Friendship is a wonderful and strange thing. We do get to pick our friends although sometimes, our friends pick us. We have childhood friends that we lose touch with and those we stay in contact with. Sometimes our best friends of our youth are no longer part of our life and sometimes we lose touch for years and when we reconnect it’s like no time passed at all. Sometimes people flash into our life, make an impact, and then they are gone. Sometimes we have friends for our entire life. Friendship is dynamic, it’s not static. Friendship is something that is active and takes work.
I got a text Saturday night, letting me know that there was a good chance that a friend of mine had died. It was sudden. It was unexpected. I reached out to somebody who would know if it was true, and sadly it was. It’s a very strange, modern, Covid friendship. We only ever met in person 3 times. Yet the loss is profound.
I’m not sure how Zev found me on Facebook during Covid. Likely through a friend of a friend. He reached out about some things we were doing and thoughts I had shared. We began chatting on Facebook messenger and sharing thoughts and ideas about the Jewish community. For two years we had a virtual friendship. In December 2022, I was invited to the White House Hanukkah party and was heading to DC. It was my first trip since Covid and the first time since Zev and I ‘met’ on social media. We made plans to meet for dinner and finally got to meet in person.
My son Matthew was with me and the three of us had a great dinner filled with interesting conversation. We talked about Matthew’s college experience, how Covid impacted his high school years, the challenges of the organized Jewish community, the decline in synagogue membership, what Jewish life could look like, things in Israel (this was pre-October 7), and much more. We spent a few hours eating and talking and building our friendship.
When I returned to Orlando after the party, we continued to keep in touch. We would email, Facebook message, and talk on the phone. When Cantor Azi Schwartz performed at a synagogue gala, we discussed the role of music in prayer. A year or so later, he and his family commissioned a special musical score for MIZMOR L’DAVID: A PSALM OF DAVID by Sam Glaser at his synagogue, Adas Israel. Of course one of the senior Rabbis there is a long time friend and the Cantor there is the wife of another good friend. The Jewish world is small and Zev made it smaller. After October 7th, we had more to talk about. The conversation was always easy and flowed naturally.
Earlier this year, I was in DC for the AIPAC Policy Summit. I stayed a few days extra for some work with a client. One of the people we met with was Zev. I thought he would be interested in the project and would also provide some good feedback and suggestions. He did both. He financially supported the project and gave some great feedback that helped our messaging. He made some suggestions of other people to meet with and share information about the project. That’s who Zev was, a person who got involved and wanted to make a difference.
The last time I saw Zev was just a few weeks ago. I was back in DC to do some work with a different client. Zev and I planned to meet for lunch as my hotel was a short walk from his home. We had a great lunch, great conversation, and he was interested in the work of this client, agreeing to support them. I had another client doing work I thought he might be interested in and after lunch, sent him some of their Israeli wine to taste. In typical Zev fashion, he didn’t want me to spend money on him but I sent it anyway. We walked back to my hotel, continuing our conversation, and said goodbye in the lobby, making plans to meet again in 2025.
We emailed after that visit. He enjoyed the wine. He shared some things he was concerned about and wanted my thought on. It seemed like everything was going great for him and I looked forward to our next meeting. Unfortunately that will now never happen.
Zev and me in DC at the beginning of December. He passed away less than 3 weeks later.
Friendship is like that. It can be fleeting and it can be lasting. We never know where our friends will come from. A life lesson that I have learned is that we may think we know who our friends are and then life shows up. The people who show up then are our real friends. People I thought were friends have shown me they were really acquaintances. And people I didn’t think were good friends have shown me that they really are good friends. I’ve learned not to pre-judge anybody.
Zev was a real friend, even though we only met in person 3 times. I’m grateful that we met because of Covid and that he became a part of my life. I’m sad that he is gone, yet the things we discussed and the passion for Jewish life and the Jewish community we shared will remain a part of me forever. While he may be gone from this earth, his impact is not. He changed many people’s lives with his friendship, his committment to making a difference and being a light to the world. As a mutual friend of ours said to me after Zev passed, the Jewish people and the Jewish community were his children.
Thank you Zev for reaching out on Facebook back in 2020. Thank you for sharing who you are with me. Thank you for inviting me into your life and being my friend. You are greatly missed. זיכרונו לברכה (ichrono livrakha). May your memory always be a blessing.
Matthew, Zev, and me at our first meeting in person
Over the past few years, I have struggled to find media that would educate, inspire, challenge, and interest me. Most of the main stream media (MSM) comes with their own biases. They are no longer focused on informing viewers/readers of the facts but rather on putting their spin and convincing the viewers/readers of a specific point of view. About 18 months ago, I discovered The Free Press and about 14 months ago became a paid subscriber. It is the best money I spend every year. There is diversity of viewpoints. Interesting articles that make me think. Positions that challenge my beliefs and cause me to take pause and rethink and re-evaluate what I believe. Today’s Free Press provides a wide variety of examples.
I choose to write about this today because we so rarely have the opportunity to engage with things that challenge our thinking. Today’s world is focused on finding those we agree with and immersing ourselves with them. Most people have their TV news that they watch and stick to it – CNN, MSNBC, FOX, ABC, NBC, CBS, etc. The same is true with newpapers and magazines. The NY Times, Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, etc. As I read through the summary of today’s Free Press, I found five (5) articles that intrigued me. That made me think. I want to share them with you along with my thoughts and why each one interested me.
There has been a lot of talk for a number of years about vaccines. I’m a believer that vaccines work. I’m vaccinated. My kids are vaccinated. We believe in science. Do vaccines have a link to autism? (The data clearly says no.) There has been a long debate about the Covid vaccine (full disclosure – I got the vaccine and 2 boosters.) My wife and I argue about the flu vaccine as it seems I only get the flu when I get the vaccine. I don’t get it any longer and have promised her that if/when I get the flu and it’s really bad, I will get the vaccine the next year. It’s been about 6 years since I had the flu. I know there is no statistical validity to this belief (my father-in-law is a pulmonologist and we have this conversation every year and I know I frustrate both him and my wife) but it’s working for me so I’ll continue until it doesn’t. With the rise of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in the incoming administration, vaccines are under scrutiny once again. In today’s Free Press, there is a powerful piece about the polio vaccine, currently under attack.
I’m very grateful for vaccines like the polio and smallpox vaccines. They eliminated horrible diseases. Watching vaccine deniers push their agenda scares me. I remember when my younger son’s school had an outbreak of Whooping Cough in Seattle. I was startled and then learned that in Seattle, vaccines are optional for school attendance. That shocked me. Vaccines save lives. The article in the Free Press is a powerful reminder of what life was like before the polio vaccine. The way families suffered and children died. We live in a world where we often forget the realities of the past, of what the world looked like before vaccines, before medical breakthroughs and before advances we take for granted. My father had an older sister, Barbara, that he never knew because she died as an infant. What killed her in the early 1940s was completely treatable by the 1960s. We cannot allow our society to regress against science. I’m thankful for this powerful article that reminds me how far we have come and how much work we have to do to ensure we don’t return to those dark days of death by what are now preventable diseases.
