Tag: be-the-light

We are at war with utter savages. Not human beings who are capable of savagery. Just savages. Irredeemable savages.

Posted on by Keith Dvorchik

I do a lot of reading to keep up with things. I don’t depend on one source or one type of opinion (although my wife gives me grief for reading the NY Post, but honestly as a Yankee fan, it is for the sports more than anything else).

The latest image and story that has captivated my heart and mind is about Ariel Bibas’s best friend, Yoav. The story that has been shared is that Yoav has been waiting for his friend to come back from Gaza. He saved a Batman costume for him. He wrote him letters. It’s an incredible friendship story that inspires me to be a better person and a better friend. A 5 year old has become my teacher.

This morning, in Daniel Gordis’s substack, Israel from the Inside, he told an incredible story about Yoav. When told that his friend Ariel would not be coming home from Gaza alive, Yoav refused to accept it. He said, “If he’s coming back in a coffin, maybe he’s standing inside it, which means he’s still alive. He’s still alive, Mommy, you didn’t understand correctly. Because if Ariel is a khalal [Hebrew for “fallen soldier”], it means he’s flying in space [the Hebrew word for “space” is also khalal]. He can’t die. In Israel, there are very smart people, right Mom? So maybe they can invent a special potion that will bring Ariel and Kfir back to life.”

Oh to be 5 years old. To think the impossible is possible. To not really understand complete evil. The innocence of childhood. I hope that Yoav never loses that gift and that he never forgets his best friend Ariel. Maybe Yoav will be the one who changes the world, brings peace, leads the effort to eliminate hate. We can only hope.

Daniel also wrote very clearly and powerfully what I have been feeling. He said it much more succinctly that I have been able to do. He wrote, “We are at war not with mere enemies. We are at war with utter savages. Not human beings who are capable of savagery. Just savages. Irredeemable savages.” RIght to the point. Those who protest on college campuses, in the streets, and other places about Israel defending herself simply don’t understand the reality. They want us dead. Period. No ‘ifs, ands, or buts’. There is no common ground to be found. I am reminded of the famous political cartoon that states it better than any words can.

If we met them halfway, their demands wouldn’t change and we would simply have lost half of the Jewish population. That’s the reality. That’s who we are dealing with.

Nobody said that the Nazis should be allowed to stay in power or have their own Nazi Germany state as a part of Germany after World War II. There are laws to ensure that a child molestor won’t live close to their victim but also not close to any child. Nobody expects a victim of sexual assault to give their attacker a room in their home or welcome them to live in their neighborhood. Yet that is what is expected of Israel. To not just welcome these utter savages as neighbors but to enable them to rebuild their military strength and to be able to once again brutally attack, murder, kidnap, rape, and massacre the Israeli people. It’s beyond absurd.

The past week has been one where I flipflop between anger and range and sadness. Ariel, Kfir and Shiri Bibas’s murders and the stories coming out about how they were murdered along with what Hamas and the terrorists did to their bodies afterwards has my blood boiling. I’ve been in a place of anger and rage much more than sadness. Anger for what they endured. Anger for Yarden and what he has lost forever. Rage at the world who continues to enable and defend the monsters that strangled a 10 month old boy and 4 year old boy and then mutilated their bodies trying to cover up what they did. Enraged at fools like AOC and Bernie Sanders who continue to blame Israel for what the terrorists did and continue to do. Bernie pretends to take a moral stand by defending terrorists and is once again attempting to thwart efforts to support Israel against these savages.

In today’s Israel from the Inside, Daniel Gordis gives me hope and something to strive for. He highlights the Statement from the Bibas family about the upcoming funerals for Shiri, Ariel, and Kfir. They recognize that the country and the Jewish diaspora has an emotional attachment with the family and these children. They also recognize their own need to grieve in their own way this horror. It’s an incredible statement with compassion, care, pain, and beauty.

