Goebbels died but his teachings are living on

Posted on by Keith Dvorchik

“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.”

Joseph Goebbels

I remember learning about the Nazi propaganda as I grew up.  What a masterful job they did spreading lies and breeding hatred.  Cartoons.  Videos.  Posters.  Slogans.  They kept at it, repeating the hate towards Jews until people believed it was true.  When I walk through Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust Museum, they do an incredible job highlighting just how the Nazi’s did it.  With all the documentation available to us, I was sure the world wouldn’t fall for the same trick twice.  As the old saying goes, fool me once, shame on you.  Fool me twice, shame on me.

I was wrong.  Very wrong.  So wrong that it scares me.  I watched what happened on the campus of Columbia University and also at Harvard, Yale, UCLA, Michigan, and many others.  These ‘students’ who are supposed to be learning and challenging themselves were instead lemmings.  They were so strong in their chants yet so empty in their knowledge.  Most didn’t know what river or what sea.  Most didn’t even know what protesting was like or was about.  They expected catered meals.  Finals cancelled with everybody getting an A.  No consequences for their actions.  They weren’t protesting for things they believed in but rather for things they were told that aren’t true.  It was horrifying.  It was embarrassing. 

It escalated to potential violence many times until eventually there was violence.  The violence against Jewish students got minimal attention.  A woman stabbed in the eye at Yale.  Physically assaulted at Columbia.  Beaten unconscious at UCLA.  When it became clear that the University and the police were going to do nothing to protect them, the Jewish students and community tried to dismantle the tents themselves which resulted in more violence.  That violence did get media attention because it could be blamed on the Jews. 

I watch as ‘celebrities’ like Susan Sarandon, Mark Ruffalo, John Oliver, and John Cusack spew hate and lies.  Because of their celebrity status, they have a platform to spread their antisemitism and misinformation.  Key words like genocide, apartheid, famine, ceasefire are used to demonize Israel, regardless of any facts to back them up.  People believe what they hear, especially when it’s in bite size pieces and as Goebbels said, “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.”

Chants are common now to ‘Globalize the intifada’ while most of those chanting it have no idea what the intifada was or what an intifada is.  Violent uprising.  Suicide bombers.  Innocent civilians murdered.  So, to stop innocent civilians from being killed during a war, we are going to murder innocent civilians.  Civilians killed in war at a ratio 9 times less than the UN and Red Cross accepted numbers is a genocide but calling for the murder of civilians because they are Jewish is acceptable?  This is the world we live in where Jew hatred is so strong that the obvious hypocrisy is allowed.

The use of the world genocide is right out of Goebbels playbook.  Genocide is a hot button word and is a horrific thing.  In Syria over 300,000 civilians were murdered by Assad.  Close to 200,000 people were killed in the Iraq war.  In 2022 more than 100,000 people were killed in the Ethiopian civil war.  Since 1996, more than 6 million people have been killed in the Congo war.  These are not called genocides despite the numbers being far more than the people killed in Gaza.  Yet despite not meeting the definition of genocide and the facts showing this war is anything but genocidal, the word keeps getting used over and over and over again.  There are people who now believe it because they have heard it so often.  What Hamas did on October 7th was genocidal.  They wanted to eliminate every Jew and Israeli just because they were Jewish or Israeli.  They publicly admit to genocidal wishes and yet people excuse it.  This is the power of constant repetition until people believe it’s true even when it is not.

Apartheid is another word inappropriately used to delegitimize the State of Israel and Jews in general.  Israel is not an apartheid state.  Citizens have equal rights regardless of their status as Arab, Christian, Druze, Baha’i, Bedouin, or Jew.  Those who are not citizens, like in any country, don’t have the same benefits as those who are citizens. That isn’t apartheid.  There are Arab members of the Supreme Court, the Knesset, in universities, serving in the military, and in every part of Israeli society.  There is apartheid happening in the middle east – in the Arab countries that won’t allow Jews.  Gaza was an apartheid state where Jews were not allowed.  I remember going through the Rafah crossing in 1989 as I took the bus from Jerusalem to Cairo.  That wouldn’t have been possible in 2023. 

The other word that gets used improperly and often is genocide.  Genocide is defined as, “the deliberate killing of a large number of people from a particular nation or ethnic group with the aim of destroying that nation or group.”  So, if you want to say Israel is committing genocide against Hamas, you might be correct.  They are a terrorist organization who had their own genocidal intentions on October 7th and continues to say they will do what they did on October 7th over and over and over again.  To say that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza is simply false.  If they wanted to commit genocide, then on October 8th they would have carpet bombed Gaza and nobody would be left alive.  Instead, Israel has been tactical.  They have done all they can to avoid civilian deaths.  This is shown in the ratio of combatants to civilians killed in this war.  According to the UN and Red Cross, the normal ratio is 9 civilians for every 1 combatant.  Depending on what Hamas numbers you believe, Israel is somewhere between 0.6 civilians to 1 combatant to 1.2 civilians to 1 combatant.  Well below the normally accepted ratio for every other country and every other war in the world.  Genocide is used to inflame people.  It’s used to inspire hate and physical attacks on Jews.  It is a bold-faced lie that gets repeated, especially by those celebrities, over and over and over again.

Occupation is the fourth word that gets used regularly.   Israel withdrew from Gaza and removed its citizens by force in 2005.  That’s the fact.  Since 2005, there has been no occupation of Gaza.  So, saying it is because of the occupation is simple another lie.  People may then talk about the blockade.  The blockade was put in place when Hamas took over and started firing rockets at Israel and building tunnels to kidnap Israelis.  It exists by both Egypt and Israel to do their best to limit rockets and missiles and guns from getting into Gaza.  It doesn’t limit food or medicine.  Saying occupation or blockade is merely a way for uneducated people to attempt to place the blame on Israel and the Jews.

The newest lie, which occurred tonight, is that Hamas accepted the ceasefire offered by Israel and Israel still attacked Rafah.  The reality is more like this:


Israel: Here is our ceasefire offer.

Hamas: No

Israel: Here is option 2 for a ceasefire.

Hamas: No

Hamas then bombs the reopened humanitarian corridor.

Israel: Fine, we will attack Rafah.

Israel begins to attack Rafah.

Hamas: We will take option 3 which you didn’t offer.  We accept the ceasefire that we negotiated with ourselves. 

The World:  Israel rejected the ceasefire offer that they offered, and Hamas accepted.

Once again, the truth doesn’t matter, and the lie gets repeated over and over and over again.  The media covers the lie.  The New York Times covers the lie.  Papers in Europe cover the lie. 

As we move into the next phase of the war, not just between Hamas and Israel but between those who hate Jews and Jewish people, we need to be vigilant with these lies.  We need to be loud and repetitive in combatting them and telling the truth.  We need to keep it simple and not give a lecture.  I recommend something like this:

Response to lie:  You are lying.

Response to lie:  That’s not true.

Response to lie:  False!!!

Response to lie:  You don’t know what’s true.

Response to lie:  Learn something before you lie about it.

Keep it brief.  Keep it simple.  If they want to know the truth, and most don’t, then they will ask, and you can tell them. 

This next phase will be the most challenging.  We see the violence occurring at UCLA and around the country.  We see it happening in Europe.  I’m afraid that the next phase will involve larger scale attacks against Jewish people, homes, and businesses.  Protect yourself.  Learn the law.  Take self-defense classes.  If you feel the need to be armed, make sure you both follow the laws of your state/country and get trained on how to use it.  The decision to be armed is not one to take lightly and it’s not a joke and guns are not toys. 

If Israel goes into Rafah and ends the war between Hamas and Israel, it will not end the war against the Jewish people.  It will not mean that we are safe in our countries.  It will not mean Israel is safe with Hezbollah, the Houthis and Iran still attacking.  We are preparing to move into a new stage that we only saw a glimpse of with the protests on campuses.  Be prepared.  Never again isn’t just a slogan, it means we are going to take action and do what we have to ensure that it never happens again. 

Yotam Berger wrote this

Posted on by Keith Dvorchik

For the first time in the existance of this blog, I am not writing it. This was written by Yotam Berger, and Israeli PhD student at Stanford. I couldn’t have said it better or clearer so I’m letting his words say what I think and feel. Please read Yotam’s words and think hard about them. You can read the original post (in Hebrew) here. This translation came from Daniel Gordis’s substack Israel from the Inside.

Man in a Hamas costume on the campus of Stanford this week.

Five lessons from Stanford, California 

The academic year in the United States is coming to an end. In a few weeks, the university students graduating will stand on the grass, in caps and gowns. They will excitedly take pictures, shake hands with the deans, and then fly away, making way for a new generation of their ilk.

Ahead of the graduation ceremonies, the anti-Israel student protests at American universities are also increasing. Let’s start with the “all clear” siren. Here at Stanford, at least, the students who sleep on the campus lawns and call for a “global intifada” are—as a rule—not dangerous in the physical sense of the word. But they are very dangerous in the medium and long term, as far as the image of the leader of the free world is concerned.

This is my second year at Stanford. When we returned here in September after the summer break, I intended to finish the year with an approved research proposal and a third of my PhD written. It’s hard to describe how far I am from meeting that goal. In my opinion, I’m not really unusual. Since October, many Israelis abroad have found themselves forced to choose between two options—to put their heads down or become ambassadors without a choice. Who can even write an article when his two brothers are fighting in Gaza? Instead, I found myself spending much of my time on “outreach” activities that I had no intention of taking part in.

Despite this, I learned some very important lessons this year that I will never forget. As the school year comes to a close, and in light of the wave of anxious questions from around the country in light of the current round of campus madness, I thought I’d share the five most important lessons I learned this past year at Stanford, California.

1. Whether we want it or not, we are always—first and foremost—the Jews.

The first year here was a fabulous academic experience like no other. I felt surrounded by international friends. I was given full access to the world’s brightest legal minds. The feeling was that endless opportunities lay ahead. Friends from Israel, who asked already last year if we suffered from anti-Israelism, sounded funny to me. No way!! I am a liberal Israeli. I wrote for the most leftist newspaper in Israel. I did my clerkship in one of the more liberal courts in the Western world. Why would anyone have a problem with me? I walked among those who I thought were friends as equals among equals. I could talk about Israel freely, criticize it and love it, have discussions that I thought were good and complex about the most sensitive issues even with those who clearly disagreed with me. I felt like a citizen of the world.

That was an illusion. There really is no such thing, it turns out, as a “Jew who is a citizen of the world,” as long as the Jew insists on his right to a national existence. For many of those whom I saw as friends, it turned out, I was first and foremost the Jew. At the moment of truth, few of them stood by me on a personal level. Almost none of them stood by me at the national level. Their double standards allowed Israel-hating students to say horrible things about me and my friends, but silenced our every attempt to oppose it. In some places, I had to choose between apologizing for my Israeliness and rejection. There was no choice to be made.

This eye-opening experience also has advantages. It is a litmus test for the human quality of those around us. Some of the people around me went out of their way to support me, or to show gestures of humanity. I found myself surrounded by strong and durable ties. I will not forget these friends easily.

2. America deserves Donald Trump.

An Israeli friend joked to me that if Trump is re-elected president in November, he will walk the halls of Stanford and hand out baklava. It’s a very funny joke only because it’s not entirely imaginary.

November 9, 2016 was a day that struck me with amazement. Like many all over the world, the fact that the United States of America elected Donald Trump as president was unimaginable. In a very deep sense, no matter how many commentaries I read, how many films and documentary series I watched—the appointment of this man seemed inexplicable to me. Unimaginable. Impossible. Even years later, when the words “President Trump” stopped feeling strange on the tongue, the choice of him seemed inexplicable to me. A glitch in the matrix. I couldn’t understand how his campaign could be successful.