There has been a lot of unbelievable support for Luigi Mangione’s alleged murder of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson. Like many other people, I have many issues with health insurance, the cost, the coverage, and the need for radical reformation. That does not excuse murder. That does not permit murder. We have seen such incredible political violence in the past few years that it is frightening. We see it on college campuses with antisemitism. We see the antisemitic violence in the streets of London. We see antisemitic violence in New York, California, and throughout Canada. Across the world and throughout America. Today’s Free Press has a great article about why political violence occurs.
As I read the article, I was reminded of the political violence in the 60s and 70s. How today’s leaders have been able to forget that political violence cost us the lives of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Bobby Kennedy, Malcom X, and President John F. Kennedy (conspiracy theorists may disagree here) amazes me. I found it interesting that the author stated that the political violence went away without having any meaningful effect. Nothing was solved by the political violence and yet it still went away. It is a reminder that, “such a situation is unsustainable, because political violence cannot coexist with a functioning democracy.”
As I read the article, it made me realize that so many things happen in our world because we allow them. If we tolerate bad behavior, it happens. We have allowed money to rule politics so it does. If we were to demand changes, they would happen. But we don’t. Congress complains about dark money when the other party is raising big dollars that way but won’t pass laws to outlaw it because they want to do better in raising it themselves. They allow it and use it as a political tool. Immigration is another example. Instead of taking action to create real immigration reform, our political parties use it as a weapon against their opponents. Political violence is no different. As the author stated so simply and eloquently, “All of this suggests that political violence is downstream of public support, and that political violence happens because we let it.”
The media covers the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. Between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon. They cover the rockets being fired from Yemen by the Houthis. They report on the uprising in Syria and the overthrow of the Assad regime. They don’t cover what is happening in Georgia though (the country not the U.S. State). According to the media, there is nothing worth covering there. Today’s Free Press does a great job highlighting the uprising in Georgia by the pro-Western groups and what they are dealing with. You would think that our media would want to cover people looking to overthrow tyranny because they want more freedom like the West. You would think that something so validating for the freedoms we have, people risking their lives because they want what we have, would be leading the news. The more I read, the more upset I got at our media. We did this the last time the Iranian people attempted to rise up against the tyranny of their government and the regime survived. We did this when the Syrian people tried to overthrow Assad a decade allow, allowing Russia and Iran to save his dictatorship.
The uprising in Tbilisi, Georgia
When I read the closing lines of the article, I am inspired by the people of Georgia. I am inspired by the hope they have for a better future. I am inspired by their willingness to sacrifice for a better life. And, I am ashamed of how we sit by idly, doing nothing to help, nothing to support their efforts, and allow tyranny to remain. “As he regained consciousness, the man, who called himself Jimmy, spoke with me. ‘Every day, it’s hard for me to wake up, fearing that they’ll do something worse,’ he said, lighting a cigarette. ‘Life has to mean something, and right now, it’s worth fighting for this—to crumple up the regime and throw it into the trash where it belongs.'” How do Jimmy’s words not inspire you? How do you not want to help? How do you not want to take action ourselves to make life worth living, to make sure life has meaning?
Caitlin Clark is an incredible basketball player. The fact that she is a woman and plays in the WNBA doesn’t diminish her skills or talent. She has single handedly brought women’s basketball and the WNBA to a new level. There have been and there are many great women’s basketball players. None has been able to do for the league and women’s basketball what Caitlin has done over the past two season, in college and now in the WNBA. She has been involved in controversy this week for seemingly apologizing for being a white player. The Free Press wrote about her and this challenge today.
Yet she gets terrible abuse from WBNA players and even owners because of her race. Because she is white. “Sheila Johnson, the black owner of the Washington Mystics, echoed Wilson, telling CNN that the only reason Clark was getting the acclaim was because she was white.” Yet 31% of the Mystics annual attendance came from the two games Caitlin Clark played there. She is the league’s star. There are many outstanding players in the WNBA. I didn’t like watching it for years because it wasn’t very good basketball. Today’s WNBA is very good basketball. It’s fun to watch because of the quality of play. My favorite games that I want to watch are when Caitlin Clark is playing against her college rival, Angel Reese. They don’t like each other. They are both great players. It reminds me of Larry Bird against Magic Johnson. Bird against Dr. J. Magic against Isiah Thomas. Only without the respect the men had for each other.
Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese, two rivals and great WNBA players
Reading the article made me wonder why we are so obsessed with race in America. I grew up with friends of all different races and religions. My friends were and are my friends. In the words of the great Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., it is about “the content of their character.” Would I watch the WNBA if it’s main star was Angel Reese? Maybe. She’s a great player. Do I want to watch every game when she is playing against her rival, Caitlin Clark? Absolutely. Do I watch other WNBA games? Not really. The finals this year were amazing and I have friends who watched it. I stopped watching when Caitlin Clark’s team was eliminated. The same way I stop watching baseball when my favorite team, the New York Yankees are eliminated.
It’s a shame that in the WNBA, basketball can’t be just about on the court talent. It’s a sign of the times, of the challenges we face in America. As long as we remain obsessed with race, we are the ones who lose. We can’t appreciate the greatness of talent because we see it as color specific talent. I hate that. I like watching talented performers because of their talent, not because of, or in spite of, their race. I like the beauty of sports, of music, of art, dance, and writing because of how it makes me feel and how it inspires me, not because the person who is behind it is a specific color, race, religion, or ethnic background. Maybe we can all strive to pay attention to that, instead of race, religion, or ethnicity. I think we would all be a little better if we did.
The last article of the day is about assisted death. It is something I struggle with. Earlier this year, we chose to put down our beloved 13 1/2 year old Labrador Retriever, Bella. I was the last holdout. I saw the light in her eyes until the very end, when I saw her agony. Making that final decision was very difficult and still brings tears to my eyes. Sitting with her on our couch, the entire family loving on her as the vet gave her the medicine that would end her suffering, was both beautiful and heartbreaking. If we do it for the animals we love, why can’t we do it for the people we love?
My dad died on September 6, 2022. Getting woken up at 1:30 in the morning to hear the news is something burned into my memory. I saw him a few hours earlier and expected to see him that morning. I believe that he chose to die when he did out of kindness to our family and to himself. The life he would have lived would be very different from the way he lived his life up to that point. He was able to do for himself and for the family what we would have never been able to do. Forget about the legalities, which the article addresses well. Earlier the day before, my mom signed the Do Not Resuscitate (DNR) paperwork. I walked in to the hospital room just after she signed it and she was in tears. We knew he didn’t want to live with no quality of life and she was able to sign the DNR. Would we have ever been able to go that extra step? I don’t think so.
