies have been born in the past 9 months. This means that in this so called ‘genocide’, the population of Gaza has actually INCREASED even including the terrorists who have been killed and those who died of natural causes! While Israel is amazing in so many ways, they sure are terrible at genocide.

Yet the cries of genocide and apartheid remain. We’ve already seen how this ‘genocide’ is the only one in history where the victims have seen their population increase. If you go to Israel, you will soon realize so are the claims of apartheid. On my most recent trip, one of the participants got sick. I took her to the medical clinic that morning where she was treated by an Arab-Israeli doctor and nurse. When I got her prescription filled, it was by an Arab-Israeli pharmacist. The wonderful man who cleaned my hotel room every day, who I talked to multiple times a day and built a friendship with (and tipped him well for an awesome job done) is an Arab-Israel. Our medic and security guard one day was an Ethiopian-Israeli. One of our speakers shared with us that the number of Arab-Israelis choosing to serve in the IDF continues to grow significantly as are those who are choosing national service as an option.

Yet here in America and around the world, we are faced with these lies. We are faced with growing anti-semitism – I choose to call it Jew hatred because that’s what it really is. What are we going to do about it? How are we going to respond? Are we going to respond? Should we just sit back and hope it goes away? I have heard the arguments about Jews staying on the campuses where they are facing daily hatred both in and out of the classroom because we can’t abandon them. I disagree. Abandon them we must. Protecting ourselves is more important. Imagine a Jew-free Ivy league. How much would their prestige fall? How many Nobel Prize winners would now come from other Universities? How many innovators and business creators would now come from other Universities? The brain drain will affect them tremendously and our students stay safe. Imagine the amazing Jewish professors leaving the Ivy League hatred and improving the quality of education elsewhere. Rabbi David Wolpe writes about his year at Harvard and why he left. Imagine the talent leaving these hate filled institutions and going elsewhere.

It’s Friday in America now. The question is who are you going to be? Are you going to be Benny Katzin who chose to stay because he knew something was coming? Are you going to be like Benny and instead of going home to see family and celebrate the holiday, make the sacrifice to stay and fight? To be there because you know it is coming? It’s Friday in America. Are you going to look back with pride that you took action and didn’t let others face it without you or are you going to look back with regret because you could have made difference and didn’t. When your grandchildren ask what you did and where you were when it was Friday in America, how are you going to answer them? I know how I am going to answer them. My children already know the answer to tell their grandchildren about what I have done and what I am doing when it is Friday in America. What about yours?