Author: Keith Dvorchik

Keith has been a nonprofit leader for 25 years before moving into the consulting world in 2023. He focuses on three major areas: (1) Fundraising - All aspects from creating development plans, solicitations, annual, capital, endowment and special campaigns, as well as feasibility studies. (2) Organizational development - This includes reviewing and creating the business structure, coaching and mentoring employees, board and staff training, job description review and creation, and creating organizational structure and charts. (3) Family philanthropy.- Focusing on the goals of the family/individual to determine where to give and how to measure impact and ROI. This also includes the best vehicles to use for philanthropy and compliance for these vehicles. Keith is a proud Zionist, having visited Israel 25 times. He has spent time meeting with leaders of Palestinian Civil Society as well as Israeli-Arabs, and lots of time with Jewish Israelis. He is a huge sports fan. Favorite teams are the NY Yankees, Penn State Nittany Lions, Philadelphia 76ers and whatever team his oldest son is coaching. The opinions in this blog are entirely Keith’s. To contact him, you can email keithdvorchik@gmail.com

Being Jewish and Inspired

Posted on by Keith Dvorchik

Those who know me, know that I am not the most religiously observant person. While I am very Jewish and have a strong Jewish identity, when it comes to religious observant, I’m on the low end. When my friend asked me to come to services this Shabbat as he was sponsoring the kiddush in memory of his son, I said yes without hesitation. Not because I love services but because friends show up. Instead of my relaxing Saturday morning on the couch, watching College Gameday, rooting for the student to make the field goal and take Pat McAfee’s money, I found myself in synagogue.

I care much more about what goes on inside a synagogue that what the inside looks like in a synagogue. I have been to many that are beautiful inside but I don’t find warm, welcoming, or the service interesting or meaningful. I understand why many people want to invest in making the environment beautiful but I’d much rather see the money go to ensure great clergy, staff, culture. It’s a personal preference.

I note this because I have found that those that are more modest aesthetically tend to be more welcoming and I tend to enjoy what happens in them. As soon as I walked into this synagogue, I felt at home. It was warm, welcoming, and it was clear to me that the investment was being made in what happens inside the rooms rather than the rooms themselves. A number of people welcomed me immediately and the Rabbi, in the middle of the service, walked up to me to welcome me and give me a hug. In a crowded room, they made sure to find me a seat. People came up to say hello and welcome me.

I often find that in Jewish spaces, this type of welcoming doesn’t happen. We want people to come to our events, to be a part of our organizations, and yet we don’t make sure they feel included or special when they do. It was the first time I was at this synagogue and they made me feel right at home. As sombody who doesn’t love services, I found myself enjoying it because of how I was made to feel while there. I enjoyed the loud singing and comraderie that was happening as part of the service. Amazingly, I found myself thinking I would like to go back.

I found myself wondering why we don’t do this more often. We see our synagogues and Jewish organizations struggling with membership and attendance. We also see so many people who want to have a Jewish connection and yet they can’t find one that resonates with them. The old ways, the “Jewish tax”, the mandatory synagogue membership, etc. are no longer applicable. People want to spend their time in a meaningful way and many of them aren’t finding it in Jewish spaces. How do we change this?

There was recently a study about the shortage of people enrolling in Rabbinic School. In the study, they found an incredible diversity of those who enrolled. 58% identify as women, 30% as men, and 12% as nonbinary with an estimated 51% identify as LGBTQ. It’s amazing to see how the field has changed in the past decade or so. There was a big outrage by some about the high percentage being LGTBQ and women Rabbinic students, as if that was a problem. Perhaps to some it is. The bigger concern to me is about the overall number of people enrolling in Rabbinic school and the Rabbis that are graduating. I am a firm believer that the Rabbi is the key to the success of a synagogue. When the Rabbi is inspiring, the synagogue tends to flourish. People want to learn from somebody who inspires them. People want to spend time around those who inspire them. Rather than focus on the sexuality or gender of those in Rabbinic school, perhaps we should be asking ourselves why we aren’t recruiting the best, inspirational people to be our clergy?

At the synagogue I attended this Shabbat, the Rabbi was engaging. He was teaching us torah in between each aliyah. He was funny. He was engaging. I learned something new and applicable to my life each time he taught during the service. It made me want to learn more with him. It made me want to go back. He was inspiring. Our leaders, particularly our clergy, need to be inspiring. What are we doing to ensure we have inspiring clergy? Where are we failing? How will we address it?

One of my favorite clergy members is Cantor Azi Schwartz from Park Avenue Synagogue. He does amazing work putting classic Jewish prayers and songs to contemporary music. His version of Hallelujah set to Bruce Springsteen’s Born to Run at Rosh Hashanah this year is outstanding. I’ve listened to it more than a dozen times.

His version of Adon Olam set to the music of the Broadway show Hamilton has over 1.2 million views on Youtube. I don’t get tired of listening to it and signing along. He inspires and I look forward to seeing and hearing what he will do next. When the streaming services from Park Ave Synagogue come on, I watch because I know it’s going to be special and meaningful.

When the Broadway show Wicked (one of my personal favorites) came out as a movie last year, Cantor Azi and Cantor Mira Davis were ready with a new version of Adon Olam set to the music from Wicked. It’s fun to listen to, to sing along with. There is very little Jewish music that I want to sing along with yet Cantor Azi has multiple versions of Jewish prayer that he has inspired me to listen to for fun and to sing along with.

As I was writing this and looking at the things Cantor Azi has done, I even found new ones. Adon Olam set to Born in the USA. I quickly began to sing along, tapping my feet, clapping my hands, and thoroughly enjoying myself. I found a version of Mi Chamocha set to Taylor Swift. That’s inspiration. Oseh Shalom to the tune of Shallow.

Not everybody has to be Cantor Azi. There are many ways to inspire. There are many ways to be welcoming and engaging. It takes effort. The payoff is worth it, both for the Jewish people as a whole and for each of us individually.

I’ve been lucky to work with and learn with many inspiring Rabbis. My childhood Rabbi, Jeffrey Wohlberg (always my image of a Rabbi) set a great example for me. Rabbis David Kaiman, Andy Koren, Yoni Kaiser-Blueth, Aaron Alexander, Dave Baum, Jonathan Siger, Yonah Schiller, Gail Swedrow, Chaim Albert, Jill Borodin, Randy Brown, Gabi Gittleson, Herb Tobin, Dovid Yachnes, Ari Federgrun, Ben Hassan, Danny Weiner, Josh Broide, Mark Kram, Efrem Goldberg, Irving “Yitz” Greenberg, Ed Rosenthal, Joseph Telushkin, Daniel Wolnerman, Darren Kleinberg, Mayer Abramowitz (z’l), Steve Engel, Neil Zuckerman, Jeremy Barras, Jonah Zinn, and Amram Hoffer are just a microcosm of the Rabbis who have impacted me. While the number of Cantors who have impacted me are smaller, I can’t leave out Cantors Lisa Segal, Rachelle Nelson, Mitch Martin (my Bar Mitzvah Cantor who I still keep in touch with today) who are incredibly inspiring. Perhaps I am spoiled by these amazing Rabbis and Cantors so I have set the bar too high. I don’t think so. Their excellence has showed me what is possible.

As a people, we need to invest whatever it takes to ensure we have excellent clergy. We need to do invest in ensuring we are a welcoming community. We need to invite those who show up into our community. When I was in Hebron a few years ago, our guide pointed to the parking lot and said to us, “This is where Abraham, recently self-circumsized, greeted the strangers and washed their feet.” (the the three angels). I think that if Abraham, at that point in time, would get up to welcome the stranger, who am I not to do the same?

As I finish writing and prepare to return to Israel in 2 days, I want to leave you with Cantor Azi and his Taylor Swift cover. As he sings, “We are never going back to Egypt again” think about what you are willing to do to ensure you are never enslaved again – mentally, physically, or spiritually. Think about what youwill do to find a way to make being Jewish interesting and fun. Ask yourself what it would take for you to want to be involved? To get your family involved? To make sure Judaism has an important part in your life, no matter how religious you may or may not be. No matter how much you may like or not particularly like religious services. No matter how you define being Jewish. Because at the end of the day, we are all Jewish so lets figure it out together.