The article has me thinking deeply about why. Why, as hard as it was, could I do it for Bella but don’t think I could have done it for my dad? What stops me from being willing to offer the grace of ending suffering to a human that I love when I can do it, as hard as it is, for an animal? What does it say about me? What does it say about our society? Do we value breathing that much over truly living? What is my definition of living? If it were me, would I want my family to be able to end my suffering? Or should I suffer and ‘be alive’ just because it alleviates guilt?
These are hard questions with no easy answer. I’m grateful that there is a publication that, in just one day, can have five (5) articles that really make me think. That inspire conversations. Each author has their own perspective yet writes in a way that doesn’t say you are wrong if you disagree with them. It is true journalism. If you are looking for a publication that will make you think every single day (I haven’t even talked about the Honestly podcast or the debates they offer), subscribe to The Free Press. You won’t regret it.
One of my favorite Broadway shows is Wicked. From the first time I saw it, I was captivated by the story, the songs, the music, the production, and the messages and lessons. The main, basic lesson is fairly simple – we only know the story we are told, not the truth. The Wizard of Oz told us a story about the land of Oz, the Wicked Witch of the West (Elphaba) and the Good Witch of the East (Glinda who we learn was really named Galinda).
History is told by those who are victorious, hence we got the Wizard of Oz. Wicked tells the story before the story of the Wizard of Oz and we learn so much that changes the story, our impression of the characters, and what we think.
This is just like real life. We are told by the media, by the United Nations, by the International Court of Justice, and by leaders around the world one truth about the middle east. With some digging and effort, we can learn the real truth. We can learn the real story. When we learn the real story and the truth, things are very different, just like The Wizard of Oz and Wicked.
One of my favorite things about being Jewish is how we take pop culture and make it not just our own but also how we ensure there is Jewish content to it. The most famous of these is when Adam Sandler created and sang the Hannukah Song on Saturday Night Live. It was incredible to see and listen. It became an instant classic that everybody would sing. We loved knowing that Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock were both Jewish. Paul Newman and Goldie Hawn were half Jewish, so “put them both together, what a fine looking Jew!” It made people famous for being Jewish. It gave us a song to sing we could be proud of, not just the dreidel song. It truly was a game changer.
Since then, there have been additional versions of the Hanukkah song, none as popular as the first (and many of you may not know that there are officially 4 versions of the Hannukah song. There are other songs that have been made by many artists, nowhere close to the quality or fun of Christmas songs, but they exist. It’s basically been the Hanukkah Song and that’s it.
Until now. I discovered this version of songs from Wicked made by Six13. I love the way they use the music from Wicked to tell the Hanukkah story. I love how they made the music that I love into something Jewish. I have watched it multiple times because it gives me joy. Try to watch and not smile. Try to watch and not have your heart warmed. Try to watch and not feel proud to be Jewish.
After watching Six13 do this for Hanukkah, I decided to play around a little bit with AI artwork. I’ve never done it before so I figured, why not? I used a few different programs (you will see the quality differences) to make some pictures of Elphaba and Glinda/Galinda if they were Jewish and celebrating Hanukkah. It’s fun to explore Judaism and Jewish holidays with pop culture, technology and creativity. I wish when I was in Hebrew school many years ago, we had the opportunity to do this type of Jewish exploration. It would have made learning about Judasim so much more fun.
Here is Elphaba and Glinda/Galinda if they were Jewish and celebrating Hanukkah. Imagine them at your Hanukkah party. Imagine them lighting the menorah with you. How much fun would that be? Imagine a Hillel or Chabad Hanukkah with the Wicked theme. Making Judaism fun and cool isn’t that difficult as we saw with Adam Sandler and we see with Six13 and a little bit of AI graphic work.
I had the AI art generator put Elphaba and Glinda/Galinda fighting along with Judah Macabee against the Hasmonians. Imagine this in a comic book weaving Wicked into Hanukkah. How many of our Jewish children would fall in love with Judaism and Hanukkah without the presents? How many Purim costumes would this generate? How much better would Hebrew school be with this type of creativity?
I asked a different AI art program to create an image of Elphaba and Glinda/Galinda celebrating Hanukkah. It came out like Disney Princesses. How many little girls would fall in love with being jewish because they had Jewish Princesses celebrating Hanukkah? Lighting the menorah together? Sufganyot in front of them.
Imagine an entire kids movie with Elphaba and Glinda/Galinda being Jewish and celebrating Jewish holidays. Imagine a cartoon with them also being Jewish and including that in with what they are doing. Shabbat and Shabbat dinner. Inviting the Wizard to join them. Baking Challah (Elphaba’s could be a green Challah). How many children would fall in love with Judaism with this type of creativity?
Using a different AI image generator, I asked it to make Glinda/Galinda and Elphaba cook latkes. Unlike the Disney princess look above, it gave me an image that could belong with the Smurf cartoon. Look how much fun they are having. Imagine our children and grandchildren understanding how much fun being Jewish can be. I remember Hebrew school being boring and dry. My friends and I had fun with each other but the actual experience was not fun. Playing sports and doing theater at the JCC was fun. Bowling and swimming lessons and swim teams at the JCC was fun. Getting involved with BBYO was fun. We can change the narrative. We can make Judaism fun for our children and have it be desirable. Jewish smurfs and smurfettes!
Judaism is a religion based on food. Imagine, as I did with AI image generation, that Elphaba and Glinda/Galinda were eating sufganyot at Hanukkah. The hanukkiah is lit. The delicious fried jelly donuts, sufganyot, are in their hands and on their plates. How many children would want to hear the story of Hanukkah and the miracle of oil so they could eat their delicious sufganyot/jelly donuts? How much fun would they have making them with their parents?
It’s time for us to be creative in what we are using to inspire that love for Judaism in our children. It’s time to think like Adam Sandler or Six13. It’s time for us to be like Cantor Azi Schwartz of Park Avenue Synagogue, who used the tune of ‘You’ll be Back’ from Hamilton to create an unforgettable version of Adon Olam that many of you have seen and loved.
He didn’t stop there though. With the popularity of Wicked, he took advantage of the opportunity to create yet another memorable version of Adon Olam to the tune of “You’ll be popular” from Wicked. I can only imagine how excited people are to hear him sing this, to join along with him, and to fully engage Jewishly. His creativity works. We all can be that creative in what we do to make Judaism fun and inspiring.
