The last day of our trip was a powerful one on many levels. The amazing thing is that we only went three places and one of them was the restaurant for lunch!
We left about 30 minutes late which frustrated our staff. It ended up being perfect. Our first stop was at Shura Army base, a forensic center near Ramle where most of the victims from October 7th were brought to be identified. As we got there, they were loading the body of one of the IDF soldiers who was killed on Saturday in Gaza into the van to take him home to be buried. We go to watch them put him into the van, one of our group who was saying Kaddish for his mother said Kaddish, and we then escorted him out of the parking lot on his final journey. It was incredibly powerful and moving. To be able to do that type of honor for a soldier killed defending Israel and the Jewish people was overwhelming. These kids, and they are kids, put their lives at risk every day to protect Israel and the Jewish people. In America when I see a soldier, I always thank them for their service. In Israel, I want to begin doing that as well. It’s the very least I can do.
We met Noa, the woman who works to prepare the bodies for burial and for identification. Noa told us that she has 8 children and on October 7th, 7 of them, plus her husband and herself were drafted into the army. Think about what that must be like. It was yet another reminder that the Israeli people do not want this war. They do not want this war to go on indefinitely. They want the hostages returned. They want Hamas out of power and not able to kill Israelis any longer. They want peace and quiet on the border. They want to go back to living thir lives. They don’t want to worry about their children or their spouses in firefights. They want normalcy and that only comes with the return of the hostages and Hamas removed. They will deal with the emotions and fear to accomplish those goals. But it’s not what they want to do, despite what the media may tell you.
Noa speaking to us
We entered the base and came to the meeting room where we learned what they do here. After October 7th, this is where most of the bodies came for identification. They have a lab on the second floor to do DNA testing. They have DNA, dental records as well as fingerprint records for every IDF soldier . It made some of the identification easier but many of the bodies were burned or were just ashes. As we entered the actual area where they did this work, we were silent as the gravity of the work settled in each of us.
The meeting room in the base before you enter. Notice the pictures on the wall are all faces of those murdered on October 7.
In the room where they do the ritual preparation of the bodies, we heard what it was like after October 7th. I’m not sure that i can even try to describe what she was telling us. The condition of the bodies that came in. Some of the challenges identifying them. Some that were just ashes or parts of bodies. And the blood. That is the one thing that I will never forget. Her description of how much blood there was and they had to deal with. She told us about a Hassidic man who came in with bodies. He had been pulling dead bodies out of bomb shelters that Hamas attacked at Nova. He had blood halfway up his calf because to pull them out he had to step in pools of blood. The more stories she told us, the more horrified we were. Then she said something that has me thinking. She said that she can’t focus on how awful it was and what happened. Instead, she chooses to focus on the good in her life and what she can do to make the world better. She wants to cook a better dinner for her family. Be a better mother for her children. Be a better wife for her husband. Be a better friend, neighbor, and boss. It’s an incredible way to look at the world and an incredible attitude. It made me thing about what I am willing to do to deal with the anger and rage from Kfar Aza, Nova, and being at this base. Am I going to let the anger and rage consume me or am I going to turn it into something to make the world a better place. If Noa can do it after what she has seen, I know that I can as well.
We left the room and moved to the room where families have their chance to say their last goodbyes to their loved ones. It was hard sitting in that room, looking at the table where the body would be, knowing what families must be feeling and experiencing when their loved one is on that table. We were all quiet as we sat in the room and Noa talked to us. I think we were all grateful to have been in the room but even more grateful to leave it.
Listening to Noa talk about what she and her team have gone through since October 7th makes me think about all the people we normally don’t think about. They aren’t family members of those murdered or kidnapped. They haven’t lost family members who are serving in the IDF. Yet they are traumatized by what happened on October 7th and what has happened since October 7th. What is it like to have 7 of your 8 children drafted into the army to fight a war? What is it like to have both you and your spouse drafted into the army during a war, potentially leaving your chidren as orphans? What is it like to deal with that many dead bodies? With that many mutilated people? With remains that are just ashes? The entire country is dealing with PTSD and I’m not sure what it will mean long term.
Our last stop on the base was to visit the place where all the IDF Torahs that need repair or can’t be repaired are kept. It was incredible seeing how many Torahs they have there. As the Rabbi who is in charge told us, it’s the largest Aaron Kodesh (ark) in the world. He also told me that the IDF needs thousands of mezuzahs for their soldiers. They need them for the rooms where soldiers sleep in bases, outposts and bunkers both within Israel, along the borders (south and north) and in Judea and Samaria. They also need a few dozen at this point for buildings inside Gaza seized and used for headquartersWhen you watch this video I took, you will be amazed at what you see.
The IDF torahs in need of repair or that can’t be repairedThe sofer (scribe) repairing a Torah
As we left the base, we were all shaken by the experience. Like at Kfar Aza and Nova, we felt the death. We felt the overwhelming loss related to the murder of 1200 people on October 7th. As I think about how Israel has changed since October 7th, these feelings are a part of it. If I am feeling it after only 8 days, how powerful must it be for Israelis who have been feeling it for over 7 months?
We headed to our last stop of the trip, the Palmachim air force base. This is where they fly drones from. The base is highly secure, no pictures were allowed, and things were off the record. What I can tell you is that I was blown away by what we learned. I can tell you that the process Israel uses to actually have a drone drop a bomb is multi-leveled and requires multiple approvals. And I can tell you that the drone operator ALWAYS has the authority to abort the mission no matter what the supervisor says if they determine that there are civilians, women or children in the area and that it would not be appropriate to execute the mission. I can also tell you that this happens more often than you would expect. The drone operators are kids. Their support staff are 18-19 year olds. It’s always amazing to look at who comprises the Israeli military. It’s largely the 18-22 year old population. This is very different from the US military and not what most people think of when they think of an army. These are kids who are willing to do whatever is needed to defend their country and the Jewish people but really want to finish their service, travel, and then go to college and live their lives.
After the briefing, we had our final barbecue with the soliders on the base. These 18-25 year old men and women were so happy to have us there. We sat with them, talked, and got to know them. The DJ played great music, the food was good, and we had fun. After we ate, the DJ really got things moving and we got up and started dancing. The soldiers joined us as we danced and laughed and had a great time. As it got to be time for us to leave to take people to the airport, they had difficulty getting us to stop. We finally did, celebrating with the soldiers. Some of the guys on our trip were from Emek, a Jewish Day School in Los Angeles. They had some of their students write letters to the soldiers. The day after our visit, we got this note from the wife of one of the soldiers on the base. If you ever wonder if the letters you write, the visits you take to Israel, the support you provide really matter, I think this note proves how much they really do.
It was sad as some of the guys headed for Tel Aviv and then we dropped a bunch at Ben Gurion airport. The rest of us returned to Jerusalem and a few of us made plans for the next day. The trip was over but the experience will last a lifetime. There is so much for me to unpack from this trip. So much to understand about what it means to me to be a man, a husband, a father, and a Jew. What does it really mean to be a Zionist? what am I willing to die for that shows what I actually live for? Much much more. As I unpack it, I will share them.
I still have 2 days in Israel, two precious days in Israel. Two days to wake up in Jerusalem, smell the air, walk the streets. What a blessing that is. A day in Tel Aviv with meetings. Time to see friends. Israel is truly in my heart and in my soul. As my 21st trip approaches the end, I am already looking at possible trips 22, 23, 24, and 25 in the next year. I appreciate how lucky I am to get to go to Israel. How lucky I am to have the contacts and connections in Israel that I have. The Israeli friends that I have. An understand of the land, the history, the challenges, the struggles, and just how much it means to me as a Jew. If you haven’t been to Israel, I urge you to come, especially now. If you have been to Israel, I urge you to come back. I promise you will experience a different country and a have a different experience.
