I’ve been close to the Gaza border twice, In May 2024 I visited both Kfar Aza and the Nova site and in July 2024 I returned to both Kfar Aza and Nova along with Kibbutz Alumim. I was about a mile from Gaza on both occasions, heard and saw the drones and jets fly over Jabalya, and saw and heard bombs drop, gunfire, explosions and building collapse. Both were intense experiences as it felt strange to be so close to an active war zone.
Google Maps view from my May 2024 visit to Kfar Aza
Today I got even closer. We had the opportunity to go to Shlomi’s Food Truck, right outside Kibbutz Be’eri, and make sandwiches to feed soldiers fighting in Gaza and on the border. We cut vegetables, stuffed pita with schnitzel, salad, hummus and tahini, bagged them and filled up box after box after box, then loaded them into a truck and van, and left for the border.
Shlomi showed up outside Kibbutz Be’eri on October 8, 2023 and began making sandwiches for the soliders. Every Sunday to Thursday since then, he shows up, makes sandwiches and gives them to soldiers on the border. Volunteers, like us, began coming to help him. He has paid for this out of his own pocket for more than two years. It costs about $5,000 a week to do this. You can do the math on how much of his own money he has spent over the past more than two years feeding soldiers. It’s a passion, a mission, and an obligation for him.
Going to the border was an unbelievable experience. We drove right along it, went into the area where the soldiers were working, offering them lunch. The smiles on their faces, the thank you’s that we received are priceless. I kept thanking them. It is them who are risking their lives, going into Gaza, keeping Israel and the world safe. All we did was make and deliver some sandwiches. We walked all through the area as they worked on their tanks, handing out lunch. We met soldier and soldier after soldier. Being right there on the border with Gaza and getting to make sandwiches and then feed the soldiers was an incredible experience. It’s not something I will ever forget.
As we prepared to finish our work, we ran into a bunch of soldiers from the Carmeli unit, about to go into Gaza. Watching these brave soldiers load up into the truck, smiling, laughing, and prepared to do whatever it takes to keep Israel and the world safe, was incredibly powerful. I lifted a box of sandwiches to them in the truck so they could take them into Gaza and give them to soldiers who couldn’t come back across the border. This picture of them in the truck was possible because they all had their backs to the camera at that moment. The hate for Israel and Jews around the world means we can’t take pictures of their faces. The flag is their unit’s flag. It’s something I will always remember.
After lunch at Kibbutz Alumim, we headed to Kfar Aza. As I said, I’ve been there before. In May 2024, the devastation was incredible. The blatent brutality was in my face. By July 2024 they had begun to make some changes. This time the changes were incredible. The burned and shot up homes had been demolished and new construction was in place. Most of the kibbutz was no longer witness to the devastation of October 7th, it was a sign of life and the resilience of the Jewish people. This house is an example. In May and July of 2024 it was a symbol of the savagery of Hamas. In December 2025 it is a symbol of life, a beautiful new house in a beautiful area of the Kibbutz. As I looked at it, I could imagine myself living there. The dichotomy of my visits in 2024 and 2025 are symbolic of the Jewish people. We face many challenges and get repeatedly knocked down. But like the beautiful new house in 2025, we always get up. We look to the future with hope and with dreams. We won’t stay down, we won’t allow others to defeat us.
We met with Schacher, a resident of Kfar Aza. He told me his story and gave us the tour of Kfar Aza in July 2024. As we sat on the deck of his house, he told us what it was like on October 7th, hiding in his safe room as those around him were murdered and kidnapped. Why the terrorists didn’t come into his safe room we will never know. They came into his house, ate his food, and used his deck, the same deck and chairs we were sitting at, as their headquarters for the attack. It was surreal to be sitting in the same place that the terrorists were on October 7th.
Schacher’s table and deck, where the terrorists sat and planned their attack on October 7th at Kfar Aza.
Schacher took us around Kfar Aza, showing us where terrorists murdered people, where they kidnapped people, and told us stories of those who died and those who survived. It was incredibly powerful to experience. It was also a bit surreal as the changes since my last visit in July 2024 were obvious. While people haven’t moved back en masse yet, it was still a place of life now, not of death. Until we got to the young people’s section of the kibbutz. This area was targeted by Hamas for kidnapping and murder. The devastation remained. There are two homes we can walk in, one because the family gave permission as they want people to see the brutality of Hamas and how their daughter was murdered, the other because it was empty on October 7th. I also saw the home of Netta Epstein. I met Netta’s mother in November 2025 and her story and how Netta died was powerful and painful. Netta and his fiance were at home when Hamas stormed Kfar Aza. Hamas began throwing grenades into their small home and Netta threw them out. Until he couldn’t get to one fast enough. He jumped on the grenade to save his fiance, sacrificing his life. She was taken hostage and ultimately released. When I look at his picture, I see somebdy like my kids, with a bright future ahead. Hamas stole that from Netta, from his family, and from the world.
