The journey begins. My son took me to the Orlando Brightline station so I could take the train to Ft. Lauderdale so I can board me El Al flight to Israel. My bags are heavy, filled not just with my clothes but also with things to give away to my friends serving in the IDF and their fellow soldiers. I usually bring some things to give away but this time it feels like a holy mission as they mean more than the usual knickknacks.
When I go to Israel I tend to write a lot, often daily. So, I hope you bear with me as I chronicle this trip. It already feels different. My family really doesn’t want me to go but they could only delay this trip for so long. Israel is in my entire being. It isn’t just my heart and soul but it is core to my identity. This is my 21st trip but is very different than any before. I came during the start of the first intifada and again during the second intifada when few Jews were traveling to Israel. It broke my heart every time somebody thanked me for being Jewish and coming to Israel because all they had seen were Christians on a pilgrimage. I was here when Jordanians were massing on the border and we could hear gunfire from our hotel room on their side of the border, not knowing they were going to breach the border. I came during Covid, before the country even was open. We got special permission and were limited to one of three flights. We had to have been vaccinated and boosted, get a Covid test before we left, two when we arrived plus a blood test. We were forced to quarantine for a day until the results came back.
As you can tell, I’ve been here under a variety of circumstances. Yet none is like this. It is not because it is an active war zone. It is not because there are still three active fronts (Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in the north, and the Houthis). It is not because this is a solidarity mission, as I have been to Israel for that in the past. This trip is about healing the rip in my soul that happened on October 7, 2023. Similar to the Harry Potter story when Voldemort ripped his soul into many parts, mine was torn and damaged as I watched the horrifying events unfold on television. The frantic texting and WhatsApp messages to my friends and family throughout Israel to check on how they were doing. I remember one telling me about those dead at one of the kibbutzim near the Gaza border and I thought she was telling me about the Moshav that she and her husband lived on. For more than an hour, I thought they were under attack and the terrorists were near their house until she corrected me. My friends who were in the IDF reserves who didn’t respond to me because they were responding to the attack. Were they alive? My friends who had children in the IDF. Were they alive? Who did I know that might have gone to the Nova music festival? While the initial reports were bad, they were nowhere close to as horrifying as what really happened there.
I lived near Three Mile Island when it almost melted down. We evacuated, not knowing when or if we could go home. On 9/11 I had a campus of Jewish students at University of Florida who were scared and unsure what was happening. I had to let people go during the financial crash of 2008 for no fault of their own. I had to lay off 136 employees when Covid shut down The Roth Family JCC in 2020. I’ve dealt with crises before. Nothing prepared me for the internal impact of October 7th. This trip is entirely about that. It is a healing journey for me.
When I arrive, Yom HaZikaron, Israel’s Memorial Day will begin. This is the third time I will be there for it and both were incredibly impactful. This one will be very different. The next day is Yom Ha’atzmaut, Israel’s Independence Day. I have also celebrated two of these in Israel. It’s usually a joyous day, filled with celebrations, parties, fireworks, barbecues, and a parade of boats and planes on the beach in Tel Aviv. It’s one of my favorite days of the year when I can be in Israel for it. This year will be very different. We will go to the south, to a Kibbutz that was attacked on October 7th. Visit the Nova music festival site. Go back to Sderot, a place I have been many times but looks nothing like it did prior to October 7th. I will spend a few days with two friends who are IDF reserve officers. One spent the first four months in a high-ranking role in Gaza, the other spent the same time in a high-ranking role in the north. My visit to the Kotel (Western Wall of the Temple) will be unlike any before. We will volunteer on a farm, picking fruit and vegetables. That is one of the things people have either forgotten or don’t know. The people who worked in the fields were largely either Thai or Palestinian. Since October 7, the King of Thailand won’t allow any workers to come to Israel and Israel has not been able to allow the Palestinians to come to work in the fields for security reasons. Volunteers have been ensuring produce is harvested and food is available. Imagine taking a day off from your work to go into the fields and pick produce that will help feed the entire country. Not once. Not twice. It is now seven months.
One thing will be the same. When I walk out of the airport, that first breath of air will be sweet. The sound of Hebrew spoken everywhere will warm my heart. When I get to Tel Aviv tonight, I will go for a walk on the beach, feel the sand in my toes and see and smell the Mediterranean Sea. I will dip my feet in the water and realize that I am home. In a few days when we pull into Jerusalem, the city of Gold, I will see the breathtaking view as we drive in and be captivated. When I go into the old city of Jerusalem, I will be overwhelmed with a closeness to God that I will work to keep with me when I am not there.
The view of the beach and the Mediterranean Sea from my hotel balcony
I’ll miss going to the north, where it is not safe due to the Hezbollah rockets that land daily. I’ll miss going to Tzfat, one of my favorite cities for its mysticism and beauty, because it is too close to the north. I’ll miss being on the top of Masada and at the Dead Sea because that’s not what this trip is about. I’ll miss the opportunity to go to Hebron and visit the tomb of the Patriarchs and Matriarchs due to security issues. Those are all things I can do on a future trip. There will be future trips. Israel will win this war and survive. That is what the media doesn’t communicate. Israel is fighting for her survival. And as Golda Meir said, our secret weapon is that we have no place else to go.
For many obvious reasons, I have been thinking a lot about the world we live in today and the attitudes people have today. It is truly a fascinating time to be alive in so many ways, not all of them good.
I am part of Gen X. I think this has a huge impact on the way I view the world. I know it has a huge impact on how I both raised my children and how I see what is happening on college campuses, in the school systems, and in our country. My generation grew up with freedoms that future generations didn’t have. We were latchkey kids. Most of our parents worked so after school we were free to do what we wanted.
We didn’t have computers or screens. There was no internet or cell phones. We played outside until the streetlights came on. Often times our parents had no idea where we were after school and that didn’t bother them. We were independent. We’d ride our bikes miles to get to other friends’ neighborhoods. Our friends were our friends because of who they were. Race, religion, sexuality didn’t matter. My public school was closed for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur because 1/3 of the students and teachers were Jewish. We were also closed the first day of deer hunting season because 1/3 of the students and teachers would be out hunting. We were an eclectic group of people tied together. I grew up with friends that came from family’s that had lots of money, those who were middle class, and those who didn’t have much money. It didn’t matter. Many of us are still in touch today. We had real friendships that stand the test of time.
I remember when two of my childhood friends finally came out. I, like the rest of our friends, were happy for them that they felt comfortable coming out. We also knew they were gay when we were in elementary school, so it wasn’t a big deal and changed nothing as far as we were concerned. We paid attention to who people were, not identity politics.
As I look at the world today, I wonder how we lost that specialness from my childhood. We are more divided than any time since the civil war. We no longer focus on the quality of the individual but on what sets them apart from us. We no longer care about who people are but rather how they identify. When I was running nonprofits, my goal was always to hire the best person for the job. It didn’t matter to me if it was a man or a woman, what their race or their religion was. I didn’t care about their sexuality. I wanted the best person for the job. Today’s world seems to have more and more focus on the identity of the person as we focus on how we are different instead of how we are similar.
My older son is home for a bit and he took me to the Brightline station (high speed rail between Orlando and South Florida) so I can get my flight to Israel later tonight. As we were talking, he told me about how many of his ‘friends’ he has had to block on social media because of how they were minimizing what Hamas did on October 7th and the need for Israel to eliminate Hamas to ensure the safety of Israelis and to free to people of Gaza. It saddened me to hear this. I don’t know how all my childhood friends feel about the conflict. What I do know is that the vast majority of them have reached out in support of me. I’m not asking them to believe what I believe. I am asking them to be my friend and understand what I am going through as a Zionist and as a Jew since October 7th.
I have long looked at the difference between Israeli youth and American youth. From the time I first began to engage with 18-21 year old Israelis, serving their country in the IDF, and comparing them to my own college experience and then, when working on the University of Florida campus, with the UF students. The similarities and differences were dramatic. On the many Birthright Israel trips I staffed, we had 8 Israeli soldiers join us. They were the same age as our students on the trip. When they showed up in uniform, they were imposing. Awe inspiring. A few minutes after arriving, when they changed out of their uniforms, they became peers with our college students. For the part of the trip they were with us, the similarities between the Israelis and Americans was striking. When they first arrived and then, when they put their uniforms back on at the end of their time with us, the differences were striking.
As a result, it didn’t surprise me that after October 7th, so many members of the IDF reserves showed up. I read that Israel recalled 250,000 reserve soldiers and hoped to get 200,000 to actually show up. Instead, 300,000 showed up. People in America were doing all they could to get flights to go back and serve. My friends who were retired IDF soldiers in the 40s and 50s showed up to serve. They understood the existential threat that Hamas is as a result of October 7th. Many of them went from protesting the Netanyahu government and some of their policy positions to a united front for Israel. It was extraordinary but if you know Israel and Israelis, it was also not unexpected.
Last week, Douglas Murray, one of my favorite people to follow, was given the Alexander Hamilton Award for his ‘unwavering defense of Western values.’ His speech, in text here and the video of it below, was extraordinary.
He spoke about “What it Means to Choose Life”. He uses examples of both the Ukrainian people and Israeli people that make me long for the days of my youth. Unlike our entitled generation that believes everything should be given to them, the people he talks about understand that everything comes with a price. Unlike the protesting college students who think they have the right to incite violence, take over buildings, violate campus rules and break laws without any consequences, the people Murray talks about understand that everything comes with a cost.
I want to be clear that I am not saying the college students shouldn’t protest. Protesting, especially on college campuses, is a right of passage. We have freedom of speech in the United States and as President Andrew Shephard says in the great movie, The American President,
“America isn’t easy. America is advanced citizenship. You’ve gotta want it bad, ’cause it’s gonna put up a fight. It’s gonna say, “You want free speech? Let’s see you acknowledge a man whose words make your blood boil, who’s standing center stage and advocating at the top of his lungs that which you would spend a lifetime opposing at the top of yours.” You want to claim this land as the land of the free? Then the symbol of your country cannot just be a flag. The symbol also has to be one of its citizens exercising his right to burn that flag in protest. Now show me that, defend that, celebrate that in your classrooms. Then you can stand up and sing about the land of the free.”