The events of October 7th have been widely circulated and publicized. Most people know what happened and even thought there are deniers, they are largely discredited. As sombody who sat in front of the TV all day on October 7th while sending WhatsApp messages to my Israeli friends and family to check on them, I have been more aware than most. In addition, I put together a viewing of the 47-minute Hamas video and I saw the Nova music festival documentary and heard a survivor speak afterwards. I have friends in the IDF reserves who gave me updates.
I thought I was prepared when we went to Hostage Square and heard from the fathers of two hostages earlier in the week. I wasn’t. Hostage Square was overwhelming and I want to go back and just sit there for hours with the family members to show support. Hearing the pleas of the fathers of two hostages was beyond painful. I’ve mainly processed the experience and while the hostages will be in my heart and mind until they are released, I figured out a way to cope with the experience.
Today, we went to the Gaza envelope. This was something I have looked forward to being able to do since October 7th. To volunteer with agriculture because the Kibbutzim and Moshavim are short workers. To visit Kfar Aza or Be’eri, the Kibbutzim that were brutally attacked. To be at the Nova music festival site and pay tribute to those murdered by Hamas terrorists while they were enjoying live music and their friends. It felt noble. It felt important. And it was.
The location of the farm where we worked on the lemon grove
Working on the lemon fields was rewarding. It wasn’t fun work. It wasn’t hard work. It was necessary work. We started by seeing the office area, using the bathroom, and getting a feel for where we were. We were about 2 miles from Gaza. They had a collection of rockets fired from Gaza in the front as well as some remnants from the Iron Dome rockets that shot them down. I got a chance to hold one of the Iron Dome rockets which was much lighter than I expected.
Holding an Iron Dome rocket used to shoot down a Hamas rocket
We then spent about an hour and a half cleaning the trees, cutting away excess branches that made it harder for them to properly water and nourish the trees. The lemons were big and delicious and I cut one up to squeeze into my water bottle. As we worked the fields, we found parts of rockets and Iron Dome rockets lying around. They couldn’t be bothered with cleaning up the smaller fragments from the grove.
Our guide from the kibbutz shared the challenges with having lost their workers from Thailand and all the workers that came daily from Gaza. The King of Thailand won’t allow them to come back to Israel but he was able to get some Thai workers back by having them go to Cypress and then pick them up there. They also added some workers from India but are still woefully short of labor. When we asked him if the Kibbutz lost any members on October 7th, his response was a bit surprising. “Yes, only 4”. I had to double and triple check that he understood I meant were any of them murdered by Hamas terrorists, not if they decided to leave the Kibbutz. He understood clearly as he told me they had 3 women and 1 man murdered. He said they got lucky. Some people climbed out of the window and ran to other houses, allowing the people coming from Gaza to just rob their homes. Others opened the door and told them to go away and they did. Nobody is sure why they got so lucky (as if having four people in your community murdered is lucky) but they were.
I think the most impactful think that he said to us was that they were planting because it gives them roots. They aren’t going anywhere. They aren’t leaving the land. They aren’t moving and they aren’t afraid. This is their home. It was a powerful statement and I thought to myself, “F them! I’ll move here. I’ll live here to show Hamas and others that we as Jews aren’t going anywhere!” Since my wife has already said I have the softest hands of anybody she knows, that feeling was really good for about 30 minutes and then reality set it. I’m not moving to be a farmer in the south of Israel. But it should did feel good for a while. Israel is our historic home and after 2,000 years, we aren’t giving it up and aren’t leaving.
On the way to Kfar Aza, one of the men on our bus asked if we could stop at the bus shelter near the Nova site to pay tribute to two of his friends who were murdered that day. As it turns out, one of the people was the uncle of the woman I heard speak in Orlando after the showing of the Nova documentary. Lee survived the massacre. Her story was brutal and gunwrenching. She had described the shelter she hid and and where she watched her uncle and others die. To see it in person and pay my respects both to her uncle and the others who perished but also to honor her survival, I wanted to get out and see it as well.
The exterior of the bomb shelter where Lee Sasi hid and her uncle and 11 others were murdered
I have been inside bomb shelters on prior visits to explore them. I knew what the size was like, the dark and dinginess. The feeling of being trapped even as the only one in there. For some reason I didn’t apply that when Lee told her story. As I stepped into the bunker, it all camp flowing back. I thought about 25 or more people cramped in this tiny space. I thought about being trapped with no way out as terrorists reached their guns around the corner and began firing randomly, guaranteeing to hit people based on both the small area and the concrete walls. I thought about what would happen each time a grenade was thrown into that small space by the terrorists. I thought about Lee, hiding underneath dead bodies to protect herself from the bullets and the grenades, using the dead bodies as shields from the explosions of the grenades. It became overwhelming and I quickly left.
Walking through the bomb shelter where Lee Sasi hid and 12 people, including her uncle, were murdered.
On the entrance and interior of the shelter there are plaques to commemorate the 12 who were murdered in this shelter. There were stickers to commemorate and remember each individual who was murdered here. It was a powerful thing to see. I’ll never forget Lee Sasi’s story nor will I forget seeing As we headed to Kfar Aza, I had no idea that this wasn’t even close to what I would experience.
Earlier I said I thought I was prepared for Hostage Square and wasn’t. I also thought I was prepared for our visit to Kfar Aza. I have a friend who is from Kfar Aza and I knew it was beautiful before October 7. When we pulled up, it looked like many other kibbutzim that I have been to. Beautiful trees, grass, and warm, welcoming feel.
Welcome to Kfar AzaBeautiful entrance to Kfar Aza
For those of you that don’t know, Kfar Aza is located in what is known as “The Gaza Envelope”. It is 1 mile west of Gaza and the city of Jabalyia. You can easily see Jabalyia from Kfar Aza. The people of Kfar Aza were peaceniks. They believed in peace and lived in peace. They had Gazans coming to work at the kibbutz and eat there as well. They’d sit as friends. On October 7, 2023, Hamas terrorists broke through the gate of the kibbutz, massacring the people in the kibbutz. 62 people were murdered with another 19 people taken hostage. Four of those people remain hostages today.
Jabalya in the distance. The back of the Kibbutz’s fields are only a few hundred feet from Gaza.
As I said earlier, I thought I was prepared for Kfar Aza. I thought I understood what happened there. After all, I had watched tv all day on October 7th, talked to friends of mine who live in Israel and serve in the IDF, talked with friends who live in the south, close to Gaza. I saw the 47-minute Hamas video. I watched the Nova documentary and heard a survivor speak afterwards. I talk with my friend who is a reserve commander in Gaza and one that is a reserve commander in the north. I’m very plugged in and get real information. And yet, I wasn’t close to being prepared for what I saw.
As we began to tour the area of the Kibbutz where the Hamas terrorists attacked, I was sad with what I initially saw. It was what I expected. Houses with their roof torn off.
House in Kfar Aza with the roof torn off House in Kfar Aza with their Sukkah still up 7 months later.
Then we moved deeper into the Kibbutz and our guide from the IDF started telling stories. Watch her tell the stories. They are powerful and painful. It is something I will never forget.
Outside one of the homes in Kfar Aza where the IDF soldier tells us the story of the family who was murdered by Hamas.
This was powerful. It was hard to hear. Hard to look at the house and know the story that went with it. Yet we were only beginning.