I wasn’t as angry at Kfar Aza this time because it was clear life was returning. It is a good lesson for us all and perhaps the true secret of why the Jewish people have continued to survive for thousands of years. We focus on life, not on death. We can grieve those who were murdered but we can’t bring them back. What we can do is live fully in their memory. We can make sure that their being murdered for the crime of being Jewish doesn’t become meaningless.
Our final stop in the south was the Nova festival site. I had heard from others how it had changed and been built up since my last visit but I wasn’t prepared for what I saw. Two new forests were built by Jewish National Fund (JNF) to honor those murdered there. There was a new area for the main stage and for the big yellow dumpsters. Seating areas had been built and real bathrooms now existed. The dirt road was replaced with paved road. Even the pictures in the field to memorialize the victims had been upgraded. It left me with conflicted feelings
The updated and upgraded Nova memorial
Part of me appreciated the need to make this into a true memorial for the country. To add exhibits and make it look more professional. Yet another part of me really appreciated the simplicity and raw emotion that the earlier version offered. Change is difficult and for me, the impact of the first two times I visited the Nova site was strong. This is a different version of the site. Yet when I watched how it impacted those on the trip who had never been to Nova before, I saw them having the same experience I had my first time. Perhaps it really is just me and what I wanted to see rather than the impact that it had. I enjoyed the main stage exhibit and the big yellow dumpsters exhibit. They were new and really added something to the experience.
The Main Stage exhibitA part of the Main Stage exhibit
We finished out time at Nova by gathering in a circle and singing. All three times I have visited Nova, we have sung. As the memorial site to those brutally murdered at a music festival, I think it is important to bring music, even if just one song, to the visit. This time we gathered together and sang Hatikvah. Not only is it the Israeli National Anthem, it means “The Hope.” On a day that involved being on the border with Gaza, visiting Kibbutz Alumim, Kibbutz Kfar Aza, and the Nova Site, hope is essential and fitting. Yet after we finished singing, we discussed the lyrics.
The song begins, “As long as the heart within the Jewish soul yearns, and towards the eastern edge, onward, and eye gazes to Zion.” The hope for the Jewish State of Israel in this song is not unconditional. In fact, it is very conditional. Our hearts must yearn towards Zion, towards Israel, in order to have a Jewish state. It has to be within us, a part of our being. That’s what makes Israel so special – the longing we have for her. The deep within us passion and love for our Jewish homeland. Without that passion and love, deep within our heart exists, so will Israel. I don’t know about you, but I know that I have that deep yearning of my soul, in my heart, for Israel, our Jewish homeland. I gaze towards Israel often, come visit whenever and as often as I can, and love being here. I hope that you do as well. It is a remarkable country on so many levels.
I was talking to my friend Tal in Israel the other day. Tal is a Lieutenant Colonel (Res.) in the IDF and we hav been discussing a project together. He told me that we’d have to wait a few weeks to continue our conversation because he had been called back for milium (reserve duty) once again and had to report the next day. He then sighed and told me how tired he was of this. It’s been a year already and his life has been turned upside down. He then said something remarkable. He told me that he’d continuing showing up because “we have to win”. Having been to Israel in May, July, and September, I understood both the fatigue and the desire to keep showing up because there is no alternative to winning this war. It’s an existential war. Iran, through their proxies Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis, won’t stop until Israel is eliminated. Until the Jews are eliminated. It’s easy to sit in the United States and criticize Israel for doing what they have to do to survive. Go to Israel and see the devastation from October 7th in the kibbutzim on the Gaza border. Kfar Aza, Nir Oz, Be’eri. Visit the site of the Nova music festival and listen to survivors and those who rescued people from the terrorists. Listen to the story of Rami Davidian, a farmer who saved 750 people on October 7th from the terrorists and the horrors he saw on October 8th when he returned to the Nova site to clean up and provide dignity to the people who had been murdered.
Israel and the survival of the Jewish people are miracles. There is no other way to describe how we have lasted for thousands of years, outliving every other society throughout history. How more than 3,000 years after we first entered the land of Israel, we are living there today. In May and July it was driven home to me multiple times how if 2,000 years ago, as the Romans were taking the Jews into slavery, the Temple was in flames, Jerusalem destroyed, you had told our ancestors that we’d be back here, in our homeland, in 2,000 years, they would have laughed at the concept. Yet here we are.
The Holocaust was an effort to send us to the history books. Hitler’s goal was to create a museum of the Jewish people that people could visit to see who we were because we no longer existed. I read a story told by Rabbi Yitz Greenberg to Rabbi Daniel Gordis about Adolf Eichmann, who had disappeared, running away in 1946, to Argentina. He was hiding with Ferenc Szálasi, the facist leader of Hungary who was his partner in wiping out Hungarian Jewry.