This year I finally got it. No, if I were an American I still wouldn’t vote for Trump. But I now understand those who vote for him. Donald Trump is some Americans’ answer to the madness on the other side, a madness I didn’t notice until it turned its face in my direction. A madness no less terrible than Trumps’s madness. No, if I had the right to vote, I would not vote for Donald Trump. But America deserves him.

3. The progressive movement is not a political ally of liberal Zionists.

Last year, the progressive movement seemed like an amusing youth rebellion to me. Yes, the ceremony where everyone announces their gender at the beginning of class seemed strange to me, not always necessary, but not harmful. The fact that I had to declare my race on every form I filled out (and make sure to state that I was “Middle Eastern”) made me laugh, but didn’t upset me. I saw the American progressive movement as the infantile sister of liberal movements that I respected. I saw it as an ally. That was a mistake.

I saw the American progressive movement as the infantile sister of liberal movements that I respected. I saw it as an ally. That was a mistake.

The “progressive” movement is not an amusing anecdote. This week I was exposed to a particularly graphic expression of this. In the “Pro-Palestinian” encampment (in double quotation marks, since a significant number of its residents are unable to point to the country on a map, and it is doubtful that they are able to name a single Palestinian leader) that was re-established in the heart of the campus, a man was photographed in a full terrorist costume—including a black sock hat with a slit for his eyes, and a green Hamas ribbon on his head, next to students who are active for transsexual rights. This strange alliance [DG – since Hamas executes those it considers sexual deviants, which obviously includes transsexuals] is not funny to me.

The progressives are challenging much more than the state of Israel, or the right of the Jews to a nation state. I’m not sure how many of the people who identify as progressives actually hold these ideals, and how many of them are just repeating them over and over loudly, with the intention of gaining some kind of social sympathy. But those of them who hold this position really no longer believe in the existence of “truth,” or in the existence of facts.

I’m not referring here to those who express the opinion that it is difficult to get to the truth, or who think that the courts do not always succeed in finding out what the facts are, or who hold that different ideas are perceived differently through different eyes. I’m speaking about those who say unequivocally that there is no such thing as truth. They are not interested in presenting facts to support their arguments because they do not believe there is such a thing as facts, and they say so explicitly. They think that it is forbidden to use the term “jihadist” in front of jihadists, or to call supporters of terrorism by their names, because feelings are more important than facts (although, of course, first and foremost theirfeelings). They don’t believe there should be consequences for actions, because they don’t believe there should be consequences for anything. Everything can be disputed, because nothing is real. Life is a debate club. It’s not a treat, or at least not just a treat: it’s an ideology. This ideology challenges the existence of objective truth—attainable or unattainable—as an intellectual concept.

4. Always go straight. It is not so important what is said or written about you.

The denial and turning of the backs of those whom I saw as friends, or at least fellow travelers, came with a temptation: to lower one’s head. I do not belittle and I completely understand Israelis who chose this. At this stage, for now, being ashamed of being Israeli, suppressing Jewish symbols, trying to adopt the American accent—can ensure a reasonable quality of life even in places where hatred of Israel is very present. But when the temptation was placed in front of me—to some extent at least— I tried to remember what I had learned from two teachers in recent years.

Attorney Momi Lemberger usually tells his interns to “always walk straight.” When a decision is made in a case—should an indictment be filed? Should the charges be dropped?—The only thing that matters are the facts and the law. It is easy to be tempted to consider what was written in the newspapers. What the minister says. The chance to advance in the system. But considering such considerations inevitably leads to bragging, to losing one’s way. Judge George Kara used to tell his interns that “it doesn’t really matter what they say or write about you.” The facts are more important. Making the right decisions is more important. There is no reason to align with vanities, even if it has some social or public cost.

These lessons are true in relation to greater and much more important decisions than the personal decision of whether to keep one’s head down or insist on externalizing and being proud of one’s Israeliness, even in unpleasant forums. But they are infinitely true when the heaviest price to pay for going straight is that some American PhD students will turn up their noses at you. Since October, I’ve learned that there’s no point in keeping your head down, while there is intrinsic value in the decision to always going straight, to calling a spade a spade.

5. The solution to the university crisis cannot come from below, but it can be parachuted from above.

The kids protesting in these university yards worked very hard to get accepted to Harvard, Stanford, Yale, and Columbia. Most of them are not the “Vietnam generation,” even if that is what they tell themselves. They are the equivalent of the 8200 children and IDF Radio in Israel. [DG – both very prestigious jobs in the army, the former in one of the most respected intelligence units, the latter on the radio, a position very hard to snag.] They worked very hard and paid a lot of money to get here, and they care a lot about how they graduate. More than that, they care what the characters they value think of them. True, they care what their classmates think. Most of them care just as much what the President of the University, the Dean of the Faculty, and even the lecturer in the course think of them.

For many of them, the current wave of protests can be an educational opportunity. American universities repeatedly emphasize the importance of freedom of speech in American culture, the centrality of the First Amendment to the Constitution which guarantees absolute freedom of speech in the American political atmosphere. They can’t shut them up. That is true. But the universities can, and are even obliged, to educate their students. They should not and cannot prevent these children from screaming their demands to spread the intifada or boycott Israel. But they can tell them that they hold very stupid positions.

If university presidents would stop trembling in their own shadows, they could tell their students that they have a right to express stupid views, but that shouting them out won’t make them any more correct. Lecturers cannot silence their students, but they can emphasize that anyone who expresses uninformed or unfounded positions with great confidence is an educational failure. An Israeli—as I discovered—cannot really convince his American counterpart that Israel is not committing genocide, even if there is not even a shred of evidence to support the argument that what is happening in Gaza is genocide. But if the president of the university were to look at his students and express sincere disappointment when they express such a preposterous position, something in a significant portion of those students might shift.

The effectiveness of the “direct information”—in front of the young students—exists, but is very limited and in any case organized bodies can hardly promote it in an inorganic way. The solution, in my opinion, lies in putting pressure on the presidents. And there is urgency in this—today’s generation of presidents and senior lecturers are still old and established people, who were educated in the 1970s and 1980s. They remember the Six Day War and Yom Kippur War. They are liberals, but they are liberals like Bill Clinton. They have respect for Israel. They have no intention of responding to the BDS demands that many of their students voice. In private conversations with Israelis, they also express their feelings of affection for Israel generously. But their feelings of fear of their American students are immeasurably stronger than their affection for their Israeli students. The pressure needs to be put on them. If they are freed from the terror that grips them of expressing their opinion, they can set boundary lines, and these may seep down—to those who want to participate in the “pro-Palestinian” festivals, to make an impression, but want more to be loved by important people in their professional lives.

If we do not take advantage of the present opportunity, we will find ourselves in a short time standing in front of a new generation of presidents and deans. It is not known if they will still have positive feelings—however repressed—towards Israel.

Fight, Flight or Die – you get to choose

Posted on by Keith Dvorchik

Columbia University has been in the news for the past few weeks due to their anti-Israel and anti-Jewish encampment.  UCLA has been for the same reason.  Portland State.  Northwestern.  Harvard.  Yale.  Penn.  University of Michigan. George Washington.  Cal Poly Humboldt.  Brown. Cornell.  Princeton.  University of Southern California.  Arizona State.  CCNY.  CUNY.  Plenty of Universities where students went beyond free speech and protests, violated University policies, intimidated Jewish students, blocked access to campus, and in the case of UCLA, violently attacked and beat a Jewish woman, Yale where a Jewish woman was stabbed in the eye, and Columbia where two Jewish men were attacked.

Then there are Universities like the University of Florida, University of Texas, Florida State University, University of South Florida, University of North Carolina.  University of Utah, University of Illinois, Mary Washington, Northeastern, Indiana, Wash U in St Louis, University of Pittsburgh, UConn, University of Utah. VCU, University of Georgia, Tulane, and Virginia Tech.  At each of these Universities, the University Presidents and leadership allowed free speech and protests but enforced their campus rules and regulations.  As such, when the protests went beyond free speech, they were broken up and people arrested.

For the most part, it’s the first group of schools that have been in the media.  That’s because of the old news adage, ‘If it bleeds, it leads.’  We saw an incredible lack of leadership by the University Presidents at those schools.  Columbia President Minouche Shafik, fresh off her testimony to Congress, enabled the protesters, didn’t enforce the campus regulations, finally called in the NYPD, and then promptly apologized for doing it.  Jewish students were encouraged to finish the semester away from campus, being denied the equal protection of the law and equal access to the education they are paying for.  Chants of “go back to Poland”, ‘We are Hamas’ and ‘Globalize the intifada’ occurred on campus.  US Representatives Ilhan Omar and AOC showed up to support the active hatred of Jews on campus.  Omar even said, “We should not have to tolerate antisemitism or bigotry for all Jewish students, whether they are pro-genocide or anti-genocide.” 

Khymani James, a student at Columbia and one of the leaders of Columbia University’s anti-Israel encampment threatened to kill Jews in a live stream meeting with the school.  Nothing happened until it became public when he was barred from campus.  He was then let back on campus until they were exposed again and he was suspended.  Columbia chose to be complicit with threats of violence against Jews.

These are threats to Jewish students.  The encampment grew and got more violent and more active.  Finally, they took over a campus building, barricading themselves inside and doing damage to the building.  After a ridiculous press conference with a student leader who demanded ‘humanitarian aid’ for those who chose to occupy the building and could leave at any time, did President Shafik relent and call in the NYPD to break up the protest.  She wasn’t interested in protecting the Jewish students, only protecting her campus buildings.

Northwestern President Michael Schill chose to give in to the student terrorists holding his campus hostage.  Brown University did the same thing.  Their leadership caved to the students’ bad behavior, breaking of the campus rules and regulations and criminal activities.

These Presidents and their administration have failed their test of leadership.  They have abandoned their Jewish students.  There are calls for their resignations as a result.  I can’t imagine any other group facing what Jewish students have faced in which the actions and behaviors of these Presidents and administrations would be acceptable.  At UCLA, their failure, along with the assault on a Jewish woman, resulted in Jewish students believing they had been abandoned and taking matters into their own hands, working to break up the antisemitic, illegal encampment resulting in a riot. 

We have a serious leadership problem on our campuses.  By not holding students and faculty accountable to the rules when it comes to Jewish students, they are guilty of endangering Jewish students’ safety.  They are committing Title VI violations and there may be civil rights lawsuits against them.  They have become a national joke, and the Universities are viewed unfavorably by most.  There is a reason you don’t negotiate with terrorists.  Reinforcing their bad behavior only ensures more bad behavior in the future. 

Compare that to the University of Florida, who’s President, Ben Sasse, provided the campus rules and regulations in advance along with the consequences for violating them.  When the protesters went beyond free speech and violated the campus rules, the consequences were enforced. 

Other universities took action after letting the protesters know they were violating the campus rules and would be arrested if they didn’t disperse.  When they didn’t, the police came in and arrested them. Actions have consequences. Failing to obey the rules and the law is illegal.

I want to be clear.  Free speech is important.  Being able to protest is important.  However, when people decide to break the rules or break the laws, there are consequences for their actions.  That’s what they were arrested for, their actions.  Protests matter and there is a line that cannot be crossed.  When the line is crossed, leadership has an obligation to act.

When I see some of our country’s leaders in an uproar because the protesters are held accountable, I get angry.  They know better and they know it is only happening because it is against the Jews.  When I see our country’s leaders and our Jewish communal leaders be silent about what is happening to Jewish students on campus, I get angry.  We cannot put our heads in the sand and hope it goes away.  We know better.  We know what comes next.  I’m grateful to our country’s leaders and our Jewish communal leaders who have spoken up and taken public positions.  There are far too few of them. 