She walked a little bit, stopped at another house, and told us another story. I’m sure she has told these stories many times. It was clear to me that no matter how many times she tells the story of the people murdered in each house, it causes her great pain. My anger continued to grow. I could feel the rage growing in my body. We moved on to another home and another story.
By this time I was boiling over with rage. I began thinking about those who deny this happened. I was thinking about those who say and believe that these people deserved it. I was furious with those who say it is all Israel’s fault and Hamas was right to massacre the Jews. I began hearing bombs dropping in Jabalya and something strange happened that I didn’t really like and continue to struggle with. Instead of feeling fear, I felt relief. Each time I heard a bomb explode just a mile away from me, it made me feel better. I’m not proud to say this and I don’t want any innocent people to be harmed. Yet what Hamas and those Gazans who followed them and looted and raped did was so horrific, bombs became the salve for my soul. Part of me feels terrible for this. Part of me is glad that something soothed my soul. It’s incredibly conflicting and I don’t think I will come to any resolution for a long time. We began walking to the next home.
The next area of homes were the youth village. At Kfar Aza, when you turn 18, you move out of your parents home and into your own apartment in this part of the Kibbutz. She told us that this was filled with life. Music and dancing. Karaoke. Barbeques. Fun. It was the heart of the Kibbutz. This was the part that was hit the hardest by Hamas. As we walked down the street, we saw pictures of those murdered and kidnapped.
There were so many, I only took a few pictures. We reached an intersection and turned towards the gate that Hamas breached to enter the Kibbutz. You can see from the picture, Jabalya is just behind the Kibbutz. 1 mile away. Maybe a little less.
I went to the gate and recorded this video. As the bombs continued to fall, it made me feel good. I hate writing that and I hate admitting it. It is not the person I am nor the person I want to be. Hamas is that type of evil. As we experienced the impact of October 7 in this part of the Kibbutz, the need to eliminate Hamas was not only clear but became an imperative.
As we headed down that part of the Kibbutz, the IDF soldier asked us not to take any pictures of the houses on that street. Everybody who lived on that street was either murdered or kidnapped. Let me repeat that again. EVERYBODY WHO LIVED ON THAT STREET WAS EITHER MURDERED OR KIDNAPPED.
The bombs went off again and I hate to admit that my thought was, “They are not coming fast enough. We need more bombs in Jabalya. We need bombs in Rafah. We need them home.” I’m not proud of these thought but I want to be honest about the feelings that were occurring as I was seeing and hearing the horror of Hamas terrorists.
We headed to the final home we would learn about and visit. They had previously explained to us that the circle with the dot inside on the walls meant there was a dead Israeli inside. They explained all the other symbols as well but that was the one I looked for first. On this house, however, along with the circle with the dot inside, there was written in Hebrew that there were human remains on the couch. Watch and listen to her tell the story.
The couch no longer exists although some of the remains are outside the house. There are pictures of the couch inside. Here are pictures of not just the couch but also inside the house. Grenades were thrown in the house so what you are looking at are because of grenades, not bullets.
Picture of the couch with human remains on it. You are looking at the blood.The ceiling. These are from grenade explosionsMore damage to the ceiling from grenades. Imagine being in the room.More pictures of the horror inside this house
I was glad this was the last house. I was completely overwhelmed with anger, resentment, sadness, grief, and similar emotions. The horror documented in this house was beyond comprehension. I couldn’t speak for a bit as we walked down to the end of the road and met with one of the new leaders of the Kibbutz security team. The team is new because 7 of the 12 members were killed by Hamas and 3 were injured. Listen to his words and maybe you can understand what they faced and what it is like today not just in Kfar Aza but all of Israel.
We headed to the bus, all of us shaken by the experience. It was quiet and solemn. It was intense. We were all a little anxious as our next stop was the Nova music festival site. After what we just saw and experiened, would we be able to handle the Nova site? I really didn’t know.
We arrived at the Nova site about 20 minutes after leaving Kfar Aza. I needed the time on the bus to just have quiet and some peace. As we pulled in, it looked so peaceful and beautiful. I could imagine the festival happening and the joy of everybody in attendance. When we got off the bus, Saul Blinkoff, our amazing trip leader, showed us a picture of where we were standing from October 7, 2023. I took a picture on May 16, 2024. You can compare the two and see how much was left in haste compared to the emptiness now.
October 7, 2023 Nova Music FestivalMay 16, 2024 Nova Festival
I wandered around the site, letting everything seep into me. There was a sadness and a beauty to the site. It was also overwhelming at the sheer number of people that were memorialized at the Nova site.
The pictures of everbody who was murdered or taken hostage at the Nova music festival. Look closely as there are a lot pictures of people.
I wandered amongst the pictures and notes about each one of the victims. Looked each person’s picture in the face and said their name in my head. Remembering them as living people. Paying tribute to how they died. Praying for their safe return if they were taken hostage. It was amazing how many young lives were ended. It reminded me of Kfar Aza and how the young people were wiped out.
Walking through the Nova site
After wandering around looking at the images of those murdered or kidnapped and taken hostage, I found myself wanting to sit down in front of some of them and really look at the person. Spend some time with them, as if I was sitting at their grave. Treat it like I was going to the shiva house (house of mourning for the 7 days after burial). So I did. It was beautifully peaceful. It felt right. Investing time in remembering these beautiful, innocent people who were murdered by Hamas because of hate. As I sat for 5-10 minutes in front of various memorials, I found some peace. Kfar Aza was hard. Nova seemed different. Perhaps it was the lack of obvious violence at the site. Maybe it was the beautiful tribute to the souls lost or kidnapped on October 7. At both Hostage Square and Nova, I felt the same peace in my soul. Awful atrocities happened at Nova and Hostage Square is a remembrance of the kidnapping and murder of innocent people. Yet both seemed to have a soul calming effect for me.
In front of the Nova tribute. It’s beautiful and peaceful and sad.
While at Nova, we had the privilege of hearing directly from Rami Davidian, a true hero of October 7 and the Nova music festival. You will want to read about him here as I can’t do justice to his story, but I will tell you a bit of it and the impact and takeaways for me.
Rami is a farmer who lives in the Gaza envelope. At 6:45 am on October 7, he received a phone call from a friend, asking him to rescue his daughter, who was near a farm in the area. She had been at the Nova festival and managed to escape and was hiding from the terrorists. Rami not only saved her, he found others on the way to save her and got others to come pick them up. Since he was out saving people, his number was shared to those who had children at Nova and his WhatsApp was filled with requests to save people. He showed us the number of messages he received. It was unbelievable as scrolled and scrolled and scrolled.
The story he told us that made us all gasp was when he went to rescue a girl named Amit. He was able to figure out where she was and as he came up to rescue her, he saw that she was surrounded by 6 Hamas terrorists. Thinking quickly, he spoke to them in Arabic (he is fluent) and introduced himself as Abu Rami, a muslim. He told them that the IDF was closing in on them and they needed to run now to stay alive. As they began to move, he told them he would take the girl to his car and come around to pick them up. It would save them time and keep them safe. They believed him, gave him Amit, and ran. He took Amit back to the car and drove away.
Unfortunately, Rami also found many people who were murdered. He took them all to one spot where he laid them together. For each person he found dead, he would also say the Shema before he left them, saying the prayer for them in case they weren’t able to. There were people who reached out to him to save their children and Rami knew they were already dead. He didn’t feel it was his place to tell them this news so he would either lie that he couldn’t find them or ask them to pray to God for safety. Even during this crazy and horrific time, he thought with compassion.