Lessons from Peter Beinart and the Jews in Name Only (JINO)

Posted on by Keith Dvorchik

In 2014, Peter Beinart came to speak at the University of Washington Hillel. At the time, I was the President and CEO of the Jewish Federation of Greater Seatle and we were supportive of him coming to campus. While controversial at the time, his talk about the challenge of Israel being both a Jewish and Democratic state while millions of Palestinian Arabs are living in the West Bank was informative and thoughtful. There was much to discuss and while I (and many others) didn’t agree with Peter’s solutions to the challenge and found his presentation to be missing many factors that needed to be discussed, as you will see in the article at that time in “The Mike Report”, a well known, pro-Israel, very Zionistic blog in Seattle, there was a lot to the conversation. While we disagreed with Peter’s recommendations, the challenge facing Israel was clear and a reasonable discussion occurred. In 2014 you could love Israel, agree on the challenges she faced, and discuss differing ways to address the challenges in a respectful manner. While Jew haters would do it, very few Jews at that time were spreading lies about Israel and attempting to delegitimize the country, those who supported Israel, or defend those who publicly called for or celebrated the murder of Jews.

Peter Beinart; Correct Diagnosis, Bad Prescription

My how times have changed. In the 11 years since that speech, Peter Beinart has become one of the most anti-Israel Jews around. He no longer advocates for Israel but instead villifies her. He no longer cares about the challenge and the solution, only in being anti-Israel and fighting for the end of Israel as a Jewish state. The question of Jewish and Democratic is no longer an issue for him. It’s now about how to make Israel not exist, make it Palestine “from the river to the sea”, and how to villify Jews. He has joined the likes of Bernie Sanders who are Jews in Name Only (JINO) – only to help eliminate Israel and to bad mouth the Jewish community. He joins with and supports those who chant things like “from the river to the sea” and “globalize the intifade”. This week was a new low, even for him.

Beinart accepted the offer to speak at Tel Aviv University and share his lies, accusing Israel of both apartheid and genocide. It is only in a free society like Israel that he would be invited and feel safe to spread these lies. Can you imagine somebody speaking publicly in Iran about the evils of the Ayatolleh? We’ve seen what happens to those who merely criticize the Iranian regime – they are quickly arrested and murdered. We see what happens when people oppose Hamas in Gaza – they are quickly and publicly murdered. Those who oppose Putin in Russia quickly disappear. Yet in Israel, you are invited to publicly share your opinions, even when they are blatent lies, and you have no worries about your safety. You can even publicize on social media what lies you are going to tell and still be invited and safe.

Then, just when you think it can’t get worse than regular Peter Beinart, somehow he goes even lower. He manages to embarrass himself and the lies he tells even more. How does he do this? He apologizes to those who want to kill every Jew in the world, those who actively support the genocide of Jews and who celebrated the massacre on October 7th. He says he was wrong to even speak to Israelis. It’s no longer enough to lie about them. It’s no longer enough to support those who tell the lies and who want there to be no Israel and no Jews. Now, it’s not even ok to speak to them. To share your lies with them and try to convince them that they are racists, murderers, and the worst people on the face of the earth. Now, you simply have to pretend they are not even human, are not even worthy of being talked with.

I think back to the Peter Beinart that I met in 2014. A person that I agreed with on the challenge ahead and disagreed with on the solution to the challenge. Somebody who wanted to engage in dialogue. This week he proved, in a very public fashion, that Peter Beinart no longer exists. I am now a person he would never speak with. Somebody he wouldn’t even lower himself to speak with. Somebody who isn’t worthy of being graced by his presence nor worthy of hearing him share his lies. It makes me wonder how much longer it will take for him to change the word “Israeli” or “Jew” to simply “vermin” like the Nazis did.

Peter Beinart taught us all a very important lesson this week. There will always be Jews who are embarrassed to be Jewish and as a result, will do all they can to tear us down. We have seen it througout history. Especially throughout our own history. We continue to survive and to thrive despite these efforts because we continue to invest in Judaism. We continue to celebrate being Jewish. So we survive. I was shocked when I learned that not all the Jews left Egypt with Moses. The great Jewish commentator Rashi said that only 20% actually left with Moses. The rest stayed and faded away. Those like Peter Beinart and Bernie Sanders have existed throughout history. They are the 80% of the Jews who stayed in Egypt and didn’t leave with Moses.

Peter Beinart this week showed us the importance of investing in being Jewish. As I prepare to head to Israel on Wednesday with a group of 30-45 year olds for an intense, one week Jewish leadership experience, this lesson couldn’t have come at a better time. Whatever you think being Jewish means, it can mean more. It can be a part of your daily life no matter how religiously observant you may or may not be. Embrace it, because history has shown us that the world will certainly define you as Jewish no matter how much you define yourself. So learn and define yourself in a meaningfully Jewish way. You won’t regret it.

2014 with Peter Beinart. I will never let people like him define being Jewish or defame Israel

Bring the Jew haters to Israel – it’s the only solution

Posted on by Keith Dvorchik

I love the State of Israel and am preparing to go on my 25th trip there in just a few days. I have four (4) tentative trips scheduled for 2026. It’s a part of who I am. It’s in my DNA. If I had a nickel for every tim I have been asked if I live in Israel or plan to live in Israel, I could retire (and maybe in Israel!)

I fell in love with Israel as a child. My Great Grandma Rose was a Zionist. All four of my grandparents were Zionists and they all visited Israel when I was a child. I grew up listening to stories about how my grandparents listened to the UN vote on the partition plan on their transistor radio and how they celebrated when they knew it was going to pass and there would finally be a Jewish State and homeland after close to 2,000 years without one. My parents were Zionists. As a child, I learned how important Israel is to Judaism and it became integral to my Jewish identity.

I didn’t go to Israel until after I graduated college. My second trip was a decade later. In the last 25 years, I have now gone 23 times. Being in Israel is healing to my soul – it is the type of thing you can’t explain to somebody until they have been to Israel and once they have been to Israel, you don’t need to explain it.

It is why I find myself baffled at those who hate the State of Israel yet have never been there. They haven’t seen it first hand, yet they choose to speak as if they are experts. They haven’t met with people who live there – Jews, Arabs, Druze, Christians, and Bedouins – yet they speak for them. It is clear we have a major problem and an opportunity for a solution.

When challenged by the younger generation losing their connection to Judaism, leaders in the Jewish community banded together and created Taglit: Birthright Israel. Their belief was that bringing these young adults, ages 18-26, to Israel as a gift, as their version of the biblical birthright from last week’s Torah portion, would change their connection to Judaism and maybe to Israel as well. 800,000 participants later, the data shows this has been effective.

What can we learn from this? In today’s world, where many of the youth no longer have any connection to Israel and won’t participate on birthright trip and where so many Jews and people of other faiths only believe the lies they see in the media, getting people to Israel is more important than ever. Not just getting them to Israel. Having staffed more than 10 Taglit trips, I know what they see. I know who they speak to. That’s great for the audience they are targeting. For this group, we need to show them a different version of Israel. The version of Israel that is struggling with the government, that the war has impacted heavily, that is not just Jewish. There was a great opinion piece in e-Jewish Philanthropy on November 13, 2025, titled How to support Israel and still have your grandchildren speak to you. The author argues that we need to show these people the Israel that speaks to them. I agree wholeheartedly.