Sen. John Fetterman, Rep. Elise Stefanik, Rep. Ritchie Torres, and Speaker Mike Johnson have been leading public advocates to protect Jewish students on campus.  Others have joined them.  Yet far too many have been silent or supporting these encampments designed to terrorize, intimidate, and block Jewish students and faculty from entering campus.  In many cases they assaulted Jewish students. This has nothing to do with the war in Gaza.  It has nothing to do with humanitarian aid.  It has everything to do with antisemitism, Jew hatred. 

Chris Cuomo, a TV talking head, spoke out eloquently against the rise of Jew hatred on these college campuses.  His comment on Twitter when he posted it was shocking.  “I never thought in America I would have Jewish people thanking me for arguing that they have a right to exist.”  It is worth watching.

UNRWA came out with an announcement that there is plenty of food available in Gaza but there isn’t money to buy it.  This is humanitarian aid, provided for free, that UNRWA is either allowing Hamas to steal or selling to Hamas who is selling it on the black market.  The more facts that come out, the worse people like AOC, Ilhan Omar, Cori Bush, Jamaal Bowman, Nancy Pelosi, Rashida Talib, and these protesters look. 

May 1 starts Jewish Heritage Month.  President Biden issued a proclamation in which he references protecting the Jewish community in the United States but fails to mention anything happening on campus.  He talks about the hostages but has failed to pressure Qatar, who houses the leaders of Hamas, and continues to provide Iran, the funder of Hamas, with more money.  His words don’t match up with his actions.  We need to demand more of President Biden and of Congress.  We need to make our voices heard loudly.

As antisemitism, Jew hatred, increases in the United States, I see and hear more and more Jewish people speaking up and being outraged.  I am part of a group of parents who are concerned about what is happening on college campuses and I see the change as Jewish parents and students no long look to the Ivy League schools and look for safer campuses.  I have received calls and emails from parents who want to take advantage of Governor DeSantis’s decree that he will waive many of the transfer requirements for Jewish students to transfer to Florida Universities.  Yeshiva University extended their transfer deadline.  The Technion in Haifa has openly offered sanctuary for Jewish students, graduate students, and faculty who don’t feel safe at their University. 

This is America in 2024.  We need to face reality and act.  Raise our voices and speak out and speak up.  We need to thank our allies in other communities.  We need to thank our politicians who are supportive and make sure our voices are heard by those who hate Jews and fight for there to be more antisemitism, more Jew hatred.  If you haven’t been an activist, it’s time to become one.  Our collective silence has brought us to this point.  It is our collective action that will defeat Jew hatred.  It’s your choice, fight, flight, or die.

Screams Before Silence is a must watch

Posted on by Keith Dvorchik

I decided to watch the new Sheryl Sandberg documentary “Screams Before Silence”.  I have seen the 47-minute Hamas video as well as the documentary about the Nova music festival massacre.  Both of those were incredibly impactful and hearing Lee Sasi, a survivor of the Nova music festival massacre speak is something I will never forget.  I’ll be in Israel soon and get to visit the site of the Nova music festival massacre, Sderot, and other areas in the south near Gaza.

Screams Before Silence – because of the topic it won’t embed here but you can click to watch

Since October 7th, I have been wanting to go back to Israel daily.  My last trip was in November 2022 and while I have an ongoing desire to go to Israel, I have not been able to return since then.  After October 7th, my family would not allow me to go to Israel.  Every time I brought up the topic, I was instantly shut down by them.  It wasn’t until this trip that, while they don’t want me to go, they aren’t stopping me.  I leave in 12 days and am anxiously anticipating getting on the plane and heading to our homeland.  There is a deep need inside of me to be back in Israel, connecting with the land and my people to help start healing my Jewish neshamah (soul). 

Many people have asked why I would subject myself to watching the 47-minute Hamas video.  And then also watch the Nova music festival documentary.  And now Screams Before Silence, documenting the rape and abuse of women by Hamas.  My answer used to be simple.  I needed to bear witness for those who were murdered and abused.  Now it is more than that.  In a world where we already have October 7th deniers, where people are saying that Hamas had the right to murder, rape, kidnap and abuse innocent civilians, who call the war between Israel and Hamas “Bibi’s War” or “Netanyahu’s War” I have to do more than just be frustrated and angry.  How can anybody watch these atrocities, much of it filmed BY HAMAS, and hold anybody else responsible?  How can anybody who sees the actual footage, who listens to the survivors, not see the evil that is Hamas and Iran? 

In all three videos, they show the IDF arriving at the Nova massacre for the first time.  Each time I hear the soldier counting the dead as he begins to arrive, my heart breaks.  Echad, Shtyim, Shalosh, Arba, Chamesh (1, 2, 3, 4, 5).  When he looks into the food and drink tent and sees all the dead bodies strewn on the ground, the pain in his voice is palpable.  “Oh my God. Oh my God.”  His questioning plea, “Is anyone alive here?”  “Give us a sign of life.” “No signs of life.  Anyone?  Please?” is haunting as we know there is nobody alive, but he doesn’t yet know that.  In Screams Before Silence, they are interviewing him in between parts of the video.  The look on his face, the pain in his eyes, cuts deep to my soul.  I think about the students and professors on college campuses that are protesting and wonder if their watching this would make a difference.  Are their hearts and souls already too filled with hatred for Jews that somehow, they would feel satisfied that we got what we deserved.  What a terrible world we live in if that were to be true, yet I fear that it is.   

The video of the IDF first arriving at the Nova Music Festival massacre.

When I see people, particularly Jews, who focus only on what is happening in Gaza, I find myself getting angry.  They forget what happened on October 7th that was the cause of the war.  They forget or don’t believe that Hamas uses human shields.  That Hamas was shooting Gazans trying to leave the north for safety in the beginning of the war and it was Israel that created the safe corridors for them.  They don’t want to believe that Hamas would actually turn hospitals, mosques, homes, and ambulances into military structures and make them military targets.  It’s as if they have to find a way to excuse the evil that is Hamas because they can’t bear to believe that there really could be people that evil in the world.  Once again, Jews become the scapegoat.  Instead of Israel being the victim of a horrific and barbaric attack, Israel is the one in the wrong.  Instead of Hamas being war criminals for the taking of the hostages, for the rapes and brutal murders of civilians, for using human shields, for using hospitals and mosques and ambulances as military structures, it is Israel, a country that documents how much they do to minimize civilian loss of life, that gets the blame. 

When I watched Screams Before Silence, there are two moments that really stood out and impacted me.  The first was when Sheryl Sandberg, who does the interviews throughout, asks the first responders to see some of the images that they saw in person.  Each image they show her draws a more dramatic reaction from her.  You can see in her eyes and in her face the impact of the images.  She gasps at a number of them.  The first responders are telling us what she is seeing.  As horrific as the descriptions are, you can watch Sheryl’s face to see that the images are far worse.

The second is at the end of the documentary.  Sheryl moves from the interviewer seat to the one where those being interviewed sit.  You can see how much this has impacted her.  The director of the documentary comes to the seat Sheryl just left and asks her about making this film and the impact.  As Sheryl talks about the experience, tears came to my eyes.  It was incredibly moving.  I had a similar experience just watching it and I can’t imagine what it was like for her to talk to the survivors, hear their full stories, see the images that the first responders took.  It was a beautiful and powerful interview that was emotionally powerful.

Today has been full of events related to Israel and the war with Hamas.  The first lawsuit was filed against Columbia University for their failure to protect Jewish students. 

The Columbia University President set a 2 pm deadline for the end of the encampment and then let it pass with no consequences.  Senator Bernie Sanders called the war “an illegal war”, forgetting or not caring that Hamas attacked Israel on October 7th, murdering more than 1200 civilians, kidnapping more than 250 civilians and still has over 130 hostages.  A number of members of Congress are calling for the federal funding to be removed from the Universities that aren’t protecting Jewish students.  The body of an Israeli hostage was discovered near Gaza, somebody killed on October 7th that was thought to be a hostage.  At UCLA, an anonymous group built a giant screen with loudspeakers outside the UCLA protest showing footage from October 7 on a loop. 

After being instructed not to put up tents at the University of South Florida in Tampa, a few protesters decided they would anyway and were arrested.  That’s what effective leaders do, they follow the rules and regulations in place for everybody.  There are rumors of a potential peace deal brokered by Egypt. Sinwar was seen publicly in Rafah. 

Caitlyn Jenner took on the anti-Israel crowd in a publicly shared video. 

The leadership of Washington University in St. Louis put out a powerful statement about hateful protest on their campus and the arrests made because of the violation of their policies.

Israel is preparing for the ICC to issue arrest warrants for their leaders for war crimes.  The United States seems willing to sit back and allow it to happen although there are members of congress who are urging President Biden to step in and stop this farce. 

The rise of antisemitism is growing everywhere we look.  At McGill University in Canada, a man dressed up as a terrorist with a mock suicide bomb attached to his chest.  How long until they are no longer fake bombs and we see suicide bombers active in the US and Canada?

Jewish students are being blocked from entering campus at UCLA and Columbia. As students they have the right to be on campus and attend class. Their rights are being denied by people who are breaking the campus rules. Where are the Presidents of these campuses? Where are the Governors of California and New York?

We live in a world and a time where activism against prejudice and hate is more important than ever.  The truth and facts don’t seem to matter.  A group of Christians joined the pro-Israel counter protest at Columbia today.  That’s what we need.  People to stand up to hate, especially antisemitism, even when it’s not their group being targeted.  Over the past few years, I have been interviewed on the TV news about the rise in antisemitism far too often.  My message has always been the same.  We need to stand together, speak out together, against all hate.  When we allow hate to grow, we get the evil of Hamas.  We get the uninformed students at Columbia, Harvard, Yale, NYU, and many other Universities who wouldn’t dream of saying what they are about Jews about anybody else. 

The question for each of us is, what are we going to do?  Are we going to sit back and hope it goes away?  Are we going to hide so that we can try to stay safe?  Are we going to speak out, speak up, and be loud about how this is wrong?  Are we going to challenge our friends and family who spew Jew hatred couched in anti-Israel or anti-Zionism troupes?  Are we going to reach out to our US Representatives and Senators and demand that they protect not just Jewish students on campus but Jews everywhere in the United States?

I started by talking about the film Screams Before Silence.  It is something everybody should watch.  It’s not easy.  It’s painful.  It’s hard. It’s necessary.  It’s available to watch on YouTube.  I urge you to watch it.  I urge you to watch it with others.  I urge you to have your friends watch it, especially those who are critical of Israel. 

I’m doing my part with the film.  And I’m going to Israel on May 11th to not just visit my homeland but to do my part in the healing after October 7th both for myself and for Israel.  I’ll pick produce.  I’ll visit the sites of the horrific October 7th attack.  I’ll cook for IDF soldiers and serve them dinner.  I’ll be there for Yom HaZikaron (Israel’s Memorial Day) which will be very different than the other times I’ve been there for it.  I’ll be there for Yom Ha’atzmaut (Israel Independence Day) which will also be different than any other time I have been there.  I’ll spend Shabbat at the Kotel (the Western Wall).  I’ll spend time with my Israeli friends who are like family to me.  And I am planning to meet with at least one of my Palestinian friends for a powerful conversation about how we move forward. 

Wearing Tefillin and a Tallis at the Kotel (Western Wall) before I went to pray and connect spiritually

I’m not asking you to do what I’m doing.  I am asking you to do something.  Are you up for the challenge?

I took this picture – it always inspires me. I hope it inspires you to take action

Is making Aliyah the answer?