Daniel then points out, “That’s the difference between them and us. Chants for revenge at Nasrallah’s “funeral”, versus a request for a private, intimate parting at a kibbutz. Murderous savages hailed by their “people,” versus a wife who, too excited for words, just posts three words from a classic poem and that brief post makes the headlines of Israel’s most-read newspaper. 

Irredeemable savage evil, versus a people that still believes in the possibility of goodness. A death cult embraced on American campuses “led” by administrations that have so lost their moral compass that they can’t even say that it’s wrong, versus a national liberation movement (ours, and it’s called “Zionism”) that still insists on believing that better days can lie ahead.”

He reminded me that we are different. That our essence is different. We love and treasure life. We revere it. We respect it. We honor the loss of it. They love and treasure death. They revere death. They celebrate death. We are not the same. Recognizing this, the question becomes, so what do I do with this difference? Daniel tells us in his closing of this piece.

“But that that is what we as a people must do is not in doubt. On a week when what we want most is to obliterate them, the way that we win is by being as different from them as we possibly can.” So we have our charge. We must maintain being as different from them as we possibly can. As much as the anger in me wants them to all be destroyed, Gaza to become a parking lot, eliminate them all so that we don’t make a mistake and let any of the evil continue, that is not who we are and that is not who I am. I’m still struggling with me standing in Kfar Aza during May 2024, watching and listening to the bombs being dropped in Jabaliya and that being the only thing that brought relief and peace to my soul. I said it then and I repeat it now, that is NOT who I am. That is NOT who I want to be. It was who I was in that moment. Our job is to lean into life. Our job is to do all that we can to be better human beings, not to match their level of depravity.

I had a friend reach out to me last week with a challenge she was facing and ask for my help. I was happy to help and did my part. The thanks she gave me over and over was overwhelming. I didn’t help for the thanks. I didn’t help because I was a ‘big shot with connections’. I helped because it was the right thing to do. Thank you Daniel Gordis for your piece this morning that reminded me not only THAT we are different from them but WHY we are different from them. And reminding me that vengance will only make me more evil and will not bring light to the world and to my soul. They will get what is coming to them. I need to work to be a better person and to celebrate life every minute of every day. The anger and rage is still there but it’s quieter now. I don’t need vengence to honor the lives of Shiri, Ariel, and Kfir Bibas. I need to bring more light into the world to replace their light that was eliminate by evil.

Art by Joanne Fink. Visit her website for more beautiful pieces that will inspire you. https://zenspirations.com/

Be the Light

Posted on by Keith Dvorchik

We recently finished with both Christmas and Hanukkah. Both have something in common that we often don’t think about. Light. Christmas lights and lights on the Christmas Tree. The light of the menorah/hanukkiah. Two holidays connected by light.

As we reflect on the year that just passed and think of the year ahead, one think I hope we all consider is light. Helping the world to have more light. Being the light in the world. Bringing the light of joy and happiness, the light of kindness.

It doesn’t take much be the light. I do it regularly with little things like holding the door for the person behind me. It’s a simple thing to do and almost always gets a ‘Thank You’ in response along with a smile. There are so many things we can do, like holding the door, to be the light. Here are a few thoughts and examples.

Help people in the grocery store. Often times people can’t reach what they are trying to get. Offer to help them get it. You may see them looking for an item. Ask what they are looking for and help them find it. Let the person with 3 or 4 items go in front of you in the checkout line. It adds a few seconds to your checkout time and will make their day. It’s likely they will tell everybody about that person with the full cart who let them go in front of them.

When you are talking to people, whether they are service people helping you or people you know, when you finish the conversation, add the words, “have a nice rest of your day.” These six words will put a smile on their face. They aren’t necessary but they do make a difference. It is a small gesture that will often get a smile in return and them wish you a nice rest of the day too. If it’s at night, you can say, “have a great evening” or something like that. It’s being thoughtful in a world that doesn’t have enough of that.

When you are driving and somebody needs to get over, let them get over! Odds are, it’s only going to add a few seconds to your drive and you just made their life a little less stressful. They may give you the ‘wave’ to say thank you and they may not. But I’m sure they will say something to the person in the car with them about it. It adds a little brightness to their day.