It is why in November 2019 I participated in the Encounter Immersive program during which I spent four days meeting with leaders of Palestinian civil society. I was public about my decision to participate and wrote in great detail in this blog about my experience. You can read those posts beginning here. While on this trip, I met with many different people who had many differerent viewpoints. Some reinforced every stereotype I had. Others gave me inspiration and hope. I slept in Ramallah, ate dinner at the home of a Palestinian Christian and explored Bethlehem, was hosted for dinner by the Arab daughter of the family that has had the keys to the church of the Holy Sepulchre since the 1100s, and had lunch with a member of Hamas and a member of the Al Aqsa Brigade. I have followed up and kept in touch with many of those who inspired me and never forgotten those filled with hate. I want other people to meet those who inspired me, to talk with them, to listen to them, and to understand both the challenges and the opportunities that they share.

Osama, one of those who inspired me
Sam Bahour, who’s brilliance and dedication to fighting against Israel was frightening
The streets of Ramallah
Ramallah
The Bank of Palestine in Ramallah

The more time I spend in Israel, the more people I meet who inspire me with the work they do to build the type of country and society that is inclusive of all. A country that values human rights and embraces differences. You won’t see this on the news or read it in the New York Times, but it happens every single day in Israel. For example, Dror Israel and their affiliated youth movement, HaNaor HaOved (NOAL), works in every Druze village in Israel and in 58 Arab villages with over 20,000 arab children, teaching them leadership and friendship in efforts to build a shared society between all those who live in Israel. I had the opportunity to visit two of the Arab villages, meet with the children and the leaders of the Arab branches of NOAL, and was incredibly inspired by their work.

With the children in NOAL in Ein Mahel – Sept 2024
With the leaders of NOAL in Ein Mahel – September 2024
On the beach of Jizr Al Zarqa with Arab leaders
The Village of Jizr Al Zarqa

It is amazing to see the work that they do each and every day. When the mayor of the Arab village showed up to talk to us about the youth movement, sharing that he enrolled his own daughters in the movement, preaching to us how important it was to future of his village, we were amazed. As I listened to my friend Shadi tell us about the challenges he faces being Arab, Israeli, and a Zionist and how the current situation challenges his own personal identity, I was captivated. Ever since he invited me to join him in January for a leadership retreat with the Arab branches, I have been trying to figure out how to get back to Israel in January to be there to both support him and experience it myself. To watch the Arab village leadership working with the youth leaders in the Arab villages and document what I experienced to share. When I met Hamami, the only women in the fisherman’s guild in the Arab village of Jzir Al Zarqa, who created a program called Surfing for Peace as a way to intervene with village youth who were skipping school and getting in trouble, I knew I was with a force of nature. As she told us why she partners with Dror Israel and NOAL, because they only care about helping the kids, it was inspiring to see Arabs and Jews working together for a beter future for all. These are the things you can only experience in person, in Israel, to understand the beauty of this country.

Video about the Arab branches of NOAL

In Jerusalem, home to the Kotel (Western Wall of the Temple), Temple Mount and Dome of the Rock and Al Aqsa Mosque, and Church of the Holy Sepulchre, there is another treasure that far too many people don’t know about and that the media will never cover. 100 year old Hapoel Jerusaelem Football Club (Hapoel) is not only a professional men’s and women’s soccer team playing at the highest levels, it’s also a nonprofit that is owned by its fan club. Their most famous leader of the fan club was Hersh Goldberg-Polin (z’l), murdered by Hamas after being taken as a hostage on October 7 from the Nova Music Festival. Hersh loved Hapoel because of their social programs, designed to improve Jerusalem for everybody. Imagine if the news covered their neighborhoods league, where Jews and Arabs (from East Jerusalem) practiced and played soccer against each other each week. Now imagine that they did it without referees. What would the world say? Bring the Jew haters to watch Jewish and Arab children practice and play soccer together, befriending each other, and competing without referees. They wouldn’t know what to do. They’d be lost. It’s why we need to bring them to Israel to see with their own eyes. They need to see the homeless women soccer program, the girls league, Spectrum soccer, the Unified Teams, where neurotypical members of the fan club play on the same team as those who are neurodiverse against a similarly composed team, all including Jews and Arabs. These are the things you have to see in person to believe. These are the things that the media won’t cover. The narrative breaks when you watch Jews and Arabs living together, playing together, and striving for a better future together.

Watch and learn more about Hapoel Jerusalem Football Club and their social programs.

So it is time. Time to bring the Jew and Israel haters to see for themselves what they rail against. Let them cry apartheid as they watch an inclusive society. Let them talk with Arab members of the Knesset, Arab leaders of civil society, Arab and Jewish children who play together and build a new community together. Let them watch Arab, Jewish, and Druze children learn leadership skills together. Let them see the truth that the media won’t cover and expose the lies they breathe in the light of the truth. Hasbara has not worked. It’s time to show them the real Israel, warts and all. A country founded on the belief that all inhabitants should be able to live there in peace, not one that wants one. Let them follow the experience and the lead of Kasim Hafeez, a British citizen of Pakistani Muslim heritage who grew up embracing a radical Islamist ideology, becaming active in the anti-Israel movement. He wanted to see the horrors of Israel first hand and in 2007 went to confirm all his beliefs about the evil of Israel. Instead, he experienced the true nature of the Jewish state, changing his perception of Israel to where he now is a Zionist. We can create more Kasim’s by letting them see Israel first hand. The time in now. We cannot afford to wait.

Hanging with Kasim, two Zionists, one who is a self-admitted former Jihadist and anti-semite.

We need to understand that the media isn’t going to be our friend, our ally, or our advocate. They will continue to tell lies. The only way to combat those lies is to make sure that those who criticize Israel based on the lies come to see the lies themselves – and thus discover the truth. Israel isn’t perfect, but what country is? It is a country striving to be better. It is a people who despite their leadership issues (we all have them), are fighting to build a country for every resident.

If we don’t figure out how to get them to Israel to see, feel, touch and taste the truth, I’m afraid we have lost. And I won’t lose. Let’s all do our part to help the critics without any facts experience the truth themselves. Get them to Israel.

Let’s discuss Zionism

Posted on by Keith Dvorchik

I am a proud Zionist. I’m not afraid to say it. I’m never going to deny it. Those who hate Jews continue to attempt to turn that word in a slur. They want it to be something evil. They don’t understand what it even means. Their Jew hatred has them blind to what it means.

In response to this Jew hatred and attempt to reclaim the word Zionism, those who love Israel have fallen into the simplicity of hasbarah. For those who don’t know, Hasbarah is pro-Israel propoganda. It reduces the concept of Zionism and Israel to talking points without depth, without understanding.

So here we are today – people who hate Jews thinking Israel and Zionism is a racist and hateful ideaology. And people who love Israel thinking that Zionism means that Israel does no wrong. It’s not a helpful place and won’t address the core need.

As I spent a few days with my colleague from Dror Israel this week, we talked a lot both among ourselves and with those we were meeting with about Zionism. About what it really means. About the origin. Herzl defined zionism as a political and nationalist movement to establish a sovereign Jewish state in the ancestral Jewish homeland. It came during a time of rising antisemitism as a solution for the homeless Jewish people. Herzl believed that Jews were a nation without a homeland. As a result, the Jewish people had become unwelcome strangers in other nations; a target for hatred. His vision was designed to be both a political and practical one, creating a Jewish national home secured by public law, providing Jews with self-determination and security.  Yet it wasn’t just about the land. Herzl emphasized the importance of restoring the “inner unity of the Jewish soul” and building a strong Jewish consciousness. He famously said, “Zionism is a return to Judaism even before there is a return to the Jewish land”.  It’s far more than just the land although the land is a critical part of it.

If we want to call ourselves Zionists, it means we must know that yes, it is about having our ancestral homeland but it is also about being Jewish. The Zionist experiment, like the American experiment, is far from perfect and far from finished. When David Ben Gurion read the In Israeli Declaration of Independence, he said these words that are written in it:

“THE STATE OF ISRAEL will be open for Jewish immigration and for the Ingathering of the Exiles;
it will foster the development of the country for the benefit of all its inhabitants; it will be based on
freedom, justice and peace as envisaged by the prophets of Israel; it will ensure complete equality
of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex; it will
guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and culture; it will safeguard the holy places of all religions; and it will be faithful to the principles of the Charter of the United
Nations.”