Posted on by Keith Dvorchik

I’ve been captivated by watching what is happening on the various college campuses in the United States over the last week.  I admit that when I was in college, I was not an activist.  It was the mid to late 1980s and while there were some protests on campus, it was largely calm and quiet and a wonderful place to be.  I had way too much fun and not enough studying and almost no activism.  When I began working at the University of Florida Hillel in 1998 that began to change and by the time my tenure at UF Hillel ended in 2013, I was a full-fledged campus activist.  My focus was on understanding, partnership, friendship, communication, and inclusion.  Focusing on our similarities rather than our differences became a passion of mine during those 15 years and remains one today.  So as I watch these ‘activists’ on college campuses and how the ‘leadership’ at each University chooses to handle their behavior I am fascinated by what is happening.

I grew up in an era where we had a lot of freedoms.  My mother was famous for teaching us, and our friends, that you do whatever you want as long as you were willing to pay the consequences.  It was a lesson I learned early in life and have continued to use today.  Actions have consequences.  Take the risk, accept the consequences.  This lesson is part of what I find so challenging as I watch what is happening now.

These ‘campus activists’ (I use quotes because many of them are not from the campus nor are they activists, they are imported to agitate and inflame the situation) fully expect that there will be no consequences to them for their actions.  They expect others to have consequences.  Delays in getting places.  Inability to access campus.  Having to take classes remotely.  They don’t get the permits they need or if they get them, they don’t follow the rules that are affiliated with the permit.  Their entitlement is amazing to witness. 

You see it being taught by their professors.  As the videos of professors being arrested because they thought they were above the law are shown, I find it humorous.  These entitled individuals are shocked that anybody would actually hold them accountable.  The students and the professors have grown up in a world in which nobody taught them that actions have consequences.  That if they take the risk, they have to be willing to accept the consequences.  We see it with the University Presidents who choose to allow these encampments to remain and who won’t discipline or remove the discipline from those who violate the rules.  They aren’t doing these students or professors a favor. 

Emory Professor being arrested because she isn’t follow police directions and is breaking the law

And then there are those who do hold people accountable for their actions.  President Ben Sasse at The University of Florida ensured there would be no encampment by reminding everybody in advance what the rules are and what the consequences are for violating them.  Nobody questioned whether he would enforce the consequences of their actions and as a result, free speech was maintained as was the safety of Jewish students.  At places like The University of Minnesota, The University of Texas and Emory University, those violating the rules and/or breaking laws were arrested.  When they chose not to listen to the police officers, they were forcibly removed.  That’s the real world.  Actions have consequences. 

Growing up in the 70s and 80s, I admit my generation was different.  It’s something that we need to look back upon and see how far we have gone off the rails in the name of ‘protecting’ our children.  This video, while intended as humor, also shows the difference.

@graeson.mcgaha.comedy

Gen x and the generational hate war #genx #80s #80sbaby #genxcrew #genxtiktokers #genxcrazytrain #fyp #fypシ #80smusic #80sthrowback #genxmom #genxmom

♬ original sound – Graeson Mcgaha Comedy

The rise of hate speech isn’t new, and it doesn’t begin in 2016 with Donald Trump like many want to believe.  For proof, I offer this 2010 letter to the Editor that I wrote in the University of Florida campus newspaper, The Alligator, calling out hate speech

It was more civil in 2010

In July 2014, the Pacific Northwest head of the National Rifle Association (NRA) came out and said that The Holocaust wouldn’t have happened if Jews had guns in Nazi Germany.  At the time, I called the statement, “Idiotic, simplistic, and simply wrong.”  I stand by those words today.   More Nazis would have been killed but likely more Jews as well.  It was a statement based on the belief that Jews are weak and won’t fight back and need guns in order to be allowed to exist.  I’m not anti-gun at all.  You can ask those who know me.  I am anti-hate and anti-stupidity.  As a child, my mom would often complain that I had no tolerance for stupid people, and it caused me problems then as it does today.   Smart people can act stupidly at times.  We see that today.  My fight with the NRA in 2016 over this person’s comment and antisemitism got national attention and you can read about it in the Seattle Times.  Or just google me and the NRA and it comes up. 

https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/jewish-group-says-gun-remarks-lsquoidiotic-simplistic-and-wrongrsquo

And since 2014 it has gotten much less civil.  On June 26, 2016, this op-Ed I co-wrote was published in the Seattle Times. 

https://www.seattletimes.com/opinion/recognize-and-speak-out-against-anti-semitism

A few weeks later, on July 10, 2016, the following response denying and minimizing the rise in antisemitism was published.

https://www.seattletimes.com/opinion/dont-believe-that-washington-state-is-awash-in-anti-semitism

Over the last 8 years it pretty clear that I was right and the author of the second piece, who likely approves of the antisemitic, hate filled, violence driven campus actions, was wrong.  Some people won’t learn even when they are the target.

Seven (7) years ago we got this warning from the UAE’s Foreign Minister and failed to heed it.  It helps explain why were are where we are today.

Today we see elected officials like US Representative Ilhan Omar (D-MN) join the antisemitic and violent gathering at Columbia and publicly make the following statement while facing no serious consequences.

“I think it is really unfortunate that people don’t care about the fact that all Jewish kids should be kept safe and that we should not have to tolerate antisemitism or bigotry for all Jewish students, whether they are pro-genocide or anti-genocide.”

While she is trying to say that Israel is committing genocide, a factual lie.  In reality it was Hamas who did commit a genocide on October 7th.  And intended to kill more Jews.  And has openly stated that they will continue to kill Jews until they are all eliminated.  That is the definition of genocide.  Yet Rep. Ilhan Omar faces no backlash.

We see Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Ortiz (AOC) (D-NY) also visit the Columbia cesspool of hate and then posting on X (Twitter)

“Calling in police enforcement on nonviolent demonstrations of young students on campus is an escalatory, reckless, and dangerous act. It represents a heinous failure of leadership that puts people’s lives at risk. I condemn it in the strongest possible terms.”

They are peaceful to her as a woman of color who isn’t Jewish.  In this case, she is the one with the privilege she often rails against.  Calling the police on people breaking the law is what we do in the United States, unless you live in New York.  Enforcing our laws is what happens in countries ruled by laws unless you live in New York.  I do agree with her that we have a ‘heinous failure of leadership that puts people’s lives at risk’ but I assign that failure of leadership to Columbia University President Manouche Shafik who chooses daily not to enforce the rules of Columbia.  I assign it to the leadership of Columbia University who continue to allow President Shafik to remain in her role when she is showing daily that she isn’t able to do her job and protect ALL students, which includes Jewish students. 

Representative Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) was also at Columbia University, not protecting the Jewish students from his district but to encourage those breaking the law and violating Columbia’s policies to continue doing it.  To continue to chant things like ‘Death to America’ and ‘We are all Hamas’.  To harass and threaten Jewish students.  As one Jewish student recounted,

“They were pushing and shoving me. . . They threw rocks at my face. At that moment, my life was totally threatened. And there was no safety authority on campus.”

At least Representative Bowman is losing his primary race and will hopefully not be in office in just a few months.

I grew up in a Zionist home with parents and grandparents who were Zionists.  We all support the existence of a Jewish homeland, the State of Israel.  The fact that there was a country that we could be a citizen of just by showing up sounded really amazing and empowering.  The thought of actually making Aliyah, moving to Israel and claiming citizenship, was a fantasy throughout my youth.  My cousin actually did it in 1980 and was the outlier we all used as our token Israeli relative.  During and after college I had a few friends who made Aliyah and I thought it was cool for them.  During my 15 years at UF Hillel I had many students who chose to make Aliyah, become lone soldiers and serve in the Israeli Defense Force (IDF).  It wasn’t until the 2000s that I thought maybe some day it would actually be something that I would want to do.  The more I went to Israel, the more time I spent there, the more the fantasy became a dream and maybe even a goal and objective. 

Just a couple of years ago, in my mid-50s, I realized that I didn’t really want to make Aliyah.  It was a fantasy.  I wanted to live as an American in Israel.  Expensive apartment.  Eating dinner out at fancy restaurants.  Not have a real job to go to every day.  I changed my fantasy to spending a month in Israel every year at some point.  That seemed more realistic.  It became something to being to save and plan for.  I knew my wife would never really want to make Aliyah and be that far from our kids and her parents and siblings but a month a year was something I could discuss with her. 

Since October 7th, I have been questioning everything.  As America becomes more and more unsafe for Jews, my fantasy of being an American spending a month in Israel every year has gone back to considering if maybe we did need to move there in order to be safe.  A country under attack from at least 4 fronts (Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis in Yemen, and Iran), in an active war zone, was safer than America.  What a scary thought.   Yet I also know I am not the only one who struggles with that concept and that thought.  I talk about it with friends.  We look back at those who saw the signs in Germany and Europe and left when it was possible compared to those who were stubborn and stayed until they went to the death camps and want to learn from their sacrifice.  From their murder. 

And then I find Arabs speaking out against Hamas and trying to speak sense to these radicalized students and professors.  People like my friend Ali Abu-Awaad.  People like Loay Alshareef, who I have reached out to, who is traveling to campuses all over America and posting on social media. Watch a few of his posts and you may have hope that there is a future with peace.

So maybe I need to stay and fight.  Maybe there is a third option that our ancestors in Germany and Europe didn’t have.  Instead of running to safety or sticking our heads in the sand, maybe we can stand up together and fight back.  We can be the nonviolent version of Mordechai Anielewicz, who at 20 years old was trying to get Jews to return and fight against the Nazis.  Who just before he turned 20 began to fight back in the Warsaw Ghetto.  And who at 23 led the actual uprising against the Nazis.  Their valiant effort didn’t defeat the Nazis but it showed that Jews could and would fight back.  It inspired the future leaders of the new State of Israel to fight and defend themselves.  He and those who fought with him inspire me not give up hope and to keep fighting. 

Mordechai Anielewicz didn’t do it along.  There were other leaders who joined him.  Icchak Cukierman, Tosia Altman, Marek Edelman, Cywia Lubetkin

One of the great things about being Jewish is we have thousands of years of role models. Not just the biblical ones we learn about but recent ones like Mordechai Aneilewicz. Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Natan Sharansky. David Ben Gurion. Moshe Dayan. Golda Meir. Elie Wiesel. Betty Freidan. Harvey Milk. Louis Brandeis. Judy Blume. Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel. There are many more. And that’s just recent role models.

I choose to follow the role models I mentioned and fight. I choose to not give up and not be quiet. I choose the third option. What will you choose?

Responsibility and Leadership go hand in hand. We need both and have far too little of each.

Posted on by Keith Dvorchik

I’ve been thinking a lot about responsibility lately.  Personal responsibility, parental responsibility, spousal responsibility, family responsibility, community responsibility and worldwide responsibility.  What about the responsibilities as a leader and of our leaders?

I was inspired to think about this by a number of different things happening right now.  The lack of leadership being shown by University Presidents both in their testimony in front of Congress and recently with the pro-Hamas demonstrations on many campuses.  Columbia University gets the most attention, but they are going on at 40 campuses, highlighted by Harvard, Penn, Brown, The University of Michigan, Yale, MIT, Cal Tech, Northwestern, and George Washington. We have also seen University Presidents and administrators break up these protests at University of Minnesota, University of Texas at Austin, University of Southern California, Emory, Princeton, and Emerson College.  The difference in the two groups of campuses is entirely based upon the University’s leadership.

Columbia University has turned into a cesspool of antisemitism and Jew hatred. Much of this is due to a lack of leadership from the University President.

There is little doubt that had these encampments been created to protest any other ethnic group in existence, all of the Universities would have shut them down.  An anti-LGBTQ+, anti-Muslim, anti-Black, anti-Christian, anti-Hispanic, or anti-woman protest with racial/sexual epithets being shouted at these students and threats of violence along with actual violence would not be tolerated.  So, what is the difference?  Why is it ok when it’s Jews being targeted?

