As I write this, I’m on an El Al flight to Israel. It is my third trip since May. My 23rd trip overall. My third since October 7th and my first since the murder of Hersh Goldberg Polin, Eden Yerushalmi, Carmel Gat, Almog Sarusi, Alex Lobanov, and Ori Danino.

I had fun going through El Al security. The security agent and I had a great conversation and she even spoke to me in Hebrew and I understood about 2/3 of it and got the entire gist of what she is saying. I still can’t speak Hebrew but she enjoyed my struggle to understand. I got a pass for the El Al lounge and my seat upgraded (which helps on a 10 1/2 hour flight). I ran into my friend James Cohen, the CEO of the Jewish Federation of Minneapolis, in the lounge. That’s what happens with Israel travel. You always run into somebody that you know. I talked a bit with my seatmates and have been working using the in-flight internet even as we are over the Atlantic Ocean. Pretty amazing.

I am both excited and a bit apprehensive with this trip. Excited because I love Israel and will get to explore the work of a client of mine, Dror Israel, a bit more. I get to see friends who live in Israel and spend time with colleagues who are also friends. I’m a bit apprehensive because it’s the first time since the murder of those six hostages. I still feel the effects of learning of their murder. It was a version of October 7th all over again. I’m not sure to expect or how I’ll feel when I land and while I am in Tel Aviv and around Israel.

Last night, a friend and client of mine invited me to join him to hear Douglas Murray speak in Miami Beach. I became a fan of Douglas when he was writing about poetry once a week for The Free Press. His writing helped me better understand and connect with poetry and for a while, I wrote about music lyrics the way he wrote about poetry. I’m no Douglas Murray, so I stopped. Since then, I have become a big fan of his public outspoken support of Israel, his clear understanding of what is really happening in Israel, Gaza, and with the war. His willingness to be on site and report and then take on those who know nothing and like to repeat the Hamas lies as facts. My friend and client knows Douglas personally so we got great seats and the invitation to meet him after the event.

He started his talk by showing videos of when he went both to the devastated Kibbutzim in the south that were attacked by Hamas. The videos were nothing I hadn’t seen before. To be honest, I watched the videos before to understand – having been to Kfar Aza twice and the Nova site twice, having heard from survivors of Nova, survivors from Kfar Aza and Kibbutz Alumim, parents of hostages, and leaders in the IDF, I stopped watching them. This was the first time I watched the horror since my visits to Israel resumed in May. They hit me differently this time. It wasn’t the videos. It wasn’t his description. It was a sensory effect I had. I could smell the area. I could feel what I felt standing in Kfar Aza and at Nova. The horror listening to the survivor from Nova and then months later visiting the bomb shelter she hid in, that 12 people were murdered in, where she hid under dead bodies and used them to protect herself from bullets and grenades. It was the look in my friend Yaron’s face when I saw him a few days after he left Gaza after the first four months of the war. It was a gut punch that I didn’t expect.

Douglas was then joined by Natasha Hausdorff, a British attorney who fights publicly for Israel the way Douglas does. Natasha and Douglas are an amazing team who debate together and fight to educate peole together about what is really happening.

Nothing that they discussed was new to me. Nothing was unexpected. Yet there were a few things that really resonated, that made me think and will continue to make me think.

The first was about the campus protesters and those who are anti-Israel and Jew haters. Douglass said, “They never find a terrorist they don’t adore”. That statement struck me very powerfully as I see it with so many people. I see it with the Hollywood celebrities who try to seem intellectual by repeating the lies of Hamas. Even when they say some of the stupidest things, they double down on it, because, as Douglas said, they never find a terrorist they don’t adore. There is no winning with these people because there will always be a new terrorist for them to support.

When talking about the terrorists, he said, “It is impossible to imagine these people.” He is right. When I spent time in the West Bank/Judea and Samaria, and met with leaders of Palestinian civil society, there were people I met who inspired me and gave me hope for peace. In May I visited with one and we had an intense 90 minute conversation. It wasn’t easy. We didn’t agree on everything, but it gave me hope for a future where we can find common ground. During that trip, I also met with people who I truly believe would have killed me that minute if they could have. I heard from the head of the community center in the Aida refugee camp (which is really a city, not a refugee camp in any way but the fact the world supports them) who bragged about the suicide bomber from his community center, the person who he taught, who he mentored, and who listened to him and killed himself and Israeli’s by blowing himself up. I’ll never forget the look on his face, the pride in his voice, and how happy he was when talked about this suicide bomber. I think the only regret he had was that there was only one who actually followed through.

On my two visits to Kfar Aza, I listened to people talk about the second and third wave on October 7th of people coming to the Kibbutz. They came to steal and loot. They took shoes off the dead bodies, stole jewelry, art, and anything of value. One man told us how he watched a man on crutches arrive from Jabalia, go into a house and take a TV off the wall, strap it to his back, and using crutches return to Gaza. The horror they shared of how the people they knew and the people they had at their dinner table and considered friends were the ones who mapped out the kibbutz for Hamas to attack and then came to loot and steal is something I will never forget. The anti-Israel crowd and those who want peace at any cost think it can happen because they think the terrorists want the same things we do. They don’t. As Douglas said, it is impossible to imagine these people.