This is what Israel and Zionism is about and strives to be, no matter what anybody else tells you. The simpler explanation that keeps resounding in my head was shared by my colleague Noam, from Dror Israel. He said that Zionism is about being a “just, safe and equally prosperous home for all of its inhabitants.” That is a great summary of Israel’s Declaration of Independence. You may ask, “what about Smoltrich and Ben-Gvir?” To that I would reply, that they are politicians and but a part of a democracy and the Israeli and Zionist experiment. Every country has their outliers and that’s who they are. You may ask, ‘What about Bibi?” and I would reply that in a democracy, sovereign nations have the right to elect their leaders. They don’t always choose who we may want or make the best choices. All you have to do is look back at the history of the American experiment to see that.

The more I learn about David Ben Gurion the more I am inspired by him. With the statues of him and his wife Paula near their home in Tel Aviv.

The American experiment is very similar to the Israeli and Zionist experiment, tying back to the words of the American Declaration of Independence where it states that, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” Yes, it’s clear that women and people of color were omitted in 1776 and the American experiment has adjusted for and continues to adjust for this throughout the years. The Free Press had a great article about the writing of that sentence today and how it got to it’s final form. Both Zionism and America are experiments that require adjustment, change, and constant work. They are not in their final form.

It’s also important to remember that the Israeli and Zionist experiment is only 77 years old. To put that in context, when the American experiment was 77 years old, we were in the middle of the civil war. Israel is a young country, the Zionist and Israeli ideals are being tested, just like the American ideals were tested in 1853. Slavery wasn’t abolished until 1865 when America was 79. Women didn’t get the right to vote until 1920, when America was 144 years old. We didn’t codify comprehensive civil rights into law in America until 1964, when America was 188 and marriage equality wasn’t made into law in America until 2015, when America was 239 years old. Perhaps giving some time and grace to a 77 year old country is a good idea. Unless you are obsessed with Jew hatred.

Those of us who identify as Zionists also need to let go of the belief that everything Israel does is perfect and right. The country, the leaders, and the people make mistakes. Unfortunately, due to the incredible Jew hatred that we face, we think that we can’t admit when things happen that aren’t correct. We buy into the Jew hating world view that any mistake made by Israel, her elected or military leaders, or any Israeli people, means the country itself should not exist and extended further, that Jews should not exist. This is a fallacy that we cannot afford to buy into. Admitting Israeli’s mistakes is how we truly become that “just, safe and equally prosperous home for all of its inhabitants.”

I have spent most of my career as a servant leader for the Jewish people. As a result, I have chosen not to serve in volunteer leadership for many organizations. The one that I have chosen to serve is the Center for Israel Education. Why have I chosen that one to serve? Because it is truly about what its name says. Israel Education. Not hasbara. It is fact based, uses source documents, and tells the story of Israel, warts and all. It provides knowledge so that those who want to support Israel, who want to defend Israel, have the real information, the whole story, and can address the lies told by so many who are really just Jew haters. If you haven’t been to their website, I urge to you go and to explore. Get lost in the information. Search for things you may have heard something about but don’t know the whole story. Read the original documents so you know what they say, not what somebody who is doing hasbara tells you they say nor what those who hate Jews tells you what happened.

If we truly believe in the State of Israel, in Zionism, and in Jewish self-determination, we need to make sure we know exactly what we are saying and what that means. Those who hate Jews don’t know what it means – it’s simply a line and word they can use to express their Jew hatred. When I was in Israel a few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to talk to my friend Shadi, who lives in an Arab village in Israel, and is Israeli, Arab, and a Zionist. We began an incredible conversation about the challenges he faces being Israeli, Arab, and loving the State of Israel in these tumultuos times. We need to have these conversations. We need to continue to work to ensure that the words of Israel’s Declaration of Independence remain our guiding principle. Israel needs to be a country for the benefit of all its inhabitants; based on freedom, justice and peace as envisaged by the prophets of Israel; ensuring complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex; and guaranteeing freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and culture. When we are clear about what we are fighting for, we can fight for real Zionism and truly fight the Jew haters who want to steal the word from us. Make the effort to learn.

Where to do we go from here?

Posted on by Keith Dvorchik

I spent the beginning of the week in Washington DC at the Jewish Federation of North America’s (JFNA) General Assembly (GA). The GA is a gathering of 2,000 Jewish communal professionals and volunteer leaders, networking and addressing the challenges facing the Jewish world. I’ve been to more than I can count and find them both energizing and exhausting. This year’s GA is no exception.

With the ‘end of the war’ and the return of the living hostages, this year has focused on rebuilding and resilence, two key factors not just for Israel but for those of us living in the diaspora. The past two years, since October 7, 2023, have been incredibly challenging, painful, and filled with far too many ups and downs both in Israel and the diaspora.

Having just been in Israel and seeing the difference in the country with the return of the living hostages and the hope that perhaps there will remain a cessession of the war, if not an opportunity for peace, I began to feel some hope for Israel and Israelis. I haven’t felt that way about the diaspora and particularly in America. Here at the GA, I have begun to get a little bit of that. So what is that began to give me this hope?

On Sunday night, at the beginning of the first main session, four former hostages spoke to us. Noa Argamani, Avinatan Or, Evyatar David and Guy Gilboa-Dalal shared not just some of what happened to them but also their incredible gratitude to the IDF soldiers who fought for their freedom. They recognized the soldiers who paid the ultimate sacrifice in order to rescue them and to defend Israel. They recognized the spouses and children of the soldiers who returned to milium (reserves) time after time after time, all to free the hostages and defend Israel. The incredible grace these four people showed was inspiring. I don’t know that I would be filled with gratitude after being held hostage as long as each of them were. I don’t know that I would be able to show grace instead of anger if I went through what they went through. It was an incredible lesson of humanity and I found it inspirational for me to be a better person, a better friend, a better member of society, and somebody who wants to continue to work to do my part in making this a better world for everybody.

Former hostages Noa Argamani, Avinatan Or, Evyatar David and Guy Gilboa-Dalal 

I was especially struck by Avinatan as he shared his story. Kept underground, by himself, in the tunnels, for 738 days, more than 2 years. Two years of no sunlight. Two years of no fresh air. Two years of no human companionship, only terrorists beating and harrassing him. He lived in his mind. He told us the story of his escape attempt, digging through the dirt day after day after day. When one day he hit the roots of tree, it was his first proof of life outside the tunnel and the entire audience could imagine that moment. He shared about finally breaking through into the outside and his first breaths of fresh air in well over a year, looking at the stars in the sky at night, and feeling alive, just for a moment, before he was caught and taken back to the tunnels. Bound to a chair and beaten for a week. Yet he wouldn’t lose hope. He wouldn’t lose faith.

We live in a world today that is lacking that hope and that faith. Listening to Avinatan, Noa, Eyatar and Guy was a powerful reminder of community. Of faith. Of hope. These four amazing people somehow managed to keep their faith and hope alive in horrifying circumstances. Just a few days ago, Guy publicly stated that he was sexually abused by Hamas while being held as a hostage. This could break a person’s soul, ruin their faith, and strip hope from them. Yet somehow Guy held on to hope and to faith.

My hope and faith get tested every day. At Park East synagogue in New York, protestors this week chanted antisemitic slogans such as “Death to the IDF” and “Globalize the intifada,” things Mayor-Elect Mamdani has failed to condemn. His spokesperson, Dora Pekec, issued the following statement to the online publication  Jewish Insider:

“The mayor-elect has discouraged the language used at last night’s protest and will continue to do so. He believes every New Yorker should be free to enter a house of worship without intimidation, and that these sacred spaces should not be used to promote activities in violation of international law.”   