Many people say it’s the influx of Arab money, specifically from Qatar.  Others cite the latent antisemitism that has existed for generations at many of these schools.  Still others cite the woke movement in which Jews are considered white and privileged and not deserving of protection.  While all these play a part, I think it is entirely about a lack of leadership at these Universities.  The leadership of those Universities are choosing not to protect Jewish students and instead protect the racists, bigots, and those assaulting other students.  Columbia actually created an arguably apartheid situation where Jewish students must take classes and final exams online while those who harass and attack them are allowed to take them in person.  The lack of leadership enables and encourages bad behavior.  The lack of leadership means there is no consequence for inappropriate actions.  After giving a midnight deadline for the encampment to be taken down, Columbia President Minouche Shafik promptly did not enforce it and a few days later, nothing has happened.  That’s a serious lack of leadership.  USC cancelled graduation ceremonies because they can’t control the protestors.  That’s a serious lack of leadership.  At the Universities where there were involved leadership, these encampments were taken down, often by law enforcement, those not following the campus rules and regulations were arrested and face consequences.  Their graduation ceremonies are not in jeopardy of being cancelled. In a country ruled by law, this is how things need to be handled. 

Compare that to the University of Florida, where the Chabad Seder had over 1,000 in attendance, including UF President Ben Sasse. President Sasse addressed the crowd, stating, “What is happening on campus at Columbia and Yale the last few days is grotesque, and we don’t want anyone here to be confused.  We are delighted that the University of Florida is the most Jewish campus anyplace in North America.  We don’t want anyone to be unsafe, or to feel unsafe….”  That’s leadership.  Two sentences is what it took.  And there is no doubt that had he been speaking to any other group that was facing similar situations that he would have said the same about and to them. 

UF President Ben Sasse at the 1000+ person Chabad Seder on campus. He continues to show great leadership.

This week, an anti-Israel, anti-Jewish protest happened on the campus of University of Florida.  Why is it not in the news?  Because the leadership of UF did what leaders do.  They led.  They set in place the enforcement of their campus rules and regulations THAT WERE ALREADY IN PLACE.  They promised to hold students, faculty, and anybody else attending the rally accountable for their actions.  Look at the rules that UF published for everybody to see and follow.  There was no encampment at UF, no violence and calls for death of Jews. Free speech is being permitted.  That is how leaders act. 

University of Florida shared the existing rules for any gathering and the consequences for not following them. This should be the expectation for all Universities.

It’s not just on the college campuses where leadership is missing.  President Biden finally made a big deal about the hostages held by Hamas on Thursday April 25th when he issued a statement along with leaders of 17 other nations calling for their release.  Why it took over 200 days of captivity for this to happen is beyond me. 

How we still have members of Congress calling the war between Hamas and Israel “Bibi’s War” or “Netanyahu’s War” is beyond me.  Hamas began the war on October 7th with their attack.  If Hamas released the hostages and surrendered, the war would be over.  This is Hamas’s war.  This is Iran’s war.  Israel is doing what is needed to protect herself but has not nor been the aggressor.  While we have seen some of our leaders being very public about the war and antisemitism on campus, particularly Senators John Fetterman (D-PA) and Rick Scott (R-FL) along with Rep Ritchie Torres (D-NY), Hakeem Jefferies (D-NY), Cory Mills (R-FL), and Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), many others have been silent or playing both sides for election politics.  That’s not leadership.  Hamas and Iran are evil.  The people of Gaza and Iran want regime change.  Instead, we get Rep Nancy Pelosi and Sen Chuck Schumer calling for early elections in Israel, which is totally inappropriate for an ally and another democracy. 

President Eisenhower is the example of what is needed.  Jason Riley in the Wall Street Journal says it best:

“In 1957, white mobs in Little Rock, Ark., in defiance of the [Brown vs. Board of Education] ruling, were preventing black students from safely attending school. President Dwight Eisenhower decided to do something about it. In a prime-time television address, the president explained that ‘demagogic extremists’ and ‘disorderly mobs’ were thwarting the law and that he had an ‘inescapable’ responsibility to respond if Arkansas officials refused to protect black students. ‘Mob rule cannot be allowed to override the decisions of our courts,’ he said. Then Eisenhower sent in the 101st Airborne Division. The particulars then and now may differ, but the same principle is at stake. The federal government was obligated to come to the aid of an ethnic minority group being threatened by mob violence. Jews in 2024 deserve no less protection than blacks in 1957. And if university officials can’t handle the situation, or won’t let police deal properly with the unrest, Mr. Biden needs to step up.”

When will our leaders actually lead instead of worrying about re-election campaigns?  I’ve said for a long time that I want leaders who lead and will support them for doing it.  And when they worry about being re-elected instead of doing their job, I won’t.  It goes back to the classic line in the movie, The American President, when Michael Douglas as President Andrew Shepard, says the following line, “I was so busy keeping my job I forgot to do my job.”  It’s time for our leaders to remember to do their job instead of being busy keeping their job.

The full speech that includes the line above. Inspired leadership.

Recently, Representative Jamaal Bowman (D-NY), an avid antisemite, began accusing those who disagree with him and are supporting his primary opponent, George Latimer, of only doing so because of his race.  We cannot tolerate this any longer.  Rep. Bowman has a history that is being attacked which has nothing to do with his race or ethnicity.  He has taken public stands that people disagree with and that’s why he is being targeted in the primary and that’s why he will hopefully lose the primary.  When our leaders fall to this level of excuse, it minimizes the situations when it is real.  When students are targeted on college campuses.  When a Jewish woman is raped in France to ‘Free Palestine’.  When people are attacked for being Jewish or wearing things that identify them as Jewish, Muslim, or a member of the LGBTQ+ community. 

Even J Street finds Jamaal Bowman not worthy of being in Congress

Our Jewish communities struggle with leadership as well.  The time when significant leaders went through a serious training process and there were being mentored and trained by significant and serious leaders is gone.  In some communities there are still roles and a pathway to leadership positions.  In most there is not.  Whoever is willing to take the board leadership position often gets it, whether they have the training, experience, and knowledge or not.  The serious involvement in the National Young Leadership Cabinet of JFNA is no longer emphasized by most Jewish organizations. 

Our Jewish professionals are not getting the training they need either.  There are some excellent programs available however not enough of them nor are there enough participating.  I was lucky to have an incredible mentor/coach when I was first beginning my career.  He spent a week a month on the road with me for an entire year and we spoke weekly when we were not together.  I learned at his feet, and I will always appreciate his mentorship and teachings.  I still think of the lessons he taught me and hear his voice in my head on a regular basis, guiding the decisions that I make.  As I have now taken on that role for others, it is a combination of my profession and paying it forward.  If we want to have excellent Jewish communal leaders, investing in our volunteer and professional leadership training and development is essential.  Great leaders don’t just happen.  They are taught.  They are given experiences and responsibilities to build upon and grow and develop.  I talk with a number of my friends and former colleagues about the challenges in the Jewish world and leadership is one of the big ones. 

I always think of the stories I heard about the old guard in Seattle.  The “triumvirate” of Seattle, Jack Benaroya, Sam Stroum, and Herman Sarkowsky, would make sure that the people they did business with who were Jewish were investing philanthropically in the Jewish community.  They would make sure that anybody who was going to ‘make it big’ in a deal with them, understood that part of their new wealth included a responsibility to philanthropy and giving back.  If people didn’t want to follow their lead, they would do business with other people instead.  They taught many of the large philanthropists of today about the importance of giving.  Some of those they taught also taught others.  Far too few people do that today.  Without the guidance and training from ‘the old guard’, there will be no ‘new guard’. 

Which brings me to my favorite leadership development program, The Jewish Leadership Institute (JLI).  Founded more than 30 years ago by Rabbi Mayer Abramowitz (z”l) and now run by his son and my friend David Abramowitz, this is the premier leadership training program in the country for college students.  Taking students to Israel for 2-3 weeks for an immersive and intensive leadership development program, they get results.  I admit I am biased.  I had the privilege of sending students on this trip for the 15 years that I ran University of Florida Hillel and got the benefit of the experience when they returned.  It changed their lives.  It changed our campus.  And it continues to change the world as the students who had the experience are now adults and making a difference in the world.  There is going to be a trip in July 2024 (July 2-16) and this incredibly subsidized trip (only $395 INCLUDING AIRFARE FROM MIAMI) will change lives, change college campuses, and change the world.  I encourage Jewish student campus leaders to apply and go. 

JLI participants. This program changes lives and changes the world.

In addition, we are working on a JLI young leadership trip in early 2025.  This will also be a highly subsidized trip and I can’t wait to share more information about this as it is developed and confirmed.  As somebody who believes in leadership development, believes in leadership training, mentoring, and role modeling, I am excited to work on this with David and make it into a reality. 

Leadership and responsibility go hand in hand.  We have many people who have the title ‘leader’ but are not.  In the words of Winston Churchill, “The price of greatness is responsibility.”  Many of our ‘leaders’ merely think they are great but shirk their responsibility.  Those who are truly great, embrace the responsibility.  I found this quote by Warren Bennis and Burt Nanus about great leaders and believe it to be true. 

“While great leaders may be as rare as great runners, great actors, or great painters, everyone has leadership potential, just as everyone has some ability at running, acting, and painting.”

Leadership potential doesn’t become true leadership without training, mentoring, and guidance.  The same is true with responsibility.  People don’t understand responsibility and how to act that way without training, mentoring, and guidance.  We’ve seen enough of our ‘leaders’ exhibit no leadership and no responsibility.  It is time for us to change that by investing in our future leaders.  By holding our current leaders accountable for their actions.  For not settling for what we can get but demanding what we desire.  It’s only through our efforts to improve our future leaders and to hold our current leaders accountable that we will get the change we so desperately need.

We don’t live in interesting times, we live in dark times.

Posted on by Keith Dvorchik

Many things feel differently this year.  October 7th changed everything.  As a Jew, it was a personal Kristallnacht, Pearl Harbor Day, 9/11.  In my life I’ve had a number of days that I thought were like this.  Three Mile Island and the possible meltdown (I lived 10 miles away in Harrisburg, PA at the time).  The day that Ronald Reagan was shot (I watched the news on a small black and white TV at the Harrisburg JCC outside the locker rooms).  September 11th.  None of them were close.

As we approached Passover this year, the term freedom meant something entirely different.  Hostages remain in Gaza.  How many are alive, we do not know.  I have 3 friends that each have a relative that remain a hostage and 3 other friends that have relatives that were hostages that have been released.  For the families where the hostages were released, there is freedom.  For those still kept as hostages and their families, there is no freedom.  For those of us who are a part of the global Jewish community, we have no freedom as long as the hostages remain in Gaza, kept by Hamas.  As we told the story of exodus from Mitzrayim, the dark place often translated as Egypt, I wondered what the story of the exodus of the hostages will be.  When will we be able to tell it? 

I thought of the 1972 Olympics in Munich when the 11 Israeli athletes were murdered.  Israel responded against Black September with Operation Wrath of God to hold those involved accountable.  When the Air France plane was hijacked and taken to Entebbe Airport in Uganda, those passengers not deemed to be Jewish or Israeli were released and those who were thought to be Jewish or Israeli kept, Israel responded with a classic and mythical raid to free them.  The hostages were safe and only one IDF solider, Yoni Netanyahu (Bibi’s older brother) was killed.  Bold action to keep Israelis and Jews safe.