At a time when being Jewish is a challenge. When Jew hatred and antisemitism is incredibly prevalent. When the question of why be Jewish is a real one for many people, let’s remember how Adam Sandler, Six13, and Cantor Azi Schwartz used their creativity to show us why to be Jewish. Let’s all take a step back and think what we can do to highlight not just the beauty of Judaism but also the fun and joy.
It’s almost Hanukkah, one of the most fun holidays (along with Purim) in Judaism. I have my Hanukkah PJs from last year and my new Hanukkah shirt, sweatpants, and sweater should arrive this week. I’m committed to bringing the joy to Judaism. How about you?
The media around the world is mostly rotten. We have seen just how bad it is over the past 14 months with lies being told over and over again. The media promoting the lie of Israeli genocide. The lie of Israel starving the people of Gaza. The lies that ‘Jews deserved this’ and the lie that this is only about Israel, not about Jew hatred.
I get so fed up with the media lies that I mostly tune out the main stream media. No matter what station you watch or what newspaper you read, they are not giving you news and facts, they are giving you the narrative that they want to tell. From the word choices they use to the videos they choose to show, it’s a reminder than the news divisions are based in the entertainment division and it’s about getting views to sell more ads, not about telling the truth.
Today I want to write about and show truth. It’s not easy to find and it takes work on a daily basis to learn and understand what is really happening rather than the lies that are so easily told to us and that many believe. You can use these with your friends who don’t understand or who believe the lies because that’s all they hear.
We have known for a long time that they use actora in Gaza to simulate deaths and injuries. The same person has died multiple times in multiple locations. Dolls are used to simulate babies. Footage from Assad’s genocide in Syria (over 500,000 murdered) are shown to be in Gaza a decade later.
The acting isn’t very good and they don’t even try to make the actors look different when they die multiple times. The dolls are often easy to see. The footage they use from Syria is easily proved to be from there or was footage shown a decade ago. Here is another egregious one. This actor pretends to be a “victim” but accidentally uses the wrong foot while limping with a supposed broken foot. It’s only after he is hit in the head by the man ‘helping’ him that he switches the foot he is walking on from the broken one to the other one. The media lying isn’t even good, yet so many believe it. Jew hatred is real.
With the revolt in Syria and the fall of the Assad government, there is now a push to claim that Israel is trying to colonize Syria. The rebels, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), are headed by a leader with long ties to Al Qaeda, Abu Mohammad al-Jolani. al-Jolani has ties and connections to Isis as well. This is not a group you want to just assume the role of Assad. Israel took action. They destroyed the Syrian navy. They destroyed the Syrian air force. They destroyed the Syrian chemical weapons. They destroyed the Syrian rockets and launchers. They took control of the border with Syria to keep the people of Israel safe.
The IDF now estimates that 86% of Syria’s air defenses have been destroyed, which makes Syrian airspace a now much safer flight route for the entire world. The army says this opens up the opportunity to bomb Iran’s nuclear sites, yet another benefit to the entire world. A nuclear Iran is a danger to everybody.
The UN responds as you would expect. UN António Guterres said he was “deeply concerned by the recent and extensive violations of Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.” This is while Syria is the middle of turmoil and there is grave danger to the Israeli people if no action was taken. Of course, Guterres has done everything he can to ensure that Israel is constantly in danger. He then calls for an urgent de-escalation by Israeli forces and a withdrawal from the Golan buffer zone. Once again, Guterres calls for the destruction of Israel. The media refuses to tell the truth.
For more than a decade, the media has lied about Syria. They kept the use of chemical weapons by Assad on his people quiet. They kept the brutality of his prisons a secret. They downplayed every Syrian death while using images from Syria to accuse Israel of killing Palestinians. Now that the Assad regime has falled, the truth is slowly coming out. In the Free Press, they just released an incredible report about Assad’s Sednaya prison. It’s a must read. The video inside the prison is haunting and chilling. Words like death camp and slaughterhouse are used and may be an understatement
The media bears responsibility for the ‘forced disappearance’ of 96,000 people. The media is responsible for the continued horrors that occured in Sednaya prison. The more I read about Assad and the torture and murders that were committed there, the more horrified I am. The angrier I become that the media, and the world, allowed this to happen once again. While this time the Jews weren’t the target, Jew hatred and antisemitism was used to cover up this brutality. How is Assad not wanted by the ICJ? how are those who participated in this brutality and barbarism not being held accountable by the world? The hypocrisy is deafening. Another example of the truth not mattering.
Astoundingly, the Druze leader of al-Suwayda in Syria made a powerful statement: “We refuse to live under rebel rule. We want Israeli rule and to be part of Israel.” This city of 120,000, mostly Druze with a large Greek Orthodox community, are openly stating that they want to be Israeli. The government that the ICJ and even some members of the US Congress call genocidal is a desirable place for minorities to live. A minority group is openly stating that Israel is the best country for them to live in. The truth is once again hidden by the outrageous lies. The people of Syria know. The Druze of Syria understand that they get freedom and human rights by being governed by Israel. The UN, the ICJ, the media, and especially some of our US members of Congress should be ashamed as their lies are outwardly being exposed.
It isn’t enough that the Druze leader of al-Suwayda openly states they want to be governed by Israel. Quite incredibly, we are seeing and hearing the same thing from the Druze villages on the easter Golan Heights. This video is from a Druze community in the southern Syrian village of Hader. The individual speaking calls for their village to be annexed to the Israeli side of the Golan Heights. The response further exposes the lies the UN, the ICJ, the media, and some of our US members of Congress propogate about Israel. “We agree. We agree.” they chant. The speaker goes on to talk about how they want to live with dignity and freedom….. in Israel, as Israelis. How do the liars explain this? They don’t even try. They ignore the truth instead.
The challenge for the Druze people of Syria is that while the southern Syrian village of Hader and the villages referenced in the video are close to the Israei border, the Druze living in Suwayda are in what is called Druze Mountain. It is not contiguous to Israel. The people living between the Eastern Golan and Druze Mountain are Sunni Arabs. Would they want to be a part of Israel? Would Israel want them to be a part of Israel? One thing we do know. If Druze Mountain and the Druze villages on the eastern Golan Heights became part of Israel, then Israel would not only be the Jewish state, it would also be the Druze state. How would Jew haters figure out a way to call Israel an apartheid state when it was the home not just to Jews but to the Druze as well? The facts would be inconvenient but the media doesn’t care about facts or truth. They would find a new way to twist the truth and lie about Israel.
When you want to hear truth from the media, you have to listen closely. You have to search and then hope they don’t lose their jobs for telling the truth. Erin Molan, from Sky News in Australia, has been telling the truth regularly. This past week she was fired for doing so. As she left, she recorded this powerful video. Listen to her words. You won’t hear them on ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, MSNBC, FOX, BBC, or any other network. You used to hear it on Sky News but you won’t any longer. Listen to her words. Listen to the power of the truth. Imagine if this was the message we got in the United States from our media. Imagine if this was the message from the BBC and throughout Europe.