I disagree with the campus protesters position, and I disagree with how they characterize what is going on in Gaza. I also firmly stand with their right to peacefully say it. To gather in the public allowed space, in the manner that is allowed for everybody, and protest and hold signs, and say what they want. Crossing the line to blocking Jewish students from going to class, harassing them as they walk on campus, threatening them, physically assaulting them, breaking the campus rules and breaking laws is not acceptable and comes with consequences.
I laughed when the spokesperson for the student protesters who took over Hamilton Hall at Columbia University asked for ‘humanitarian aid’. Nobody was forcing them to stay in the building. They could walk out of the building to get food and water any time they wanted. The entitlement was absurd. The students at Princeton who have decided to hold a hunger strike to protest the war in Gaza also made me shake my head. Nobody is forcing them to go on a hunger strike. They aren’t in prison or jail where their care belongs to the state and monitoring them is therefore the state’s obligation. They are choosing not to eat and as a result, they are responsible for their own health monitoring. When they got upset that the University wasn’t monitoring their health as they were on the hunger strike, I thought to myself, ‘What entitlement’.
I missed the protests of the 60s and 70s because I was too young. I have had the opportunity to talk with many people who were part of those protests. Every single one that I spoke with could tell me how many times they were arrested for their protest. Every single one of them was proud of their arrest. They knew there would be consequences for their protest, and they embraced it. They didn’t whine and cry when the consequences came. They had that level of conviction. Today’s protesters seem to lack that conviction. They want the best of both worlds. They want to protest with no consequences and have the rest of the world cave to their demands because they protested once. There are Universities who have done this, and I believe they will face long lasting consequences for doing this. Others have held their ground and ensured that freedom of speech is protected, and inappropriate actions are held accountable and face consequences. Those who have made the second choice are also bearing the fruits of this effort. Their students feel safe. Their graduations are not cancelled. Their donors and alumni are not up in arms. Their University Presidents are not having to testify in front of Congress about how they are failing to protect Jewish college students.
Our world today has the ‘news’ in the ‘entertainment’ department. We have the 24 hour ‘news’ cycle and each station has its own agenda to push. The days of Walter Cronkite reading the news and you getting to interpret it are long gone. Whatever channel you watch feeds you their narrative. Critical thinking is dying. Deep conversations are dying.
On this trip to Israel, one of my hopes and plans is to go visit my friend Mahmoud in East Jerusalem. Mahmoud is a Palestinian Arab, and his family owns the big Palestinian bookstore in East Jerusalem. When we met in November 2019, he pushed some of my buttons and challenged me to think deeper and in different ways. In the 4 ½ years since we met, I have thought deeply on many things he said to us and very much look forward to sitting down for a few cups of coffee or tea, a bite to eat, and having a robust and deep conversation. We won’t settle the conflict, but we can do our little part to build friendships, understanding, and perhaps share what we learn from each other with our other friends that might impact change.
I think that’s the most important lesson of all of this. I remember hearing the stories of how President Ronald Reagan and Speaker of the House Tip O’Neill would argue and fight all day long and then go have a beer together. Mahmoud and I will come from different points of view and will sit over coffee and talk and share. Even as I write this, a friend reached out to share information I wasn’t aware of and it changed my mind and I went back and edited something that I wrote as a result of this new information. We need to find a way to get back to that being the norm. Yelling at each other, only speaking with people who agree with you, repeating lies because they advance your point of view, and anything else that fits into this area does not solve problems. It doesn’t get us to solutions. It doesn’t bring us together. It divides us. It separates us. It leads to physical harm. It degrades us as human beings and as a civilization.
There was a fascinating September 2023 CBS News report that said most men think about the Roman Empire once a day, and some think about it as often as three times a day. My wife asked me about it and I said that I think about it at least once a week. She was stunned. Why do men think about the Roman Empire so often? My theory is that the Roman Empire is a symbol of amazing strength and power. Incredible things came from the Roman Empire. It seemed to a power that would last forever. And it fell. I always wondered how the Roman Empire could fall. It had a strong military, powerful leaders, good economy, art, and culture. It seemed to be the type of society that would last forever. Yet it didn’t. The past few years have given me an indication of how it could have fallen. Internal bickering. Divisiveness. Lack of humanity. Lack of understanding. Growth of hate. Poor leaders in control. I hope that we can learn the lessons from the fall of the Roman Empire to avoid the fall of the American experiment. Freedom, democracy, and our future are too important to just throw away the way we are.
Ever since October 7th, I have wanted to go back to Israel. I was supposed to go in November 2023, but the trip was cancelled, and my family was uncomfortable with me going to volunteer. Every day I would struggle with the deep desire to be in my homeland, doing my part to help. Serving in the IDF is not an option at my age and without any military background. But I can cook, clean, pick fruits and vegetables, and do whatever is needed. The needs of my family for me not to go overrode my need and desire to go. It has not been easy or comfortable, being in the US and my heart and soul in Israel.
This changes on Saturday night when my flight departs for Israel. I have the opportunity to go both for my own needs and for work related business. It is getting me there which is what I need. To be with my Israeli friends who have been serving in the IDF. To visit the kibbutzim that were attacked on October 7th, go back to Sderot, also attacked. To pay tribute at the Nova music festival site. To spend time in Hostage square in Tel Aviv.
There is a saying that ‘Leaders lead’. You take risks. You do the right thing regardless of the consequences. For me, going to Israel right now falls into that category. As a Jew, as a proud Zionist, it is my obligation to be there, to be part of my homeland, to give back, and to support my Israeli brothers and sisters. Too many leaders in our world are so afraid of the backlash of doing the right thing that they do nothing. As a result, they are merely a leader in name.
We saw that today when President Biden said, “if they go into Rafah, I’m not supplying the weapons that have been used historically to deal with Rafah, to deal with the cities — that deal with that problem.” Going into Rafah is a necessity to both rescue hostages and defeat Hamas.
This came a day after he said, “My commitment to the safety of the Jewish people, the security of Israel, and its right to exist as an independent Jewish people and Israel is ironclad, even when we disagree.”
Yesterday’s statement caused him potential electoral issues in Michigan and Minnesota and with the Progressive wing of his party. Rather than do what is right, supporting our ally, fighting against terrorism and evil, he backtracked and tried to play both sides. Yesterday he was against terrorism, hatred, and antisemitism. Today he was in favor of terrorism, hatred, and antisemitism. That’s not what leaders do.
This isn’t a partisan take. Representatives John Fetterman and Ritchie Torres are leaders. They have taken a position with our ally, in support of good over evil, against terrorism and hate. They haven’t forgotten the hostages and aren’t afraid to speak out, even when they take incredible criticism. Doing the right thing is more important than poll results.
Senator Fetterman’s office has posters of the hostages hanging on the walls
Senator Fetterman remains Pro-Israel, wants the hostages back, and is anti-Hamas and terror
We live in a world where our “leaders” are more concerned with being liked and tracking their approval ratings than actually leading. We see this in our Jewish community, in our local community, in our states and in the federal government. They aren’t trained properly. They aren’t mentored properly. Many don’t want it and think they know what it means and what it entails. Others want it but can’t find it. The vast majority of our leaders have not had anybody provide them with the guidance and instruction needed.
I often think back to the people who trained and mentored me. One was very hard on me. Very critical. I used to say that he was ‘crusty’ on the outside and ‘gooey’ on the inside. You had to deal with the crusty exterior to get to the gooey interior. He wouldn’t take excuses from me. He wouldn’t accept anything but excellence. He didn’t sugarcoat anything. He told it like it is and didn’t try to soften it up to save my feelings. He made me a better professional and a better person. He would often challenge me about my own personal desires. Did I want to be excellent, or did I want to be mediocre? If I wanted to be mediocre, then he didn’t have to spend time with me. If I wanted to be excellent then I had to do things differently. I learned tremendous lessons from him.
The other mentor I think about was much softer and nicer in his presentation. He explained things and sent the message in a kinder way. He also wouldn’t take excuses. He wouldn’t let me off the hook from doing things the right way. He challenged the way I thought and the reasons behind my thought process. He laid out his expectations if he was going to invest his time and if I wasn’t willing to do what we required to meet them, he would invest his time elsewhere. He shared his own personal experiences and what went right and where things went off the tracks. He wasn’t afraid to be vulnerable about the times he wasn’t successful and what he learned from those times. He would listen as I would share the things I learned from my mistakes and share in the joy of my successes.
Throughout my career, I have leaned on these lessons. Both men made a significant impact on my life. They taught me about integrity, especially as a leader. They taught me that at the end of the day, I have to live with myself, my choices, and my actions. They taught me that it’s better to do the right thing and get negative consequences than to do the wrong thing and get positive recognition. I’ll always be grateful to them for their time and their investment in me.
It is something that I strive to do for others. Just in the last week, I have had former employees reach out to say hi, send me a picture of them together, check in on me, ask for help with career changes, to work on an exciting project together, to pick my brain as they prepare for job interviews, and to just say thank you. It is incredibly gratifying to know that I am paying it forward from what these two men did for me. I look at it as an obligation that I have to make the world better by helping train leaders. I have the privilege of working with a friend to do leadership training for college students through taking them to Israel. Together we are working on a young leadership training program in Israel for February 2025. If we want better leaders, we have to take action to develop them.
Leadership trip for 19-26 year olds. Highly subsidized. An amazing experience. Sign up now!