The two of them were talking about the Philadelphi corridor the UN and the UN peacekeeping force that has been proposed. Douglas talked about how at the end of the war with Lebanon, Israel withdrew and there was a UN peacekeeping force put in place between Lebanon (Hezbollah) and Israel. He was there watching as they pulled out in their UN truck. Rockets then flew over their head, shot by Hezbollah into Israel. The ‘peacekeepers’ stopped, waited for them to pass by, and then turned around and sped back to their base. In his words, this “is not peacekeeping. It is war watching.” His point is that unless Israel maintains the security in the Philadelphi corridor, where there are tunnels big enough that trucks drive through them, where there is so much soot on the walls from the exhaust from these trucks that it is obvious what was happening and that this is how Egypt was supplying Hamas with weapons and rockets, it will simply happen again. The UN is not going to stop them. Egypt was culpable before October 7th, why would they be trustworthy now? Unless it is Israel monitoring that border, we will simply be back to war watching and rearming Hamas.

As they talked about about what they saw in Gaza, the facts were astounding. Every other house had either weapons stored in it or an entrance to the tunnel system. Every other house! They shared that what the IDF learned after going in and searching these houses is that there was no need to look for the weapons or the tunnel entrances in the kitchen or the living room. All they had to do was go to the children’s rooms. That is where the weapons were stored and found and that is where the entrance to the tunnels were found. The entrance to the tunnel where Hersh Goldberg Polin, Eden Yerushalmi, Carmel Gat, Almog Sarusi, Alex Lobanov, and Ori Danino were kept and murdered was in a child’s room. You can see the Disney characters painted on the walls.

This is who Hamas is. This is what terrorism is. Use the child’s room for storing rockets, bombs, grenades and guns. Put the entrance to the tunnel system in the child’s room to ensure maximum protection for Hamas because they are being protected by children. As he said previously, “it is impossible to imagine these people.”

The last thing he said that really struck me was about the protesters on college campuses. He talked about how their goal is to be part of a revolution. It doesn’t matter what the revolution is about. It doesn’t matter if the end result is positive. They need to be a part of something. They need to find some connection and being part of a revolution is their way. I found myself wondering if they really are that desperate to find meaning in their lives. I wondered what we have done as a society to create people who need to live in hate to find common ground. People who don’t know how to connnect or find meaning so they search for anything they think will do it. It made me sad to think that the only way they gather and connect with people in person was to find an enemy to hate and through that hatred, they could find connection and meaning. This is the country we live in. This is the society we have built. I laugh with the friend I grew up with about how on weekends we could watch the morning cartoons and then we were kicked out of the house for the day. We drank from the hose because you couldn’t go in the house to get a drink – you had water right there! How we wandered the neighborhood together, rode bikes all over the place together, made up games to play to fill the time, and found meaning in being together. Can we ever get back to a place where our children learn that instead of video games and screens? What will we do to ensure they have meaning without hatred?

Douglas and Natasha brought a little more insight for me into what we are facing. It is evil. It is Jew hatred. It is ignorance. Perhaps it is also loneliness and a need to connect. Perhaps there is such a loss of meaning for this generation that they are willing to sell their souls to find that spark and that connection. While this is an existential threat to the State of Israel and the Jewish people, perhaps it is also an existential threat to our entire way of living. Douglas Murray’s bestseller, The War in the West addresses this. Are we willing to fight that war? How much do we really value our way of life?

I am not sure why I still get amazed and astounded by the way people praise Hamas, defend Hamas, and blame Israel and the Jews for everything that Hamas does. I shake my head as people are openly racist and show their Jew hatred by putting the blame entirely on Israel.

The actor Mark Ruffalo has been one of these people, blaming Israel and the Jews for everything. His bigotry, racism, and Jew hatred is beyond disgusting. I will no longer watch anything he has been in or will be in or be affiliated with. He recently posted on X (Twitter) blaming the US, President Biden, the IDF, and Prime Minister Netanyahu for Hamas murdering Hersh Goldberg-Polin (he neglected the other 5 hostages that were murdered because they weren’t well known enough). It didn’t matter that it was Hamas who attacked on October 7, that Hamas took him/them captive, that Hamas didn’t release them, or that Hamas murdered him/them with a bullet to the back of the head because they were getting close to being freed by the IDF. To Racist Ruffalo, they are blameless.

One person who has been speaking out against this racist behavior is the journalist Chris Cuomo. I have been surprisingly inspired by his coverage and how he clearly speaks the truth. As I watched the video below, I found myself responding out loud and wondering why the other journalists have been so blind and continue to see what is happening. I encourage you to watch his piece and share it with people who don’t understand. Chris Cuomo is not Jewish. He does get it.

As a passionate Zionist, somebody who has Israel deep in their soul, who travels there as often as possible, and has many friends and family who live in Israel, I get lots of information from people on the ground. My friend Yaron was the reserve commander in Gaza for the first four months of the war and has shared what October 7 was like and some of what he has faced and seen in Gaza. I have many friends who have served and been recalled to serve. Many friends who have children currently serving or been recalled in reserves. The word “Melowim‘, one I had never heard before October 8th, is now common. It is being recalled to serve in the IDF. I hear about a friend or a friend’s child having to do Melowim almost weekly.

When I was running Hillel at the University of Florida, we took many busses on Birthright to Israel every winter and summer break. The relationships made with these students have lasted decades. Recently, one of these students posted as he was finishing his duty in Gaza. He is American. When he went on Birthright with us, he was struggling and figuring life out. The trip inspired him to make changes and he ended up making Aliyah, serving in the IDF, returning to get his bachelors and masters degrees. A true life success story where Israel was the fulcrum that he needed to make change. Miles posted this on Instagram along with these photos. It is important to read what somebody who has been there sees. To view the pictures documenting what he is telling us. I hope it gives you a better feel for Hamas and most of the people in Gaza.