Thank you Erin for speaking out. Thank you for not shrinking in fear when they fired you for telling the truth. Thank you for making this video and for beginning something new. Perhaps you will lead a revolution that will bring the media back to reporting the truth. To having morals and ethics. To not being entertainment but being news. Watch and listen to this remarkable journalist. You won’t be disappointed.
Finally, we are now at day 434 of the hostage crisis. In 10 days, they will have been kept by these monsters as long as the American hostages were kept by Iran. The difference is the brutality. None of the American hostages taken by Iran were murdered. We know many of the Israeli hostages have been murdered by Hamas. None of the American hostages were sexually abused by Iran. We know many of the Israeli hostages have been sexually abused by Hamas. Look at the image below. 64 hostages are believed to be alive. Look at their faces. 36 are believed to be dead with Hamas keeping control of their bodies. 100 human beings tortured and abused. 434 days. It is unimaginable. It is horrifying. It should be the lead story on the news every single day and night. We should know every single one of their names, faces, and stories. Their families should be our families. Our media shows no compassion Our media shows no moral backbone. They should be ashamed. We should be ashamed. I pray every single day that the hostages are released and come home. I pray every single day for their health and welfare. May they all come home before we reach day 444.
In the Syrian Civil War that began in 2011, President Bashar Assad was responsible for murdering over 500,000 civilians. He used chemical weapons on his own people in order to stay in power. Despite the massive unrest, both Russia and Iran lent their support and he was able to remain in power. The UN was silent. The International Court of Justice was silent.
Assad continued to abuse the Syrian people. He enabled weapons to come into Lebanon for Hezbollah to attack and terrorize Israel. He was a pawn of Russia and Iran. There were no protests on college campuses. No riots in the street. No calls of genocide, despite half a million people being murdered by him. Despite his use of chemical weapons on his own people.
Then an amazing thing happened. Rebels in Syria rose up against Assad this week. Because of the war with Ukraine, Russia did not help. Because of war with Israel through their proxies, Hamas and Hezbollah, as well as the impact of the Israeli attacks responding to Iran, Iran did not help. Within a week, the Assad government fell. He and his family are now in Russia.
It is amazing what happens when you take on the bullies. With Russia and Iran out of the picture, the evil Assad regime is over. There are many different rebel forces now in charge of different parts of Syria. Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), led by Abu Muhammad al-Julani (Ahmed Hussein al-Shar’a) are aligned with Al Qaeda. Some are more moderate and Israel has talked with them about the border. Nobody knows what Syria will look like moving forward. What we do know is that the influence of Russia and Iran in Syria has been greatly reduced to eliminated. The people of Syria have freed themselves from the tyranny of Syria when given the opportunity. Where are the talking heads, using this as an example for the Iranian people and the Iranian regime? Where are the talking heads for the Gazan people and Hamas? Where are those same people for the Lebanese people and Hezbollah? They are nowhere to be found. Just like on the college campuses. If you can’t use it to blame the Jews, we will ignore it.
With the upheaval in Syria, Israel has gone ahead to secure the border. The IDF has secured the eastern part of the Golan Heights and the demilitarized zone to ensure the safety of Israeli’s living on the border. The map below shows it well. I fully expect that next week the Jew hating talking heads along with those on college campuses will blame Israel and accuse them of trying to colonize Syria. The hypocrisy is brutal. Israel has publicly stated they are merely securing the border. Israel has communicated with the Syrian rebels that they are not trying to invade Syria and are securing the border. Israel has let the rebels know that as long as they leave the border alone, there will be no attacks. Israel is destroying military stores to ensure the border remains safe. The facts won’t matter, just like they didn’t matter when Assad was murdering his own people. No Jews, No News.
Is what happened with the Assad regime in Syria a model for Iran? Reports out of Iran are saying that the fall of the Assad regime has created significant internal tensions within Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as younger, radical members criticize senior leadership over the handling of the Syrian conflict. President Trump is expected to return U.S. “maximum pressure” sanctions on Iran, this means the regime faces an increasingly precarious situation. Internal divisions within the IRGC risk undermining their ability to suppress unrest and project power abroad. We have seen the people of Iran rise up int eh past and the world ignore them and leave them to face the wrath of the regime. The world has changed, placing the regime in its most vulnerable position in decades. Will we finally see Iranian regime change, freeing the Iranian people from their tyranny? Will we see a new government that won’t be a state sponsor of terror? Will we see the return of the Persian people instead of religious zealots?
Early in the morning of December 4th, Brian Thompson, the CEO of United Healthcare’s insurance business, was assassinated in public on the streets of New York. While the business practices of insurance companies is reprehensible to many (they deny coverage, don’t listen to what doctors say, and are more interested in profit than healthcare), a public execution of a business leader is not acceptable. It creates a slippery slope where it is ok to murder anybody in a business you don’t like or think has harmed you. Not just insurance companies. A restaurant where you get food poisoning or a bad meal means the owner, chef, or even server becomes fair game. A dry cleaner that ruins your clothes is now a target to be killed.
Amazingly, there is a large group of people who don’t understand this. They are celebrating his murder. They even held a shooter look-a-like contest.
🚨 There is a UnitedHealthcare CEO shooter lookalike competition happening right now in NYC.
They are awarding a winner to whoever looks most like Brian Thompson's killer.
It makes me wonder where we are going as a country. It’s perfectly ok to not like Brian Thompson and what he stands for. It’s perfectly ok to not like United Healthcare or all insurance companies. If you want to wish bad things on those running these companies or the company itself, you can do that. I had a terrible experience at a specific restaurant and vowed to never give them any of my money ever again.
Greta Thunburg became a star on the world stage because of her care for the planet. She was outspoken about climate change and got the world’s attention. She has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize every year from 2019-2023. Many found her a voice of reason in an unreasonable world. It is clear that all this fame has gone to her head. Thankfully, she never won the Nobel Peace Prize as she now advocates publicly for the elimination of Israel. Her Jew hatred is public and she has become a hate filled person who loves herself and her fame more than anything else. It’s sad to watch somebody who seemed to genuinely care about the world and making it a better place, devolve into hate and bigotry. It’s sad when being famous is more important than anything else and drives you into hate. Using Greta’s own words, “F**k you Greta”.
