Tag: anti-semitism

Is America safe for its citizens?

Posted on by Keith Dvorchik

A couple of years ago, a friend of mine called to tell me that her family was moving from Orlando to DC because they felt Florida was no longer safe for their family. It is a strange thing to hear about where you live. Yet I understood what she meant and why she felt they had to move. It wasn’t the gun laws in Florida nor was it the mass tourists or the humidity. It was the political climate where the government was getting into their personal lives. It was because their daughter is Trans.

My heart broke as they sold their dream home, packed up, and moved. We stayed in touch and I saw her last year when i was in DC and we got together for dinner and to hang out. Her daughter was flourishing and the family, while missing Florida, was doing well.

She reached out to me today to let me know that she and her daughter were moving to Israel for two years because America was no longer safe for her family. I had known this was a possibility for a few weeks and hoped that it wouldn’t be what ended up happening, but it is.

How do we live in a country where people literally have to leave because they feel unsafe to live here because of who they are? I know there are many people who are undocumented, who did not follow our immigration laws, that feel unsafe. Their feeling of being unsafe is the risk of being sent OUT of the country and their desire is to stay. This is the opposite. They are choosing to leave because staying wouldn’t be safe.

I understand the concern about safety. With the rise of antisemitism and my public stance on speaking out, I felt that I became a target of those who hate. I was on TV regularly and was clearly identified as being Jewish and a leader in the Jewish community. My information is public. Anybody can find where I live with a simple property search. They can see what cars my family and I drive and follow us easily. We had people in Orlando wearing Nazi uniforms, flying Nazi flags, chanting hateful sayings, hanging Jew hating banners from bridges over interstate roads and even assaulting jewish students on camera.

Two hate groups met on a bridge in Orlando in September 2023
The entrance to Disney in June, 2023, with protesters flying multiple Nazi flags

I couldn’t take the risk of being a victim of serious hate crimes against me or my family, so I went to get my concealed carry permit. I made sure that if the need every came up to protect my family from serious harm, I could. I also reached out to a friend to ask if they would hide me and my family, if the need every came. Just the thought of making that call made me sick to my stomach. When I actually did it, it felt worse.

As I watch what my friend and her family are going through, they are actually leaving the country. We have reached the point where American’s don’t feel safe living in our country because of hate. Hate for those that are different. Hate for those we don’t understand. Hate based on lies, misstatements, misunderstandings, and lack of knowledge along with pure bigotry.

I have friends who have many differences. At least four that I know of have children who are Trans. Some of my friends are Gay or Lesbians. Others are different races and religions. Their differences only enhance my life, they don’t detract from it. Their friendship, who they are, make my life better. I have learned that friendship is about who shows up. It’s not because you are have similar physical characteristics. As I think of my friend and her daughter getting ready to leave for Israel, I am both excited for them and this journey (a part of me has always wanted to make aliyah), and I am sad for them, forced to move once again due to safety concerns as a result of hate and bigotry.

We can do better. We must do better. We must be better. This isn’t about giving any singular group ‘special privileges’. This is about ensuring that every American has the same inalienable rights guaranteed in the U.S. Declaration of Independence, where it is written, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” In this time where hate in our country continues to grow, we must also remember the words of the Declaration of Independence that come after this. “That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed”. Government is to ensure we have these rights, not to take them away. The past few decades have shown our Government to be taking them away. And once again, the Declaration of Independence tells us what happens when our Government does this. “That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.”

Thomas Jefferson, the primary author of the Declaration of Independence, had many beliefs about the government. It’s purpose was to ensure these rights for all. Not for some. Not for those who agreed with him. Not for the limited few who met random criteria of wealth, age, race, gender, sexuality, etc. For all. That’s why he wrote those words in the Declaration of Independence.

Our Government exists to serve the people and ensure our inalienable rights. Somehow we have forgotten that. Somehow we have gotten to a place where Government now scares half the country all of the time.

Once again I go back to Thomas Jefferson, one of our most influential and impactful founding fathers for inspiration. We have seen our government struggle to truly guard our inalienable rights for nearly 30 years. Year after year, it seems to get worse. It doesn’t matter who the President has been, which party has control of the House of Representatives or the Senate, our government has bred divisiveness and created fear among the citizens. The type of fear that led my friend to leave the country with her daughter to keep her daughter safe. For the past 3 Presidential elections I have chosen to write in candidates because I refused to support either of the ones running. I reject the ‘lesser of two evils’ with the belief that I don’t want evil at all. I want inspiration. I want somebody who truly cares about the entire country to lead it, not with an agenda to only benefit half the country (I don’t care which half). I’ve taken lots of grief for this but I don’t care. In this past election, it seemed many people agreed with me. Now it’s time for us to to listen to Jefferson and have ‘a little rebellion’ to force the change we want. What we are currently doing isn’t working. There is no reason to think it will work after the election in 2 years or in 4 years if we keep doing what we are doing.