I also have the privilege of working as a mentor to a younger professional who reminds me a great deal of myself when I began working with my first mentor. I get a lot of gratitude helping him grow, helping him see things differently, challenging him to be excellent instead of mediocre, just as I was challenged. It’s incredibly rewarding as I watch him grow. Each time he ‘gets it’ and understands the ‘why’ behind the ‘what’, I get a lot of joy. I can only imagine that my mentors felt the same way when I finally ‘got it’.
We live in challenging times. We need our leaders more than ever and true leaders are in short supply. It brings me back to my trip to Israel. I want to show my children what it means to be a leader. What it means to do what you think is right despite the risks. I want them to understand how important it is to do what is right no matter what. They have seen me live my values throughout the years. Doing what was needed for my dad during the last few weeks of his life. Being there for my mom during that time and afterwards. Staying true to myself and my values, morals, and ethics in spite of situations with others that it would be easy to abandon them for personal gain. Being there in DC as one of the 300,000 people there for the big rally in support of Israel.
I can’t wait to go to Israel. It’s only a few days and it feels like an eternity. I will get to see my friend Grace. My friends Margot and Tamar and their children. My friends Yaron and Yoni who are volunteering and speaking to us. I plan on going to East Jerusalem and having a long coffee and conversation with my Palestinian friend Mahmoud. I hope to see my friend Noam who lives in Boston but as it happens in the Jewish world, will be in Israel for a few days when I am there. I’m having dinner with my friend Tamara and her kids. I’ll get the personal meaning that I need in Jerusalem, at the Nova site, at hostage square, and at the Kibbutzim in the south. I’ll give back by picking fruits and vegetables and having dinner with IDF soldiers to say thank you.
Paratroopers in the IDF running up Masada to finish their training. What a celebration. Something I will never forget. Incredible personal meaning for them and for those of us who joined their celebration.
I’ll lead by following my values, morals, and ethics. I’ll lead by taking the time to learn and grow. I’ll lead by spending time with friends from America on the trip, talking about our lives and the challenges we face along with the experience we are having. I’ll lead by writing about the experience and sharing it publicly to inspire others. And I’ll lead by showing my children not only what it means to be a leader but also how important it is to do it with grace. To stay true to your values, morals, and ethics. To do what’s right no matter what.
At the Passover Seder we end with “l’shana haba’ah b’yerushalayim, Next Year in Jerusalem”. I’ll end this blog by saying “Next Week in Jerusalem”.
“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.
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.
Today, we filed a lawsuit representing Columbia students who have been displaced from campus because the school could not guarantee their safety. The complaint is here: https://t.co/EyBraKFLI6.
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.
🚨BREAKING: An anonymous group has 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.
The lion of Gaza,Yahya Sinwar roaming in the streets of Gaza.🔥🔥
Caitlyn Jenner took on the anti-Israel crowd in a publicly shared video.
I am a lifelong champion of Israel and the Jewish people – some of the most oppressed in the world. The only thing to protest is Hamas and make no mistake these are normal protestors they are Hamas sympathizers. I will not be silenced by these cowards. pic.twitter.com/2rgapfIIsk
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?
Jewish student wearing a Star of David necklace DENIED entry to his own university because he is JEWISH.
“I’m a UCLA student. I deserve to go here. We pay tuition. This is our school and they are not letting me walk in.”
— Afshine Emrani MD FACC (@afshineemrani) April 29, 2024
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
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.
6 months ago, I woke to a very different world. I didn’t know it when I awoke that morning. I made coffee, sat down to catch up on the news, and was horrified to hear about the attacks in Israel. I turned on the TV and the only channel covering it well was CNN. I don’t like watching most television news because of the bias, but on October 7, 2023, I didn’t have a choice. It appeared nobody else was covering it well. I was shocked at what I saw and how CNN covered it that day. They acted like a real news network rather than being in the entertainment business.
The horrors I saw on October 7th only got worse as I watched the 47-minute Hamas video, the documentary on the Nova music festival massacre, and heard from survivors on the attacks on Kibbutzim on October 7th and the Nova Music festival. Images and stories I will never forget.
Many of you don’t know this about me, but in the early to mid 1990s I worked with the Department of Corrections. My population for 18 months was solitary confinement, and I did coverage of Florida’s Death Row when the person who had that as their primary job was on vacation. I also worked with rapists and child molesters who were getting treatment to stop offending if/when they ever got out of prison. I spent time with some of the ‘worst of the worst’. I read files of people who had done horrible things. I met with people who did horrible things. While each of these people did horrific things, none of that was as horrifying to me as what happened on October 7th. Working there definitely changed me and it took me 6 months after I left to feel like a normal person again. I’m not sure I will ever be the person I was before October 7th again.
Sundays are when I get my inspiration from songs and music. I debated whether to continue this week with that model or because of the 6-month mark of October 7th, to do something different. I spend time with a couple of Rabbis each week learning and one thing that has come across clearly and that resonates with me is that Judaism believes in hope and gratitude. So I decided to stick with music this week and pick a song that, for me, is entirely about gratitude and reinforces hope.
On day 184 of the hostages’ captivity, on the 6 month mark since October 7th, hope and gratitude are what I need. Hope that the hostages will be released soon. Hope that they are alive. Gratitude for the IDF and all those who risk everything to protect Israel and the Jewish people. Gratitude for our leaders who are speaking out publicly against Hamas and defending Israel’s right to defend herself. Hope that those who aren’t or who aren’t clear will get clarity and fight for good to defeat evil.
Don’t need no five-star reservations, I got spaghetti and a cheap bottle of wine. Don’t need no concert in the city, I got a stereo and the best of Patsy Cline
Ain’t got no caviar, no Dom Perignon, but as far as I can see, I got everything I want.
It’s a simple beginning focusing on all the things he doesn’t need. All the things that are materialistic but not important. As I sit here on day 184 of the hostages being in captivity and the 6-month mark of the terrorist attack on October 7th, I realize that none of the things that I thought were important on October 6th really are. I would trade the delicious food, the concerts and shows I attend, the nice cars I own for the safe return of the hostages. For the end of Hamas and the end of the war. For the safety of my friends and my friends’ children who are serving in the IDF. For those in Gaza who are innocent and suffering to have food, shelter, medicine, and a government that actually cares for them.
The Bibas kids – Kfir has spend nearly half his life as a hostage of Hamas
I am grateful for the health of my family. For my mom, my in-laws, my siblings and sisters/brothers in law, nieces and nephews, and family that isn’t by blood. I’m lucky that I want what I have rather than focusing on having what I want. The last 20 months, since my dad got sick and then died through the many changes in life, I have paid attention to what is really important to me. Family. Friends. Relationships. Health. As he sings, ‘as far as I can see, I have everything I want.’
‘Cause I got a roof over my head The woman I love laying in my bed And it’s alright (alright), alright I got shoes under my feet Forever in her eyes staring back at me And it’s alright (alright), alright, yeah I got all I need And it’s alright by me
The chorus reiterates this. The basics are what I need. A roof over my head, somebody I love in my life, clothes, and that powerful relationship. It’s what I need and when I focus on what I need, it’s certainly, “alright by me.”
I have heard the parents of hostages speak in person, on tv, and through interviews. One thing is very clear to me. They would trade EVERYTHING to get their loved one back. I have heard from people who lost loved ones on October 7th – either on the kibbutzim, at the Nova music festival, or trying to save the lives of people being attacked by the Hamas terrorists. They would give up everything to get their loved ones back. Many of them have said they would return to the kibbutz where they lived prior to October 7th but would never live in that house again. They need the roof over their head and the community that they love and love them, but they don’t need that specific home.
I have friends who had loved ones taken hostage that have since been released. When I talk to them, the appreciation they have for their loved one’s release and the empathy from those who have loved ones that have not been released. I have friends who still have loved ones that are hostages and the daily pain they endure is unthinkable. We often have these grandiose things that we want. The nice, new car. The bigger house. The vacation home. The exotic trip. The designer clothes, bag, shoes. I find myself, like the song says, caring about the things that money can’t buy. Health. Happiness. Family. I find myself grateful for the people who care about me and who I have the privilege of caring about. And while I am saddened by the people who I have learned don’t really care, it also frees me up to invest more of my time and my energy with the people who do.
Hila was released after being kept as a hostage the day before she turned 13. The look on her face is priceless as she gets her birthday and Hanukkah gifts from her worldwide Jewish family.
Maybe later on, we’ll walk down to the river Lay on a blanket and stare up at the moon It may not be no French Riviera But it’s all the same to me as long as I’m with you.
May be a simple life, but that’s okay If you ask me baby, I think I’ve got it made.
I have had the privilege in my life to do some amazing travel. Having been to Israel 20 times and my 21st coming up next month isn’t the extent of it. I’ve been to many of the islands in the Caribbean, as a another famous song says, “Aruba, Jamaica” and many, many more. I’ve been on cruises. I’ve been to Mexico and Canada, Italy (more than once), Turkey, Spain, Greece, England, Switzerland, Egypt, Thailand, Bali, and more. Every one of these trips was amazing. I got to see incredible sights and experience incredible cultures and food and meet wonderful people. And yet, I would much rather be with my loved ones and walk down to the lake. I’d rather lay on a blanket together and look up at the moon, spending time with them. I don’t need to go to the exotic places to get those special feelings.
I’m not saying I don’t love traveling (I do). And I’m not saying I’m going to stop traveling (I’m not). What I am saying is that I don’t want to miss the time with family and friends because of some exotic place. I get much more value from meeting my mom for lunch in Lakeland than eating at a café in Venice, Italy. I have more fun eating lunch with a bunch of friends at Portillo’s in Springfield, Illinois than I do at a gourmet restaurant in Istanbul. I love when we cook out at the beach or go as a large family out to dinner during our Greenberg family beach week much more than dinner at Big Itzik in Tel Aviv (and the food there is amazing).