(Please read and view photos) As I finish my rotation in Gaza I wanted to share a few things that I witnessed to make the situation here abundantly clear: There was not a single house we entered in Gaza that did not have terrorist paraphernalia (whether it be Hamas, PFLP, or Fattah). The rest of the houses had family photos like the ones I’ve shared in this post (wedding photos where the entire family are holding AK47s, including the grandmother), back to school photos of children with assault rifles, etc. We found in houses copies of Mein Kampf published in Arabic. I found military manuals on weapons and small unit tactics in the same pile of rubble with children’s school backpacks. It is clear to me as it should be clear to everyone else (considering they rape and murder children, kidnap people and starve them in dungeons, murder hostages) that Gaza is a society that is solely devoted to the murder and destruction of the Jewish people. Since that is the truth, how can anyone expect to make a deal with the people who live here when their only aspiration in life is our death and destruction. Something that I hope is worth considering.

We are in an untenable situation. We want and need the hostages back. Hamas knows this and continues to negotiate for their release or a ceasefire unless they are allowed to go back to the way things were on October 6, 2023. That is also an unacceptable situation since that only ensures more things like October 7 will happen. The discovery of the tunnels at the Philadelphi Corridor into Egypt shows that Israel cannot trust Egypt on that border and must maintain control in the area to prevent rockets, bombs, guns, and more terrorists coming in. Hamas, of course, has made leaving it a condition of any ceasefire.

The thing that frustrates me is how people continue to fall into Hamas’s trap. They continue to empower Hamas in the most predictible ways. After the murder of Hersh, Eden, Carmel, Almog, Alex, and Ori, the demands for whatever deal needed to get the hostages back has emboldened Hamas to change their demands and to want more.

The more evil Hamas behaves, the more reinforcement they get, and the more they dig in and demand even more. We want the hostages back so much that we are tempted and some are willing to do anything that it takes. Noted American-Israeli author and journalist Yossi Klein-Halevi wrote exactly that in an article in the Times of Israel a few days ago.

The counter to Yossi Klein Halevi’s argument is New York Times columnist Brett Stephens. In a column titled, A Hostage Deal Is a Poison Pill for Israel, he wrote

Since the days of Abraham — who, according to Genesis, rescued his nephew Lot after he’d been seized by an invading army — Jewish tradition has placed supreme value on the redemption of captives. It is, in a sense, the fulfillment of a primary, implicit commandment: to be one’s brother’s keeper. It is also a source of Jewish communal cohesion over millenniums to never forsake those who have been taken, even if only to give them a proper burial.

It’s also, to mix references from antiquity, a Jewish Achilles’ heel.

In 2006, an Israeli soldier named Gilad Shalit was captured by Hamas and held in Gaza. He was released five years later in exchange for more than 1,000 Palestinian security prisoners — a euphemism, in many cases, for terrorists. The deal, which was approved by Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel, included the release of Yahya Sinwar, the mastermind of Oct. 7.

These two reference points are now at the heart of the debate Israelis are having about what comes next in Gaza. Huge demonstrations in Tel Aviv, coinciding with the heartbreaking funerals of six murdered hostages, have demanded that the prime minister agree to a cease-fire deal to obtain the release of additional hostages, at the cost of conceding one of Hamas’s core demands: an Israeli withdrawal from a strip of land known as the Philadelphi Corridor, which separates Gaza from Egypt. Netanyahu has refused, insisting in a news conference on Monday that Israeli forces will not leave.

Netanyahu is right, and it’s important for his usual critics, including me, to acknowledge it.

He’s right, first because the highest justification for fighting a war, besides survival, is to prevent its repetition. Israel has lost hundreds of soldiers to defeat Hamas. Thousands of innocent Palestinians have died and hundreds of thousands have suffered, because Hamas has held every Gazan hostage to its fanatical aims. Hamas was able to initiate and fight this war only because of a secure line of logistical supply under its border with Egypt.

Israel’s control of the Philadelphi Corridor largely stops this. To relinquish it now, for any reason, forsakes what Israel has been fighting for, consigns Palestinians to further misery under Hamas and all but guarantees that a similar war will eventually be fought again. Why do that?

The answer, many of Netanyahu’s critics (including Yoav Gallant, his defense minister) would rejoin, is that the imperative to save the hostages supersedes every other consideration — and that Israel can always retake the corridor if Hamas fails to fulfill its end of the bargain or if Israelis feel their security is again at risk.

That last argument is a fantasy: Once Israel leaves Gaza, international pressure for it not to re-enter for nearly any reason short of another Oct. 7 will be overwhelming. And Hamas will ensure that any Israeli effort to retake the corridor will be as bloody as possible, for both Israelis and Palestinians, whom Sinwar treats as human shields. Those risks, too, should weigh on the moral scales of what Israel does next.

The more powerful case, especially emotionally, concerns the remaining 95 hostages, of whom 60 are believed to still be alive. Their agony is immense, as is that of their families. Any decent human being must feel acutely sympathetic to their plight.

But sympathy cannot be a replacement for judgment. Israelis — the hostage families above all — have spent the past 11 months suffering the bitter and predictable consequence of the Shalit deal, which also came about on account of intense public pressure to free him.

A good society will be prepared to go to great lengths to rescue or redeem a captive, whether with risky military operations or exorbitant ransoms. Yet there must also be a limit to what any society can afford to pay. The price for one hostage’s life or freedom cannot be the life or freedom of another — even if we know the name of the first life but not yet the second. That ought to be morally elementary.

Also elementary: Whatever one thinks of Netanyahu, the weight of outrage should fall not on him but on Hamas. It released a video of a hostage it later murdered — 24-year-old Eden Yerushalmi, telling her family how much she loved them — on Monday, the day after her funeral. It’s another act of cynical, grotesque and unadulterated sadism by the group that pretends to speak in the name of all Palestinians. It does not deserve a cease-fire so that it can regain its strength. It deserves the same ash heap of history on which, in our better moments, we deposited the Nazis, Al Qaeda and the Islamic State.