So according to Mayor-elect Mamdani, promoting Aliyah (moving to Israel) at a synagogue is a violation of International Law. He doesn’t condemn those who advocate violence against Jews in other houses of worship. He doesn’t want to crack down on those who plan violence against Jews, those who hurl hate messages outside a house of worship, only those who want to talk about emigrating to Israel. It’s hard not to see the antisemitism and Jew hatred in his statement. I wonder what those in the Jewish community who voted for and support him will say and do if he begins to crack down on anything Israel related in a synagogueor in New York. Will there still be an Israel parade? Will Israeli flags be banned in synagogues in New York? Will we see extra taxes and fees place on flights leaving New York to Israel? How far will it go? He hasn’t even been inaugrated and the concern continues to mount.

Yet I remain hopeful. I won’t lose faith. For the last four days I have been in Seattle with Noam from Dror Israel. We spent a lot of time talking with each other. One of the things that he said repeatedly that stuck with me is that he can’t worry about changing the rest of the world. He can only worry about changing Israel. In this crazy world that we live in, it can be overwhelming to think that we have to change the entire world. Instead, if I focus on changing my world, I can have a real impact. Change my community, my city, maybe even my state. I am not responsible for the entire world or even my entire country. But I can work to change my community. That is my responsibility.

I have been on the road for the past week and have heard from a number of people how I have the best job in the world. I agree with them. I have the privilige of working with amazing nonprofit organizations that are changing their communities. They are changing the world by doing so. I get inspired by them every single day. Every day when I wake up, I know that in my small way, I am helping them to change the world. Because of the work that I do, these organizations are improving the lives of people. It fills me with gratitude. It gives me hope and restores my faith. With Thanksgiving just a few days away, there is so much I have to be thankful for. My family. My health. And the fact that every single day, it this crazy and often absurd world that we live in, I get to do my part to make it a little bit better. I don’t have to be the type of heroes that the IDF soldiers have been, risking their lives to save the hostages. All I have to do is my part to make the world a better place. I know when I wake up tomorrow, that’s exactly what I will do. Will you?

Two years of war and a happy country?

Posted on by Keith Dvorchik

I returned from Israel on Friday. It was a long return trip, waking up at 5 am IST (10 pm Thursday night ET) and leaving early in the morning from Haifa to get to Ben Gurion airport. The long flight to JFK was easy but was during the day so I didn’t sleep much. A 2 hour layover and I was on my flight home. I got to my house around midnight, 26 hours after I woke up in Haifa.

The long trip gave me a lot of time to think. Dealing with jetlag upon my return gave me more time to think. This was a different trip for me. I knew going into it that I needed to be in Israel for my soul. I wasn’t touring the ‘normal’ way and was going to spend a few days just being in Israel before a day of work in Jerusalem and then 3 days up north working. It was a day about my relationship with Israel and Israelis, not about the Jewish connection to Israel. I was in Jerusalem but not the old city. I didn’t visit the Dead Sea or Masada. I did spend time on the beach, hanging in restaurants with Israelis, visiting schools and youth programs, and being connected to ordinary people.

On the plane returning and in the past two days, I have found myself reflecting on the ordinary people of Israel. Israel is typically rated one of the happiest countries in the world. This despite living in a very tough neighborhood with genocidal terrorist organizations like Hamas and Hezbollah on their borders. Terrorists try to come in every day to murder Israeli people and Iran is an existential threat. This was before the horrors of October 7th. Yet in the 2025 survey of the world’s happiest countries, Israel ranked 5th. A country that was attacked and invaded in 2023 where over 1,200 people murdered in the attack. A country at war with so many of her citizens called back to serve in the reserves. A country being villified by the international community based on terrible lies, being called terrible things, all due to Jew hatred. A country that had the north evacuated due to daily rocket attacks and who spent time almost daily in bomb shelters. This is the country that was the 5th happiest in 2024?

This past week helped me really understand how a country facing all these challenges could be the world’s 5th happiest country (for comparison, the United States was 21st). In Israel, they focus on what they have rather than what they don’t have. They focus on gratitude not desire. It’s a country that realizes that gratitude is a far better way to live than envy.

It got me thinking about my life and the changes I have made in the past few years. My dad dying in September 2022 was a life changing event for me. Not just because I lost a parent and mentor. It was a realization that the end is closer than any of us want to acknowledge and the question is more about who we want to be and how we want to live than how much we can have.

So I have changed my life. I removed a great deal of stress. for decades, my job was filled with stress. I’m just as busy and working just as hard but now it is without the stress that I used to have. I make sure that I am rested and not burning the candle at both ends. I make sure to eat and eat healthy. No more skipping lunch because I’m too busy. I eat healthy now – whole foods rather than something quick. Today I had the time to make a fresh salad for lunch, cutting up lettuce, tomatoes and other veggies rather than grabbing something quick to stuff down my throat because I had no time between meetings.

On this Israel trip, I got to meet people who were doing the same thing. People who lived by their values so they moved their family to the north to repopulate that area after the war. While many people won’t move back, there are many who realize how important it is to live there and are choosing to do so. The high school student who had the opportunity to decide whether he wanted to take the exams for his bagrut (high school diploma) and decided not to take them. As he shared that with us, I could feel his trepidation as he was waiting for criticism. Criticism that he didn’t get. The early childhood teacher who loved his job and the children he interacted with. The little tricks he did for them and the joy in their faces as he did them. The care in his voice as he talked to them and way they were truly little people, not just kids.

I talked with people who are more concerned about the mental health of IDF combat soldiers than their personal income. They are volunteering tremendous amounts of time to do their part in providing for the mental health care needed for these soldiers. Each time an IDF combat soldier commits suicide, a little piece of them dies, so they work to reduce that number to zero. They invest their time, their money, and their heart and soul.

I went to visit Hapoel Jerusalem Football Club (HJFC), a team that is much more than a professional team in the Premier League for men and women’s soccer. Their social programs are changing the face of Jerusalem and the future of Israel. Hersh Goldberg-Polin (z’l) was one of the leaders of their fan club. I wear my Hapoel Jerusalem FC shirt with his face on it proudly. It speaks to people living by their values, choosing to make the world a better place which means they are happier in their daily lives. Read the post below which describes somebody’s experience with the girls program of HJFC. It’s extraordinary.

I used to believe that I could never make Aliyah (move to Israel) because I want to live like an American in Israel and to do so is extremely expensive. There is a saying about life in Israel that explains this well.

People don’t move to Israel to become financially rich. They move to Israel to be spiritually rich. To be emotionally fulfilled. To have meaning in their life. You don’t have to move to Israel to have those things. We can choose them in our daily lives. Yet in America, we rarely do. We place money ahead of our values. Our answer to the saying, “You can either be happy or right” is often to be right. The lesson I was reminded of on this trip is that we don’t have to make those choices. We can learn to focus on what matters. Being happy. Enjoying life.

When I came back from Israel, my oldest son was home for the weekend. It was great having him home for the weekend, even though we didn’t do anything. Just having him around was nice. My best friend’s son is getting married next weekend and I’ll be there to celebrate. A few days later, my younger son is taking the LSAT and has to go to Ft Myers to take it (that’s an entirely different story). So we’ll drive down to Ft Myers, stay in a hotel, he’ll take the LSAT and then we’ll drive home. 8 hours in the car together along with a night at the hotel together. Priceless. That’s the key to being happy – enjoying every minute and the opportunities they present.

I think of my dog, a now 10 month old chocolate lab. She gets excited to see me every morning, not because I’m going to take her outside and give her breakfast. Not because she’ll get treats and do a puzzle. She gets excited because we are together. When my wife comes downstairs and comes home from work, my puppy is filled with anticipation and realizes she is the luckiest dog in the world because she’s with her people, with her pack. That’s how I want to be.

Israel taught me that. Despite two years of war, they cherish every moment. Despite a year of rockets falling on them and rushing to their safe room day after day after day, they found ways to appreciate things. As I sat on the beach in Tel Aviv, breathing the fresh air, listening to the waves and people all around me, I realized just how lucky I am. It’s not about the things I have or don’t have. It’s not about the size of my house or my bank account. It’s about the people in my life. Recognizing the beauty in the world around me. The gifts of life.