Dinner at Big Itzik (Itzik HaGadol). The food is amazing and the salads are incredible
On day 184 of captivity, on the 6-month mark of the October 7th massacre, I know that the families of those taken hostage or murdered would much rather eat cheese sandwiches with their loved ones than a fancy meal. They’d rather sit in the living room with those in captivity or murdered than take an exotic trip. We live in a world where our priorities are messed up. We now value things so much we forget about the value of our friends and family until it’s too late.
On Friday I learned of the death of a friend and colleague. It wasn’t expected. It was a shock. He was a wonderful man, a friend, a colleague, and just a good human being. Salt of the earth. It was sudden. He was only 5 years older than me. We’ve known each other for around 20 years. It was devastating. It was shocking. I think what bothers me the most is that I don’t remember the last time we spoke. I think it was nearly a year ago in Atlanta. Not for any good reason. Life got busy. We knew we’d talk again. We knew the opportunity would occur. Until it didn’t. I don’t want to live my life that way any longer. I don’t want to regret the call I didn’t make once it is too late. I don’t want to regret the simple text or email to stay connected and make sure those who matter to me know they matter to me. That’s more important than anything else.
When I lay down at night, I thank the Lord above For giving me everything I ever could dream of
‘Cause I’ve got a roof over my head The woman I love laying in my bed And it’s alright, alright, alright, alright I got shoes under my feet Forever in her eyes staring back at me And it’s alright, alright, alright, yeah
I got all I need, yeah I got all I need And it’s alright by me, oh, yeah It’s alright by me, yeah, yeah, yeah
The last few lines and the chorus once again are powerful. God (or the Lord) is a challenging thing to talk about today. It tends to mean you are either an evangelical Christian, far right wing, a terrorist, a racist, you hate people who are different than you, or somebody who is trying to convert others to your beliefs. Yet it really means none of that.
I pray and meditate every day and have for decades. I have a relationship with God that is personal and meaningful. It’s my own and if you ask me about it, I’m happy to share mine and encourage you to have your own. And if you don’t want your own, that’s ok too. I no longer believe in the punishing God that I was raised with. I believe in a God that is loving, caring, and only wants the best for me. And that when the best doesn’t happen, it is never because of God, it’s always because of me. My favorite book, Illusions by Richard Bach, is a thought-provoking book which challenged my conventional thinking about God and the universe. It explores the nature of reality and perceived reality which led me to question my beliefs and consider new possibilities. In it, there are many sayings pulled from the handbook for life. My favorite is:
“Argue for your limitations and they are yours.”
Since reading the book the first time and reading that quote, I have challenged myself to not fight for my limitations and the limitations of God. It doesn’t mean I can do everything or even anything. It does mean that if I believe I can do it, I can do my best and it may just happen. And it may not happen. But if I argue before I do the work, it never happens. There are many of these gems in the book and at one point I wrote them on index cards and carried them with me to remind me of the lessons.
I thank God every day for the blessings in my life. The relationship I had with my dad. The relationship I have with my mom. My family, my wife, my children, my siblings and sister/brother in laws. My nieces and nephews. My cousins. My family that isn’t blood but is just as close. My friends. A roof over my head. Shoes under my feet. Food to eat.
Many years ago, when I was not yet 21, a friend told me to write down what I wanted in the next year and seal it in an envelope. A year later, we opened it together and I was amazing. My list was incredibly short sited. I had asked and hoped for far less than I actually got. I had argued for my limitations when I wrote the list but didn’t in my life. As a result, I got far more.
On day 184, the 6-month mark since October 7th, we can’t argue for the IDF or Israel’s limitations. They can do what they need to do to protect Israel and the Jewish people. They can do what they need to free the hostages. They will do what is needed to eliminate the evil that is Hamas.
At the end of the day, I do have all that I need and it is alright with me. I’m filled with gratitude and hope, despite the horrors of October 7th, the horrors of war, and the captivity of innocent civilians. We, as a people, will continue to survive and thrive and will do what is needed.
Every day I wake up and the war between Hamas and Israel is continuing. The hostages remain in the tunnels in captivity. Some are dead, some being sexually abused, some being physically abused. None getting needed medication. Iran continues to provide resources to Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthi’s in Yemen.
I never thought I would say this, but I wish the world was silent about all of this. “Why?” you may ask. Because rather than condemn the terrorists of Hamas who still have American hostages among those they kidnapped, instead of condemning Iran, instead of demanding that the Houthi’s and Hezbollah stop firing rockets at Israel, the world condemns Israel for fighting for survival.
I wish I could say it was just the non-Jewish world. Our history as a people, for thousands of years, has us as our own worst enemies. Facing persecution, facing death, facing evil, we have a history of defending those who persecute and kill us, those who are evil, all while condemning ourselves. I don’t know why we do this. I wish I knew. I wish I could figure out a way to stop it. Just like in Germany, we defend those who hate us all the way into the gas chambers.
I am amazed at those who call this war genocide. The definition of genocide is, “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.” It is clear that is not what Israel is doing. How do we know this? First because according to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS), the Palestinian population has increased about 10 times since the War of Independence in 1948. Even more recently, according to the PCBS, displacement of more than 200,000 Palestinians, with the majority of them to the Palestinian country of Jordan, after the 1967 war, the Palestinian world population was 14 million by the end of 2022. This means that the number of Palestinians in the world has doubled since 1967. That goes against the definition of genocide. Secondly, during this current war, if Israel wanted to destroy the Palestinian people in Gaza, they could have just bombed the entire country and killed all the people there in a matter of days. Instead, they have chosen to be more surgical in their efforts, doing their best to avoid civilian casualties whenever possible. Once again, you do not attempt destroy a nation or group of people by doing all you can to save civilians.
The other thing that amazes me is when people talk about this being the worst loss of civilian life in conflict. The facts simply don’t back that up. According to the UN and the Red Cross, there are usually 9 civilians killed in armed conflict for every military person killed. That means 90% of all deaths in armed conflict are civilians. Iraq Body Count figures from 2003 to 2013 indicate that 77% of casualties were civilians. So how does the war between Hamas and Israel compare? If we use the statistics provided by Hamas, which nobody really believes is accurate, the ratio is somewhere between 1:1 and 1.2:1. That means Israel is 8-9 times BETTER than the world average and 7 times better than the US in Iraq. And that’s using the numbers provided by Hamas!
Estimates put the ration at somewhere between 1.0 and 1.2 civilians per Hamas Terrorist killed in the war, far better than the normal, accepted ration of 9-1
Just this week, Israel tragically and accidentally bombed trucks from the World Central Kitchen, killing 7 of the aid workers. It is a horrible tragedy. There is no excuse for it. And Israel hasn’t made any excuses. Israel admitted it was a mistake and they were in the wrong. They did an investigation, identified what happened, held those accountable whose actions resulted in the bombing and these deaths, and vowed to learn from this mistake. Listen to an interview by friend Fleur Hassan- Nahoum, the Deputy Mayor of Jerusalem. She, and Israel, isn’t hiding from what happened or how awful it is.
Deputy Mayor of Jerusalem and my friend, Fleur Hassan-Nahoum, is brutally honest about the awful mistake in attacking the convoy of aid workers. This is what sets Israel apart – a willingness to admit mistakes, hold people accountable, and learn from their mistakes.
In October of 2015, the US initiated an airstrike against a Doctors Without Borders trauma center and killed at least 42 people including 14 hospital staff members and at least 24 patients. The investigation found that human errors, fatigue, process, and equipment failures were at fault in the deadly airstrike. US Central command said that, “These factors contributed to the ‘fog of war,’ which is the uncertainty often encountered during combat operations.”
In August of 2021, the US made a mistake and fired a hellfire missile in Kabul, accidentally killing 10 civilians, 7 of which were children. When I was attending the Israel-American Council Summit in Austin, Texas last year, my Uber driver had recently gotten out of the military. He was in Afghanistan during this time and during the botched withdrawal of the troops there. The stories he told me were horrible. The mistakes and errors made turned my stomach. I felt terrible about how we, America, treated the people who served in Afghanistan and those who were our allies in Afghanistan. It was understood that we messed up and made mistakes and that this happens in war.
Every other country in the world gets the grace of making mistakes in war. Not Israel, the Jewish nation. Once again, Israel is held to a different standard. I have said repeatedly that war is terrible. We should do everything we can to avoid war. When you can’t avoid war and you must take on evil, you must defeat it. Otherwise, evil continues to grow. Yet in today’s world, it appears there is a desire to have more evil than Jews.
I listen to people like Bernie Sanders and even friends who are Jewish who unfairly criticize Israel. Where was the outrage about the nearly 620,000 people killed in the Syrian civil war? What about the more than 375,000 people killed in the Yemen civil war between 2015 and early 2022? The 30,000 children killed by Assad in Syria. Israel is the target because it is the Jewish state and that is antisemitism and hate.
Bernie Sanders doesn’t get it – he doesn’t understand evil, he doesn’t pay attention to the data, and despite being Jewish, he hates Jews.
We need people like Representative Ritchie Torres, who is outspoken in his support of Israel, the need to remove Hamas, and holding Hamas responsible for this war. He speaks out against conditions of aid to Israel.
Ritchie Torres on Israel (at the 1:20 mark). He is a vocal supporter of Israel and the right to defend herself and the need to eliminate Hamas.
Senator Hakeem Jeffries has spoken out loudly and clearly in support of Israel. Senator John Fetterman has been one of the most vocal supporters of Israel. He speaks out publicly about the need to remove Hamas, the fact that Hamas hides behind human shields, and the need to support Israel unconditionally.
Senator Fetterman speaks about Israel and Hamas at the 2:45 mark until the 5:20 mark. He is a very vocal supporter of Israel, the right to defend herself, and the need to eliminate Hamas.
My own Senator, Rick Scott, has been vocal about his support for Israel. He tweets daily about the hostages, never letting them fall out of our thoughts.