There are bright people who say that what Israel ought to do now is cut a deal, recover its hostages, take a breather and start preparing for the next war, probably in Lebanon. Israelis should remember that wars will be worse, and come more often, to those who fail to win them.

Both Yossi Klein-Halevi and Brett Stephens are correct. It’s an incredibly challenging situation. The one thing they both agree on is that the problem is Hamas. Chris Cuomo points out the problem is Hamas. Representative Ritchie Torres addresses Hamas as the problem. Senator John Fetterman calls out Hamas. Yet Vice President candidate Tim Walz says that those protesting American support for Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza are doing so for “all the right reasons.” While he states Israel has the right to defend herself, he qualifies it by saying that, “we can’t allow what’s happened in Gaza to happen. The Palestinian people have every right to life and liberty themselves.” without ever mentioning Hamas, the reason for the attack on October 7, the ones who took the hostages, the ones who fire rockets on civilians, use human shields, place their military headquarters and armories in schools, hospitals, private homes, and mosques. Hamas, who won’t agree to a ceasefire, who still has children as hostages, and who just brutally murdered six hostages including an American, remains nameless and blameless.

A decade ago, the late Joan Rivers (z”l) was asked what she thought about the conflict, the possibility of a two state solution and more. Her epic response is even more true today. It’s worth watching and replacing Palestinians with Hamas

As we get closer to the election in November, campuses heat up with antisemitism and Jew hatred, protests grow all over the world, especially in front of Jewish spaces, we must remember that it is Hamas, funded by Iran. That is who is responsible for the horror of October 7. They are responsible for the taking and keeping of the hostages. They are responsible for using human shields and terrorizing the people of Gaza. They are who murdered Hersh, Eden, Carmel, Almog, Alex, and Ori. No matter how people want to twist things, we must always remind them that it is Hamas. Hamas is evil and we are fighting evil. Failure to fight evil will only allow it to grow.

These are challenging times and every day seems to be a little bit heavier than the day before. It’s almost 11 full months since the massacre of October 7th. The war in Ukraine continues in such a way that we barely see anything about it on the news. Israel continues to fight in Gaza to free the hostages and eliminate Hamas. The Houthi’s continue to disturb shipping in the Red Sea. Hezbollah continues to bomb Israel from the north. Iran gets closer and closer to obtaining a nuclear weapon. The US election is two months away and while it feels close it also feels very far away. Students are returning to school and dealing with antisemitism couched as anti-Zionism. Protesters are outside synagogues and Jewish owned businesses.

To say there is a lot going on would be an understatement. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed and lost It’s easy to get angry and filled with bitterness. Feeling sad about the state of the world today seems to be the default status for most people. And yet as I write this on Thursday September 5, 2024, I am filled with gratitude and thanks. How does that make sense? I’m about to confuse you even more.

My beloved father, Barry Dvorchik z’l, died on September 6, 2022. The last time I saw him alive was on September 5, 2022. That’s right, two years ago today. My mom and I said goodnight to him, that we would see him in the morning, gave him a kiss, and left the room. Two years ago tonight.

So why would I be feeling gratitude on the anniversary of saying goodnight, that turned into goodbye, to my dad? Seems strange. I had lunch today with somebody who is connected with the man who went out of his way to get my dad into this hospital two years and three weeks ago. He didn’t have to do anything. My dad needed to get into a high level care facility, I knew he could pull strings if he was willing, so I, very uncomfortably, asked him if he would help. An hour later my dad had a bed with his name on it. The doctors and staff at the smaller hospital in Tampa were stunned. They had never seen this happen so fast. The last three weeks of my dad’s life were much more comfortable and he felt much safer and much better taken care of as a result. I owe this man a debt of gratitude I can never repay. I will forever be thankful and grateful for what he did.

In order to be transferred to that hospital, my dad also needed to have a doctor who would take him on their caseload. I called another friend who called back in less than 10 minutes with a doctor who agreed to take my dad onto his caseload, sight unseen. I’ll forever be grateful to my friend who made the ask and to the doctor who agreed. They changed the last three weeks of my dad’s life, changed my mom’s life and changed my life.

Even in the worst of times, even when things are difficult, even when it seems hopeless, when we look around us, we will find things to be grateful for. Things to say thank you for.

When I was in Israel in July, I learned about the prayer we say in the morning to thank God for letting the rooster know the difference between day and night. It’s not only something to be grateful for, that the rooster doesn’t crow at midnight instead of sunrise, but also for the beauty of nature. When I wake up each morning, I thank God for letting me wake up and experience the beauty of that day. Just like we are grateful for the rooster and for nature, I can be grateful that I have the opportunity to be alive today.

My parent taught me the value of family. It was a lesson I learned as a child and was reinforced continuously through my life. We spent holidays together with family. We spent summer vacations together with family. We didn’t miss family celebrations. I have incredbile memories of all the time we spent at my grandparent’s beach cottage with family. Thanksgiving and Passover with my cousins and grandparents. Friday night Shabbat dinner was a requirement for all of us before we could go out with friends. Nothing comes before family.

Last week I had the opportunity to go watch my oldest son coach college football against NC State. There was no way I was going to miss it. There is no way to describe what it was like to watch him doing what he loves as he builds his career. As I sat there watching, all I could think of was my dad and how proud he would be not just of his grandson but that his son learned the lesson of family. I’m heading up to watch him coach in the home opener this weekend. How lucky am I?