I have been to Israel 24 times. Trip 25 is scheduled. What a gift. What a blessing. As I look at that image, my heartbeat slows, any stress disappears, I relax and realize just how lucky I am. And when we realize how lucky we are instead of thinking about all we don’t have, the world is a much better place.

Coexistence vs. Shared Society

Posted on by Keith Dvorchik

One thing has become crystal clear over the past few years. Our world is really messed up. Those who used to advocate for standing up against hate are now leading the charge with their Jew hatred. Places that were once safe for Jews no longer are. The Arab world has begun to stand up against Hamas — sort of. The far left advocates for the Palestinians until Hamas begins to murder them – then they go silent. There is a famine in Gaza until a ceasefire is agreed upon at which point there is suddenly 3 months worth of food, overnight. The cries for the ceasefire are endless until there is one agreed upon and then those crying for the ceasefire urge Hamas to reject it so more people will die. New York, home to one of the largest Jewish populations outside of Israel, is ready to elect a Mayor who openly hates the Jews. A huge number of those NY Jews are ready to vote to elect him as Mayor as he openly talks about excluding anybody who supports the existence of Israel from his administration. The mainstream media publishes lie after lie and when caught, just pretends it didn’t happen.

It’s a crazy world we are living in. A crazy world we are told we are living in that often isn’t accurate or the truth. The words we use are often the wrong ones and we call things by the wrong name to incite people (famine instead of hunger, genocide instead of war, militant instead of terrorist).

Coexistence is one of these words. I never thought about it until yesterday when I spent time with people from the Arab villages of Ein Mahel and Jisr Al Zarqa. I had the opportunity to visit Ein Mahel last September and meet the leaders and some of th children in their branch of HaNoar HaOved (NOAL), an Israeli, Zionistic youth movement that is now 101 years old. That’s right, in Arab villages in Israel (55 to be exact) there are Zionist youth movement branchs. There are more than 20,000 arab children in these branches. More than 20,000 arab children who are actively involved with an Israeli, Zionistic, youth movement. Where do you see this on the news? Where do you read about this? It changes the paradigm in a way that those who hate Jews don’t like.

With the children in NOAL in Ein Mahel – Sept 2024
With te leaders of NOAL in Ein Mahel – September 2024

On Thursday, I had the chance to visit the Arab village of Jisr Al Zarqa. It is one of the poorest Arab villages that struggles with violence inside the village. As we entered the village, it was pointed out to us the locations where people were murdered by gangs inside the village last week. Jisr Al Zarqa has a remarkable asset that sets it apart from every other Arab village in Israel. It sits on the beach of the Mediterannean Sea. This poor town is right on the water with a beautiful beach. As we walked to the beach, we saw the trash strewn all around. It was a harbinger of the story we were about to be told – a story of hope and of a potential different future.

Looking at the city of Jisr Al Zarqa as we walked to the beach
Arab schools on a field trip to the beach at isr Al Zarqa

At the beach, we met Shadi, who lives in Ein Mahel and who I got to know last year during the visit. We also met Hamami, an amazing women from the village of Jisr Al Zarqa, and Hassan, an amazing young man from the village of Jisr Al Zarqa. Why did we meet with them? Because of their involvement with HaNoar HoOved (NOAL). Both Shadi and Hassan grew up in the movement. Shadi is in his early 30s, Hassan is 20. Both are leaders in the movement. You read that right – Arab (Muslim) leaders in an Israeli, Zionistic, youth movement. Shatters what the media tells you. Shatters the paradigm the world is taught and believes. We also met Hamami, a spectacular woman who is changing the reality on the ground. Hamami is a fisherman, the only woman in the fisherman’s guild in Jisr Al Zarqa. She was a professional soccer player when it was unheard of to have an Arab woman play professional sports on an Israeli team. She is a force of nature.

What is she doing? In a village where children often skip school and get in lots of trouble, she began going out in the streets and pulling them off the streets to participate in a sports program she created herself. She took them fishing, surfing, swimming, and all sorts of water sports. Every day she goes out in the streets and corrals them to come with her and do something productive instead of getting in trouble in the streets. At one point, she went to the schools and began working with them. She took the children off the streets in her program and then ordered them to return at 8 am the next day. All but 2 returned on time. The two who were late were sent home. The next day all of them showed up on time. She spent 3 months working with them on the water, with the sea, before returning them to school where they restarted their education. What an incredible woman.

Hamami’s boats on the beach
Hamami’s boats and surfboards on the beach

Uri, a member of NOAL who works with the Arab villages, learned about the work of Hamami, and went to meet her. She told us that he was the first person who didn’t try to make money off her program and instead just wanted to know how he could help her and help the children. They are now partners in the effort, as Dror Israel, the overaching organization of NOAL, works to fund and support her organization Instead of trying to MAKE money off the work of Hamami and the children, they are INVESTING money in the work of Hamami and the children! Once again, you read that right. Jews and Arabs working together, in partnership, in Israel, to help the Arab children who are at risk. You don’t hear that from the UN or in the media. But it is happening.

As we sat together to eat lunch and continue our conversation, one of our group used the phrase “coexistence’. Shadi quickly spoke up telling us not to use that word. He told us that coexistence means we live alongside each other. We don’t interact. There are Arab schools and Jewish schools. Arab youth movements and Jewish youth movements. Arab leadership programs and Jewish leadership programs. Saying coexistence means living separately, side-by-side. The right phrase, he educated us, was ‘shared society’ because we share things together. That’s what they are doing with NOAL. That’s what we need to strive for. Not coexistance where we live separately but a shared society where we truly live together. I was inspired and am changing my vocabulary.

Having met Shadi last year and connecting, we spent more time together this year. We built our friendship and talked about many things. The challenge of being Zionistic (loving Israel) with the challenges of the government and the country, especially post October 7th was the start of a fascinating conversation that I look forward to continuing with my friend.

As we talked, he shared his upcoming visit to the United States, mostly New York, to share the work of NOAL, Dror Israel, and help change people’s minds about what is happening and what is possible. When I shared that I may be back in December, he was quick to ask when and tell me about an amazing three (3) day leadership conference they are having in early January and urge me to come and experience it. I’m not sure what my schedule will look like but I know it’s something that if I can attend, I will attend. I can’t wait to see Shadi and the others lead and educate these Arab and Jewish youth together about leadership and shared society. As Shadi said to me and I replied back to him, “Inshalla” which means “if it’s God’s will”. A beautiful Arabic word. Part of a shared vocabulary now.

While the title uses the phrase Shadi taught me not to use, this is a great event and when they cme near you, make sure to go meet him, listen and learn.

There is so much happening in Israel that does not fit the narrative the media tells us. There is hope and there is possibility. There are Arabs and Jews working together, not just with NOAL and Dror Israel but across the entire country. It is something you can see with your own eyes and they are people you can meet in person and speak with. It is part of why I urge people of all faiths to go to Israel and see it themselves. Experience it yourself. Don’t believe the narrative. Don’t believe the lies. We can have a shared society if and when we work hard for it. Hamami, Shadi, Hassan and Uri are only 4 people working towards it. I’ve met many, many more. Too many to list by name. Come join them. See it, feel it, believe it, and help make it happen. Bring them to your community. Share the story and share them with your friends and family. Shared society is about togetherness and that’s what we need to make it happen.

On the beach – Marc, Irit, Gary, Shadi, Sasha, Hamami, Jill, me, and Hassan – a new group of friends.

The Children of Israel

Posted on by Keith Dvorchik

Over the past two years the media has focused repeatedly on the children in Gaza. The suffering they faced. Some real, some made up. Stories they were real and that were made up.

They denied much of what happened to the children of Israel on October 7th. They completely ignored what happened to the children of Israel from October 8th until today. Spending this past week in Israel, I have had the opportunity to interact with many children here. Children in pre-school, elementary school and high school. Parents of young children who have struggled the past two years about what to say to their children, how to protect them from the horrors, and parents who are IDF reservists, struggling with the fact that they have been gone from their children’s lives for more than half of the past two years. It’s not something that can be ignored.