Senator Scott speaking powerfully in support of Israel. We need more leaders to do so.Senator Scott is active on Twitter reminding everybody about the hostages
So now that I’ve written all this, so what? Other than venting my frustrations, anger, and disappointment, what is the point? The point is that each of us have the ability to make a difference. Each of us can learn the truth. Each of us can speak out loudly. Each of us can challenge those we know when they are spewing venom at Israel that is simply wrong and unfair. Each of us can confront those who we hear are speaking untruths, talking points without substance, and spewing hate. If you want to see how it’s done and how it is done well, watch this clip of Douglas Murray during an interview with Al Jazeera. He doesn’t let the person interviewing him get away with the lies and antisemitic comments she makes.
Douglas Murray is amazing as he takes her apart when she lies.
We can support Israel and the hostages. Wear the dogtags that say “Bring them home now” or “We will dance again” or both. Get a yellow ribbon pin and wear it. Put a piece of masking tape on your shirt every day with the number of days the hostages have been in captivity. Buy things from Israel to support their economy. Be loud and proud. The people who hate us aren’t going away. They are going to be out there spewing Jew hatred in the context of Israel at synagogues, JCCs, in the streets, at people’s homes, wherever they can be. If we hide, they win.
Rachel Goldberg, mother of hostage Hersch Goldberg Polin, started the masking tape. This was day 98. We are not past day 180.
When you are able, visit Israel. I have wanted to go since October 7th but have not because my family was worried about my safety. I love my family and was willing to wait so they felt better. I’m not willing to wait any longer. I’m going in May. You can join me if you want – it will be an amazing trip and very meaningful. I’m not sure how I will feel when I go to the site of the Nova music festival or one of the kibbutzim. I’m not sure what visiting Sderot will feel like this time – the police station, always a stop to see the rockets that were fired at them is no longer there. Being there for Yom HaZikaron and Yom Ha’atzmaut will be different this time. It will be the third time I’ve been in Israel for Israel’s memorial day and Independence Day. I already know this one will be different. I am arriving the night before the trip begins and staying two days after. I wish I could go earlier and stay even longer. I’m going on the Momentum men’s trip. Join me. If you are a woman and want to go, there is also a women’s trip and I can connect you to it so you can go.
Unlike the past, we are not powerless. We are not lambs being taken to slaughter. We have the IDF. We have Israel. We have voices and don’t have to allow the lies to be all that people hear. When people cry for a ‘Ceasefire Now’ remind them that Israel has already agreed to the ceasefire, it’s Hamas who hasn’t agreed. Don’t push Israel for a ceasefire, push Hamas. Push Qatar who houses the leaders of Hamas. And remind them that this war can end immediately if Hamas would release the hostages and surrender.
Write and call your member of Congress and your Senators. Your voice matters. Every member of Congress that I have spoken with, every Senator I have met, have said how much those calls, emails, and letters mean. You have a voice, use it. If you think it doesn’t matter or people don’t notice you are wrong. I get asked about the number on the tape or my dogtags all the time. Be inspired by Cincinnati Reds Assistant Pitching Coach Alon Leichman and his baseball glove for this season. He is making a powerful statement, “Bring them home NOW”. You can join in making that powerful statement of support and stand up to the Jew haters who want us all gone.
A powerful statement on his baseball glove
Don’t be silent. Don’t hide. Don’t allow them to win. We’ve been down that road before and it doesn’t end well for us.
I remember being in high school and learning the ancient Chinese curse, “May you live in interesting times.” and thinking to myself, what could be better than interesting times? I hate being bored, so interesting times would be exciting and fun.
Ah, the naivety of the young.
These are interesting times and as such are not so wonderful times. The rise of hatred over the past decade is frightening. The rise of antisemitism over the same time period and the exponential growth in the past 6 months is overwhelming. I read and listen to so much discussion and none of it seems to focus on the real challenge and the real solution.
We have been taught not to like each other. We have been taught that ‘the other’ is against us, will harm us, and that if they get what they want, we won’t get what we need. This seems to be fairly universal, regardless of who you are and who ‘the other’ is. We villainize them. We make broad generalizations about them. We make assumptions about them. The one thing we don’t do is actually engage with people who are different from us. That one thing we don’t do is the one thing that we need to do.
In November 2019, I had the honor and privilege of participating on an Encounter Immersive Experience. We spent 4 days meeting with, listening to, and learning from members of Palestinian civil society. I said it and used the word – Palestinian. So let’s set some ground rules for the rest of this post.
The Palestinian people do exist. They may have had different names over the years from Arabs to Bedouins, to Palestinians. We, as Jews, used to be called Hebrews and Israelites. Accept the fact that these people do exist, they live in what I will call ‘Greater Israel’, and aren’t going anywhere.
As a result of the 1967 war, Israel conquered territories. This happens in many wars and is a reality of millenniums. The area on the west bank of the Jordan River has different names. For purposes here I am going to call is Judea and Samaria, the ancient names for that land. Some may call in the West Bank. Some may call it Palestine. I am calling it Judea and Samaria.
Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Palestinian Authority (PA) are evil. Most Palestinian people don’t like them. I will discuss this later in this post however understand that there is a difference between Palestinian people and terrorists. If you insist on generalizing that they are all people or are all terrorists, you can stop reading here if you want. There is a difference.
Now back to my 4 days with leaders of Palestinian Civil Society. I remember thinking how 4 days seemed so short. This is such a complex issue; how could we only spend 4 days with them? There were 4 of the most intense days of my life. By the third day I was grateful that it was only 4 days because on how intense they were.
During these 4 days, which I wrote about at the time, and you can find about 17 blog postings in the beginning of this blog from that time period, I had the ability to meet with many different people. I had a chance to ask questions, listen to other points of view, and listed to people who had an entirely different history and narrative than I do. I met people who I really like and stay in touch with even today. I met people who I despised and who I am sure despised me only because I am Jewish. I met people whose effort to change and challenge everything that they know were inspiring. I met people who are a direct cause for the increase in hate, terrorism, and everything that led up to October 7th. I saw things that made me sad. Some were out of necessity, and some were simply terrible government policy. It was a life altering experience that only made me a stronger and more powerful Zionist but also made me a better human being because I began a journey of understanding some of the deep challenges and how much work it will take to find a solution, to make peace, and to get beyond the damage that has been done in the past so that we can live in a different future.
I have written a lot about how October 7th has impacted and changed me. I wrote about what seeing the 47-minute Hamas video was like. Recently I saw the documentary about the massacre at the Nova Music Festival and I shared what that was like. The past 6 months have been focused mostly on being a Jew in today’s world and in the United States. It has been focused on the challenge of being a Zionist, loving Israel, in a world that is openly hostile, willingly believes lies and knowingly uses inflammatory language that is not accurate. I have paid attention to my friends called up in the reserves, their children, either called up or who are currently serving in the IDF. What I haven’t done is think too much about my Palestinian friends and what life has been like for them.
Over the past few weeks, I have been talking a lot with various people about the future. As the US is demanding a permanent ceasefire and a 2 state solution (Hamas is the obstacle to the ceasefire as they have openly called for more October 7th massacres and still are holding hostages), I found myself thinking about who would be that partner for peace. Obviously, Israel and the government have to make their own changes and hopefully that will come soon. But what about the partner? Who would it be? It’s not Hamas or Hezbollah. It can’t be the Palestinian Authority (PA) who not only is corrupt and whose people hate them, still has not condemned the October 7th massacre nor have they had elections in 19 years! So again, who can this partner be?
I found myself thinking of my friend Ali Abu Awwad, founder of Taghyeer, the Palestinian National Nonviolence Movement. I met Ali on that trip and was amazing at what he said. There was real leadership about building a country that would live in peace with Israel. The line he said that I will always remember is, “Peace will not come through Jewish blood. It will come through Jewish hearts.” He then added, “we need to prove to the Jewish people that they can trust us because we have only showed them that they cannot.”
Ali and me together when he visited Orlando and spoke to our community.
Imagine leaders who are not calling for ‘intifada’ or ‘jihad’ but instead are calling for peace and understanding. Imagine leaders who came from a place of hatred and have overcome it to work with Jews, with Israeli, to build a better society. Imagine a leader whose mother was a high-ranking PLO leader, who spent time in an Israeli prison at the same time as his mother and was able to move beyond hatred. Imagine a leader whose brother was killed by the IDF and found peace and acceptance by spending time with a Rabbi whose son was killed by terrorists. That is Ali Abu Awwad. Just before Covid shut the world down, Ali spoke in Orlando. The room was at least half Israeli. They were primed for a fight. They were primed to hear somebody blame Israel and make the Palestinians innocent victims. They didn’t get what they expected. They heard somebody taking responsibility for their part in the hate. They heard somebody who gave hope for a different future.
I realized I hadn’t reached out Ali in quite a while. I hadn’t checked on him and asked how he was doing? then I began to think of some of the other Palestinian people that I met and considered friends. I hadn’t reached out to them either. What type of friend am I to be so overwhelmed with my own grief that I don’t check on my friends. So I began doing so. I reached out to Ali and am awaiting his reply.
I reached out to my friend Mahmoud. His family owns the Educational Bookshop in East Jerusalem. I spent a day with Mahmoud in 2019 walking around East Jerusalem, visiting the Palestinian theater, learning about the Palestinian arts community, and having coffee and a conversation at the bookshop. We finished the day at his home with another deep conversation. I wrote about that day in this blog post.
The day with Mahmoud was difficult and very meaningful. It is something that I think about regularly because of the power of his words. He is not a fundamentalist. He does not hate Jews. He does not want the destruction of Israel. He wants to live freely. He wants a government that represents him and takes care of him. It was very difficult to hear him say that if there was a public works project in his neighborhood, he wouldn’t ask the municipality of Jerusalem to fix it because they wouldn’t. And he wouldn’t/couldn’t ask the PA to fix it because even if they could, they wouldn’t. He felt helpless so he would just get people together to fix it himself or live with it being broken.