A couple of weeks ago, my youngest son Matthew and I (along with a friend) took at 6 am flight to San Fransisco to watch the Giants play the White Sox and cross another baseball stadium off our list that we have visited. After the game, we headed to Oakland to watch the A’s play the Rays and cross a second stadium off our list. Finally, we headed to the airport to take the redeye home. This was a week after we took Brightline to Miami for a Marlins game and a another stadium marked off the list while taking it back the same day. Two days. Three stadiums. Florida and California. A bit crazy. Incredible fun. Lots of time with my son. Priceless. I could see my dad smiling down, grateful that I learned the lesson.

A few weeks before these trips, my wife and I flew to Denver to see Carlos Santana and The Counting Crows at Red Rocks. It was always something I wanted to do – a concert at Red Rocks – and seeing Santana there made it even better. I remember my parents taking trips like this when I was growing up. We had so much fun and once again I could see my dad smiling down, reminding me how rich I am because of family. Because of the time I get to spend with family.

On Monday we went to meet my mom in Lakeland for our monthly lunch. It’s halfway for each of us and a great way to see each other and spend a little time together. Time is the great equalizer. We never have enough of it. It’s the one thing we can never get back and money won’t buy. When it’s gone, it’s gone. I love our lunches and look forward to them. I miss my dad but know he’s so happy that the lesson he taught about the value of family are truly embedded within me.

I remember being told when I had kids to treasure every moment I had with them because the time would come when they wouldn’t want to hang out with me. I would no longer be ‘cool’ and once it was gone, it would be gone. I am lucky. While I may no longer be ‘cool’ (and they will tell you I never was to begin with!) that day has not come in my life. My kids enjoy spending time with me. We go on trips together, vacation together, hang out together. Every day when I wake up, I thank God for my family, for those I love, and for giving me such a great gift.

For me it isn’t just my immediate family. It’s not just my brother, sister and their families. It’s not my sister-in-laws and their families. It’s not my in-laws. It’s my cousins. My aunts and uncles. My ‘sisters from another mister’ and my ‘brothers from another mother’. I won’t even try to name them all because I will ultimately miss somebody and don’t want to. I am lucky to have all of that. No matter what is going on in the world, I know that I have a lot to be grateful for. I have such incredible gifts in my life – amazing people that are my family.

I encourage you to take a look at the gifts in your life. Yes, these are crazy times. These are scary times. There is much we would change if we had the power to do it. Even more importantly, there is so much to be grateful for. There is so much to appreciate. Wednesday I will board yet another flight to Israel. My third trip since May. My 23rd overall trip. How lucky am I? I was talking to a friend today and he said, “I don’t know that there is anybody who loves Israel more than you.” I do love Israel. Lots of people love Israel. Yet I am the lucky one that gets to go and go often. Go regularly.

What are the things in your life that you take for granted? Stop for a minute. Pause. Look around and think. Appreciate the wonderful gifts in your life. It may be family. It may be friends. It may be the beauty of nature. It may be peace and happiness. It may be something else. We all have them. We all have so much to be grateful for if you take a minute to look and pay attention.

In a few hours it will be the two year anniversary of my father’s last breath. A great loss for me, my family, and the world. Yet I am filled with gratitude. Gratitude for the time I got to spend with him. Gratitude for the life lessons he taught me. Gratitude that he was my dad.

It doesn’t get any better than that. Thank you God. Thank you Dad.

When the official word came out that six hostages were murdered and their bodies found and returned, I was devastated. When their names were officially released, I was crushed. I felt betrayed. I was angry. I was crying. I was furious. I was destraught. I wanted revenge. I wanted them all to come home now.

This is where we stand today. We want two things that may not both be able to happen. We want our hostages home now. We want those who are alive to be returned immediately and alive. We want those who are no longer alive to have their bodies returned so their families can bury them and begin the mourning process. We need our hostages freed immediately. We also want the long term security of Israel We want to make sure that we are not allowing Hamas to simply regroup, re-arm, and attack us again like they did on October 7th in a few years.

The challenge Israel faces is that Hamas will not allow both to happen. In order to get the hostages back, they are demanding Israel put her long term security at risk. If Israel refuses to give in to Hamas’s demands, it is unlikely we will get any of the hostages back alive. In a normal conflict, you find some middle ground. Each side gives a little and finds an uncomfortable agreement that they don’t really like but they can live with. The reality Israel faces is that Hamas doesn’t want to give anything. They don’t want to find a middle ground. They want to get everything they demand and they really have no reason to change their demands. The world excuses their behavior. The more that Hamas entrenches themselves and continues to say no, the more the world supports them and pressures Israel to give more and more and more. It reminds me of this political cartoon.

After Hamas murdered Carmel Gat, Eden Yerushalmi, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Alexander Lobanov, Almog Sarusi and Master Sgt. Ori Danino this weekend, my pain and anger was overwhelming. Then the news about the polio vaccinations of children in Gaza started coming out. Israel provided the safe zone. Israel provided the vaccines. The children in Gaza were getting vaccinated. But not the Bibas children. Not the Israeli children who were taken hostage and remain hostages. They don’t vaccinated. I started wondering why Israel didn’t demand that all the child hostages be released before vaccination began? It’s a simple demand. We will take care of your children but you have to give ours back first.

As Jews, we believe in the best of people. It is one of our best qualities and one of our worst. We care about the children in Gaza while they don’t care about our children in Hamas’s captivity. We will take care of their children even while they terrorize and hold captive our children. We value the lives of Jews and they know that so they not only hold them as hostages, they hold us hostage with them. We gave them 1,000 terrorists for Gilad Shalit because he is one of ours. That trade got us him back but cost us 1,200 lives on October 7th. Now we are being asked to do it again.