Rami is a true hero. A regular man who took action when needed and saved 750 people. To put that into context, Oskar Schindler, famous for saving Jews in the Holocaust and highlighted in the Steven Spielberg movie, Schindler’s List, saved 1200 people. Rami is a role model. A hero. A regular man who did great things. He should inspire us all to do what we can to make the world a better place. There are generations that will exist because of Rami.
Standing with Rami, a true hero, at the Nova site. He rescuted 750 people that day.
We finished our time at Nova in an incredibly beautiful way. We had Anders, a musician, with us all day and at Nova, he gathered us together in a circle to play guitar and sing. Since we were at the site of a musical festival that was attacked by terrorists who committed horrific murders, rapes, and kidnappings, I couldn’t think of anything better as a tribute to those at the festival than to play music and sing. As he played the song and we joined in, our singing attracted others. A number of boys from Miami who were visiting the site joined us as we put our arms around each other, rocked back and forth, and sang loudly. It’s something I will never forget. While the impact of Kfar Aza remains and I have much more processing to do, the time at Nova was incredibly healing. It is a place I want to return to regularly, not just to pay tribute to those who lost their lives, were kidnapped, or who escaped, but also to heal my soul.
Anders leading us in song at the Nova site. It felt right to be singing and brining music to this site.
This was a heavy and hard day. Our trip leader told us that what we were doing was similar to visiting Auschwitz not long after it was liberated. I don’t like comparisons to the Holocaust as nothing does compare to it. 6 million Jews and 11 million people are not the same as the 1,200 people murdered and 250+ kidnapped on October 7. The thought behind it, however, was the same. True genocide. Not the made up word used by those who hate Israel and the Jews. Full intent to kill every Jew and Israeli they found. The goal was to eliminate the Jews. I think back to the joy in the voice of the Hamas terrorist telling his parents that he killed 10 Jews with his own hands. His celebration. He dad congratulating him. His mother being excited and elated that he killed 10 Jews.
It bothers and frustrates me that people think Hamas is the victiim. That those who support Hamas and their evil are the ones deserving of praise. When it’s a Jewish person, I shake my head, as they clearly don’t understand that these people want them dead. The media does a terrible job reporting on Israel, with tremendous bias and often times outright lies. After having been to both Kfar Aza and Nova, it is even clearer what a terrible job they have done. The horrors at Kfar Aza will remain with me. The feeling of standing on the grounds of the Nova festival will remain with me for life. Looking at the skyline of Jabalya, less than a mile away, will stay with me. Note that I said skyline – there are buildings, and plenty of them, in Jabalya.
This has been a pilgrimage for me in many ways. I needed to be in Israel for my own connection. I needed to be immersed in the culture and with the people. I needed to be here for Yom HaZikaron and share the sadness with my Israeli brothers and sisters. I needed to visit Kfar Aza to see and experience the horrors that happened there. I needed to put my feet on the ground at the Nova site, to walk around and pay my respects to those who were murdered and those who were kidnapped. I needed to sing while at Nova to honor the festival and heal my soul.
As somebody who has been to Israel 21 times now, I know not the believe the media reports. Too many others don’t. It isn’t the same Israel that I visited the first 20 times. There are questions about the hostages. Questions about Hezbollah and the north. Uncertainty about American policy. PTSD from October 7 and everything that has happened since. The hostages need to be returned. Hamas and the war in Gaza needs to be finished. Hezbollah and the north need to be stabilized. There are many existential issues facing Israel and Israelis. I’m glad to be here now and make my contribution, however small it may be.
At the end of the day, we can all do something. If you can come to Israel, please do. If you can’t, do what you can. Speak up. Speak loudly. Don’t hide. Learn the facts to address the lies. What we each choose to do now will not just shape the Jewish future, it will determine the Jewish future.
Today we went to Hostage Square and heard from the fathers of two hostages and the aunt of another. The videos say more than I can ever say. Watch, listen, and feel.
The replica Hamas Terror Tunnel at Hostage Square. It was tough to walk through. I can’t imagine being forced to live there for over 200 days already.
The father of one of the hostages
The father of another hostage
The aunt of Hersch Goldberg-Polin spoke to us
I hope you watch all the videos. They are incredibly powerful and moving. My heart broke listening to the fathers speak. Yours will too
Yom Ha’atzmaut continued today in such a subdued manner it was shocking. It was easy to forget that it was still Independence Day as so much was different than previous years. I am used to the beach being packed, barbecues happening, an undercurrent of joy, the planes flying over the beach in formation, and so much more. Last night, the port was empty as we went for dinner. In a normal year, it would have been packed with people, music, fireworks, and celebration. This year is different.
My friend, Dr. Debi Gilboa (also known as Dr. G) spoke to use this morning about courage and resilience. Debi is a wonderful person, doctor, friend, and speaker and today was no different. There were three things she talked about that really resonated for me.
Dr G, my friend Debi Gilboa, and me.
The first was about how in 1908, sixty-six (66) families left Jaffa and moved to Tel Aviv to create something. There was nothing there. I have seen the pictures at Independence Hall in Tel Aviv or what it looked line then. Huge sand dunes. That’s it. These pioneers and their families took and incredible risk moving to the middle of nowhere, on a sandy beach, with no drinking water, no housing in place, and no farming for food that was growing. Why would they do this? What could be their rationale?
The pioneers that created Tel Aviv in 1908. They had courage.
By moving to Tel Aviv, they had a chance at self-determination. They had a change to take control of their own destiny. They could build a city where they were in charge and could live the way they wanted to live, as Jews. I’m sure every one of them was scared and felt unsure at times. Yet they did it anywhere. The fear of where they were coming from along with the opportunity that presented itself was enough to help them fight through their fear to build the city of Tel Aviv.
The second was about courage. Courage is not feeling fear or being afraid. Courage is feeling fear and being afraid and getting through it anyway. The 66 families that started Tel Aviv in 1908 felt plenty of fear, yet they would not let that fear stop them from following through and building the city of Tel Aviv. We heard from and met people from Kibbutz Alumim today. The Kibbutz is 3 km from Gaza and was attacked on October 7. It is the only kibbutz that was attacked on October 7th, the terrorists got into the kibbutz, but did not get into the houses. Those on the kibbutz who hid in their safe rooms with their families and those who defended it were scared but they fought through the fear to survive. Courage looks different but always involves facing your fears and finding a way through them.
The third topic that resonated strongly with me was when she talked about how God told Abraham and Sarah, “Lech Lecha”. Translated this means ‘Go to yourself.” This is when they left where they were living, left Abraham’s father’s house, and followed God’s directions. Debi shared with us that it also means for each of us to be true to ourselves. That we must take care of ourselves. After October 7, Israelis are doing what they have to do to take care of themselves. It’s emotionally difficult and requires courage to do this. In the diaspora, we are struggling with this. How do we take care of ourselves in a world filled with rising antisemitism? How do we take care of ourselves when we see the hate on college campuses? How do we take care of ourselves when we see physical violence occurring just because somebody is Jewish? When Jewish speakers and events are cancelled because the venue ‘can’t ensure security’? During the day today, this became a topic of many conversations I had. The consensus seemed to be that we need to invest more in what being Jewish means to us. Each of us individually has the opportunity to ask that question of ourselves and our families. What does being Jewish mean to me? How do I express being Jewish in a meaningful way to me? Are there things I might want to do or that I like to do that I am not? If so, what are they. If not, maybe I want to explore what they could be. I have found myself doing this over the past few years and coming up with my own answers for me. I have found that I enjoy learning more about what being Jewish entails by spending time each week talking and learning some Torah with a Rabbi and how it applies to my life today. Can the lesson change my behavior and how I feel about things? Each week I learn a little bit more. I am not more religious. But I do feel more Jewish.