Mahmoud and the Educational Bookshop. I look forward to returning for another cup of coffee with him.
He talked about how challenging it was for him to be in West Jerusalem and how he felt there, how uncomfortable and that he was a focus of constant attention. He shared how he didn’t feel he belonged or was welcome there and how much that bothered him. It bothered him so much that he didn’t like going. He talked about how he would go to Tel Aviv, and he felt he didn’t stand out, he wasn’t a focus of attention like he was in West Jerusalem. And how that both made him feel welcome and how it also troubled him – why was it so different? He could disappear in Tel Aviv and just be a person while he felt he couldn’t do that in West Jerusalem. It didn’t sit well with me then – that’s not the Israel I love – yet with the rise of antisemitism in the past six months I have begun to understand it in a way that is very uncomfortable.
I watch what is happening in places like New York, California, Michigan, and Canada, and feel very uncomfortable and unwelcome as a Jew. This isn’t the America that I love. There are places around the world that I won’t visit now as a Jew. This isn’t the world that I want to live in.
I think often of something that Mahmoud said to us in his home. He said that if Zionism means that the Jews have a claim to the land and that the Palestinians also have a claim to the land, then he supports Zionism. It was incredibly powerful when he said it and even more powerful today. When a Palestinian man living in East Jerusalem can come to that type of understanding, it gives me great hope for the future. Zionism isn’t colonialism. It isn’t racism. It is the belief that the Jews have a right to self-determination in our historic homeland. In fact, the Declaration of Independence has some very clear definitions in it that need to be highlighted. They include:
This right is the natural right of the Jewish people to be masters of their own fate, like all other nations, in their own sovereign State.
Simply put, we have a right to our own sovereign State and self-determination. It’s very clear.
THE STATE OF ISRAEL will be open for Jewish immigration and for the Ingathering of the Exiles; it will foster the development of the country for the benefit of all its inhabitants; it will be based on freedom, justice and peace as envisaged by the prophets of Israel; it will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex; it will guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and culture; it will safeguard the Holy Places of all religions; and it will be faithful to the principles of the Charter of the United Nations.
While Israel is a Jewish state, it is a place for everybody who lives there. It is based on freedom, justice and peace – this language is very different from the charter of Hamas and the PLO. And it guarantees social and political rights to all. Unlike Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran and others, we do not want to a place for us alone.
WE APPEAL – in the very midst of the onslaught launched against us now for months – to the Arab inhabitants of the State of Israel to preserve peace and participate in the upbuilding of the State on the basis of full and equal citizenship and due representation in all its provisional and permanent institutions.
Full and equal citizenship and due representation. Powerful words. Powerful ideals.
WE EXTEND our hand to all neighboring states and their peoples in an offer of peace and good neighborliness, and appeal to them to establish bonds of cooperation and mutual help with the sovereign Jewish people settled in its own land. The State of Israel is prepared to do its share in a common effort for the advancement of the entire Middle East.
That last line is so important, especially during these times. While we may not have a current partner for peace with the Palestinians, that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t do our part to find one. The Abraham Accords and potential normalization with Saudia Arabia and Indonesia create even more opportunities. We cannot let the horrors of the past stop us from the beauty of the future. When I think of Mahmoud’s words back in 2019 and Ali’s passion and mission, that’s what I find myself going back to.
We cannot let the horrors of the past stop us from the beauty of the future.
Ali and Mahmoud both want a world where people live in peace, together, building countries that care about their people. They are both incredible leaders with a following. We cannot afford to ignore them and let those who preach hate; Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran, the Palestinian Authority, etc., be in control.
Mahmoud and I have been emailing and when I’m in Israel in May, we are planning for me to go visit him at his bookstore in East Jerusalem, walk around the neighborhood once again, talk, share a long cup of coffee or tea, maybe have lunch or dinner, and talk. And talk. And talk. Learn from each other. Deepen our friendship. Because we both want the same thing. A brighter future together.
One of my favorite people that I met on this trip was Mohammad. I wrote about them in this blog post at the time. He and his wife Hiba, and their baby son hosted us for dinner at their home in East Jerusalem. They come from an amazing family. Hiba’s family is the Muslim family that holds the keys to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. It’s an amazing story and if you don’t know it, you can begin to read about it here. They both had Master’s degrees. She worked for the UN, he worked for an NGO that took him into Gaza on a monthly basis. We formed an instant connection and talked at length about the different challenges. The fact that the PA hasn’t had elections since 2005. How corrupt the PA is and how they do nothing for the people except steal money. How if there ever were elections, they could never vote for the PA, meaning that even Hamas would be a better choice because MAYBE they would do something for them (we haven’t talked about that since October 7th and I look forward to it in the near future) while they know the PA won’t do anything. I asked about them running for office and their response was demoralizing as they didn’t believe that they would win and if they did, they wouldn’t be able to do anything without being killed.
Mohammad, Hiba, their son and me at their home in East Jerusalem.
We made a promise to get together again on my next trip so he could take me to his favorite restaurants, bakeries, ice cream shops, and we could continue our conversation. Covid delayed my next trip, but I reached out before it, only to learn that Mohammad and his family had moved to Japan where he was working on a Ph.D. We haven’t been able to coordinate his trips back with my trips back yet, but in our last correspondence we are going to try later this summer when they will be there for a few months. In the meantime, they have a new baby that I want to meet. He offered his home for me to stay when I visit, and I plan to take him up on the offer. This is a beautiful family. Wonderful people. True friends. And Palestinians. It is possible.
The last friend from this trip that I have been in contact with is a woman named Suzan. She is a Palestinian Christian who lives in Bethlehem. She also hosted us at her home for dinner where we had an amazing conversation. She worries about the declining number of Christians in Bethlehem. She worries about the role of women in Bethlehem. She is privileged because she also has a German passport so is able to travel much easier.
Suzan (far left in the black dress) and four of us at her home for dinner.
Suzan is an artist and runs an art studio. The Bethlehem Fair Trade Artisans shop is an amazing place highlighting a variety of artists, mostly women, and I encourage you to check it out and if you see something you like, to purchase it. (Full disclosure – I encourage you to purchase as much as you can from Israeli artists and Israeli businesses. I have purchased many pieces from Israeli artists since October 7th. If you need help finding Israeli artists or businesses, please let me know and I’ll be happy to share my favorites and many others with you.)
Her focus is on women artists and fair-trade practices. She was very frustrated that she was being told by the city government that her future shows and community events could not include Jewish women. She told us that she didn’t care what they said, she was still going to invite the Jewish women to participate. And she was going to continue to sell the works of Jewish women artists in her shop. She didn’t care what they said, she was going to do what was right. What was moral. What was ethical.
Put those words together. Moral. Ethical. Palestinian. Generalizations simply don’t work. There are terrorists. There are people who hate and are evil. I have met many of them, especially on that trip in 2019. There are also many good people. Great people. Caring people. People who you’d want as your neighbor. As your friend.
I hope to see Suzan either in May or later this year. When I met her, it was just after she harvested her Olive trees so I saw the harvest. Maybe this time I can see the trees filled with olives, filled with life. Wouldn’t that be an incredible symbol.
Suzan with her harvest of olives from her trees
These are four examples of wonderful, amazing people. People I call friends. People I would be honored to have as neighbors. People I trust. Good people.
I met terrorists. You can read about my lunch with a member of Hamas, a murderer, and a member of the Al Aqsa Brigade in this post. There is a difference between my friends who are Palestinian and the terrorists. And I met people who were terrorists and are on a journey towards something different. There is hope for the future but only if we are willing to do something different than the past. That difference isn’t just up to us but it can start with us. We can change our language. We can use our contacts to meet Palestinians who want peace, who don’t hate, who don’t support Hamas or the PA, who will invite you into their home, share a meal, a coffee, and who you will come to really like. We can help them rise up and together we can ensure the terrorists aren’t in power, don’t have the ability to kill Jews and oppress the Palestinian people.
I’m not being pollyannish. I’m not being naïve. I am being hopeful. I am talking about creating a systemic change. I’m talking about taking action to stop the funding to UNRWA and the PA. Ensure a new government ‘of the people, by the people, and for the people’ is set up in Gaza (sound familiar?) We can lobby our government to force elections in Judea and Samaria, so Abbas’s 4-year term finally comes to an end before he serves 20 years of a 4 year term. We can encourage the leaders in Israel to work with these leaders who want peace in a methodical manner to build trust. As Ronald Reagan famously said, ‘Trust, but verify’.
The Israeli national anthem is Hatikvah, the hope. Let’s make sure we don’t lost hope. Then the terrorists win and we all lose.
IDF soldiers singing Hatikvah after October 7th just before they prepare to enter Gaza and defend Israel.
I look forward to sharing stories, pictures, and maybe even some videos and conversations with my Ali, Mahmoud, Mohammad and Hiba, and Suzan. As deeply as October 7th has damaged and changed me, I won’t let it drive out hope. Hope in the good people. Hope for a better future. And in the words of Theodore Herzl, “If you will it, it is no dream.” I’m going to put the work in. I hope you decide to as well.
PS
I came across this video of IDF soldiers rapping about the lies that are told about them. It’s very powerful and timely.
Sadly, it was recorded 10 years ago, showing that these allegations have a long rooted basis in antisemitism, Jew hatred, and bigotry. Enjoy the video as it’s powerful.
I have written extensively about how behind the times I am when it comes to music. I recently discovered the 2001 song by Alan Jackson, Where were you? (when the world stopped turnin’). He wrote it about September 11, 2001 not long afterwards and performed it only 10 days later at the Country Music Awards (CMAs). I find it very impactful, not just as it reminds me of what I felt and was going through after 9/11 but also what I felt like on October 7th and continue to feel today.
