There is nothing like Shabbat in Jerusalem. The streets are close to silent. There is a sweet smell in the air. You can smell the fresh challahs that were baked and the delicious dinners being cooked throughout the city. I love going to the Kotel for Kabbalat Shabbat and joining with friends and family for Shabbat dinner. This Shabbat was a little different, as we had services at the hotel, but my friend Tal led them beautifully. While not at the Kotel, it was still very meaningful.

Shabbat dinner was delicious. We sat together in our private room and enjoyed conversation and company. In less than a week, this group of strangers had become friends and now family. It is remarkable to see how Israel does this over and over and over again.

As we finished dinner, the speakers began. They were incredible. First, Colonel (Res) Ronen Itzik spoke to us again. He is incredible, and I could listen to him much longer than he spoke. Then we had the opportunity to hear from Brig. General (Res) Amir Avivi. He talked passionately about the future of Israel, the security lessons learned from October 7th, and what has already changed on the ground and what needs to change. I’ve met him before and spent time speaking with him, and he is a brilliant man. I’ve listened to him on podcasts, and he carries a powerful message. This was no different. The question and answer session was insightful. I asked him about the future of the US aid and if he thought, as Ambassador Michael Oren has long advocated, and Prime Minister Netanyahu has recently spoken about, that it was in Israel’s best interests to stop the aid. He agreed with PM Netanyahu that over the next 10 years it should be phased out. He talked about how Israel has already begun its own military industry and how, in the near future, Israel would not be dependent on any country to provide it with the equipment or ammunition that it requires. In addition, Israel will be able to sell their technology, increasing their regional and global power. As usual, the Israel haters try to harm Israel, and instead they end up strengthening Israel. The Jewish nation has come a long way since 1948 and it is wonderful to see and hear.

After General Avivi finished speaking, my friend Ari Kalker and his wife spoke to us. Ari was born and raised in the United States and made Aliyah at 17. He joined the IDF and shared his journey with us. It was interesting hearing him discuss how everything he was raised with Jewishly finally made sense when he came to Israel. Since October 7th, he has been in miluim more than he has been home. He and his wife shared with us the challenges they face with him being gone so much and the challenges for them both when he returns and tries to turn back into husband, father, and employee. It isn’t something we hear much about and yet, it is a struggle that many Israelis deal with regularly. I’ve heard it from a dozen soldiers that I know who have spent 300, 400, 500 days or more in miluim since October 7th. It was a powerful and moving talk. I enjoy my friendship with Ari and look forward to seeing him again in December when I’m back in Israel. We have had some deep conversations and joke with each other about them.

Shabbat morning was a slow and relaxing one. After breakfast we left for a walking tour of the old city. It was a fairly short walk to the Jaffa Gate where we began. We walked through the Arab market to get to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Many people may wonder why we’d go there. I believe it is important to see the holy sites in Israel regardless of faith and to really understand the significance of Israel ensuring they are available to everybody. Church of the Holy Sepulchre was ordered built by Emperor Constantine while his mother, Saint Helena, was charged with finding the location where Jesus was crucified, his body was washed and anointed, and the cave where he was buried. She believed she found it and the church was built around these sites. While not the original structure, it was destroyed, damaged and rebuilt multiple times over its 1,700 year history due to fires, earthquakes and geopolitical conflicts, the key locations inside remain. We walked up the stairs to where Jesus was crucified. We went to the location where his body was washed and annointed. People pray at both locations. The water coming up where his body was annointed is often used to dip items in so they bring holiness back with visitors. It is powerful to watch the impact both sites have on Christians as it reminds me of how I feel at the Kotel, on the Temple Mount, and at the caves of the Patriarchs and Matriarchs. There is a building that was created to keep the cave where Jesus was buried and then resurrected. While we didn’t go in this time, I have been inside many times and you can go right up to where his body was laid and touch it. I find it to be powerful, even though it is not my faith and not what I believe. Between the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the Kotel, and Temple Mount, I always connect with the fact that something happened in Jerusalem and that it truly is an incredibly holy city. It is why I go there when I am able.

We headed around the corner to the Kotel, the western retaining wall of the Temple. I love going to the Kotel as I connect there the way Christians connect at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. We stopped in the plaza, talked and listened to our guide, and then had the opportunity to go to the Kotel. I have the same routine every time. I walk to an open spot at the Kotel, remove my hat and put on a kippah, and then put my forehead against the Kotel wall and connect with God. I talk to him, thank him, and for the past four years, also talk and connect with the dad. It is a special place. I stay as long as I need until I have accomplished whatever I am doing there. There is no fixed agenda or time. When I am done, I am done. I left the Kotel and the group headed back while a few of us walked through the Arab market to explore, shop, and enjoy the old city. We had plenty of time before we had to be back for lunch and we took advantage of the time.

After lunch we had the incredible opportunity to hear from Itzik Gvili, the father of Ran Gvili (z’l), the last hostage to come out of Gaza. Itzik shared Ran with us. Who he was. What he stood for. What he believed. It was amazing to learn about such a wonderful young man who was murdered by Hamas on October 7th. It was difficult to listen to Itzik since we all knew how the story ends. None of us wanted to imagine that it was our child that Hamas murdered, yet it was all we could think about. Learning about Ran just reminded us how much we lost – not just because of Ran but because of all the other young people murdered by Hamas before they could help change the world. How much worse our world is because these bright lights were extinguished by hate. Before October 7th, I was very public in my positions about hate. As antisemitism and Jew hatred grew throughout the United States and in Central Florida, I was interviewed on television and in print news about it. My position was clear. We must stand together against hate. If we don’t stand together against hate, it will consume us, one at a time. They may come for the Jews first, but they will come for you next or after the next one or after that one. Hate is all encompassing and we must stand together to combat it. Unfortunately, after October 7th, we saw the Jews mostly abandoned. Hate was allowed against the Jews. We see the evil it is creating around the world. France is now on fire. Spain and England aren’t far behind. Canada is no longer a beacon of safety. Iran is now attacking other Gulf states. Russia and Ukraine are still at war.

One of our greatest human faults is that we don’t learn from our mistakes. We all know that if we don’t learn from our mistakes, “history is doomed to repeat itself.” Yet we don’t learn. We repeat them. The recent ad by Hassan Piker’s Superpack supporting Abdul Al-Sayad’s candidacy came from 1930s Nazi Germany. Al-Sayad’s failure to condemn it is a clear endorsement of those beliefs, which he has continued to believe and state but continue to be excused. Are we that far from Nazi Germany again? Are we that far from camps for Jews when a candidate in Texas in 2026 said she’d turn ICE prisons into camps to hold Zionists? Who are we as a people?

I always wondered just how bad it had to be in Sodom and Gomorrah for God to destroy the entire cities. Why didn’t the Jews leave Germany in the early 1930s? I think I have my answer. It’s scary to see. God told Abraham he only had to find 10 righteous people to save both cities. Abraham couldn’t find ten. Let’s each make our own commitment to be one of those 10. We each can save our world if we speak up, take a stand, live by our morals and ethics, and fight hate, no matter who it is against. We don’t have to let our world burn while we watch.