Debi’s talk, similar to when I am learning lessons from the Torah with my Rabbi, made me think a little deeper about issues. I have more to chew on and more questions to ask myself. Being on this trip, I have brothers to talk with and delve deeper together. That’s also part of being Jewish – having a community to be a part of so life is not lived alone.
We spent time at the Peres Center for Innovation and Peace. I’ve been there before and it is an amazing place, created by Shimon Peres, with an intentional incredible view of the Mediterranean Sea to inspire peacefulness. The main floor is an exhibition space and when I walked in, I was struck by the exhibit from October 7th that was there. It was truly unbelievable. There was a huge screen with a video documenting the events. There was a photo exhibit that was captivating. I videoed part of the video screen and noticed that the reflection of our group watching it was also seen in the recording. I thought that was appropriate as we are all a part of October 7 just like it is a part of us.
The video presentation at the Peres Center for Peace
I came out of the Peres Center with three takeaways this time. First, Israel has always been about peace. The Declaration of Independence explicitly offers peace and a welcome to the Arabs to join the new country. It was the Arabs that rejected that peace and went to war. Since 1948, Israel has offered peace many times and until the Abraham Accords only found peace partners with Egypt and Jordan. Neither is a warm peace, but both have held. Despite the media wanting to say that Israel is the problem, the colonizer, the oppressor, Israel’s actions since 1948 have shown them to be a willing partner for peace with whoever wants to engage with them about peace. When the war with Hamas in Gaza ends, and it will end, it is highly likely that the peace and normalization with both Saudi Arabia and Indonesia will be finalized. More and more Arab nations are coming to realize that they are better off being peaceful and partners with Israel than trying to eliminate them. That is both the narrative we need to be using and the future for the region.
Secondly, there was moment in the video about Shimon Peres where he says that he didn’t feel like he was really the Prime Minister until he “sat in the Old Man’s chair”. The Old Man is David Ben Gurion and it made me think about leadership. Israel has had some incredible leaders. Ben Gurion, Shimon Peres, Moshe Dayan, Yitzhak Rabin, Menachem Begin, Golda Meir, Ariel Sharon, Chaim Weizmann, Ze’ev Jabotinsky, Yigal Allon, Abba Eban, Levi Eshkol, Yitzhak Shamir, Yigael Yadin, and Ezer Weizman are like Israel’s version of our American Founding Fathers, only I remember almost of all them in my lifetime. Israel is a young country and with the loss of these key leaders, the question remains who is going to step up. There is no question that the current situation both in Israel and in the world is a result of leadership challenges. I found myself wondering who would be the next wave of leaders that will step up, both in Israel and the United States, to take us to the next level. Israel turned 76 this week. When the US was 76, it was 1852. We were 8 years away from Abraham Lincoln and his leadership. The US was about to enter a civil war. It was leadership that got us through those challenging times. Who will be both Israel and the United State’s Abraham Lincoln for this time period? Without that leadership, I fear for the future of the world.
The third takeaway was when Peres was summing up his own life near the end. He said, “I didn’t dream big enough” and he urged everybody to dream bigger. In today’s world, I think we need to listen to him and dream bigger. We need to think beyond what is possible and think what would be ideal. Then we work towards accomplishing the ideal. We may not reach ideal, but we will be far better off than if we just try to accomplish what is possible. It reminds me of the saying, “Shoot for the moon, and even if you miss, you will be among the stars.”
One of the highlights of the day was our visit to The Squadron, a flight simulator created by a high-ranking commander in the Israeli air force. The commander gave us a very high level briefing which was incredible. The pattern of three take-aways continued from his talk.
The Squadron let us wear flight uniforms and do the simulator. I always wanted to be Top Gun
When talking about October 7, he said that the country was already in a weakened position because of the civil unrest that was going on before then. The protests of the government policies and attempts to change key laws, the status of the Prime Minister and his legal issues, and the split in the country. It sounded far too familiar to what we are dealing with in the United States. He said to us, “When the body is weakened, the germs can get in and attack”. This is what happened on October 7. This is what we are seeing set up in the United States today. I found myself asking myself how far away are we in the US from our own version of October 7? Would it come from the far right? From the far left? From a terror attack funded by Iran? Are we getting ready for another 9/11 but on a much larger scale? Will we learn from Israel or continue to stick our heads in the sand?
He also said that he believes there will be no peace for at least 100 years because we have lost the youth. It made me think of the exodus from Egypt and how we had to wander for 40 years for the generations of slaves to die so that a new generation that didn’t know slavery could rise. Do we need to wait until the generations who have grown up with hate die off so we can have a new generation that doesn’t know hate rise? I hope we don’t need to wait 100 years or more. I hope we can make changes in our world now that shorter that time. The one thing that I do believe is that the instant gratification expectations of the US and Europe are not realistic and that this will take time. Can we shorten the 100 years to a decade? 2 decades? I don’t know but perhaps it is time that we change our expectations and begin the hard work to get there instead of hoping and praying that it will happen in 2024 or 2025.
The final takeaway was when he said that the only thing that will get us out of this is leadership. I agree with that 100%. As I wrote above and have written before, we have a serious lack of leadership in the world and in our Jewish communities. It is time to invest in leadership. We need to make hard choices and difficult decisions. We need to change the paradigm that we currently live in where leaders are determined by money. Our leaders need to lead, unafraid of the personal consequences because they are doing what is needed for the community, the nation, and the world. We need the courage Debi talked about. We need to dream bigger like Shimon Peres said. We need to allow the great leaders to rise and truly lead.
We then got to try their fight simulator. These were F-16 simulations and it was truly amazing. It gave me great admiration for the air force pilots and made me want to practice more and more.
Keith taking off in the flight simulator
Our final stop for the day was to meet with the people from Kibbutz Alumim. They have been relocated from their kibbutz near Gaza to a hotel in Netanya since October 7. We heard from two people at the kibbutz. Sarit, a young mother, hid in her safe room for 26 hours with her husband and 2-year-old daughter. Sarit’s husband was able to grab a little schnitzel for their daughter and one diaper for her before they entered their safe room for 26 hours. That’s not much in terms of food and one spare diaper for 26 hours isn’t nearly enough. Her descriptions were intense and thankfully the terrorists didn’t get into any of the houses on this kibbutz.
Sarit talking to us
The reason they didn’t get into any of the houses on this kibbutz was because of people like Eyal, the second speaker. This kibbutz had 15 members of their defense force that were trained and had access to guns in their armory to protect the kibbutz. Facing 150 or more terrorists invading the kibbutz, these 15 people fought them off. They ended up getting help from the IDF with a helicopter coming and helping shoot at the terrorists, killing many and driving them away after a full day of battle. Eyal ended up getting shot 4 times. Once on the side of his face, once in his back, once in his side, and once through his lung and out his scapula. He was rushed to the hospital where he was able to recover. The story of bravery on this kibbutz was not remarkable compared to the stories I have heard on other kibbutzim. What I took from it was the importance of being prepared and trained. Nobody wants to think that we have to be prepared to protect ourselves, but the reality is that we do. We can hope that we never have to use the training and that the practice is just that, but we need to be prepared. Whether it is in Israel or in the United States, a failure to prepare is preparing to fail. We no longer can afford that luxury.