Jackson said that he had strong feelings and wanted to write something that expressed them without being political or partisan. He wanted it to clearly reflect his thoughts and feelings. This song accomplished that in an incredible manner. Since October 7th, I have been writing to try to do the same. When I heard this song and when I listened deeply to the lyrics, they not only speak about September 11th and the feelings afterwards but easily could reflect October 7th and afterwards. Many Israeli artists have written songs about October 7th and after but I haven’t heard or seen a single American songwriter or singer with the exception of Bono and U2 changing the words of the song Pride: In the Name of Love to reflect October 7th instead of April 4 and the Supernova music festival. You can see and hear the pain Bono is feeling. I remember being incredibly moved when I heard it for the first time and even today, as I listen to it, it brings tears to my eyes. I wish they would re-release it with altered lyrics.
Where were you when the world stopped turnin’ That September day? Were you in the yard with your wife and children Or workin’ on some stage in L.A.?
Most people know where they were on September 11, 2001 as it is part of our American psyche. I know where I was. Who I was talking to. What TV station I was watching. Where I was when the first tower fell. Where I was when the 2nd tower fell. Keeping in touch with my brother, who worked in NYC at that time, to check on his safety. Being grateful that my dad wasn’t flying that day – he had flown the day before. Running a Hillel meant I had students to attend to and their needs. The pain everybody felt was palpable. September 11th and days that followed were filled with hugs, tears, conversations, and questions.
October 7th was very similar for me. I remember exactly where I was, where I sat, what TV stations I watched, and who I was with. I remember sending WhatsApp messages to friends and family in Israel to check on them. The uncertainty of where the attacks were going to occur that day. Was it just going to be near the Gaza envelope? Were they going to be attacked from the north and Lebanon? What was the PA going to do and would we see terrorists coming in from the East as well?
There are moments in our lives that we never forget the details. My wedding. The birth of my children. Family simchas. The last day I spent with my father before he died. Three Mile Island (I lived nearby in Harrisburg at the time). The assassination attempt on Ronald Reagan. John Lennon and Yitzhak Rabin being assassinated. 9/11. October 7th. In one way or another, the world stopped turning on all of those days. Some due to joy, some due to sadness. How the world stopping turning impacted us and what we do with the changes that result is what’s key.
Did you stand there in shock at the sight of that black smoke Risin’ against that blue sky? Did you shout out in anger, in fear for your neighbor Or did you just sit down and cry?
On 9/11, when the first plane hit the first tower, I remember thinking it was an accident. We watched in horror but didn’t realize we were under attack. It wasn’t until the second plane hit the second tower that the shock really hit. Where was going to be next? My brother worked in NYC and his building was attached to Grand Central Station. Was that the next target? My dad was supposed to fly that week and his flight was changed. I tried to remember when it was changed. Was it changed so that he was flying that day? Was it the day before? Was it the day after? What about my friends who worked and lived in NY? Then the plane was crashed into Shanksville, PA and then into the Pentagon. Were there going to be more attacks? If so, where? How?
On October 7th, I sat there in shock. I couldn’t believe what I was watching and hearing. As I communicated with friends and family in Israel, it didn’t get any better. I shouted in anger, in fear for my friends and family. I sat in shock at what I watched and as names were released, prayed that I didn’t know any of them and was also sad that these people, these members of my Jewish family, were killed or taken hostage.
I couldn’t move from my chair in front of the television. I couldn’t change the channel. I didn’t want to talk to anybody as I had nothing to say. It was so unbelievable. When I did talk, it was usually filled with anger at what happened, not understanding where the IDF was. Not understanding how this was continuing as long as it was. Not understanding how it even happened. The more that was reported, the angrier I got at Hamas for doing it and for the Israeli government for missing the signs and for allowing it to happen. I got angry at the Gazan people who were welcomed into the kibbutzim for work and ate dinner with the families that they sold out to Hamas, ensuring their death or kidnapping.
We all have our own way of dealing with this type of trauma. Jackson’s point is that whatever we did, however we dealt with it, is what we needed. He isn’t saying one is better than the other. He isn’t saying if you didn’t do it his way, you were wrong. It’s a recognition that however we dealt with 9/11 or with October 7th, it’s what we needed to do in the moment. And that’s good enough.
Did you weep for the children, they lost their dear loved ones Pray for the ones who don’t know? Did you rejoice for the people who walked from the rubble And sob for the ones left below?
On 9/11 it was common to weep for everybody. Those who were killed. Those who we didn’t know what happened. The families of both. We prayed for the yet to be born children who lost their father on 9/11. And the children who lost one or both parents. We celebrated those who managed to escape and to live. And mourned those who didn’t. We found heroes in the passengers that crashed the plane in Shanksville, PA instead of letting the terrorists crash it into what they wanted, which would have killed more people.
October 7th seems to be viewed differently by many. I recently saw the documentary about the SuperNova music festival. These young people who were there to celebrate music were massacred by evil terrorists. I saw the Hamas video which showed them celebrating the murder of civilians – the elderly, women, children, and adults. Kfir Babis was taken hostage at less than a year old and his brother at 4 years old are forgotten by most of the world. The American hostages have been forgotten by Americans and by our leaders. In Israel, there is an uprising against the government for how they are handling the hostage crisis. Families have been displaced for more than 5 months, both from the Gaza envelope and from the north, where Hezbollah is sending rockets every day into Israel.
The trauma of Israelis is forgotten. The trauma of the diaspora Jews is ignored. The world weeps for the children of Gaza who are dying because of Hamas but ignores the children of Israel who died because of Hamas. The Red Cross still hasn’t visited the hostages, 177 days later. They haven’t received their medication in 177 days. As the father of a child with Type 1 diabetes, I know what would happen if he went 177 days without insulin. After 9/11, America stood together in support of those impacted and those who lost loved ones. We stood together against evil. When it comes to October 7th, that stand only lasted a few days before they became held responsible for their own victimization by evil. It disgusts me. When I listen to Alan Jackson sing these words, I find myself burning inside, wondering why it doesn’t apply to Jews. Why does everybody else matter but we don’t. How can people who supposedly stand for morals, ethics, justice, equality, and the like actually show how fraudulent they are and not be held accountable.
My heart breaks daily for the families of the current hostages. It aches every day for the hostages that were released and their families, for what they must go through. It hurts for the families of the victims and the survivors of the SuperNova music festival massacre. I have a deep hole in my heart and my soul for everybody impacted by October 7th – the Jews, Bedouins, Arab-Israelis, Druze, Bhai’I, and the innocent Palestinians and people of Gaza (because there is a difference between the terrorists and the people). I wish the world mourned with me and stood up against evil. This verse reminds me that no matter how much we want to think that we can just fit in with society, we are always Jews first and the world will always look at us differently. They will weep and cry out for anybody other than us. They will mourn and fight for the rights of everybody other than us. We are the only ones who will stand up for ourselves.
The great Israeli leader Golda Meir had a number of quotes that reflects this reality. They include:
Did you burst out with pride for the red, white, and blue And the heroes who died just doin’ what they do? Did you look up to heaven for some kind of answer And look at yourself and what really matters?
After 9/11, American pride was as high as I have seen since the 1980 US Olympic Hockey team beat the Soviets and then won the gold medal. We were united as Americans. Nobody was going to stop us. We were going to kill the terrorists, restore democracy, rule the world. Our first responders were all heroes. I remember the flag from the Twin Towers being flown at Yankee Stadium. We begin singing ‘God Bless America’ in the 7th inning of baseball games. We thanked our soldiers for their service.
The flag from ground zero flying at Yankee Stadium in 2001
We looked to God for answers. As a Hillel Director, it was an incredible time as students flocked to ask existential questions. Nobody was afraid to ask a question and seem uneducated because everybody was asking questions. People reassessed their lives, their values. Seeing these widows and orphans, pregnant women who lost their husbands, hearing the recording from the planes, inspired us all to be better people. “Let’sRoll”, said by Todd Beamer, before he and the other passengers on Flight 93 attacked the cockpit and the terrorists, crashing the plane into a field before it could be used as a weapon, was an inspiration to us all. We asked ourselves what we would do, what could we do, if we were in a similar situation.
October 7th was different for the world. As Jews, as Zionists, we asked where was the IDF. We were united in our grief, not in our dominance. We knew that Israel would respond, that war was here, and that Gaza would be devastated, but we took no pride in that. We took no joy. We wanted our hostages back. We wanted our country back. We wanted to dream of peace back. We sang Hatikvah, ‘Hope’, the Israeli national anthem with hope for the safe return of the hostages, safety for the IDF soldiers who were going to war, hope that peace would come quickly. The heroes we saw were ordinary people who raced into danger to help others.
Bedouins like Ismail Al-Karnawi, who left Rahat with three other family members to head towards Kibbutz Be’eri in order to rescue residents from the inferno. Sari Al-Karnawi, who served as a police officer at the Nova party and rescued partygoers from the attack. Muhammad Abu Najah, an employee of the cleaning company at Nova, who fought against the terrorists, called first responders, and warned others of the presence of terrorists. Omar Abu Sabeelah, who in Sderot heard a woman’s scream and saw Odaya Suissa with her two daughters, aged 6 and 3, and her husband Dolev who was shot dead by the terrorists. Despite being wounded, Sabeelah managed to reach the girls in the car and get them out to safety. He later died from his injuries. Yousef Alziyadneh, who saved the lives of approximately 30 Nova party revelers who were under fire. Anis Abu Dabbus, a senior paramedic crew at the Rahat Magen David Adom station, who acted with his crew in the Rahat and Ofakim area, treating the wounded and providing lifesaving treatment to many.