Adolph EichmannFerenc Szálasi
Szalasi said in his last conversation with Eichmann, “you know, if they catch us, they will put us to death. We committed this incredible crime.” So, Eichmann says to him, “if they catch me and they execute me, I will leap into my grave laughing. Why? Because he said, I didn’t kill every last Jew, but they’ll never recover. It hit such a destructive blow to the heartland of Jewry, the Eastern European Jewry was the biological heartland. They’ll never recover. I feel I succeeded even if I didn’t get all the way.” Yet the Jewish people did recover. The biological heartland was not, has never been, and never will be Eastern Europe. It has been and will always be the land of Israel.
The reason we have outlasted ancient Egypt and the Pharoahs, the Philistines, the Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Persians, the Greeks, the Romans, the Byzantine empire, the Crusaders, the Spanish Empire, the Nazis and the Soviet Union is because even when we are tired; no make that especially when we are tired, we do not give up. We have never given up. This is why we will outlast Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, and the Iranian regime. We value life too much. We value the future too much.
I am tired. I’ve been consumed since October 7th with doing my part, whatever that may be, to fight. Putting on a rally the day after October 7th. Going to be with 300,000 people on the National Mall in Washington, DC to join together in support of the Jewish people and Israel. Writing this blog for over a year, often times multiple times a week. Going to Israel in May, July, and September. Volunteering in Israel cleaning lemon trees, picking apples, making tzizit for the IDF, making sandwiches for those in need, making care packages for IDF soldiers, bringing supplies to IDF units with me in my luggage, getting my new tattoos, wearing my dogtags, my Jewish star, my yellow ribbon pin for the hostages, helping Israeli NGOs to serve the people in need, and working to help the Israeli economy any way that I can. It’s not serving in the IDF but it’s doing my part. Just like Tal, I’m tired of this. And just like Tal, I won’t give up either. Because we have to win. We have no other choice. Golda Meir put it best.
So fight we do. We fight the antisemites. We fight on college campuses. Columbia, Penn, Harvard, MIT, Princeton, UC Berkely, Stanford, USLA, CUNY and Rutgers are a few of the major hotstpots where Jews are targeted. We fight against politicians like Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, AOC, and Summer Lee along with ensure that people like Cori Bush and Jamaal Bowman lose their Congressional seats and can’t spew their hatred. We fight against corrupt, Jew hating organizations like the United Nations, UNRWA, UNIFIL, UNICEF, and Amnesty International. We call out leaders like UN Secretary General António Guterres and UN Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories Francesca Albanese who tell lies about Israel and feed antisemitism. We don’t allow celebrities with a public forum like Susan Sarandan, Mark Ruffalo, John Cusack, Bella Hadid, Dua Lipa, John Oliver, Cynthia Nixon, Rachel Zegler, or adult film star Mia Khalifa to spread lies to those who listen to them only because of their celebrity status, not because they know anything.
One of my favorite speeches of all time is by Jim Valvano when he won the Arthur Ashe Courage Award at the first ESPY awards. In it, he makes the famous quote, “Don’t give up, don’t ever give up.” That’s the motto of the Jewish people.
So even though we are tired, even though Israelis are tired, even though the IDF soldiers and reservists are tired, even though Israeli families are tired, we won’t stop fighting. We won’t give up. And because of that motto, the people of Israel live. Am Yisrael Chai
Last night I fulfilled a bucket list item. Most people know that a bucket list is a list of things you want to experience before you ‘kick the bucket’ and leave this world. Seeing a show a Red Rocks in Colorado was on my bucket list. But not just seeing any show. I wanted to see an artist who enhanced the beautiful venue and where the venue enhanced the artist. When I saw that Carlos Santana was playing Red Rocks, I knew this was the one.
Red Rocks is outside Denver. It’s a beautiful natural theater set in a park in the mountains. As you drive in, you are captivated by the beauty all around you. Instantly, you are transformed to a magical and special place. The beauty is awe inspiring. It immediately brought me to the desert in Israel which is also captivating. The view of Masada and when on top of Masada, the view of the Dead Sea and all around you.
Red Rocks Park
We drove up the winding hills to get to the upper level parking lot and I was thinking about the drive to Tzfat and how the bus driver is always a magician with the roads and the twists and then finally parking so we can get off the bus. The old parking area where he would back up until it felt the bus was going to fall off the cliff.