Eyal talking to us
Outside the hotel, near the school they had created for their children, we had a huge barbecue and got to celebrate life with the members of the kibbutz. There was nothing like seeing the children fully engaged in life. Just as my grandparents used to say that looking at us, their grandchildren, was the proof that Hitler had lost, watching these children play and live life was proof that Hamas failed. Those who hate us failed. We survived once again and we will thrive again. Some of the little kids gave us gifts of vegetables from the kibbutz and seeing them warmed my heart. Then a few of the young boys came over to dance with us and that was the highlight of the day. It warmed my heart. We danced. We sang. We smiled. We laughed. We lived. I made sure to get a picture with them to remind myself that no matter what, we choose to live. And we choose to live freely as Jews. Authentic to ourselves.
The boys from the Kibbutz who came to dance with us
Dancing with the kids from the Kibbutz – it made the entire day.
Kids from the Kibbutz giving us gifts of vegetables from their Kibbutz. They were so adorable.
How can you not smile watching this toddler on his tricycle. 7 months ago he was hiding in a safe room as his parents hoped they wouldn’t be butchered by Hamas terrorists
I knew when I got on the plane to come this time that part of why I was coming was because October 7 and what has followed has ripped a hole in my soul. Watching the children, dancing with them and seeing them choosing life has begun to repair that hole. We need to listen to Dr. G and be courageous. We need to hear Shimon Peres and dream bigger. We need to pay attention to the lessons from the air force commander and demand real leadership and invest in leadership development. And most of all, we need to live authentically and with joy. Life is too short and too important to waste.
Kids at the barbecue back to life after the terror of October 7th. We must live life to the fullest.
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.
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”.
For the first time in the existance of this blog, I am not writing it. This was written by Yotam Berger, and Israeli PhD student at Stanford. I couldn’t have said it better or clearer so I’m letting his words say what I think and feel. Please read Yotam’s words and think hard about them. You can read the original post (in Hebrew) here. This translation came from Daniel Gordis’s substack Israel from the Inside.
Man in a Hamas costume on the campus of Stanford this week.
Five lessons from Stanford, California
The academic year in the United States is coming to an end. In a few weeks, the university students graduating will stand on the grass, in caps and gowns. They will excitedly take pictures, shake hands with the deans, and then fly away, making way for a new generation of their ilk.
Ahead of the graduation ceremonies, the anti-Israel student protests at American universities are also increasing. Let’s start with the “all clear” siren. Here at Stanford, at least, the students who sleep on the campus lawns and call for a “global intifada” are—as a rule—not dangerous in the physical sense of the word. But they are very dangerous in the medium and long term, as far as the image of the leader of the free world is concerned.
This is my second year at Stanford. When we returned here in September after the summer break, I intended to finish the year with an approved research proposal and a third of my PhD written. It’s hard to describe how far I am from meeting that goal. In my opinion, I’m not really unusual. Since October, many Israelis abroad have found themselves forced to choose between two options—to put their heads down or become ambassadors without a choice. Who can even write an article when his two brothers are fighting in Gaza? Instead, I found myself spending much of my time on “outreach” activities that I had no intention of taking part in.
Despite this, I learned some very important lessons this year that I will never forget. As the school year comes to a close, and in light of the wave of anxious questions from around the country in light of the current round of campus madness, I thought I’d share the five most important lessons I learned this past year at Stanford, California.
1. Whether we want it or not, we are always—first and foremost—the Jews.
The first year here was a fabulous academic experience like no other. I felt surrounded by international friends. I was given full access to the world’s brightest legal minds. The feeling was that endless opportunities lay ahead. Friends from Israel, who asked already last year if we suffered from anti-Israelism, sounded funny to me. No way!! I am a liberal Israeli. I wrote for the most leftist newspaper in Israel. I did my clerkship in one of the more liberal courts in the Western world. Why would anyone have a problem with me? I walked among those who I thought were friends as equals among equals. I could talk about Israel freely, criticize it and love it, have discussions that I thought were good and complex about the most sensitive issues even with those who clearly disagreed with me. I felt like a citizen of the world.
That was an illusion. There really is no such thing, it turns out, as a “Jew who is a citizen of the world,” as long as the Jew insists on his right to a national existence. For many of those whom I saw as friends, it turned out, I was first and foremost the Jew. At the moment of truth, few of them stood by me on a personal level. Almost none of them stood by me at the national level. Their double standards allowed Israel-hating students to say horrible things about me and my friends, but silenced our every attempt to oppose it. In some places, I had to choose between apologizing for my Israeliness and rejection. There was no choice to be made.
This eye-opening experience also has advantages. It is a litmus test for the human quality of those around us. Some of the people around me went out of their way to support me, or to show gestures of humanity. I found myself surrounded by strong and durable ties. I will not forget these friends easily.
2. America deserves Donald Trump.
An Israeli friend joked to me that if Trump is re-elected president in November, he will walk the halls of Stanford and hand out baklava. It’s a very funny joke only because it’s not entirely imaginary.
November 9, 2016 was a day that struck me with amazement. Like many all over the world, the fact that the United States of America elected Donald Trump as president was unimaginable. In a very deep sense, no matter how many commentaries I read, how many films and documentary series I watched—the appointment of this man seemed inexplicable to me. Unimaginable. Impossible. Even years later, when the words “President Trump” stopped feeling strange on the tongue, the choice of him seemed inexplicable to me. A glitch in the matrix. I couldn’t understand how his campaign could be successful.
This year I finally got it. No, if I were an American I still wouldn’t vote for Trump. But I now understand those who vote for him. Donald Trump is some Americans’ answer to the madness on the other side, a madness I didn’t notice until it turned its face in my direction. A madness no less terrible than Trumps’s madness. No, if I had the right to vote, I would not vote for Donald Trump. But America deserves him.
3. The progressive movement is not a political ally of liberal Zionists.
Last year, the progressive movement seemed like an amusing youth rebellion to me. Yes, the ceremony where everyone announces their gender at the beginning of class seemed strange to me, not always necessary, but not harmful. The fact that I had to declare my race on every form I filled out (and make sure to state that I was “Middle Eastern”) made me laugh, but didn’t upset me. I saw the American progressive movement as the infantile sister of liberal movements that I respected. I saw it as an ally. That was a mistake.
I saw the American progressive movement as the infantile sister of liberal movements that I respected. I saw it as an ally. That was a mistake.
The “progressive” movement is not an amusing anecdote. This week I was exposed to a particularly graphic expression of this. In the “Pro-Palestinian” encampment (in double quotation marks, since a significant number of its residents are unable to point to the country on a map, and it is doubtful that they are able to name a single Palestinian leader) that was re-established in the heart of the campus, a man was photographed in a full terrorist costume—including a black sock hat with a slit for his eyes, and a green Hamas ribbon on his head, next to students who are active for transsexual rights. This strange alliance [DG – since Hamas executes those it considers sexual deviants, which obviously includes transsexuals] is not funny to me.
The progressives are challenging much more than the state of Israel, or the right of the Jews to a nation state. I’m not sure how many of the people who identify as progressives actually hold these ideals, and how many of them are just repeating them over and over loudly, with the intention of gaining some kind of social sympathy. But those of them who hold this position really no longer believe in the existence of “truth,” or in the existence of facts.
I’m not referring here to those who express the opinion that it is difficult to get to the truth, or who think that the courts do not always succeed in finding out what the facts are, or who hold that different ideas are perceived differently through different eyes. I’m speaking about those who say unequivocally that there is no such thing as truth. They are not interested in presenting facts to support their arguments because they do not believe there is such a thing as facts, and they say so explicitly. They think that it is forbidden to use the term “jihadist” in front of jihadists, or to call supporters of terrorism by their names, because feelings are more important than facts (although, of course, first and foremost theirfeelings). They don’t believe there should be consequences for actions, because they don’t believe there should be consequences for anything. Everything can be disputed, because nothing is real. Life is a debate club. It’s not a treat, or at least not just a treat: it’s an ideology. This ideology challenges the existence of objective truth—attainable or unattainable—as an intellectual concept.