Do we release terrorists who kill Jews? Do we do so en masse? Do we withdraw from the Philadephi corridor where we know Egypt was supplying Hamas with weapons? Do we allow them to rebuild the tunnels because we aren’t monitoring it? Do we let Hamas stay in power and grow in size and re-arm to attack us again? Is all of that worth getting the remaining living hostages back? Is it worth it to get the bodies of the murdered hostages back so the families can buy their loved ones and get closure? Is it worth delaying the next attack for 5 years? For 10 years? Having another October 7th? Something worse? A return to suicide bombers?

I don’t have the answer. I’m glad that I am not the one who has to make the decision. It feels very much to my like the Solomonian decision to split the baby. We want our hostages and the bodies of the dead hostages back. We want to ensure there won’t be another October 7 type attack. Hamas isn’t giving us the option to have both. We have to pick one or the other. If we save 30 or 50 hostages now and end up with 3,000 or 5,000 dead in five or ten years, is it worth it? Was it worth getting Gilad Shalit back to lose 1,200 on October 7th because Sinwar was part of that deal? Plus all those lost since October 7th? I don’t know. It’s not simple math. It’s not so easy.

I remember watching the 47 minute Hamas video months ago and being grateful that the terrorists showed their faces. We were able to see exactly who was doing these horrible things. Some of their faces are burned into my memory. When I saw the two terrorists kill a father, blind one child in one eye, and take them into their kitchen where he took a Coke out of the fridge and drank it while they cried and were in shock, I remember thinking that he was going to pay. Israel would not let what he did go without making him pay. His payment came yesterday as Israel not only found him, they killed him. Those who perpetrated this horror are being made to account for their actions.

Leaders of Hamas have said that if Israel tries to rescue the hostages, they will just kill them. They murdered six hostages with bullets to the back of the head because Israel was close to rescuing them. The world continues not to hold them accountable so why would they stop? Our options seem hopeless. Surrender to Hamas and hope that they give back the hostages like they promise, putting the safety of Israel at risk. Continue to fight against Hamas and risk the lives of the hostages. Do whatever it takes to end Hamas and secure Gaza so that attacks can’t come from there on Israel in the future but know that the hostages are likely murdered as a result. Not a good choice amongst them yet these are the choices Israel faces.

I watched the funeral of Hersh Polin Goldberg with tears in my eyes. Watching Rachel and Jon broke my heart. All I could think of was my sons. All I could think of was how it could have been them. Hersch was 23. My sons are almost 22 and 24. When I look at pictures of them, my heart breaks.

At the funeral of Hersh Polin Goldberg, Israeli President Isaac Herzog said, “Beloved Hersh, with a torn and broken heart, I stand here today as the president of the State of Israel, bidding you farewell and asking for your forgiveness, from you, and from Carmel, from Eden, from Almog, from Alex, and Ori, and from all your loved ones,” Herzog said. “I apologize on behalf of the State of Israel, that we failed to protect you in the terrible disaster of Oct. 7, that we failed to bring you home safely. I apologize that the country you immigrated to at the age of 7, wrapped in the Israeli flag, could not keep you safe. Rachel, Jon, dear Leebie and Orly, grandparents and the whole family – I ask for your forgiveness, forgiveness that we could not bring Hersh back home alive.”

How many other families will Israel have to apologize to? Those who have loved ones as hostages now? Those who will be mourning in the future because Israel took security risks or released terrorists to save these hostages? It truly is a Solomonian decision. No matter what the decision ends up being, I’m not sure history will be kind to any of our leaders because of where we are today.

Leadership is about taking accountability. It’s about taking responsibility. In today’s world, our leaders don’t do this. They look for scapegoats. They blame others. It’s rare to find somebody in a leadership role who takes responsibility for their actions. We need new leaders. We need to train our leaders properly. One of my commitments is to be involved with this. My trip to Israel in July was for a leadership trip. I am working with others who understand that our future depends on better leaders and it is our responsiblity to train them. We don’t need to be stuck in these Solomonian decisions and no-win situations if our leaders understand their jobs and focus on doing them rather than politics and power.

I have written about how I sing Acheinu every day for the hostages. I will continue to sing it every day. At Hersh’s funeral, thousands of people spontaneously broke out in song with Acheinu. Throughout Israel people are singing Acheinu. The night of Hersh’s funeral, thousands gathered together and sang Acheinu. We are a people of love. We are a people of peace. We treasure life. We are in an impossible position with impossible choices to make. May God bless the leaders of Israel as they navigate this situation. They need God’s help more than ever.

Just before going to sleep last night, I got the news. It was confirmed that Hersch Goldberg-Polin had been murdered, along with 5 other hostages, by Hamas. I had heard that there were 6 bodies recovered and they thought they were hostages. I had heard that they thought one of them was Hersch. Yet it was not confirmed and I hoped and prayed that it was not true. Yet it was.

These six beautiful souls were taken from us by true evil. More than the evil of Hamas, the evil of those who have been silent. Of those who have limited Israel’s ability to free them. Reports are that the IDF was minutes from rescuing them when the terrorists decided to murder them all instead. The IDF soldiers heard the shots that killed each one these people as they fought to get there in time. Imagine if Israel hadn’t been pushed to delay or not go into Rafah. Imagine if they had been able to get there a week or two earlier. Perhaps these six people would still be alive today.

If you can’t tell from the title of this post and how I have begun, I am angry. I am sad. I am furious. I am devastated. I am filled with rage. I am filled with tears.