Heroes like retired general Noam Tibon, who got in his car with his wife and headed towards Kibbutz Nahal Oz, where his son, daughter-in-law, and two young granddaughters were hiding in their safe room as the Kibbutz was attacked and overtaken by Hamas terrorists. Tibon encountered a battle between IDF soldiers and Hamas and picked up a weapon and helped defeat the terrorists. He took 2 of the wounded soldiers to his wife who drove them to the hospital for treatment while he continued on foot until being picked up by another retired general who was answering the call and taken to the Kibbutz. 60 Minutes did a story on his heroism.
Countless other heroes like my friend Yaron Buskila, who left his house without a weapon to fight the terrorists and save lives. Yaron shared a little of what it was like and that little bit that he shared showed me not just his bravery, but the bravery of so many Israelis; Jewish, Bedouin, Arab, and Christian on October 7th.
On October 7th we all looked to heaven for an answer. An answer that will never come. Instead, we began to question ourselves about what really matters. What is important to us and how do we show that. How do we reprioritize our lives around the things that matter instead of the things we thought mattered before October 7th. It’s amazing to have lived in the post 9/11 world and the post October 7th world. Two terrorist attacks. Two tragedies. Two horrible things. Two very different outcomes and feelings.
I’m just a singer of simple songs I’m not a real political man I watch CNN, but I’m not sure I can tell you The diff’rence in Iraq and Iran
I find this to be one of the most profound lines in the song. So many of us don’t know what’s really going on. We didn’t know who the Taliban was before 9/11. We couldn’t tell you the difference between the Shiite country of Iran and the Sunni country of Iraq other than their rulers.
The same holds true after October 7th but it’s even worse. People don’t only know what Hamas and Hezbollah are, they don’t know that Gaza hasn’t been ‘occupied’ since 2005. They use phrases like “From the River to the Sea” and don’t know what river or what sea they are talking about. They use words like Apartheid and Genocide because they sound good and are powerful without understand the facts or definition of those words. They talk about the high number of civilians that have been killed, not understanding that war is terrible and civilians are killed, but that Israel is nearly 9 times better than the norm in minimizing civilan deaths. Instead of addressing the evil of Hamas, people are feeding into ancient Jewish tropes and feeding global antisemitism.
Israel-Hamas figures compared to the normal rates in war
I am concerned that this ignorance, this hate, will result in catastrophic events happening in the United States as we blame the victim and both encourage and allow the evil to grow.
But I know Jesus and I talk to God And I remember this from when I was young Faith, hope, and love are some good things He gave us And the greatest is love
One of my favorite things about Judaism is the way we look to God, to the Torah, for answers. There are always lessons to learn. Since October 7th I have spent much more time asking questions, learning Torah with Rabbis, and working to understand my role as a Jew in this world.
There is a line in Pirkei Avot, the lessons of our fathers, that always speaks to me. It comes from 2:16 and says that Rabbi Tarfon used to say, “It is not your duty to finish the work, but neither are you at liberty to neglect it.” After October 7th this hit home in a very different way. I am not a soldier and can’t fight with the IDF. I am not an Israeli citizen. I do not have the duty to finish the work of the war. However, I am also not able to just neglect the situation and not do my part. There are many ways to do my part and I have learned that there is much I can do. We all have roles to play and our responsibility is not to do everything but rather to play our part, to do what we can. Speak out. Get educated. Encourage others to learn and not just repeat things they hear.
We can also work to live with faith, hope, and love. This doesn’t mean excuse the behavior of the terrorists or those who repeat the lies because they don’t know better. We can have faith that Israel will defeat evil. We can have faith in God and the IDF. And we can focus on love. Love of the Jewish people. Love of our mishpacha (family). Love of Israel. Love of our family. Love of the teachings of the Torah (which if you know me doesn’t sound like something I would say.)
In these terrible times, in these times of desperation, we can still live with faith, hope, and love. We can choose to look to the future with positivity or negativity. We can do our part to make the world a beautiful, better place or we can allow it to die. The choice is ours.
Where were you when the world stopped turnin’ That September day? Teachin’ a class full of innocent children Or drivin’ down some cold interstate?
Did you feel guilty ’cause you’re a survivor? In a crowded room did you feel alone? Did you call up your mother and tell her you love her? Did you dust off that Bible at home?
This verse reminds us that the world did stop turning on both 9/11 and on October 7th. We don’t have to pretend that it didn’t. President Bush was reading to a class full of innocent children. We were all doing something when it happened, when we got the news.
President Bush reading to children as terrorists attacked on 9/11
We don’t have to live with survivors’ guilt. I wasn’t living in NY on 9/11 or in Israel on October 7th. Why would I have survivors’ guilt? Because I know people who were. I know people who lost loved ones. My life was altered only in the inconveniences I had to deal with after 9/11. October 7th meant that I didn’t get to go to Israel in November like I had planned. Yet the survivors’ guilt is real because I am part of a community. While I am an American, Israel is my homeland. I have a strong tie to Israel and my homeland, my love, was critically injured and damaged on October 7th. That is where my survivors’ guilt comes from. Because I haven’t been able to go to Israel since October 7th.
There are plenty of times when I do feel alone. People chanting antisemitic tropes. Dressing in Nazi uniforms and flying Nazi flags. When I see friends posting hateful comments that they don’t even necessarily understand are hateful and hurtful. I have learned who my friends really are and who aren’t. This can be painful but it’s also refreshing because I don’t have to include those people in my life any longer.
After 9/11 I made sure to talk to my parents, my siblings, and my loved ones. It was a reminder of how short life is. The same thing happened after October 7th. This type of brutality and horror reminds us how precious life is. How limited our time really is. What and who is really important to us. Last week I reached out to my friends who are Palestinian and live in that area. I wanted to see how they are doing. I wanted to let them know I was thinking of them. I wanted to let them know I consider them my friend no matter what is happening in the world. And that I want to see them when I get to Israel in the near future because they matter. I choose to live in faith, hope, and love, not in hate.
After 9/11 people began asking questions about God and opened a door that had been closed for them. October 7th was the same. The opportunity to study, to learn, to ask questions, and to explore Judaism, God, and spirituality was there and many of us took it. It opened me up to learning more, to being a better person, and to ask why I behave certain ways and is that reflective of the person I want to be. We have an opportunity to do better and to be better. I am taking that opportunity.
Did you open your eyes and hope it never happened Close your eyes and not go to sleep? Did you notice the sunset for the first time in ages And speak to some stranger on the street? Did you lay down at night and think of tomorrow Go out and buy you a gun?
After 9/11 I know a lot of people who did close their eyes and hope it never happened. People who struggled with sleep. I wasn’t one of them. But after October 7th, I was. I hoped it was a nightmare. I hoped I would wake up and it was only a nightmare. I struggled to sleep and when I did sleep, it wasn’t restful. October 7th was much more personal for me than 9/11. Unfortunately, I think most of the country has forgotten the horror of 9/11 and October 7th happened ‘over there’ and ‘to them’ and doesn’t affect their daily lives.
I have chosen to invest more in random acts of kindness. Today I was at the grocery store behind a couple with a child that has a disability. It meant that they were going very slow. I was stuck behind them. Instead of getting frustrated and trying to push by, I took a deep breath and watched them with their daughter. And found joy in it. Instead of being angry and resentful, I was grateful and filled with love. All because I took a deep breath and didn’t push past them. I say hello to strangers and talk with them as people, not strangers. I will hold a door open, let somebody get in front of me, and enjoy the beauty of the day.
The world is a scary place and has only gotten scarier since October 7th. Being so public as a Jewish leader, I felt targeted and at risk. Long before October 7th, I did get training on firearms and made sure that I have them to protect myself. They are things I hope to only use on the range when I practice. But I won’t be a victim. I won’t allow my family to be at risk from the hatred that exists in the world. And I know I am not alone in these thoughts, concerns, and actions.
Did you turn off that violent old movie you’re watchin’ And turn on I Love Lucy reruns? Did you go to a church and hold hands with some strangers Stand in line to give your own blood? Did you just stay home and cling tight to your family Thank God you had somebody to love?
This last verse asks what we are doing differently. While there are specific things listed, it’s really about who you are and what you are doing as a result of 9/11 and now October 7th. There are many things I do differently today than I did prior to October 7th. I speak out much more often against antisemitism and hatred. I reach out to those I love and to my friends. I make sure my friends who are different religions, races, cultures, etc. know I care about them and that I am interested in our similarities, not our differences.
Like Pirkei Avot teaches us, I have an obligation to help with the work. So I give blood, hold doors, exhibit patience, spend more time with my family, tell those that I love that I love them. I invest in friendships and allow those that have been shown to not be investable to die so that I am investing in those of value.
I appreciate what I have in my life. I am a rich man because I want what I have rather than having what I want. I am grateful for the life that I get to live rather than worrying about the life I wish I had. I am more connected spiritually and am open to all that the universe brings to me.
I am committed to making the world a better place. That starts with those around me and in my local community. It means doing things for the right reasons. President Ronald Reagan had on his desk a sign that said, “There is no limit to what a man can do or where he can go if he doesn’t mind who gets the credit.” That is how I live my life post October 7th. I don’t care who gets the credit. I don’t care about the recognition. I only care about what we can do together. What we can accomplish. How we can make the world a better place for all.
The paperweight from President Ronald Reagan’s desk
Where were you when the world stopped turnin’ On that September day?
The song ends with the haunting question that it began with. It reminds us that the world did stop turning. Both on 9/11 and October 7th the world was forever altered. We were forever altered. Where were we? What did we do as a result? How did we change? How did we change the world? What did we do to make the world a better place and to get it turning once again.
At the end of the day, all we can control is our own actions. What are you going to do today to make the world a better place? How are you going to change the world today? Remember that just because the world stopped turning on October 7th doesn’t mean we are free from the obligation to make sure it is turning once again. I’m up for the challenge and I hope you will join me.
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