I visited a preschool in Carmiel, in the Northern District of Israel, often included in the area of Israel called the Misgav. It’s a town of 55,000 that is beautiful and as we drove through, you could see how wonderful a place it is. The preschool (Gan) I visited had 35 students, agest 3 and 4, and as we walked in, they were running around, happy, laughing, and inquisitive. They were excited to see new people and happily smiled at us, walked around us, and when we sat to talk, pulled up their own chairs to sit with us or sat on playground equipment to be a part of the group. They were wonderful, happy, normal children. It was amazing to see.

At one point, we moved inside to a smaller room to sit and talk without the children around us. We learned that the room we sat in was the safe room for the Gan. When the rocket alerts went off, this was where all 35 children and the staff of 3-5 teachers would all have to get into within 30 seconds. I ran a JCC with an early childhood center that had hundreds of children. Monthly, we practiced our fire drill in which we had to get all the children out of the building. We timed it an regularly had them all out of the building in under 5 minutes. Each class had no more than 16 children with 2 teachers. The alarm was loud and many of the children would hold their ears, cry, or be upset. In Israel, at this Gan, they had to get 35 children into a small room within 30 seconds. Who knew how long they would have to keep the children in this small room. Packing 38-40 people in this small room for any amount of time would be a challenge. Yet the teachers did it. The children did it. They managed. I think of how difficult that must have been on the children and on the teachers and am astounded that the children aren’t afraid of the room and don’t want to avoid it. That the room doesn’t hold terrible images for the teachers. The trauma is real and yet they are dealing with it.

We visited an afterschool program in Kiryat Shmona that has a special program for the children who live there. It’s hard to imagine, but with the 2 years of Covid and the 2 years of the war, these children have had 4 years of learning interrupted. A child in 1st grade at the start of Covid is now in 5th grade and has barely been in school. How do you overcome the deficits that occurred both developmentally and educationally? What has to happen so that these children have a chance at a normal life and learning the basic tools that they missed, both educationally and socially? My youngest son spent his entire senior year doing online learning due to Covid (before you freak out, the schools were open and there were many reasons why we began and then stayed with online learning for him). It wasn’t easy for him to overcome the social deficits as a result of the last semester of him junior year and his full senior year being done online. We created a plan and it worked. That was just over 1 year for a 17/18 year old. Not 4 years for a 6-9 year old child. These children in Kiryat Shmona and other evacuated communities may need years of remedial work to deal with the academic deficits, let alone the social and developmental ones. Who’s talking about the damage done to them?

I spoke with a 37 year old father who has spent more than a full year since October 7, 2023, in the IDF reserves. He talked about his struggles when he returns home. He has two children – two children who have not only missed having their dad in the life for more than half of the past two years but who also know that he has put his life on the line every day he wasn’t at home. A father who has trauma to deal with so isn’t the same father that left them on October 7th to defend the people of Israel and the Jewish people. A father who struggles to be there for them all the time. Who talks about these children? Who is taking care of their needs? Where is the attention on the children of those brave soldiers who have kept going back to serve to defend not just their country but the Jewish people? Why is there no outrage at the damage to them?

We talked about a school that one of my friend’s children attend. In one classroom there is a teacher who has spent a great deal of time in reserves. There are two children dealing with the loss of family members on October 7th. Why is there no outrage about these children, living in the center of the country, who know the cost of war and the cost of freedom better than most people in the United States? Why is there no outrage at the impact on these children of losing their teacher for so long?

We have a generation of children of Israel that face enormous challenges. Who have faced enormous stress. Who have lost loved ones, parents, and friends due to the Hamas attack on October 7th and the ensuring war to keep Israel safe. Where is the outrage about what they have to deal with? Where are the world’s children’s organizations who are so critical of Israel, forgiving of Hamas and their responsibility?

This past week in Israel has shown me a new price that is being paid by Israel and the Jewish people. The price is being paid by our children. I don’t think we’ll know the exact cost we have to pay for quite some time. It’s a high price for sure, one that the world doesn’t care about. Jewish children — Jewish people — are expendable to the world. They don’t count nor do they matter. It’s unforgivable.

We can never forget the price of this war and defending Israel. It is a very high cost. The only thing worse would have been doing nothing. It’s not easy, especially when you see this price. It’s worth the high cost and we hope to never pay it again. It’s worth the many people who were impacted because of the many people who will be kept safe as a result.

When you look at the faces of these beautiful children and these beautiful babies, how can you not stand up and speak out on their behalf? How can you not do everything possible to protect them? We know Hamas does everything they can do damage and harm the children in Gaza as well as the children in Israel. We have to fight back even harder to protect ours.

Except

Posted on by Keith Dvorchik

I have been in Israel for the past few days, enjoying the beach and excitement of Tel Aviv with a day trip to Jerusalem. With the living hostages now home, there is a lightness in the air and you can feel joy returning. Quite different from my trips in May, July and September of 2024.

Today I spent the day up north in the Upper Galilee. Tel Chai. Mutula. Kiryat Shmona. Places that were on the front line of the Hezbollah rocket attacks starting on October 8, 2023. It was a long ride from Haifa to get there – over 90 minutes. In Israel, 90 minutes is an eternity to drive. The Upper Galilee is beautiful. Actually it is stunning.

The contrast of the lush green with the mountains of the Golan Heights takes your breath away. The clear air, the cool breeze, the birds chirping and the cold streams fed by Mount Hermon is simply spectacular. It’s something that makes you want to stay for a month and hike, swim, explore nature and enjoy the peace and quiet. It is a place that should be in demand to live and in demand to visit. As I looked out upon the city of Metulla, I could imagine myself renting a home there for a month and enjoying the beauty.

EXCEPT, then I looked just a little bit further. The wall separating Israel and Lebanon was right there. I could see the places where Hezbollah was firing rockets on these Upper Galilee towns. I could see where Israel was forced to bomb the border community to destroy the Hezbollah rockets being kept in, and fired from homes. As I talked to one of the people from Metulla, I heard how before October 7th, they had 5 IDF soldiers protecting the town of approximately 1,500 people. She told us how now, with only about 40% of the residents returning, they have 500 IDF soldiers protecting them.

The border was empty from Hezbollah terrorists today. She told us how prior to October 7th, you could see the terrorists in the border towns. They didn’t try to hide. They wanted to be visible to attempt to scare and intimidate the residents of Metulla. Today it was quiet, peaceful and beautiful. With 500 soldiers protecting a town of about 600 people. Almost a 1:1 ratio to keep the peace. To keep the quiet. To keep them safe.

They then shared how this part of the Upper Galilee is bordered on three (3) sides by Lebanon. How on October 7th, if Hezbollah had decided to invade, they could have simply cut off the one road that goes in and out of that part of Israel and instantly had more than 25,000 hostages. How they could have taken their time murdering, raping, and kidnapping these 25,000 people, now hostages, because it would have taken so long for the IDF to get there and there is only the one road in and out.

As beautiful as these pictures are, the wall is the border to Lebanon. The town behind it has been destroyed because that’s where Hezbollah was firing rockets into Metulla and the Northern Galilee. The mountains you see all around are the border of Lebanon. You are completely surrounded by a genocidal enemy in Hezbollah who has the means, opportunity, and motive to attack and kill you.

Yet people continue to come back to live in these towns. It’s their home. They won’t be scared out. While only 40% have returned to Metulla right now, there are new groups of people moving there. In Kiryat Shmona, 80% of the 25,000 residents have returned. Their homes need to be rebuilt as they have either been destroyed by the Hezbollah rockets or ruined by being empty for two (2) years. Businesses has been destroyed and need to be rebuilt for the same reason. In some cases, the owners haven’t decided if they even want to rebuild. Yet these towns won’t go away. The commitment by their residents to live in the north of Israel, in the lush and beautiful Upper Galilee won’t disappear.