Presiden Biden said that Rafah was a red line. While he said that he would never leave Israel’s back, words mean nothing, it’s actions that matter. The delay over going into Rafah cost lives. Once Israel went into Rafah, they found the tunnels that went into Egypt, they discovered the tunnels in the Philadelphi corridor that enabled Hamas to get the weapons from Egypt that they used to attack Israel. Israel, once again held to a different standard than the rest of the world, is the one that suffers.

This red line and threat of weapons restrictions along with actual delays in sending weapons delayed Israel’s ability to enter Rafah. Vice President Harris said that, “Any major military operation in Rafah would be a huge mistake.” Once again, she was wrong. There were multiple options for places for them to go. The US wouldn’t pressure Egypt to open Sinai so Israel found a different way. The delay only ensured more hostages were murdered. More damage done.

It’s not just the American administration. The head of the United Nations ignores the hostages. The entire UN ignores the hostages. The International Red Cross has yet to visit a single hostage. Their participation the past almost 11 months has been as a taxi service during the release of the hostages in November 2023. UNICEF doesn’t care about the children who were kidnapped by Hamas and remain as hostages. Where are the Bibas children? The International Court of Justice (ICJ) is a joke. While the UN data shows an increase in the population of Gaza since October 7th, the ICJ brings war crimes charges against Israel. As Israel puts the lives of their soldiers on the line to protect civilians, the UN, ICJ, and many other countries feed into the antisemitic genocide libel the same way they feed into the apartheid libel and the colonizer libel.

The announcement of the murder of these 6 hostages comes as much of the United States is prepared to start school again. Some places have already been in school for weeks or a month. The Jew hatred on campus has only grown. Friday, two Jewish students were assaulted on the campus of the University of Pittsburgh for being Jewish. The former President of the University of Pennsylvania who had to resign because she failed to protect Jewish students is hired at Harvard, who’s former President was forced to resign because she failed to protect Jewish students. Universities are the beneficiary of huge federal funding. More than the research grants, student loans and Pell grants are federal programs. Why does Congress refuse to sanction those Universities who don’t protect Jewish students. We know what it would look like if it were any other group facing the same prejudice.

Congress’s failure is apparent. They are more worried about elections and power than they are about the American’s taken hostage and the now 33 Americans murdered by Hamas. They are more worried about winning in the short term than standing strongly with one of our most important allies. There are some exceptions in Congress. Elise Stefanik, Ritchie Torres, Rick Scott, John Fetterman, and Brian Mast are exceptionally vocal. There are others who publicly support Israel and understand who Hamas is and what they stand for. Yet there are far too many who know nothing and work to continue the failed policies of the past 30+ years. As my friend Fleur Hassan Nahoum says so eloquently, “the Palestinian leadership have never wanted a state. It is not their dream, It was our dream….. The problem of the conflict is not that there isn’t a Palestinian state. The problem of the conflict is that there’s a Jewish state.”

Hersh Goldberg-Polin’s parents, Rachel and Jon spoke at the Democratic National Convention on Wednesday August 18th. They received a standing ovation. Chants of ‘Bring them home’ from the crowd. It was an inspiring moment. It gave hope that the hostages would be a bipartisan effort to get them home. Perhaps we could finally have something that everybody agreed upon – the hostages must be released.

Now that we know that Hamas murdered Hersh and 5 other hostages just before they were going to be rescued, what will the response of Congress and the Biden administration be? We have seen the statements from both President Biden and Vice President Harris.

As my father (z’l) used to say all the time, “Talk is cheap.” Anybody can say anything. I want to see what they actually will do. More wisdom from my father that I hated growing up and appreciate more every day is, “show me, don’t tell me.” I want to see what they will actually do. If anybody had questions about Hamas, about their evilness, these murders should answer them. There cannot be any end to the war that doesn’t result in the release of the hostages and the complete surrender of Hamas. Israel cannot abandon the Philadelphi corridor. We have seen the tunnels there between Gaza and Hamas. While 80% of them have been destroyed, we cannot give the opportunity for Hamas and Egypt to rebuild them.

I hope our leaders look to history to learn. In his first speech as Prime Minister, Winston Churchill was asked what Britain’s aim was against the Nazis.

Churchill knew that they had to win or be eliminated. Israel knows they have to win or they will be murdered. Churchill knew he was facing true evil in the Nazis. Israel knows they are facing true evil with Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Iranian regime. I hope that the US government realizes that they are not dealing with rational human beings. They are not negotiating with people who want to make a deal. They are dealing with evil. They are facing those who will sacrifice everything to make sure that Israel and the West lose. We like to forget that to them, Israel is the Little Satan. America is the Great Satan. America has a choice – fight and eliminate them where they are, in Gaza, the West Bank/Judea and Samaria, Lebanon, Yemen, and Iran or fight them when they come to America. We don’t have to like the choice. We don’t have to want the choice. We have to understand that is the choice. End the evil now or fight in in our own neighborhoods.

My friend Joanne Fink is an artist. Her work is inspiring. She created this piece after October 7th. She added to it after the murder of Hersh Goldberg Polin, Ori Danino, Carmel Gat, Alex Lubnov, Almog Sarusi, and Edan Yerushalmi. It speaks to how I feel. I think it speaks to how many of us feel.

I’m angry. I’m devastated. I’m furious. My heart is broken. I want to scream. I want to cry. Hersh and the others could have been my children. It could have been me. Innocent people, enjoying a music festival. Some brave heroes who escaped and went back to rescue others, resulting in their capture, torture, and ultimate murder. We are facing real evil. In the 1930s and early 40s we didn’t realize what we were facing until far too late. There is no excuse today. We know the evil we are facing. They have showed us with their own videos and with their own actions. The question is are we going to allow evil to win or are we going to do whatever is necessary to defeat evil. Are we going to be like Churchill or are we going to allow the evil to grow and come to our country. The choice is ours. The choice is our leaders. I want to see what they do, not what they say. As my dad (z’l) said, Talk is cheap. Show me don’t tell me.