4. Always go straight. It is not so important what is said or written about you.
The denial and turning of the backs of those whom I saw as friends, or at least fellow travelers, came with a temptation: to lower one’s head. I do not belittle and I completely understand Israelis who chose this. At this stage, for now, being ashamed of being Israeli, suppressing Jewish symbols, trying to adopt the American accent—can ensure a reasonable quality of life even in places where hatred of Israel is very present. But when the temptation was placed in front of me—to some extent at least— I tried to remember what I had learned from two teachers in recent years.
Attorney Momi Lemberger usually tells his interns to “always walk straight.” When a decision is made in a case—should an indictment be filed? Should the charges be dropped?—The only thing that matters are the facts and the law. It is easy to be tempted to consider what was written in the newspapers. What the minister says. The chance to advance in the system. But considering such considerations inevitably leads to bragging, to losing one’s way. Judge George Kara used to tell his interns that “it doesn’t really matter what they say or write about you.” The facts are more important. Making the right decisions is more important. There is no reason to align with vanities, even if it has some social or public cost.
These lessons are true in relation to greater and much more important decisions than the personal decision of whether to keep one’s head down or insist on externalizing and being proud of one’s Israeliness, even in unpleasant forums. But they are infinitely true when the heaviest price to pay for going straight is that some American PhD students will turn up their noses at you. Since October, I’ve learned that there’s no point in keeping your head down, while there is intrinsic value in the decision to always going straight, to calling a spade a spade.
5. The solution to the university crisis cannot come from below, but it can be parachuted from above.
The kids protesting in these university yards worked very hard to get accepted to Harvard, Stanford, Yale, and Columbia. Most of them are not the “Vietnam generation,” even if that is what they tell themselves. They are the equivalent of the 8200 children and IDF Radio in Israel. [DG – both very prestigious jobs in the army, the former in one of the most respected intelligence units, the latter on the radio, a position very hard to snag.] They worked very hard and paid a lot of money to get here, and they care a lot about how they graduate. More than that, they care what the characters they value think of them. True, they care what their classmates think. Most of them care just as much what the President of the University, the Dean of the Faculty, and even the lecturer in the course think of them.
For many of them, the current wave of protests can be an educational opportunity. American universities repeatedly emphasize the importance of freedom of speech in American culture, the centrality of the First Amendment to the Constitution which guarantees absolute freedom of speech in the American political atmosphere. They can’t shut them up. That is true. But the universities can, and are even obliged, to educate their students. They should not and cannot prevent these children from screaming their demands to spread the intifada or boycott Israel. But they can tell them that they hold very stupid positions.
If university presidents would stop trembling in their own shadows, they could tell their students that they have a right to express stupid views, but that shouting them out won’t make them any more correct. Lecturers cannot silence their students, but they can emphasize that anyone who expresses uninformed or unfounded positions with great confidence is an educational failure. An Israeli—as I discovered—cannot really convince his American counterpart that Israel is not committing genocide, even if there is not even a shred of evidence to support the argument that what is happening in Gaza is genocide. But if the president of the university were to look at his students and express sincere disappointment when they express such a preposterous position, something in a significant portion of those students might shift.
The effectiveness of the “direct information”—in front of the young students—exists, but is very limited and in any case organized bodies can hardly promote it in an inorganic way. The solution, in my opinion, lies in putting pressure on the presidents. And there is urgency in this—today’s generation of presidents and senior lecturers are still old and established people, who were educated in the 1970s and 1980s. They remember the Six Day War and Yom Kippur War. They are liberals, but they are liberals like Bill Clinton. They have respect for Israel. They have no intention of responding to the BDS demands that many of their students voice. In private conversations with Israelis, they also express their feelings of affection for Israel generously. But their feelings of fear of their American students are immeasurably stronger than their affection for their Israeli students. The pressure needs to be put on them. If they are freed from the terror that grips them of expressing their opinion, they can set boundary lines, and these may seep down—to those who want to participate in the “pro-Palestinian” festivals, to make an impression, but want more to be loved by important people in their professional lives.
If we do not take advantage of the present opportunity, we will find ourselves in a short time standing in front of a new generation of presidents and deans. It is not known if they will still have positive feelings—however repressed—towards Israel.
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’ve been thinking a lot about responsibility lately. Personal responsibility, parental responsibility, spousal responsibility, family responsibility, community responsibility and worldwide responsibility. What about the responsibilities as a leader and of our leaders?
I was inspired to think about this by a number of different things happening right now. The lack of leadership being shown by University Presidents both in their testimony in front of Congress and recently with the pro-Hamas demonstrations on many campuses. Columbia University gets the most attention, but they are going on at 40 campuses, highlighted by Harvard, Penn, Brown, The University of Michigan, Yale, MIT, Cal Tech, Northwestern, and George Washington. We have also seen University Presidents and administrators break up these protests at University of Minnesota, University of Texas at Austin, University of Southern California, Emory, Princeton, and Emerson College. The difference in the two groups of campuses is entirely based upon the University’s leadership.
Columbia University has turned into a cesspool of antisemitism and Jew hatred. Much of this is due to a lack of leadership from the University President.
There is little doubt that had these encampments been created to protest any other ethnic group in existence, all of the Universities would have shut them down. An anti-LGBTQ+, anti-Muslim, anti-Black, anti-Christian, anti-Hispanic, or anti-woman protest with racial/sexual epithets being shouted at these students and threats of violence along with actual violence would not be tolerated. So, what is the difference? Why is it ok when it’s Jews being targeted?
Many people say it’s the influx of Arab money, specifically from Qatar. Others cite the latent antisemitism that has existed for generations at many of these schools. Still others cite the woke movement in which Jews are considered white and privileged and not deserving of protection. While all these play a part, I think it is entirely about a lack of leadership at these Universities. The leadership of those Universities are choosing not to protect Jewish students and instead protect the racists, bigots, and those assaulting other students. Columbia actually created an arguably apartheid situation where Jewish students must take classes and final exams online while those who harass and attack them are allowed to take them in person. The lack of leadership enables and encourages bad behavior. The lack of leadership means there is no consequence for inappropriate actions. After giving a midnight deadline for the encampment to be taken down, Columbia President Minouche Shafik promptly did not enforce it and a few days later, nothing has happened. That’s a serious lack of leadership. USC cancelled graduation ceremonies because they can’t control the protestors. That’s a serious lack of leadership. At the Universities where there were involved leadership, these encampments were taken down, often by law enforcement, those not following the campus rules and regulations were arrested and face consequences. Their graduation ceremonies are not in jeopardy of being cancelled. In a country ruled by law, this is how things need to be handled.
Compare that to the University of Florida, where the Chabad Seder had over 1,000 in attendance, including UF President Ben Sasse. President Sasse addressed the crowd, stating, “What is happening on campus at Columbia and Yale the last few days is grotesque, and we don’t want anyone here to be confused. We are delighted that the University of Florida is the most Jewish campus anyplace in North America. We don’t want anyone to be unsafe, or to feel unsafe….” That’s leadership. Two sentences is what it took. And there is no doubt that had he been speaking to any other group that was facing similar situations that he would have said the same about and to them.
UF President Ben Sasse at the 1000+ person Chabad Seder on campus. He continues to show great leadership.