Success – the raid on Entebbe

The world understood vicious terrorism and how to counteract it.  When terrorism began to hit Europe and then the United States on 9/11, I mistakenly thought that both Europe and the US would really understand the impact and how important it is to eliminate evil.  I was hopeful that this would lead to a worldwide effort to eliminate terrorists and make the world a safer place for all.  Boy was I naïve.  The conspiracy theorists began blaming Israel for the attacks on 9/11.  Still, it was a fringe group, and I maintained my hope.  Boy, was I mistaken.

Charlottesville and George Floyd had to show America and the world the danger of hate.  How to get off the path we somehow got on that encouraged hate.  The mainstream middle of the road people had to rise up against the extremism on the right and the left to demand common sense return.  I wanted to believe that the desire to live in a world without extremism existed and there was a large mass of people who would be willing to stand up and speak out.  People would join together because they agreed on far more than they disagreed.  Friendship would win out and people would talk with their friends because relationships matter.  Instead, friendships ended.  People separated even more. 

Covid happened.  Open states vs. closed states.  Vaccines vs. no-vaccines.  At a time when I wondered if we could be divided any more, I learned that yes, we can.  Once again, the antisemites began the ‘Covid was created by the Jews’ campaign.  I saw it firsthand when they protested at the JCC.  When they protested at a local Chabad.  When they wore Nazi uniforms at Disney and by the entrance to the University of Central Florida.  When they hung banners from the overpasses on I-4.  This division enabled the antisemites to be more vocal, bolder, and more visible.

The attack by Hamas on October 7th was traumatizing to most Jews.  In the words of Ambassador Michael Oren, the covenant created between the State of Israel and the Jewish people in 1948 was violated.  Both “Never Again” and “The IDF will always be there” were not true.  Hamas video recorded their atrocities and posted them online.  Surely the world would see terrorism for what it was.  Surely the world would see evil and respond. 

Respond they did.  But not as I expected nor as I hoped.  The blaming of Israel began immediately.  The lies and untruths began almost immediately.  “It was because of the occupation.”  Except Gaza hasn’t been occupied since 2005.  “It was because of the blockade.”  The blockade, by Israel AND EGYPT is to attempt to stop the flow of rockets and explosives and terrorists into Gaza.  Food and medical supplies were plentiful.  When Israel responded with targeted attacks, it became “genocide” even though the number of civilians killed AS REPORTED BY HAMAS was well below the UN and Red Cross’s 9-1 ratio.  Lies, repeated over and over again, become accepted as truth and we began to fight against them. 

Hamas has reduced the number to 22,000. Another 4,000 statistically died of natural causes. The ratio is below 1:1 now.

Recently we have seen horrific actions on the campus of Columbia University.  The University President, Minouche Shafik, had just testified in front of Congress.  While she was better than the prior University Presidents who testified before Congress, she wasn’t good.  When the protests began on campus, she showed no leadership.  She eventually called in the NYPD to enforce their rules but then wouldn’t let them back on campus.  An Israeli professor had his access to campus revoked.  Jewish students were advised by a campus Rabbi to go home.  Jewish students are now virtual while the antisemites get to go to class in person.  It is a hot mess of antisemitism.  Luckily some of our Representatives and Senators are calling it out and calling for the removal of their Federal funding.  We are at a tenuous time.  If campuses are not held accountable for their failure to protect Jewish students, we will continue to mirror 1930’s Germany.  At the University of Minnesota, they took down the antisemitic protests within 5 hours!  It can be done.   Our voices must be amplified.  We must speak up loudly against those who claim this is free speech.  Even free speech has limitations and advocating and calling for the murder of Jewish students and Jews in general is not allowed nor should it be acceptable.  It certainly would not be acceptable for any other group.  Alumni are pulling donations.  It’s not enough.  We need to call our Representatives and Senators and demand that Federal funding be withheld as long as they won’t ensure the safety of Jewish students and faculty.  You can’t bar a Jewish professor while inviting a Hamas terrorist onto campus the same day.  Columbia did that.  They need to be held accountable.  Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued this statement today – that’s how bad it has gotten.  The Israeli Prime Minister, in the middle of a war on multiple fronts, is taking time to address the Jew hatred in the US and on our college campuses.  Civilized people should be embarrassed. 

Today, Hamas released a video of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, an American taken hostage by Hamas over 200 days ago.  An American who is being left to languish by our government.  He isn’t the only American hostage.   Edan Alexander, Itai Chen, Sagui Dekel-Chen, Omer Neutra,  and Keith Siegel are the others.  We cannot forget their names.  We cannot forget that they are kept in deplorable conditions by terrorists along with the other hostages kidnapped by Hamas.  I hope this video is actually recent.  His reference to ‘the holiday’ concerns me as he doesn’t say Pesach, indicating it could have been filmed anytime.  He says 200 days, but they could have told him that a long time ago.  Being kept underground in awful conditions means it is easy to lose track of time.  My heart breaks for his family.  For the families of all the hostages.    Watch if you want – it’s not easy – and pray for his safety and the safe return of all the hostages.

Hersh Goldberg-Polin before being taken hostage and in the video released today.

Passover is a holiday about freedom.  But more than just freedom.  It’s about action.  Moses didn’t have to kill the Egyptian overseer that was beating a Jew.  He didn’t have to return to Egypt to free the Jews.  Nachshon didn’t have to be the one to unwaveringly walk into the Red Sea, believing in God, showing the faith in God that resulted in the splitting of the sea.  At Mount Sinai, the Jews didn’t have to create the Golden Calf, but they did, and suffered the consequences.  Each year, we tell the story of redemption from slavery, of our exodus from Egypt, or as Mitzrayim mean, from darkness.  We are in a time of darkness now.  We have hostages being held brutally by Hamas in tunnels, receiving no medical care, minimal food, no sunlight.  Who knows what brutality the women hostages are facing – it’s almost too much to even imagine.  The antisemitism Jewish students are facing on many campuses is horrific.  The lack of leadership is atrocious. 

In the Passover Seder we talk about the lessons some of the great Rabbis taught us.  It’s important to think of the lessons we are learning now that our Rabbis will record and will be shared hundreds of years in the future.  We included empty seats at our Seder table for the hostages.  We put up pictures of the Bibas family.  They are a family of 4 with 2 boys.  We are a family of 4 with 2 boys.  My children are about the same age difference as the Bibas boys (3 years apart).  They couldn’t have a Seder in the tunnels so symbolically had them at our Seder.  We talked about the BIbas family.  The age of the children.  How they were all taken together.  How we hoped they were still alive but were afraid they were not.  We are not the timid Jews of the past.  We are not willing to go to the gas chambers willingly.  We will not allow ourselves to be attacked – in Israel by Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, or Iran or in the United States on college campuses or in Europe.  We will not stay quiet and hope it goes away.  These are lessons we learned over the past 75 years that won’t go away.  We finish the Seder by saying “L’shana Haba’ah B’Yerushalayim – Next year in Jerusalem.”  For me it’s next month in Jerusalem.  I’ve need to be in Israel since October 7th and next month will be able to return.  Visiting Israel often is also a lesson we have learned in the past 75 years and if you haven’t been, I urge you to go.  And if you have been but haven’t been back recently, I urge you to return. 

Yarden and Ariel Bibas – we put them on one chair because Ariel would sit on Yarden’s lap for comfort
Shiri and Kfir Bibas – they had one chair as well as I can’t imagine Shiri would not hold him.

I used to say that these were ‘interesting times’ and we were dealing with the ancient Chinese curse, “May you live in interesting times.”.  I no longer think that.  We live in dark times.  We live in Mitzrayim.  We have members of the US House of Representatives spreading lies about Israel and the IDF.  We have college campuses not safe for Jews and University Presidents who won’t keep them safe.  A Jewish woman was raped in France this week to ‘Free Palestine’ – how raping a Jewish woman frees Palestine is beyond me.  Jews are being assaulted in Europe and the United States just for being Jewish.  A Jewish man in the UK was threatened with arrest because he looked Jewish and that might incite those supporting Hamas. 

In this dark time, we need to fight for the light.  We need to be Warriors of Light (watch for more about this in the future).  We need to fight for what is good and righteous.  We need to fight evil no matter the cost.  I’m not saying it is easy because it isn’t.  And I am not saying there is no price to be paid for it because there is.  The alternative is death.  The alternative is a return to the gas chambers, to the final solution.  The alternative is unacceptable.  So in these dark times, let me leave you with a little light.  At the University of Florida, where I was the Hillel Director for 15 years, there were more than 1,000 students who attended a Passover Seder held by Chabad in the O’Connell Center (the basketball arena).  The University President, Ben Sasse, was in attendance.  Look at these pictures and smile because campuses don’t have to be the way Columbia is.  University Presidents can lead and protect Jewish students.  We have the proof it can be done, so now let’s go do it. (Pictures from the Gainesville Sun).

UF President Ben Sasse, right, takes a selfie with a student during the annual Passover Seder at The O’Connell Center on Monday night in Gainesville. The event was organized and sponsored by the Chabad UF Jewish Student Center. The Passover Seder was the largest in North America.
UF President Ben Sasse wasn’t there for a photo op. He stayed for the Seder at The O’Connell Center on Monday night in Gainesville.
The crowd at Passover Seder at UF – more than 1,000 students gathering together.
Students call their families and take pictures during the annual Seder at The O’Connell Center in Gainesville.
My friend, Rabbi Berl Goldman speaking during the Seder.
My friend, Chabad Rabbi Berl Goldman and UF President Ben Sasse speaking to the more than 1,000 students at Seder this year.
Rabbi Berl Goldman chants “Its great to be a Jewish Florida Gator” during the Seder. If only other Universities could say the same thing about being Jewish there.
Jewish students at UF lighting candles for Pesach – openly being Jewish is ok at University of Florida.
Students drinking one of the 4 cups of wine at Seder.
Breaking the mazoh for the Afikomen
Seder plate at UF Seder

Bayard Rustin, the March on Washington, October 7th and antisemitism. How do they connect?

Posted on by Keith Dvorchik

I’ve written about Bayard Rustin a few times since I learned about him. He was an incredible friend to the Jewish people and an avid Zionist, even visiting Israel and meeting with then Prime Minister Golda Meir.  I decided to watch the new movie about his life, focusing on how he made the March on Washington occur.  It’s available on Netflix.

Watch the trailer

I was stunned as I watched the opening scenes of the movie which depict the end of segregation and the first time African Americans were attending the same schools at white students.  Not because of how awful and vile what happened at that time was.  Not because of the suffering those students went through to bravely fight for their right to equal opportunity.  I was stunned because it looked exactly like what Jewish students are facing on college campuses today.  People yelling in their face.  Calling them names.  Treating them like second class citizens.  It was horrible and unacceptable then.  It is horrible and unacceptable now.  Yet it’s happening every single day on college campuses across the country and in Canada. 

Jewish students forced to hide and barricade themselves in the library at Cooper Union in NY.

Bayard Rustin was the brains and genius behind the march of Washington, DC where Dr. King gave his “I have a dream speech”.  He talked about having the largest peaceful protest in history – 100,000 people on the National Mall (the actual number was 250,000).  After October 7th, I was part of 300,000 people who gathered together peacefully in Washington, DC., in support of Israel and the Jewish people.  When it was announced, I knew I had to be there.  I knew that I wanted to be able to tell my future grandchildren that I was there.  I wanted to be a role model for my children, nephews, and nieces, that I went and was part of it.  It felt like a big hug, being there with signs supporting Israel and demanding the release of the hostages.  Singing Hatikvah with 300,000 people was something I will never forget.  History repeats itself – in 1963 it was the March on Washington for civil rights.  In 2023 it was the rally for Israel with 300,000 people gathering to not just support Israel and the Jewish people but support each other. 