We ate lunch at an incredible restaurant in Kiryat Shmona. The portions were enormous. The schnitzel, sausages, meat and chicken were delicious. Couscous, fries, rice, and veggies were plentiful sides and the salads they served……… well if you have ever had the salads they bring out as appetizers before the meal, you know not only how many they bring (about 10 or so) and how incredible they are. Freshly baked bread (it made me jealous that I couldn’t eat it). More food than we could finish. What a great place, EXCEPT, it only recently reopened because not long after October 7th, a rocket launched by Hezbollah hit the street right in front of it and destroyed it. When we heard that, everybody got a little uncomfortable, even though we knew that the likelihood of a Hezbollah rocket being fired today is small, thanks to the IDF crushing Hezbollah.

The Upper Galilee and the north of Israel is beautiful. It’s stunning. It should be overflowing with people living there, vacationing there, having second homes there, EXCEPT there are genocidal terrorists close by. EXCEPT there is fear of rockets launching at any minute.

I hope that sometime soon, I’ll be able to spend an month relaxing and vacationing and recharging in the Upper Galilee, enjoying the beauty of nature. The mountains. The lush green. The streams and rivers. Hiking. Sitting in the cool, clean air, reading a book, having a conversation, listening to music. There is no EXCEPT for me. It’s an incredible place for us all and we cannot allow fear or hate to deter us from it. Like those who have returned to live there, we all need to claim it.

Think about spending some time in the Upper Galilee. You won’t regret enjoy the beauty and peaceful environment that is there now.

Our world and our country is lost

Posted on by Keith Dvorchik

I think today is when I finally acknowledge the reality we are all seeing and none of us want to admit. Our world is lost. We have reached the tipping point from which I am no longer sure we can recover. Today we had both a school shooting outside of Denver as well as the assasination of Charlie Kirk. I was no fan of Charlie Kirk. I didn’t agree with much of anything that Charlie Kirk said. Yet his assasination is the type of behavior that shows our country has no moral conscience. It shows how lost we are. We don’t shoot people we don’t agree with or don’t like. We don’t condone murder. This isn’t a left/right issue. If you haven’t seen the video of his murder, here it is. It’s something that is unforgettable once you see it.

We have already seen the efforts to blame him for his own murder. The media isn’t holding themselves accountable for promoting hate and divisiveness. They aren’t blaming the person who murdered him. They are blaming him. Matthew Dowd says it publicly on MSNBC. He won’t hold people like Francesca Albanese accountable for her lies about Israel. He won’t hold Hamas accountable for their actual genocide. But he will blame somebody he disagrees with their own murder.

We are seeing things like this all over the place. No outrage at murder. No outrage at the taking of a life. Because they disagree with Charlie Kirk, they celebrate his death and his murdered. We saw this with the shooting and murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in December 2024 by Luigi Mangione (who has not yet been officially convicted) and the way Magnione has been celebrated and become a hero to many. With Charlie Kirk is now dropping to a new low.

Charlie Kirk’s murder has overshadowed the school shooting in Evergreen, Colorado. Think about how insane a statement that is. A person took a gun and shot up a school and it’s not the lead story. It’s not even the lead story related to gun violence. It’s not even the lead story about a shooting that occurred at an educational facility.

Three high school students were shot in Evergreen, one of them the suspected shooter. They are in critical condition. A fourth is also in the hospital. Students went to high school today to learn. Instead four are in the hospital, three in critical condition (including the suspected shooter). A community is traumatized. The country? Not so much. Only three, including the shooter, were shot. In today’s world, that’s barely noticable. Insanity. School shootings should NEVER occur let alone not be newsworthy. It’s far beyond reasonable gun laws. We have a crisis on our hands. A crisis of the soul.

The Spanish Prime Minister says that unfortunately Spain doesn’t have nuclear weapons to stop the Israeli offensive in Gaza. Nothing about the hostages. Nothing about October 7th. Instead, he regrets they don’t have nuclear weapons to stop Israel fighting the terrorists. There is a reason they don’t and shoudn’t ever have nuclear weapons.

A European elected leaders expresses remorse for his inability to use a nuclear weapon on Israel to stop them from fighting an existential threat to their own survival. Fighting an enemy that tried actual genocide on October 7, 2023, that celebrated their horrific actions by recording and publishing them for the world to see. Yet no outrage is shown by the media or the world. Imagine a world leader saying that about any other country and what would happen. But nuking the Jewish state? Totally ok.

Canada continues to sink into its antisemitism and Jew hatred. Israel has provided more humanitarian aid to the enemy than any country in history. They do all they can to notify civilians ahead of time to evacuate an area before they attack. They target the leaders and put their own soldiers at risk. This isn’t about whether you like or hate Bibi Netanyahu. This isn’t about whether Israel is fighting a perfect war (not so subtle hint – they are not). This is about the existence of Jews and of the State of Israel.

These same people applauded when the US invaded Pakistan to eliminate Osama Bin-Laden. They are pure hypocrites and Jew haters. As Hen Mazzig points out in the post below, President Macron of France, who criticized Israel for their action to target Hamas leadership, ignores the fact that France has bombed FIVE countries because of terrorism. What type of world do we live in when this is not only happening but encouraged.

What used to infuriate me the most, until today when a school shooting wasn’t really news and the murder of somebody was celebrated by many who disagree with his views, was the way the world leaders don’t care about the truth and continue their lies. Their demand that Israel make peace, when Israel accepted the most recent plan to end the war and it was Hamas who rejected it, is beyond insanity. Their demand for humanitarian aid to be allowed into Gaza when it’s documented that approximately 700 trucks of aid are coming into Gaza DAILY is beyond ignoring the truth. The following was the announcement and report from September 9, 2025 from the IDF and COGAT:

Humanitarian Aid Data and Efforts on September 9:

Over the past day, more than 280 humanitarian aid trucks entered Gaza through the Kerem Shalom and Zikim crossings.

Additionally, 400 trucks were collected and distributed by the UN and international organizations, while the contents of several hundred more remain on the Gazan side of the crossings, awaiting collection.

We have facilitated the entry of tankers of UN fuel for the operation of essential humanitarian systems.

In addition, a rotation coordination of humanitarian personnel has been successful completed.

We will continue expanding our efforts to facilitate humanitarian aid for the civilian population of Gaza.

There is no criticism of the United Nations who doesn’t deliver the aid when it comes into Gaza. There is no celebrating the efforts of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation that is getting food directly to the people. There is only the lie that food and aid isn’t getting into Gaza. It is getting in. The UN makes sure it doesn’t get to the people, only to Hamas or that it sits out in the sun. It is Hamas that is starving the people with the assistance of the United Nations. Our world leaders don’t even attempt to pretend they are telling the truth. They just out and out lie because the world hates the Jews and is willing to believe anything they are told. The media helps them.

Our world is broken. I’m not sure that it can be fixed. For the first time in my life, I understand the story of Noah, the ark, and the flood in a way I never have before. I understand the story of Sodom and Gemorrah like I never have before. Tikkun Olam means something different that it ever has before. Today, I question if our world is even worth saving. Yet despite my questions and my misgivings, I won’t give up the fight. I won’t stop trying to do my part to make it a world filled with kindness, love, and care for each other. I don’t have another choice. None of us do. The future of the world literally depends on us to confront the evil, the lies, and the hate. We can’t sit by idly. We can’t bury our heads in the sand. We can’t stand by quietly.

At times like this I find myself thinking back to the three times that I had the opportunity to meet and talk with the great Elie Weisel. I think of the last time, when I brought my children, then both young, and what he said. How it was our responsibility to build the world we want. How much our actions mattered and that it was up to us to build the world we wanted for them. The world we have today is NOT the world i want for my children. So I fight the evil. I speak out. I write. I have tattoos to commorate October 7th. I proudly wear my Star of David with Israel in the middle of it. I have a Florida Stands with Israel license plate on my car. I have a big mezzuzah on my front door. I won’t hide. I won’t be silent. And I won’t accept evil.

As Elie Weisel said, we need to be held accountable. God will always do God’s part but we must do ours. Will you join me in the fight against evil?