"F**k Germany. And f**k Israel", says little jihadi-wannabe @GretaThunberg, while still laughing. She really has lost the plot entirely. pic.twitter.com/XoM62kjxde
We often think we have it bad. There is stress in our life. Pressure. We forget how lucky we are. I was talking with a friend in Israel this morning who apologized for his delay in responding because he was back in milium (reserves) once again. Then he shared that his wife’s nephew was an IDF soldier killed in Gaza last week and he had to deal with that. Yet he was apologizing to me for taking time to respond. He has stress. He has pressure. I needed no apology and told him that. Then I read this story from Shaquille O’Neal and it reinforced how lucky we are. How we take so much for granted. How these spoiled, elitist college students spew hatred because they don’t know anything. How these college professors and administrators enable and often encourage Jew hatred because they don’t know anything about life or reality. My friend taught me a lesson in gratitude. Shaquille O’Neal reinforced it.
Shaquille O’Neal said, “My stepdad was a sergeant in the army-a serious, strong man of character. We had an excellent relationship. I once played at Madison Square Garden against the New York Knicks in my first season in the NBA. I had a terrible game. Afterward, he called me and asked why I played so badly. He wondered if it was the pressure of facing Patrick Ewing and the Knicks. I told him I felt pressure. He said, ‘Tomorrow, I want you home at 7:00 AM. Pick me up-we’re going to see a family that has no home.’ On the way, we encountered a family in need. My stepdad stopped, gave them money for their next meal, and said, ‘That’s pressure. You have everything; you’re weak. There’s no pressure in playing basketball and earning millions of dollars. Real pressure is felt by those who don’t know when or where their next meal will come from! He told me to get out and help that family. I got out and saw a man with his wife and two children who had just lost their home. The man was looking for work. He told me he was cutting grass. I called a friend and asked him to get this man a job. I called another friend and said I needed an apartment for a family of four, promising to send a check the next day. They needed help. After that, I never felt pressure in a basketball game again because that family had real pressure.”
The entitled college students who believe the Hamas lies, who express publicly their Jew hatred, and who show they are terrible human beings don’t understand the world. They live in a mindset of blame and hate. Their entitlement shows itself in their expectations that everything should be given to them, that other people should work hard so they get things for free, and that not taking responsiblity is the way to success. They could use a lesson from Shaquille O’Neal’s father.
Hanukkah is late this year. It begins on Christmas. Just like many people, the only gift I really want is the return of the hostages. The end of Hamas and Hezbollah so there can be peace. I saw dreidel image and it expresses visually what I am feeling. No matter where it lands, the hostages get freed. That is not hypocritical. That’s what we are about. Freedom. Hanukkah is a holiday about freedom. This war is about freedom from terrorism. Freedom from Jew hatred and antisemitism. Freedom from Hamas and Hezbollah. Freedom from Iran. Freedom for the Syrian people. Freedom from hate and bigotry.
The dreidel letters The letters on a dreidel are an acronym for the Hebrew phrase “Nes gadol haya sham”, which translates to “a great miracle happened there.” In Israel, the dreidel replaces the letter Shin (Sham) with the letter Pay for Po (here). May this Hanukkah be one where we can say both – a great miracle happened there (return of the hostages, end of the war) and a great miracle happened here (a stop to the rampant Jew hatred).
In Australia they tried to burn Jews alive this week. That isn’t a typo. It’s not a quote from the 1930s or early 1940s. This was last week.
The world likes to pretend that antisemitism isn’t on the rise. They like to pretend that Jews aren’t being targeted. Leaders exclude Jews from those protected like other minorities. Yet this week they tried to burn Jews alive.
This wasn’t about Zionism. This wasn’t about Israel. This was about murdering Jews. They attacked a synagogue. Filled with Jews. The image is powerful and frightening. Read the words out loud and realize what just happened.
People will say, “That’s Australia. That type of hate could never happen in the U.S.” Then the results of a shocking study by the ADL is released. Want a job in America? If you’re Jewish, you’ll need to send 24% more applications than others to get the same response. If you’re Israeli? 39% more. Systematic hiring discrimination is real. Jew hatred exposed in a different venue. Those who espouse their Jew-hatred, their antisemitism, get upset that there is an impact on their future or current employment based on their actions. Yet there is no outrage at blatent discrimination against Jews in the hiring process simply because they are Jews. Or Israeli. The world continues to lose its mind.
That’s horribly antisemitic and highlights the growth of Jew hatred. Yet it gets even worse. At UCLA, Jewish students were put on a ‘no hire’ list. UCLA’s Cultural Affairs Commissioner, Alicia Verdugo, also texted her colleagues to be on the lookout for “zionists.” UCLA gets federal funding. This is a blatent Title VI violation and their federal funding should be stripped. This type of behavior with any other minority would not only result in Verdugo’s firing, the University itself would have leadership change and the federal funding would be at risk. Yet nothing is happening to UCLA or Verdugo. It is bad enough that we have this type of Jew hatred at UCLA however the fact that there is no consequence for it is even worse.
We also get to have our Jewish leaders invest in antisemitism. Georgia Senator Jon Ossoff not only voted for a resolution to stop sending weapons to Israel, he publicly spoke about his reasons, using Hamas and Hezbollah propoganda as his facts. When he got backlash from the Jewish community and those in Georgia who support Israel, he came out plublicly defending his vote, stating, “This is who I am.” It’s good to know he is a Jewish antisemite. It’s good to see so many people in Georgia being so upset with him and Senator Warnock for their votes. Ossoff’s up for election in 2 years and there are already efforts to ensure he loses in the primary. Maybe we really are beginning to return to some normalcy. We can only hope.
Speaking of hope, there was one piece of news that gives hope, a smile, and a good chuckle. BYU’s Jewish Quarterback, Jake Retzlaff, just got a “Name, Image, and Likeness” (NIL) deal with Manischewitz! The irony is great. A Jewish quarterback, at a Mormon school, where alcohol is prohibited, gets a marketing deal for kosher wine (and matzo and latke mix). I know few people who really love Manischewitz wine – it’s what you drink because you have to. Maybe Jake Retzlaff will make it the kosher version of Boone’s Farm. I can imagine a whole bunch of teens, sitting in the woods, passing the bottle of Manischewitz blackberry or cream wine amongst themselves. Will they call it the Manny? The Schew? The Witz? I’m sure there will be some creative name they come up with for the 2025 version of Boone’s Farm! Maybe this can bring some Jewish love instead of Jewish hate.
Many of us were pleasantly shocked when President Donald Trump posted this statement on Monday. The power behind it was shocking. I heard from many people that this is what they expected when they voted for Trump. I heard from others that they hate it when they agree with something Trump said. The most common theme I have heard is, “what if President Biden had said this on October 8th?” It’s something many of us will wonder about and we will never know because he didn’t. He was supportive of Israel, visited Israel, and has ensure Israel has the weapons they need despite lots of controversy and delays with some weapons. Despite the good President Biden has done for Israel since October 7th, he has never come out this strongly about the hostages and demanding their release. Now that we know that Omer Neutra was actually murdered on October 7th and Hamas stole his body and took it into Gaza, there remain 6 American hostages alive plus Omer’s body in Gaza. The words that we use matter. Who says them matter. It is why we need to advocate to our leaders so that they speak out. So that they get educated. It is why we fight those who use words to delegitimize and lie.