This week, an anti-Israel, anti-Jewish protest happened on the campus of University of Florida. Why is it not in the news? Because the leadership of UF did what leaders do. They led. They set in place the enforcement of their campus rules and regulations THAT WERE ALREADY IN PLACE. They promised to hold students, faculty, and anybody else attending the rally accountable for their actions. Look at the rules that UF published for everybody to see and follow. There was no encampment at UF, no violence and calls for death of Jews. Free speech is being permitted. That is how leaders act.
University of Florida shared the existing rules for any gathering and the consequences for not following them. This should be the expectation for all Universities.
It’s not just on the college campuses where leadership is missing. President Biden finally made a big deal about the hostages held by Hamas on Thursday April 25th when he issued a statement along with leaders of 17 other nations calling for their release. Why it took over 200 days of captivity for this to happen is beyond me.
How we still have members of Congress calling the war between Hamas and Israel “Bibi’s War” or “Netanyahu’s War” is beyond me. Hamas began the war on October 7th with their attack. If Hamas released the hostages and surrendered, the war would be over. This is Hamas’s war. This is Iran’s war. Israel is doing what is needed to protect herself but has not nor been the aggressor. While we have seen some of our leaders being very public about the war and antisemitism on campus, particularly Senators John Fetterman (D-PA) and Rick Scott (R-FL) along with Rep Ritchie Torres (D-NY), Hakeem Jefferies (D-NY), Cory Mills (R-FL), and Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), many others have been silent or playing both sides for election politics. That’s not leadership. Hamas and Iran are evil. The people of Gaza and Iran want regime change. Instead, we get Rep Nancy Pelosi and Sen Chuck Schumer calling for early elections in Israel, which is totally inappropriate for an ally and another democracy.
President Eisenhower is the example of what is needed. Jason Riley in the Wall Street Journal says it best:
“In 1957, white mobs in Little Rock, Ark., in defiance of the [Brown vs. Board of Education] ruling, were preventing black students from safely attending school. President Dwight Eisenhower decided to do something about it. In a prime-time television address, the president explained that ‘demagogic extremists’ and ‘disorderly mobs’ were thwarting the law and that he had an ‘inescapable’ responsibility to respond if Arkansas officials refused to protect black students. ‘Mob rule cannot be allowed to override the decisions of our courts,’ he said. Then Eisenhower sent in the 101st Airborne Division. The particulars then and now may differ, but the same principle is at stake. The federal government was obligated to come to the aid of an ethnic minority group being threatened by mob violence. Jews in 2024 deserve no less protection than blacks in 1957. And if university officials can’t handle the situation, or won’t let police deal properly with the unrest, Mr. Biden needs to step up.”
When will our leaders actually lead instead of worrying about re-election campaigns? I’ve said for a long time that I want leaders who lead and will support them for doing it. And when they worry about being re-elected instead of doing their job, I won’t. It goes back to the classic line in the movie, The American President, when Michael Douglas as President Andrew Shepard, says the following line, “I was so busy keeping my job I forgot to do my job.” It’s time for our leaders to remember to do their job instead of being busy keeping their job.
The full speech that includes the line above. Inspired leadership.
Recently, Representative Jamaal Bowman (D-NY), an avid antisemite, began accusing those who disagree with him and are supporting his primary opponent, George Latimer, of only doing so because of his race. We cannot tolerate this any longer. Rep. Bowman has a history that is being attacked which has nothing to do with his race or ethnicity. He has taken public stands that people disagree with and that’s why he is being targeted in the primary and that’s why he will hopefully lose the primary. When our leaders fall to this level of excuse, it minimizes the situations when it is real. When students are targeted on college campuses. When a Jewish woman is raped in France to ‘Free Palestine’. When people are attacked for being Jewish or wearing things that identify them as Jewish, Muslim, or a member of the LGBTQ+ community.
Even J Street finds Jamaal Bowman not worthy of being in Congress
Our Jewish communities struggle with leadership as well. The time when significant leaders went through a serious training process and there were being mentored and trained by significant and serious leaders is gone. In some communities there are still roles and a pathway to leadership positions. In most there is not. Whoever is willing to take the board leadership position often gets it, whether they have the training, experience, and knowledge or not. The serious involvement in the National Young Leadership Cabinet of JFNA is no longer emphasized by most Jewish organizations.
Our Jewish professionals are not getting the training they need either. There are some excellent programs available however not enough of them nor are there enough participating. I was lucky to have an incredible mentor/coach when I was first beginning my career. He spent a week a month on the road with me for an entire year and we spoke weekly when we were not together. I learned at his feet, and I will always appreciate his mentorship and teachings. I still think of the lessons he taught me and hear his voice in my head on a regular basis, guiding the decisions that I make. As I have now taken on that role for others, it is a combination of my profession and paying it forward. If we want to have excellent Jewish communal leaders, investing in our volunteer and professional leadership training and development is essential. Great leaders don’t just happen. They are taught. They are given experiences and responsibilities to build upon and grow and develop. I talk with a number of my friends and former colleagues about the challenges in the Jewish world and leadership is one of the big ones.
I always think of the stories I heard about the old guard in Seattle. The “triumvirate” of Seattle, Jack Benaroya, Sam Stroum, and Herman Sarkowsky, would make sure that the people they did business with who were Jewish were investing philanthropically in the Jewish community. They would make sure that anybody who was going to ‘make it big’ in a deal with them, understood that part of their new wealth included a responsibility to philanthropy and giving back. If people didn’t want to follow their lead, they would do business with other people instead. They taught many of the large philanthropists of today about the importance of giving. Some of those they taught also taught others. Far too few people do that today. Without the guidance and training from ‘the old guard’, there will be no ‘new guard’.
Which brings me to my favorite leadership development program, The Jewish Leadership Institute (JLI). Founded more than 30 years ago by Rabbi Mayer Abramowitz (z”l) and now run by his son and my friend David Abramowitz, this is the premier leadership training program in the country for college students. Taking students to Israel for 2-3 weeks for an immersive and intensive leadership development program, they get results. I admit I am biased. I had the privilege of sending students on this trip for the 15 years that I ran University of Florida Hillel and got the benefit of the experience when they returned. It changed their lives. It changed our campus. And it continues to change the world as the students who had the experience are now adults and making a difference in the world. There is going to be a trip in July 2024 (July 2-16) and this incredibly subsidized trip (only $395 INCLUDING AIRFARE FROM MIAMI) will change lives, change college campuses, and change the world. I encourage Jewish student campus leaders to apply and go.
JLI participants. This program changes lives and changes the world.
In addition, we are working on a JLI young leadership trip in early 2025. This will also be a highly subsidized trip and I can’t wait to share more information about this as it is developed and confirmed. As somebody who believes in leadership development, believes in leadership training, mentoring, and role modeling, I am excited to work on this with David and make it into a reality.
Leadership and responsibility go hand in hand. We have many people who have the title ‘leader’ but are not. In the words of Winston Churchill, “The price of greatness is responsibility.” Many of our ‘leaders’ merely think they are great but shirk their responsibility. Those who are truly great, embrace the responsibility. I found this quote by Warren Bennis and Burt Nanus about great leaders and believe it to be true.
“While great leaders may be as rare as great runners, great actors, or great painters, everyone has leadership potential, just as everyone has some ability at running, acting, and painting.”
Leadership potential doesn’t become true leadership without training, mentoring, and guidance. The same is true with responsibility. People don’t understand responsibility and how to act that way without training, mentoring, and guidance. We’ve seen enough of our ‘leaders’ exhibit no leadership and no responsibility. It is time for us to change that by investing in our future leaders. By holding our current leaders accountable for their actions. For not settling for what we can get but demanding what we desire. It’s only through our efforts to improve our future leaders and to hold our current leaders accountable that we will get the change we so desperately need.
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.
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