Randomly text a friend to say hi and you were thinking about them. It’s easy to do this with a few friends every day. It doesn’t take much time and even if you get into a text conversation with them, it still doesn’t take much time. If you really want to make a difference, actually call them to say hi. Let them know you were thinking about them and just wanted to call to say hello. No other agenda, just to say hello. It makes their day and brings joy to them and to you.

If you see a parent struggling with a child, go over and engage them and offer to help. Sometime just waving at a young child or smiling and making silly faces gets them to stop what they are doing and brings relief to the parent. Often times they don’t really need any help, but just the offer makes them feel better. The same is true if you are traveling and see a parent with children and luggage. Offer to help with the luggage. You will have made their day a little easier whether they accept your help or not.

When I am on an airplane, I always look to see who is struggling with getting their bag into the overhead bin. When I see it, I offer to help. The same is true when we land. I’ll help unload the entire overhead bin on my side and the one opposite me. Sometimes I’ll reach to the one ahead or behind me to get somebody’s bag out for them. It is a small gesture that has big impact.

When people ask for help, be there for them. I have a number of friends who have been or currently are in the job market. I go out of my way to look for things that might be a good fit for them. I share the opportunities with them. Sometimes I know the recruiter for the position, the CEO, or the hiring manager. In those cases, I always offer to reach out to them directly. Most of these opportunities do not pan out. When they do, it’s a big celebration and both my friend and I feel great. When I know the recruiter, CEO, or hiring manager, all three of us feel great. The people looking for the jobs know they are not alone. They have somebody in their corner, somebody who has their back. It is far too easy to be alone in the world today. A little kindness, a little friendship, a little reaching out and going out of your way to help others makes a tremendous difference.

Speaking of helping others,one of the easy ways to be the light is to thank people. If you see somebody in the military or law enforcement or a first responder, thank them for their service. I recently had some medical procedures and I made sure the thank my nurses repeatedly. I know there is a form to fill out when they do a great job so they get recognized and I made sure to ask for that form and filled it out for my nurses. Today when I picked up my rental car, I was hoping to get upgraded to a much bigger car because I need to take 6 people with me. Having a car that size would save hundreds of dollars in Uber fees to and from the Orange Bowl. The man at the counter didn’t have to upgrade me. But he did. And when we realized the car he upgraded me to only fit 5, he remembered somebody cancelled on a much bigger SUV that seats 7 and he upgraded me to that. I made sure to thank him. To let him know how much he helped me. People appreciate when you recognize them. People appreciate when you thank them. It brings a little light ot their day. It helps us continue to make the world a better place.

When people you know are going through a challenging time, reach out to let them know you care. A friend of mine recently went through some job challenges. He was very down and I understood what he was going through. I made sure to reach out, to check in, to let him know he wasn’t alone. I checked in on him a few weeks later, to make sure he was ‘hanging in there’. When I checked in last week he shared exciting news and the challenges were gone. I didn’t need anything for that. I didn’t do it to be recognized or thanked. I did it because I want to be a good friend, a good human being, and I appreciated it when people reached to me during my challenges over the past 3 years. I want to ‘pay it forward’ as people say by being there for others.

We live in a world filled with darkness. We don’t have to live in that darkness. We can choose to be the light. We can choose to make sure the darkness doesn’t overwhelm us and the people around us. It doesn’t take much. I listed a bunch of little things that can change somebody’s day. Things that change somebody’s attitude. That small thing that you do is like the small pebble in the lake – the rings keep going and going and going. The impact expands well beyond where the pebble enters the lake or where your interaction happened.

On the 8th night of Hanukkah, my Facebook feed was filled with pictures on menorahs fully lit, shining brightly, exhibiting Jewish pride. Enjoy the pictures. I hope the light inspires you as it did me. I hope it reminds you that you can be the light that changes the world. That brightens the lives of those around you, whether you know them or not. This is how we make the world the place we want to live. Be the light.