My favorite line in President Trump’s post is the end where he states, “RELEASE THE HOSTAGES NOW”. It’s different than “Bring them home now” and puts the responsibility where it belongs – on Hamas to release them and on Iran to force Hamas to release them. Words matter.
A perfect example of this was when President Biden went to a bookstore in Nantucket and purchased The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine, written by the Palestinian-American historian Rashid Khalidi, an anti-Israel academic who recently retired from Columbia University. The author describes it as “a history of settler colonialism and resistance from 1917 to 2017.” Once again, attempts to spread the lies that Israel is a colonial state and that despite rejecting multiple oppotunities for peace and state of their own over the past 76 years, the Palestinians are ‘resisting’. There are many options to learn about the history of the region. There are many academic books that provide unbiased and factual information. The fact that President Biden chose this book is a problem. The fact that he publicly walked out with it for the media to see is yet another problem. Actions make statements. Intentional or not, President Biden’s actions made a statement providing support for the lies about Israel.
I don’t know why I am shocked or surprised at the antisemitism that happens throughout the world. The violence no longer shocks or suprises me, it simply disgusts and saddens me. What does suprise and shock me is when Jewish academics blatently lie and spread falsehoods. This is where truth is supposed to be sought. This is where it is ok to debate issues however facts are facts. It is ok to debate opinions and interpretations but you don’t get to create your own facts.
Except at Yale University where the Center for Jewish Studies completely changes the Talmud from being Jewish to being Palestinian. They have completely removed Judaism and Jews from the Talmud, making them Palestinians instead. I find it beyond offensive. It is another reminder about how important it is to do research on Universities before sending your child there for an education. My oldest already has his master’s degree and my youngest graduates college in May. I would never send them to Yale or any of the schools that have shown themselves to be antisemitic. Columbia? No thank you. Penn? Not a chance. Harvard? Are you crazy?
When we see things like this, it’s critical to not just call them out but also to make sure the Department of Education knows about it. All Universities receive federal funding and are held to standards. Title VI violations have been reported and lawsuits filed. It’s critical we hold these Universities, their Presidents and their faculty accountable for their actions and their inactions. If we allow them to get away with it then we are just as responsible as they are.
When our leaders speak up, we see what happens. On Monday night, the UJA-Federation of NY held their Wall Street dinner. This year it raised $55 million dollars, an all time record. The focus of the diner was on the hostages and Rachel Goldberg-Polin, the mother of Hersh Goldberg-Polin (z’l) spoke. In her keynote address, she urged them to use their voice and power to make a difference, stating, “I know that there are many in this room that have the ability to make this happen. It might be that the only reason you do it is because it is righteous, it is holy. It is the singular most godly act you will ever do in your life to help these innocent and beloved souls who are languishing in Gaza.”
At the event, UJA-Federation Board Chair Marc Rowan, who last year made headlines for stopping his significant donations to his alma mater, the University of Pennsylvania, in response to its handling of campus antisemitism went even further, calling on these Wall Street leaders to use the power of their organizations’ voices and their hiring power to fight antisemitism. “It is our responsibility, it’s our job, it’s our challenge, to secure the future of the Jews and the future of Israel. Fundamentally, we need to pivot,” he said. “The Wall Street community is a very fortunate community. Many of you in this room are leaders. Raise your voices, charitable boards, school boards, boards of civic organizations. Remind those around you that antisemitism will not be tolerated.”
The more our leaders speak out, the more power we have. The more we can fight antisemitism and protect Jews. The family of Hersh Goldberg-Polin (z’l) has made sure that his memory is a powerful tool for remembering the hostages and doing everything they can to get them freed. Visuals matter. Words matter. Actions matter.
What are you going to say? What are you going to do? How are you going to make sure you are seen? The days of being silent and hidden are long gone.
What exactly are friends? It’s a term we use a lot, often when we mean acquaintences. What does it mean to be a friend? What does it mean to have friends? As a kid, friends meant popularity. Friends meant a good social life. Friends meant status. The older I get, the more that definition changes. As a kid, the more friends you had, the better. As an adult, having friends is an obligation, one that requires work and effort, and I no longer want more, I want better. A good friend of mine used to say that since he was in his late 50s (he’s now 73), he didn’t need any more friends, so he was just going to say things. To be his friend meant something and still does. That’s how I feel.
The past few days are good examples of what friendship really means to me. Let me explain. On Sunday, I got a call from a friend out of the blue. He told me about a friend of his in Baltimore who is on the autism spectrum. His friend has a job (he is a phlebotomist) but is struggling to make ends meet and needs some help. He has a cash problem and needs help accessing a kosher food bank. I jumped into action, reaching out to friends in Baltimore who were able to connect him with the Kosher Food Bank at Jewish Family Services in Baltimore, a Chabad program in Baltimore that helps Jews in need, a synagogue that has a program to help those in need, and a social service program that can help him as well. Within 15 minutes, we had assembled the information needed to help his friend.
My friend kept thanking me and I kept telling him that he didn’t need to. I told him, “This is what we do.” and I meant it. When a friend reaches out for help, we jump into action. We don’t sit back passively, we jump in actively. Thanks aren’t needed between real friends.
Another friend called me on Sunday because we hadn’t spoken in too long. We chatted about life and then began to discuss career choices, options, where he is in his career and where he wants to be. We talked about how to get there and steps he needs to take now so that in a year or two, he will be ready to move out of what he is currently doing and begin the adventure he wants to undertake. We talked about a potential client of mine that is doing something really amazing (more will be revealed in future posts) and how exciting it is and if there is a way for him to join in with it. I made the time to talk with him because he matters to me. He made the effort to call me because I matter to him. Friendship takes work and we both value each other and spent the time that shows it.
Today a friend called me to share some personal news. We have been talking on the phone but haven’t seen each other in over a month due to busy schedules and some health issues he has. He said, “I wanted to share this with you because I consider you a very close friend.” I made sure he knew that I also consider him a very close friend. He took a risk confiding in me. I took on the responsibility of not just keeping his confidence but also of being there for him. I shared some of my own personal health issues with him as he has shared his with me. We are there to support each other. That’s what friends do – they are there for each other all the time, not just when it is convenient.