There is a scene in the movie where Bayard tries to get the NAACP on board with the march.  The head of the NAACP, Roy Wilkins, was afraid of what might happen if they had 100,000 ‘Negroes’ coming to Washington to protest.  In the scene, they talk about other marches with far fewer people and highlight one, from 1932, done by WWI veterans.  President Hoover unleashed the military to break up the march.  Using tear gas and bayonets, the military chased away the veterans and those supporting them, burning their shanty towns in the process.  Wilkins asks in the movie, “what was their race?”   The answer, “they were white.”  His fear of what might happen led the NAACP to say no to the march.  We face the same thing today in the Jewish community.  We have many communal leaders, many Jewish stars in sports, entertainment, and politics, who are afraid to take a bold position after October 7th, with the rise of antisemitism everywhere, out of fear of what might happen to them.  This fear paralyzes us and results in more damage occurring to Israel and the Jewish people everywhere.  It’s ok to be afraid, it’s not ok to let that fear paralyze us into inaction.  As Jews, we have thousands of years of history that shows us what happens when we live in fear, when we don’t act, when we just try to be a part of some other society and don’t stand up and fight for ourselves when threatened.  I made the decision after October 7th to not be paralyzed by fear.  I made the decision to speak out against the evil of Hamas and of the Iranian leaders.  I made the decision to call out antisemitism whenever and wherever I see it.  It’s an ongoing conversation in my family as they are concerned about what some crazy, hate filled person might do.  How I may be targeted.  How my family may be targeted.  One thing I know from our Jewish history is that if we stay silent, we will all end up being targeted, we will all end up being harmed.  I’m not willing to repeat the mistakes of the past.  Bayard Rustin wasn’t willing to accept being paralyzed by the fear of what might happen at the march.  He knew that doing nothing would result in a far worse outcome.  I hope we, as Jews, can learn from his leadership and not be afraid to stand up for ourselves, to speak out, to call out those who hate us and wish to harm us. 

As they talk about what date to hold the march, the first suggestion is a Monday.  Bayard replies, “Mondays are hard for our Pastors.”  He then adds, “and Fridays are bad for our Jewish friends.”  It’s a great reminder that as Jews, we were active in the civil rights movement.  We played an important role and built a strong relationship with the African American community.  In the years since then, for whatever reason, that relationship has deteriorated.  We, as the Jewish community, don’t have the relationships we need with many other groups.  We do with the Evangelical Christian community because THEY have been active supporters of Israel.   We have neglected our relationships with other groups.  As a large community, we are absent on MLK Day and the celebrations.  As a group, we are not there during Pride month.  As a group, we are not joining our Muslim brothers for their community Iftars during Ramadan.  Because we have neglected these relationships, we see many of these groups not being there for us when we need them.  It’s our responsibility to be there for them before we need them to be there for us.  Bayard Rustin showed that when he was considerate of Shabbat and that if the march was on a Friday, the Jewish community couldn’t be there.  He knew we’d be there for them if he was thoughtful first.  I hope that we can learn to invest in these relationships outside the Jewish community.  We are so hyper-focused on what’s going on inside the Jewish community that we are not ensuring the relationships we need outside the Jewish community are strong. 

Bayard Rustin with Prime Minister Golda Meir during his visit to Israel in 1969

The movie has 2 scenes in which Senator Strom Thurmond plays a key role.  In the first, he makes allegations against Dr. King about being a communist because Bayard Rustin, one of his close friends, was involved with the communist party earlier in his life.  This false allegation was designed to stop the march and to create problems for Dr. King.  The second is when he goes on the radio to ‘out’ Bayard Rustin as a ‘pervert’ due to his conviction for engaging in homosexual sex to attempt to stop the march from happening.  It’s very similar to the false allegations against Israel being made by Representatives Rashida Talib, Ilhan Omar, Cori Bush, Jamal Bowman, Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, and many others today.  Senator Thurmond was a known racist.  The Representatives I mentioned above are known antisemites.  Bayard fought against Senator Thurmond and wouldn’t allow him to win.  Today, we must do the same against these antisemites in our own government.  We can’t allow them to win.  We can’t excuse their statements or their behavior. 

There are two very powerful lines in the movie that apply to our Jewish community today.  The first is when Bayard Rustin says to Dr. King, “when we tell ourselves such lies, start to live and believe such lies, we do the work of our oppressor by oppressing ourselves.”  We have far too many people in our Jewish community who tell themselves lies about Israel and Zionism, who live and believe these lies, and not only do the work of antisemites but do it better than they do.  It is our obligation to confront these lies in our own community.  It is responsibility to make sure that members of our Jewish community are educated with the facts, not with the lies that Jew haters tell.  Bayard Rustin knew that about his community.  I hope we learn that lesson for ours.

The second line I am referring to also comes from Bayard Rustin speaking to Dr. King in the scene when he says, “on the day I was born black, I was also born homosexual.  They either believe in freedom and justice for all, or they do not.”  The same holds true today.  Countries either have a right to defend themselves or they do not.  Countries either have a right to make peace with their enemies through direct negotiations or they do not.  Countries either get to have their democratic election processes or they do not.  Israel cannot be held to a different standard than every other country in the world.  When they do that, just like Bayard Rustin knew about freedom for all people, they are being antisemitic and going against the values they say they believe in.  We cannot let them get away with it.  Bayard stood up and spoke out and got the support from those he needed to speak out as well.  We need to do the same.  We cannot allow the double standard to continue to exist.  We must demand our leaders, both political and those with large followings, do the same and speak out.  We must condemn those who use the double standard to hide their antisemitism.  It is not up to others to do this.  It is up to us. 

Near the end of the movie, the 10 heads of the committee for the March on Washington are invited to the White House to meet with President Kennedy.  Somebody says that Bayard should be with him.  Bayard already won – the March happened and was a huge success.  He declines and says he is going to pick up trash.   The rest leave to meet the President and he takes a bag and begins to pick up trash.  The young people who follow him are shown with admiration in their eyes.  They get it.  It is about the work.  It is about making things happen and driving change.  Who gets the credit isn’t important to those who really want change.  The same holds true for the Jewish community.  You see this more in Israel than in the United States.  In Israel they are all heroes because they do what is necessary.  Civilians volunteering in the fields to pick produce.  IDF soldiers risking everything for their country and the Jewish people.  People moving all over the country to help those displaced with educational needs, healthcare needs, mental health needs, and whatever needs they have.  In the United States we tend to focus more on who gets the credit.  Who is the public face.  We need to learn this lesson from Bayard Rustin.  It’s the same lesson Ronald Reagan spoke about.  In the words of President Harry S. Truman, “It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.”  We have a lot of work ahead of us to fight antisemitism, to advocate for Israel, to educate both the Jewish and non-Jewish community, and for our survival.  We can’t worry about who gets the credit, we have to be willing to pick up a bag and collect trash. 

The saying on Ronald Reagan’s desk from the Harry Truman quote. We can all learn from this

The song at the end of the movie, Road to Freedom, is by Lenny Kravitz.  Lenny is African American and Jewish.  How fitting for the blog post.  The lessons of Bayard Rustin applied to 2024 antisemitism through the song written and sung by an African American Jew.

I watched the movie Rustin to learn more about a man I recently learned about and have been fascinated with.  How did such an important figure in the civil rights movement get basically erased from our history?  How many others like him are there?   I seem to learn about more of them all the time.  Yet while watching the movie to learn about him, there were so many lessons that apply to our lives today.  To the world we live in today.  The fight for civil rights is not over.  So many communities are still fighting it today.  In the Jewish community, we fooled ourselves into thinking we were not one of them.  October 7th and the aftermath showed us we are.  While we still have many who don’t think this is true, who ‘do the work of the oppressor by oppressing ourselves,’ the rise in antisemitism in the United States and around the world shows us that that it is true.  We have much to learn from the life of Bayard Rustin, an avid Zionist and friend to the Jewish people.  I could write an entire post just about his connection to the Jewish people and the State of Israel.  Let’s take a moment to thank him and honor his memory by learning the lessons he taught us and apply them today.  From what I have learned about him, I think he’d really like that.

Bayard Rustin standing behind Dr. King during the I have a Dream speech

Can learning the Torah actually be fun and exciting???

Posted on by Keith Dvorchik

A number of years ago, I was exposed to Jewish learning in a different way.  Instead of the boring lecture style of a classroom, I was in a group of 3 where one of us was the leader and would guide us into a discussion of Jewish text.  We spent months over a weekly lunch discussing the book of Daniel.  It was fun and interesting and something that I looked forward to each and every week.  It was very unlike my Hebrew School experience which I found boring.  I never thought that learning Jewish texts could be both fun and interesting.  I learned that I was wrong.

Since then, I have had the opportunity to learn with a few different people.  It’s something that I enjoy as I have found it to be intellectually challenging.  With a good learning partner, it’s not about the dry words, it’s about how the words come to life.  What can we learn from the words and the teachings that apply to our lives TODAY?  How does it impact the choices we make now?

I want to share a few examples of this from my own life and experiences. 

Many years ago, at UF Hillel, I gave a D’var Torah (sermon) on one of the High Holidays.  I talked about how for many years, I found the Torah to be a dusty old scroll.  It wasn’t relevant.  It wasn’t that interesting, especially since I didn’t speak Hebrew.  And, quite honestly, I preferred the movie (The 10 Commandments, still a favorite.)   I shared how I was exposed to this different type of Torah learning.  How it was a discussion and debate.  How I could ask questions and disagree and argue my points of view with another person.  They would argue back, and it would be a passionate conversation.  We would understand each other and sometimes agree at the end, and sometimes still disagree.  How it was intellectually challenging even if I wasn’t a Torah scholar and couldn’t speak Hebrew. 

One of my most memorable experiences with this type of learning happened in Israel when we visited Hebron, where the tombs of the Matriarchs and Patriarchs are (other than Rachel).  We sat between the tombs of the Patriarch Abraham and the Matriarch Sarah, which was surreal by itself, and discussed the story when God told Sarah she was going to have a baby when she was 90 years old, and she laughed.  My friend Harry Rothenberg led the learning session.  What did that mean?  What could it mean?  We dissected the story and the different possibilities.  It was fascinating hearing all the different possible interpretations of this story.  At the end, Harry shared his interpretation.  How it was really a love story between Abraham and Sarah.  How it was about communication and honesty between partners.  How it described not just their relationship but included relationship lessons for us today.  It wasn’t anything that I had contemplated before we sat down or during the conversation.  And then I thought how amazing it was to be talking about the love story of Abraham and Sarah while sitting between their burial tombs.  It is an experience I will never forget.

A year later, back in Israel with Harry, we were climbing Masada.  I’ve climbed Masada with both the snake path and Roman path many times.  The Roman path is pretty easy and quick.  The snake path is longer, harder, and more meaningful.  This morning we took the snake path.  I had been having some health issues and probably should have take the cable care to the top instead, but I was stubborn and chose poorly.  As I was making the long climb, I found myself needing to stop very frequently to catch my breath and let my heart rate slow down.  Everybody else passed me and a couple of friends slowed down to stay with me as we made the climb together.  Harry started late and came upon us.  He joked about me resting until I told him what was going on.  He then said he’d walk with us slowly as well.  I then challenged him – use this moment to teach me a little Torah.  I figured I had stumped him!!  Instead, he thought for a minute and told me the following story.

When Moses led the Jewish people to the edge of entering Israel, he was not permitted to enter the land.  He begged God thousands of times to please change his mind and let him enter the land.  God would not relent and change his mind.  However, after all of Moses’s pleading, God told Moses to climb to the top of the mountain where he would be able to see all of Israel.  Moses climbed the mountain and looked out at all of Israel.  His heart broke into pieces at the beauty and that he wouldn’t be able to enter the land.  It is those pieces of Moses’s heart in all of us that creates our longing and love for Israel. 