It’s time for us to stop the insanity. It’s time for us to take action and do something different. We need to listen to Albert Einstein and take action. Forget about bringing business back to America. We to make sure our citizens feel safe and don’t need to leave to stay safe. We need to have a government that reflects the vision of Abraham Lincoln. “Of the people, by the people, for the people.” The way things continue to go, what we have will perish from the face of the earth.

I hope my friend and her daughter will feel safe enough to return to live in the United States. That is up to each of us to remember that if we want freedom for ourselves, we need freedom for everybody. If we want to feel safe in our country, we need everybody to feel safe in our country. If we truly value our Declaration of Independence and Constitution, we need to make sure that everybody is represented and personal beliefs don’t become our country’s policies.

The question is what are you going to do? Do you want to wait until it’s your turn to have to leave the country? Do you want to put your head in the sand and think they won’t eventually come for you? Because they always do. I faced it myself with Jew hatred. I have seen it happen to my friend and her family. I choose to speak up. I choose to take action. As long as we allow hate to exist, it will grow and eventually will come for all of us.

I hope you take action before it comes for you.

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?

The power of the mezuzah and the connection to Ethiopian Jewry

Posted on by Keith Dvorchik

A friend of mine who is a Rabbi came by today to give me some Shmura matzah for Passover.  It’s a special, hand baked type of matzah.  Since I’m gluten-free, I can’t eat it, but we’ll use it on the Seder plate.  While he was here, I had three new mezuzahs that I had just gotten to hang on my 3 back doorframes.  The ones I had were too big, so I needed new ones.  So I asked him to hang them with me.  I’ve hung my other mezuzahs myself but since he is a friend and a Rabbi, I thought this would be a nice thing to do together.

I have the privilege of working with a program called MyZuzah.  The concept is that the mezuzah is a great Jewish symbol, it provides protection to the home, is easy to put up, is a low barrier entry to something Jewish, and is a visual, daily reminder of being Jewish.  MyZuzzah provides free mezuzah cases and kosher, fair trade scrolls, known as klafs, to anybody who doesn’t have a mezuzah on their front door.  It’s a cool program and helps start a Jewish journey.

They also have a great store with cool cases that you can buy.  I have an awesome mezuzah on my front door and a very cool one on my office door.  But I didn’t have one on my doors to the back patio or the backyard.  As we worked together and I looked at the store, I saw that they had ones made by the Ethiopian Israeli community.  Not only were they beautiful, but I have a personal connection to this community.

My childhood friend Grace works for the Ethiopian National Project (ENP). 

With Grace when she and ENP visited Orlando earlier this year

This is a project created by the Israeli government to help Ethiopian Israeli children with their education in order to have better success in life.  The original Ethiopian Israeli’s didn’t speak Hebrew and didn’t have formal education so they couldn’t help their children in school.  This mean the first generation of children struggled to have success.  Their children then had similar struggles, resulting in the creation of the ENP.  Since their creation, the ENP has had incredible success helping this community improve their academic effort, get into better military units, and have success in college.  Their results are extraordinary.  I have had the opportunity to visit the ENP sites on two occasions.  The kids were amazing and inspiring.  It was clear the impact the ENP programs were having on these kids.  One of the adults at the site took us to the roof to teach us Ethiopian dancing.  It’s still one of my favorite Israel memories.  I’ve become friends with Roni Akale, the Director General, who made the walk from Ethiopia to Sudan in 1993 when he was 20 years old.  I love hearing his story as it never gets old.  His success is a model for the Ethiopian Israeli children of today as they see somebody like them who is a huge success.

With Roni, the Director General, who made the walk from Ethiopia to Sudan in 1983
Ethiopian Dancing on the roof of the ENP
More Ethiopian dancing on the roof of ENP. It was so much fun

This isn’t my only connection.  When I was in Seattle, I had the privilege of meeting Sid Weiner.  Sid was an amazing man who in the early 1980s began working to ‘Save all Ethiopian Jews” by creating a program by that name, also known as SAEJ.  SAEJ rescued Ethiopian Jews in many ways.  Two of my favorite stories that Sid told me about how they did it were as follows.

