Tag: college

A better Israel – A better world

Posted on by Keith Dvorchik

For the last few weeks, I have been focused on Israel in a different way. Rather than being focused on post October 7th, the war with Iran and with Hezbollah in Lebanon, and the cold ceasefire with Hamas in Gaza, I’ve been focused on a few NGOs that I work with that all are all dedicated, in one way or another to building a better Israel.

One of the reasons that I love the work I get to do is that I work with people and organizations that are committed to making the world a better place. The past few weeks and the upcoming 2 weeks are an example of that. I am lucky that I get to work with a few organizations in Israel and another one that works with Israeli’s in the United States. Each is working, in their own way, to make Israel, and the world, a better place. Each one inspires me on a daily basis with the work that they do. And the past few week, along with my upcoming trip to Israel for one of them, have been true inspirations at time where the world is deeply troubled and finding home can often be difficult.

This is designed to share the hope that I feel, the inspiration that I get, during these dark times. When a person running for the US House of Representatives talks about creating internment camps for Zionists, when the Mayor of our largest city celebrates Nakba Day, when a Nazi is running for the US House of Representatives, when the NY Times runs an absurd piece about Israel training dogs to rape male Palestinian prisoners, a sitting US Representative blames the Jews (.39% of the Kentucky population, less than 1% of his district’s population) for him losing big in the primary, the 1 year anniversary of the murder of Sarah Milgrim (z’l) and Yaron Lischinsky (z’l) as they left a Jewish event, the lies about how those arrested on the Flotilla were treated, the rise of settler violence that isn’t be prosecuted, and the horrible statements by Ben-Gvir, it’s easy to have no hope. I challenge that because there is so much good happening if you want to look. So I am going to share some of what that good is that inspires me on a daily bases, that gives me hope on a daily basis.

In May, I spent a week traveling with my friend Amit Shahar from Dror Israel. I’ve written about the work of Dror Israel before and it never ceases to amaze me. As we traveled the state, I got to hear him tell stories about the work that they do. The nearly 100,000 children in an Israeli Zionist Youth movement. The 58 Arab villages with more than 20,000 Arab children, actively participating in an Israeli, Zionist, youth movement. The new Urban Kibbutzim (city based where Dror Educators live together in an apartment building and work out in the community) in three (3) new communities. Their efforts to help bring young people back to the North and South of Israel since so few are returning after October 7th and the recent war with Iran.

The PR about Israel is horrible. The lies are told regularly on TikTok and through the media. Yet the stories of hope get no attention. The work Israel is doing to build a better society gets no attention. As we traveled the state, I loved the conversations we had with different people about the work of Dror. People were stunned. People were excited. I brought Amit to my Friday lunch group and we had an incredible conversation that went far beyond the meal. A group that typically talks about the challenges in the world and in Israel was inspired.

One of my favorite Dror programs is the stables they have at Kibbutz Eshbol in the north. The at risk children who attend the boarding school there work with the horses. The big, strong animals push back on them. The horses teach the children while the children are training the horses. It’s a beautiul thing to see. Amit sent me this picture when he returned to Israel because he knows how much I love Kibbutz Eshbol and the stables.

After finishing my week with Amit, I had one day of not traveling to catch up on other work and get a little rest. The next day, I returned to South Florida to discuss another client, The Israel Bridge. Most people have not heard of The Israel Bridge and don’t know what they do. It’s a fabulous organization that helps Israeli athletes come to the United States to play sports at Universities all over the country. They work with the Israeli student athletes to get them scholarships and help them plug in to their local Jewish and Israeli community. These student athletes serve as schlichim, emissaries, from Israel to their teammates and on campus. Many are active in their campus Hillel, Chabad, or Jewish campus organization, bringing Israel directly to both Jewish and non-Jewish students. Their status as scholarship athletes and IDF veterans give them an opportunity to engage students on campus about the realities on the ground, not the lies being told on TikTok, Facebook, X (Twitter), and other social media.

I had the opportunity last year to hear one of the athletes, Guy Finklestein, speak at an event here in Central Florida. He was incredibly inspiring. On their website, Guy is quoted saying:

“I served in Duvdevan, an elite IDF unit, and play college tennis. When war broke out after October 7th, I left a tournament in Indiana to return to Israel and serve two deployments in Gaza.
 