I have three friends that I talk with almost every single day. We make time for each other via text or phone. We check in on each other, ask about our days, how life is going, share our challenges. It is just a part of what I do every day. It is a part of what they do every day. Friendship is a two way street and takes effort, takes work. Friendship is not a popularity contest like in high school or college. It isn’t who has the most or who has the coolest friends. It’s not about name dropping or being seen with a certain crowd. Friendship is about much more than that.
A friend of mine has been struggling finding a job. She’s been looking for a long time and has been frustated with interviews that offer way too low compensation, interviewers who don’t follow up, who don’t close the loop, and jobs with 20-30 applicants in the first days of them being posted. I’ve been working to help her find the right type of opportunity and shared different options with her through this search. About a month ago, I saw a friend of mine was hiring for somebody in her field and let her know. I reached out to my friend to let me know she was applying and asking to give her special attention (not to hire her, that’s his decision, but to really look at her candidacy). Last week she let me know that she got the job! I was so happy for her. Then my friend who was hiring reached out to let me know he was hiring her. I was so happy for him. In this case, friendship because a three way street with everybody winning.
As I am writing this, I scrolled through Facebook and saw a shocking post. An old friend from my BBYO (Jewish youth group) days died today. We were friendly rather than friends. We had lost touch for decades before connecting again on Facebook in the past few years. I knew he had some ups and downs but didn’t realize his health condition until reading the notice of his passing. It makes me sad to know that I missed out. That’s the other lesson of friendship. If you don’t work at it, if you don’t put in the effort, you miss out.
I had a life changing experience in October 2023. During this time, I learned who my real friends were. I saw those who showed up and those who didn’t. I saw those who stood by me and those who didn’t. I was surprised by people in both groups. It was an incredible life lesson. When a friend had a similar experience just over a month ago, I made sure to reach out. I made sure that he knew I was in his corner and he wasn’t alone. It doesn’t take a lot of effort to show up and real friends do it. Today I am gratetful that I learned who my real friends are and who showed up. I’m also grateful to know who didn’t show up. Life is too short to waste time on people. I want to invest my time and energy on people that I value and that value me.
I consider myself very lucky. I have a true best friend. I have a friend so close that he is like my brother. I have two friends that I consider sisters. I have a close friend that is my mentor. I have a group of friends that I would do anything for and they would do anything for me. That’s special. It doesn’t have to be unique. It is all about the effort you put into friendship. If you want acquaintances that you call friends, you don’t have to do much. If you want true friends, you have to do a lot. I choose to do a lot. And boy do I get a lot in return.
It amazes me how the world chooses to forget and ignore the 101 hostages remaining in Gaza. When Iran held 52 American hostages for over a year, the world paid attention every single day. The TV show Nightline was created specifically for nightly updates on the hostage crisis. As a child, I remember the daily concern and stayed home from school as Ronald Reagan was inaugurated and the hostages were released, just to watch it happen and get the updates.
The 101 hostages, including 7 Americans, have been held for 422 days, close to them being held as long as Iran held the hostages from 1979 to 1981 (444 days). Yet the world remains largely silent. In August 2024, six of the hostages were brutally murdered by Hamas. None of the American hostages Iran took in 1979 were murdered. The world was outraged then and is quiet now.
Yesterday, Hamas released a video of Edan Alexander, one of the 7 Americans still being held hostage. It’s hard to watch. What is harder for me is the realization that for the 420 days that he has been held, America has largely forgotten him and the other 6 Americans. Other countries demanded Hamas release their hostages over a year ago and Hamas complied. America has not. It’s an embarassment. It’s horrifying. They have been allowed by our leaders to remain hostages simply because they are Jews.
Recently I wrote and posted the video of released hostage Mia Schem talking at the UN. She urged people to look at her and realize it isn’t too late to save the current hostages. The sign below in a neighborhood in Jerusalem uses the memory of Hersch Goldberg-Polin (z’l) to remind us of the same thing. We cannot forget the hostages. We cannot allow them to remain brutalized and in captivity by Hamas. We must ensure they are released and returned to Israel – all of them, alive or dead. I urge you to do something and say something about the hostages every day. Remind yourself and others of their plight. I say the Achenu prayer daily to remind myself. I wear my yellow ribbon pin. I wear my dogtags. We owe it to them.
In Israel, the reminder of the hostages is daily. It’s everywhere. It is overwhelming, as it should be. Released hostages Raz Ben Ami and Gabriela Leimberg (left); Michel Illouz, father of the late Guy Illouz whose body is held in Gaza; released hostage Danielle Aloni; and Yifat Zailer, cousin of hostage Shiri Bibas, spoke yesterday at an event marking one year since the first and only hostage deal took place. It’s hard to believe it’s been a year since that deal happened. I remember watching it closely as the cousins of my friends were scheduled to be released. I remember sitting on pins and needs as I waited for confirmation that they had been released and then for reports on their health and safety. This should be the headline on the news. This should be above the fold in our newspapers. Because the hostages are mostly Jewish (note they are not all Jewish), the world doesn’t care. If you really wonder about the rise of antisemitism and if the past could happen again, simply watch the hostage situation as it is happening again.
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum headquartered in Tel Aviv is dedicated entirely to the hostages and their families. I’ve been there twice. It is referred to as ‘the saddest place on earth’ and I have to agree that is certainly is one of them. The Kibbutzim that were attacked on October 7th and the site of the Nova festival are two others that could claim that title. Yet visiting there and hostage square, just around the corner, is something that I feel compelled to do on each visit since October 7th. As long as thre are hostages remaining, I must remember them. I must speak out for them. It’s an obligation I think we all have. Every day, I still sing Achenu, praying for their safe return. It’s an easy thing to do so I’ll post it again here in case anybody wants to join me in this daily ritual. Hebrew or English it doesn’t matter.
My friend Lou’s daughter wrote this powerful piece about what studying at Stanford has been like as a Jewish student. She dropped out of her Ph.D. program there as a result. The stories are heartbreaking. We aren’t physical hostages but we are hostages to hate. I was talking to a friend of mine who lives in the northern United States last week. He was telling me about how scary it is to walk around publicly Jewish. I was telling him that I don’t care. I won’t surrender my identity. I won’t pretend to be something that I am not. Then again, I don’t wear a kippah and most people think I am Italian, not Jewish. My tattoos on my forearms are visible but most people don’t think of them as something Jewish unless they are Jewish.
Unlike the hostages in Gaza, we have a choice. We can choose to act like hostages, to hide our Jewish identities. Or we can choose to be proud of our intentities and fight back. I choose to fight back. I choose to stand up against the hate. I choose to not let them win. They can try to physically assault me. They can yell and scream at me. They do their damnest to make me intimidated to be Jewish. It won’t work. I am part of a 3,000 year old tribe and won’t disappear. Listen to the powerful words of my friend Andrew Lustig who writes powerful poetry. I am Jewish.
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