Over the past nearly two decades we have been witness to the battle for America. It is only in the past decade that it has been paid much attention to and even today, the battle is being reported poorly as each side wants to demonize the other in attempts to shame those in the middle to rejecting the other, forcing them to align with the lesser of two evils. This remains a losing proposition. When Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton ran for President the victims were America and the world. The nastiness in the campaign forced people into one camp or the other. It has only gotten worse since then.

I watch the divisiveness and wonder if we are going to end up with another civil war only this time I wonder if half the country will care if the other country says they want to leave. Each side so dislikes the other that I wonder instead of fighting for ‘our Union’ if the side remaining will simply say “good riddance, let them go.” We live in a time when half the country hates the other half of the country.

I was listening to music yesterday and the song, “Try that in a small town” came on. This was a highly controversial song when it came out due to the lyrics being seen by many as racist and promoting gun violence. Others thought that it represented the feelings of many who live in small town America.

I have listened to the song many times and have heard it both with the racist overtones and the gun violence as well has how Jason Aldean defends the song as one that is reporting on the status, not advocating for anything. I heard the song even differently this time.

When I listened to the song this time I heard a plea for a return to common sense. Rather than advocating for gun violence, I heard a warning from people who feel unheard and unrepresented. I heard people who were crying out that their basic needs, their American dream of hard work, success, and freedom were being ignored and minimized. I heard a cry for help and a cry to be included.

In American politics today there appear to be three distinct groups. There is the group who is looking at including everybody by making the government all powerful and making decisions for parents, for individuals all in the name of equality. There is another group who wants to go back to the ‘good old days of Beaver Cleaver and Father Knows Best’. They forget that those were TV shows and reality meant terrible prejudice against minorities, especially African Americans. They forget how women didn’t have individual rights and terrible treatment LGBTQ people faced.

Then there is the third group, where there is no representation but is likely the largest group of all. This group wants people to have individual rights. They want the American dream and want a country ruled by laws. They condemn hatred of all types. Personal freedom and public safety matter. They don’t want to ‘defund the police’, they want to invest in giving law enforcement the training they need to meet our societal expectations. They want abortion to be, in the words of President Bill Clinton, “Safe, Legal, and Rare” but ultimately the choice of the pregnant person. They want reasonable gun control laws, a comprehensive immigration policy that we will follow, affordable access to healthcare for all that both the country and the individual can afford. They want a fair tax code that provides for the needs of the country. They want a solution to student loan debt that is both fair to all and that address the core problem, the cost of tuition. They want the return of trades taught in public high schools since college isn’t for everybody and there is an incredible need for tradespeople since we devalued them as a society with President Obama’s push for college for everyone. They want a balanced budget and for the government to live within it’s budget, not continuously spend more than they have. It is an indictment of our leadership that the last time that the Federal budget was balanced or had a surplus was the 2001 United States federal budget.

The third group is large enough to determine the election however does not have the economic power to determine who actually gets nominated and what the policies will actually be. Our Congress hasn’t worked for the people in decades. The last 16 years, at minimum, have been ruled by executive order and Supreme Court rulings, not by laws passed by Congress. The famous line from the Apollo 13 mission said by command module pilot John “Jack” Swigert, and then repeated by astronaut Jim Lovell, applies here. Houston, we have a problem.

One of my favorite comedians, Richard Pryor, made a movie in 1985 called Brewster’s Millions. In it, his character accepts a challenge to spend $30 million in 30 days in order to inherit $300 million from his great-uncle. In order to do this, he runs for NY Mayor under the banner None of the Above, since both candidates are not good. He ends up winning because the voters prefer None of the Above to the candidates. That is where we are today. The continued voting for the lesser of two evils continues to give us evil.

If either President Trump or Vice-President Harris has policies that inspire you, great. You should vote for them. You should support them. If you are voting for either of them because the other is much worse, I challenge you to think differently.

When I heard the song yesterday, I heard a cry for freedom. I heard a cry to let people live their lives. Be who you are. Elect people who truly inspire you based on your values and what they are going to do, not based on what you are told about the other candidate. If we want to live in a country without hate, without prejudice, with real freedom for all, then we need to actively make changes.

The United States pledge of allegience, as written, ends with the line, “and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.” If we really want our nation to be indivisible, we have to make changes. If we really want liberty and justice for all, not just those who we like or agree with, then we must make changes. If we want our country to be a beacon of light, to live up to what Thomas Jefferson’s wrote, “The establishment of our new Government seemed to be the last great experiment, for promoting human happiness, by reasonable compact, in civil Society.” then we must have reasonable compact, a civil society, and be dedicated to human happiness.

I fear that in today’s world, we are not reasonable, not civil, and don’t care for human happiness, only for our own. I fear that we have declined to the point where we fit another one of Thomas Jefferson’s quotes.

We are at a critical time for self reflection. It may be too late for the election in November as the candidates are set. I hope we will all reflect on yet another quote from Thomas Jefferson about our government and in the elections that follow, remember that we the people have the power. The government only gets its power because we give our consent. We want better but until or unless we are going to demand better and take action to get what we want, we certainly are getting what we deserve. Jefferson painted a picture of an America that could be wonderful and alos one that could result in the taking away of the rights of 49% of our population. Which is the country you want to live in? Which is the country you are willing to fight for?

Right now I’m voting for ‘None of the Above’. This will be the third Presidential election in a row that I have voted this way. It’s time to take action. I don’t want to vote this way once again in 2028.