After months of combat, I came to Florida to reset, fell in love with Boca Raton’s Jewish community, and transferred to FAU to study computer science. I’m graduating in December 2025 and excited for what’s ahead while staying true to my roots and giving back.”

Guy Finklestein playing tennis while wearing his “Bring them home NOW” t-shirt, bringing awareness to the hostages that were held in Gaza.

The Israel Bridge supports more than 400 Israeli student athletes on more than 200 different Universities in the United States, and has helped secure more than $30 MILLION DOLLARS in scholarships for these Israeli athletes. At a time when so many people are concerned about the rise of antisemitism and the current campus climates, The Israel Bridge addresses it directly, bringing these amazing Israeli student athletes to so many campuses to be representatives of Israel and provide a peer to the students on campus to ask questions and learn from. At a time when it is easy to be pessimistic about the future in the United States for Jews, with the rise of antisemitism on the left and the right, The Israel Bridge is doing work that is impactful and provides me with hope for the future.

On Thursday of this week, I head to Israel. This will be my 26th trip and first since December 2025. For me, that’s a long time. Israel is in my heart and my soul. This trip is for yet another amazing organization, Rozana. Their mission is peacebuilding through health. They call it Healthcare Diplomacy. I’ll be spending 12 total days in Israel including 5 with Rozana, doing site visits in the West Bank along with some in Tel Aviv and Haifa. The work they do is amazing. At a time when a possible 2-state solution seems impossible, they are doing work on the ground that provides hope that perhaps it will be possible in the future.

From training Palestinian doctors and nurses in Israeli hospitals alongside Israeli doctors and nurses to providing women’s health in Area C where access to healthcare for women is challenging, Rozana is making a difference. Their mobile clinics in Gaza give hope that the people of Gaza will see the value in living side by side with Israel. The rehabilitation center in Hebron provides critical care for those Palestinians who need those services and otherwise wouldn’t get it. We all know the store of Yaya Sinwar and how Israel saved his life only for him to be the architect of October 7th. We can’t afford to let his story stop us from having hope for a future with peace. It’s easy to let his story deter us from doing what is necessary to create the opportunity for peace. Whether it takes 5, 10, 20, or 50 years, the work of Rozana provides hope for a brighter future.

Rozana’s Women4Women mobile clincs

I am excited to see the work of Rozana in person, to meet the Palestinians who are part of the work of Rozana making a difference and creating hope. If you believe, as I do, that the Jews are not going anywhere and that the Palestinians aren’t going anywhere, ultimately we have to find a way to live together. This isn’t me being naive, but rather being a realist. It won’t be easy and it won’t be fast, but if we don’t start now, it will never happen.

I’ll be writing a lot about what I see and experience during my time with Rozana and my time in Israel. From Shabbat in Jerusalem to the site visits with Rozana, to a few days in Tel Aviv before flying back, there is much to see and experience. I’m looking forward to sharing it.

I am very lucky. In a world where it is hard to find hope, to be inspired for a better future, I get to be inspired every single day. I get to work with people who are actively making the world a better place. I see it in person when I go to Israel or when I hear the student athletes talk about their experiences. I hope to inspire others as I share my experiences and the things that give me hope.

Friday I’ll be in Jerusalem. I’ll go to Machane Yehuda (the market) and feel the energy. I’ll join friends for Shabbat dinner at their home. Saturday I’ll go to the Kotel. I’ll wander the old city. I’ll relax while absorbing the specialness of Jerusalem. Sunday I get to start my Rozana journey and see their work in person. Thursday night I’ll be in Tel Aviv, staying at my favorite hotel right on the beach. Jewish history to Jewish future to the Jewish present. What an incredible 12 days I have ahead.

Talking about hope, a friend shared this video with me. With all the lies about Israel, it’s a beautiful and powerful way to combat them. It gives me hope that maybe Israel will improve their PR and move into the TikTok and Instagram world to share the truth in a compelling way. I hope you enjoy it.

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.