Harry took a Torah lesson, applied it to the mountain we were climbing, and our love and passion for Israel.  It was a beautiful moment.  He has a weekly video blog that I encourage you to check out. It’s 3-4 minutes and I find it interesting each week.

This week’s video blog by Harry Rothenberg, an attorney who is the best Jewish educator I have ever experienced.

When I lived in Seattle, I spent some time with Rabbi Levitin, the head of Chabad for the Pacific Northwest.  One day at lunch, he was talking about a big talk he was about to give.  The topic was about surrogacy and donor sperm/eggs.  He then went to the Torah to cite passages that apply to various circumstance for surrogacy.  Something we couldn’t contemplate at the time of the Torah, yet it applies today.  We discussed how it might affect a couple if it was the man’s sperm and a donor’s egg.  What if it was donor sperm and the woman’s egg?  And what if it was donor sperm and a donor egg?  Did it matter if the egg was implanted in a surrogate or in the woman who wanted the baby?  Is there a difference in how parents would treat a child they ended up having biologically instead of one of the other ways?  Fascinating topics and discussion points, all tied back to Torah lessons and commentators from centuries ago.

Now I learn with Rabbi Ehrenkranz from JOIN Orlando.  Each week we meet to study and learn Torah.  We meet in a public place, usually a Starbucks or Krispy Kreme.  While I don’t wear a kippah all the time, I put one on when I learn Torah out of respect and in honor of what I am doing.  So we sit in public, both wearing kippot, our siddurs open, reading out loud and discussing what we are reading.  We also use the Sefaria app (a free download and really a great resource that is now adding Lord Rabbi Jonathan Sachs teachings to it) to study what the commentators said over thousands of years.  We discuss, often debate, and I push him to better explain to me the things I either don’t understand or don’t agree with.  Most of the time he is able to do it but there are still things that I struggle with and that’s ok.  It’s part of the process.  I just hope that I don’t frustrate him too much with my questions and challenges!

Usually nobody bothers us, but I remember one time when a man came over and asked if we were doing bible study.  When we told him yes, his response was, “Cool!” and he walked away.  As I think about what happened in the UK yesterday when a man was threatened with arrest because he was wearing a kippah while a pro-Palestinian march was going on because him being Jewish was threatening to them, I am grateful we can learn publicly in Orlando.  I also wonder when/if that will change here. 

On two of my last three trips to Israel, I had the chance to go to a Yeshiva in Jerusalem on Thursday night for an hour-long learning session from 11 pm until midnight.  Usually I’m asleep well before 11 pm (I have gotten old).  I was worried I would fall asleep in the middle of it and embarrass myself.  Yet when it started, it was interesting and exciting.  It was a legal discussion.  It was back and forth.  Voices raised a bit.  Excitement when somebody thought they had the answer.  Disappointment when the explanation showed they were wrong but vindication when their thought process was affirmed.  The hour went fast.  The Rabbi teaching us shared his explanation.  It was great.  And then we had chicken poppers and cholent while hanging out.  What a fun night.  So much fun that it now happens in Orlando as well.  I don’t go often but enjoy it when I do.  There is a good crowd of regular people like me, not Torah scholars, who enjoy the back and forth.  We have to think thoroughly.  We build off prior lessons.  We do it together. 

Learning at the Yeshiva in Israel – it was captivating

Being Jewish is often seen as being a burden.  In fact, Rabbi Ehrenkranz and I talked this week about how being Jewish means you are taking on more responsibilities.  How we are the chosen people because we have chosen to take on these responsibilities.  If you are like me, then as a child you weren’t given meaningful Jewish content.  You never had the chance to argue with a teacher about Jewish topics.  It was bible stories and boring things.  Judaism was the thing for my parents and not something that was meaningful to me.  And yet that changed dramatically for me as I got past what and how I was taught as a child and understood the meaning that was possible.  I’m far from Orthodox.  I don’t go to synagogue.  I don’t keep kosher.  Yet I find the teachings of the Torah fascinating.  I find the exploration of Jewish texts to be relevant and impactful.  Hanging mezuzahs, putting on tefillin (occasionally), lighting shabbat candles, the Hanukkiah, baking challah, and other Jewish rituals are meaningful to me.  I’m excited to build a sukkah in my backyard this year.  I don’t think I’ll sleep in it, but I will enjoy building it and eating in it and hanging out in it.  It’s fun.  Judaism can be fun.  Learning Torah can be fun. 

So much fun singing Hotel California with this Hassid at Mamilla Mall in Jerusalem – proof that being Jewish can be fun.

So if you decide you want to start a journey like I did with Jewish learning in this way, let me know.  I’ll find somebody for you to learn with so you can find the joy that I have.  I encourage you to try – I’m willing to bet you won’t be disappointed.

Dancing at the Kotel on Friday night – so much fun being Jewish

My perception has changed. Where did WE go wrong?

Posted on by Keith Dvorchik

I grew up in an interesting community.  In the 1970s and early 1980’s, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania was very middle America and a very integrated place.  My friends growing up were of various ethnicities and backgrounds.  We went to school together, played together, and grew up together.  I like to joke that because 1/3 of my public school was Jewish, we were closed for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, and you would see tons of Matzo at lunch during Passover.  But because it was Central Pennsylvania, we were also closed the first day of deer hunting season, because 1/3 of the school (including teachers) wouldn’t be there.

My friends were Christian, Jewish, and Hindu.  They were African American, Indian, and Caucasian.  They were gay and straight (although nobody had come out at that time, we all knew).  They were in the gifted program and in the regular educational program.  They came from different socio-economic backgrounds.  We were kids who liked each other and hung out together and were friends.  It’s amazing how many of them I keep in touch with even to this day.

Growing up in this environment, I didn’t see the challenges that some of my friends faced.  They were my friends, so the fact that they were African American or gay wasn’t an issue to me and I wrongly assumed it wasn’t an issue in general.  I was ignorant because I made a key false assumption that people thought the way I thought.  As a result, I never saw the challenges they faced or would face in the future.

When October 7th happened, not only was I horrified, I also expected that the world would be horrified with me.  When I saw that not only were they not horrified but they also wanted more October 7th type violence against Jews, that they blamed Jews for being attacked and murdered by terrorists, and that the world openly turned against the Jews, I got it.  I finally understood what my friends dealt day in and day out that I never saw.  Just like I saw them as people first, there are those who see Jews as people first.  But there are far more who are filled with hatred towards Jews.  I felt guilty for how I missed what my friends dealt with and deal with. 

Protests defending the rape, murder, and kidnapping of Jews by Hamas after October 7th

I used to get frustrated when I would see things like ‘Queers for Palestine’ and think to myself, “Don’t they know that they would be persecuted and killed there?”  I would think, “Israel is the only place in the Middle East where you can be openly gay.  Don’t they know that?”  I would wonder, what’s wrong with them?  Since October 7th and in the aftermath, I no longer think that way.  I now wonder what did we do wrong?  How did we let them identify with a group that hates them instead of with Israel?  How did we abandon them?  Sure we fought for gay rights, marriage equality, the right to adopt, and many other things.  But we didn’t understand their challenges in the world.  We didn’t identify WITH them.  So instead they identify with those who would kill them, who want to kill us, because they did identify WITH them. 

I used to wonder how the African American community could have forgotten the civil rights movement and how the Jewish community played such an integral role in fighting WITH them.  How could they abandon the people who helped found the NAACP, who fought so closely in the 1960s for equal rights?  Since October 7th and the aftermath, I now wonder, “How did we abandon them?”  Where did WE go wrong?  How did WE move on and no longer serve as allies, creating an identification with terrorists who hate the very freedom we fought together to have? 

Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel marching with Dr. King

The same is true for a part of our Jewish community who fights against Israel.  I used to wonder how THEY went wrong.  How could THEY be self-hating, how could THEY not understanding their homeland, how could THEY be so misinformed?   Since October 7th and the aftermath, I now wonder, how did WE lose them?  How did WE not provide what they needed?  What do WE need to change to ensure the future generations understand the real meaning of Zionism, the importance of Israel to all Jews, and that it’s ok to disagree with the ruling government without trying to delegitimize the only Jewish country in the world. 

If it’s really on US to change then we have to do things differently.  We have to not only invest in the relationship but also work to understand the barriers they face on an everyday basis. 

I read about Bayard Rustin, an openly gay black man during the civil rights movement who was the architect of the 1963 March on Washington.  He was the right-hand man for the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. until he was blackmailed and chose to step away rather than risk damaging Dr. King and the movement.  A man who formed BASIC – Black Americans to Support Israel Committee in 1975.  There was a movie made about his life in 2023 that is available on Netflix.  I am fascinated by this amazing man that I never knew about and it made me wonder how many more people like him do I not know about.  How many historic figures do our schools do not teach.

Bayard Rustin, a man I knew nothing about yet we all should.

I knew a little about the Tuskegee airmen but just a little.  I read an article in The Free Press about them and the lesson in excellence that they taught us.  It’s a lesson I never learned because schools don’t teach about them.  There is a lot for me to learn about the Tuskegee airmen, much to read, much to understand.  A few of the remaining airmen spoke in Orlando recently and I was disappointed that I had a conflict and couldn’t hear them speak.  If I get the opportunity again, I won’t miss it.  I heard a story from the event that really hit me.  One of the airmen said that many years later he met a white pilot who the airmen had supported and escorted many times in battle.  The white pilot had never met or known who escorted him so many years later, he went up and thanked him.  I can’t even imagine doing what they did with that little recognition or acknowledgement.  True heroes.  I was so inspired by the article that just like the author, I am getting a piece of artwork signed by some of the actual airmen to hang in my office to remind me what excellence, bravery, and commitment are really about. 

One of the autographed prints I am deciding amongst which will hang in my office

When I lived in Seattle, a friend of mine who is gay, made a comment, complimenting me and talking about Harvey Milk.  I had heard the name but didn’t know much about him at that time.  Since she was saying it as a compliment, I wanted to learn about him and his story.  What I learned was fascinating and once again, I was stunned and disappointed that I never learned about him in school. I had always heard of the ‘Twinkie defense’ in California and we used to joke about it growing up and even in college.  That was common knowledge.  The fact that the man who murdered Harvey Milk was who got away with murder for using the Twinkie defense wasn’t something I learned until I started reading about him.  I was stunned that such an important part of the story of the Twinkie defense was never taught.   I watched the movie Milk, starring Sean Penn, and was amazed at what a great job they did telling his story. 

Harvey Milk, who should be taught in our schools

I wrote earlier about my Palestinian friends and how I reached out to them to check on them.  After Iran attacked Israel, I reached out to friends in Iran to see how they are doing.  The people of Iran are not the government, and they have publicly supported Israel.  They have painted things like “Israel bomb the Ayatollah’s house” and cheered for Israel in the streets.  I am concerned about the safety of my friends in Iran, both from the government and potential attacks.  Since October 7th and the aftermath, I don’t want to repeat the same mistakes we have made with other communities.  So I reach out.  I share empathy.  I do my best to understand what they are going through and share what I am going through with them.  Build on commonalities so we see our similarities. 

I don’t know if it’s too late for the generation who thinks those that hate them are the ones they need to support.  I don’t know if we can educate or change their minds.  I know that I have to try.  I know that I have an obligation to make a difference with those that I can.  The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. finished his famous ‘I have a dream’ speech with the following words:

And when this happens, and when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual:

Free at last! Free at last!

Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!

We need to speed up that day with our actions.  I am committed.  I ask you to join me.