Sid Weiner at his birthday party
Sid telling us stories about his life at his birthday party

First, they met with Secretary of State George Shultz.  They advocated to issue visas for the Ethiopian Jews to come to the United States.  After much conversation, Secretary Shultz agreed to allow them make fake visas so that the Ethiopian Jews could escape Ethiopia and come to the US under the condition that they only stay 24 hours in the US before flying to Israel.  So that’s what Sid and his team did.  They made fake visas, flew Ethiopian Jews to New York using them, put them up in a hotel for the night, and put them back on a plane to Israel the next day.  It’s truly an amazing story of ingenuity and daring. 

The second story was about how they would create fake adoptions so the new adopted children could come to the US to live with their new parents and family.  These adopted children would arrive in New York and promptly board a plane to Israel where they would make Aliyah and become citizens.  Sid didn’t know how many children he ‘adopted’ this way.  He said that one time in Israel, he was with a group of Ethiopian Israelis eating dinner when he realized that at his table were four of the children he had ‘adopted’!  He hadn’t seen them since they were in New York years earlier. 

Needless to say, the Ethiopian Israeli community has personal meaning to me.  So the opportunity to buy the three mezuzah cases and kosher, fair trade klafs that I needed for my doors AND have them be made by the Ethiopian-Israeli community AND be beautiful Ethiopian art was something I couldn’t pass up.  So I bought them and today they were hung.  Every time I look at those doors, I have a smile on my face.  Not only have these mezuzahs made the door frames more beautiful, I did a mitzvah in putting them up, they offer protection to the home, and they are a tie to the Ethiopian-Israeli community.  What a win for me!

The 3 mezuzahs I bought that were designed by Ethiopian Israelis

That’s the thing about Israel – there is incredible diversity and amazing different cultures to explore.  In Tzfat I always get food from the Yemenite place.  It’s delicious and they even have a gluten free option now.  I’ve been getting food from the same place and from the same Yemenite Israeli man since my first trip in 1989.  I love getting Hummus from Abu Ghosh, an Arab town, 10 kilometers west of Jerusalem.  While others may disagree, I think the hummus from Abu Ghosh is the best in the world.  I’ve spent time with the Druze and had lunch with them.  It’s fun learning about their culture, sharing a Druze meal, and talking.  There is nothing like visiting Haifa and the Bha’i Gardens.  Learning about the Bha’i religion and the Bab is interesting.  The only way to tour the entire gardens is with a member of the Bha’I faith who gives you the tour.  It’s truly spectacular and never gets old.

The Baha’i Gardens during the day – it’s beautiful to see and walk through
The Baha’i Gardens at night – it’s simply spectacular

So how does this all tie back to the mezuzah and hanging it with my friend Amram today?  When we purchased our house, the first thing I wanted to do was hang a mezuzah on the front door to mark it as ours.  When I created my home office, the first thing I wanted to do was put up a mezuzah to mark the special change in the room.  A mezuzah marks your home as a Jewish home.  In these times it may be scary to clearly mark your home as Jewish, but as we approach Passover, lets remember that marking our homes as Jewish is what saved the Jewish first born from the angel of death when they ‘passed over’ the homes that had the marking on it.  It’s a symbol of pride and of commitment.  When I was in Havana a number of years ago, we visited the Hotel Raquel in Old Havana.  This Jewish inspired hotel not only had Jewish art throughout and matzo ball soup on the menu in the restaurant, it had a mezuzah on each hotel room door.  As we toured the hotel, it was the mezuzah on each door that struck me the most. 

Each room at the Hotel Raquel has a Jewish biblical name and a mezuzah on the door

In these crazy times when antisemitism is rising and all around us, Israel is fighting the evil of Hamas and Hezbollah, Iran attacked Israel with drones, cruise, and ballistic missiles, and we see hate all around us, the simple act of putting up a mezuzah is a simple, yet powerful statement.   Every time I see the mezuzah on my front door, on my office door, and now on my back doors, it puts a smile on my face.  It’s a reminder of what being Jewish means.  It’s a reminder that I am part of a mishpacha, a family, that goes back thousands of years and is worldwide.  Jewish homes all over the world and for centuries have had a mezuzah on their front door.  It is truly l’dor v’dor, generation to generation, strength to strength, that we are here, we aren’t going anywhere, and we will not only survive, but we will thrive.

So if you don’t have a mezuzah on your door and want one, there is now no excuse.  MyZuzah will send you one for free and show you how to hang it.  You can easily mark your home as a Jewish home and tie it with generations of Jewish homes along with Jewish homes all over the world.  Each time you walk past it, you will be reminded of being part of the Jewish people.  It’s a pretty amazing little thing that can change your life.  Hanging those three mezuzahs today brought me great joy.  I hope you choose to hang one and that it brings you great joy too.