We parked and began the walk to get to the venue. Once again I was transformed to Masada. Either the snake path or the Roman path has the preliminary entrance that gets you excited about what’s ahead and sometimes even a little intimidated about the climb (especially the snake path)
Making the climb up to Red Rocks Arena. What a beautiful start to the climb
We got to the area and found our seats. Wow! What a venue. As you looked around it was spectacular. There was music playing, the buzz and energy from the crowd was electric and I knew that this was going to be something special. I have many friends that have seen shows here and they all rave about the venue and how special it is. I was about to experience it and couldn’t believe it. My wife, Alison, could sense my excitement and her energy level was high as well.
The Counting Crows took the stage. I loved their music in the early 90s and had forgotten about it. As they began the play, it was still daylight and we sang and danced. You could see the people in the crowd and on the stage. It felt like a festival.
We were entranced by the acoustics, the way you could feel the music fill your soul and your body because of the venue. We danced. We sang. We were free. It was exhilerating. The sun was setting and it was changing the vibe in the venue. As we were enjoying ourselves, the people next to us leaned over and asked, “Are you from Israel?” It seemed to be a strange question in the middle of Colorado while the Counting Crows were playing, but I answered them, “No, but I just got back. Why do you ask?” They had seen my tattoos on my forearms, one saying ‘We will dance again’ and the other to remember the Nova Music festival. They were from Israel and seeing me with my tattoos, my Magen David, and my dogtags to remember the hostages and the Nova festival was very meaningful for them.
Instantly, everything transformed for me. Having been to the Nova site twice this summer, I was suddenly transformed to an American version of Nova. The people in the theater were the people at the Nova festival. The music we were enjoying and letting go listening to was the music that they were dancing to and enjoying on October 7th. Red Rocks was the desert near Gaza. As I looked out beyond the stage, the views reminded me of the views from the lower Galil just a few weeks ago as we prepared for Shabbat.
Red Rocks views that resemble the Lower Galilee in Israel
I could imagine fireworks in the air above me, what the Nova concert goers thought the rocket attacks on October 7th were. I could imagine people on hangliders flying in over the mountains to attack. I could picture terrorists coming from the bottom by the stage and from the top and sides of the venue, trapping us with nowhere to go. No chance of survival. Red Rocks had become Nova and the bomb shelters around Nova.
It was a chilling feeling and hard to let go of. Part of me knew I would never let go of it. October 7th and what I had seen at Nova and Kibbutz Kfar Aza along with in the Hamas 47 minute video are burned into my soul, into my being. I also knew that I had to let it go. As Mia Schem said, and then had tattooed on her arm after being released from being a hostage by Hamas, “We will dance again'” means we must continue to live. We cannot be consumed by the past although we can never forget it. It is why I got it on my forearm. To remember both what happened and that we must live. So I refocused. Took in the beauty around us. As the Counting Crows finished and darkness took over the arena, I looked around and found the beauty again.
Red Rocks looking up from row 25 to the back. Spectacular.
Santana took the stage and the show was more incredible than I expected. He is a musical genius, his sound unique and piercing the venue, the acoustics bouncing it all around and through us. We sang. We danced, we were overwhelmed by the experience. I said to Alison many times through the show how incredible the music was both in my ears and through my body. If you have never had that experience, it is indescribable. It took over my entire being.
I love this song and it fills my soul – last night at Red Rocks it filled my body as well
Yet throughout the concert, I kept looking to the sides and above me, just in case there were terrorists hangliding into the arena or ambushing us from the front, back, and the sides. It was surreal, almost like being in a movie waiting for the bad guys to take over the innocent civilians and then hoping the good guys would get there in time. Knowing the isolation of Red Rocks, I wasn’t secure that they would. I could channel the fear of the festival attendees waiting for the IDF to show up and rescue them and not having them come in time.
This is the reality of the post October 7th world. We have seen evil up close in a way we never have before. The way that Hamas live streamed and recorded their murders, rapes and kidnappings has never happened before. The way it touched and impacted the entire Jewish community is transformative. As a little kid, I remember watching the TV mini-series “Holocaust” and being worried about taking a shower for a day or two, wondering if it would be a shower or gas. But that was a TV show. I knew that wasn’t real. I knew that it happened 30 years prior but that those were actors I was watching. What we saw on October 7th was real. They were not actors. I have met their families. I have seen the devastation with my own eyes, touched it with my own hands, felt it deep within my own heart.
Carlos Santana said twice last night that, “It takes courage to be happy” and he is correct. Mia Schem reminded us of that when she said, “We will dance again” and got her tattoo. I have mine to always remember that. October 7th was a defining moment in both Jewish life and in the history of the world. We saw pure evil face to face. How we choose to handle it yet to be determined. The fate of not just the Jewish people but the entire world depends on it.
Santana playing The Name of Love, a great song and reminding us about love, not hate.
I can’t wait to return to Red Rocks to see another concert. Alison and I both said the same things as we walked out of the venue, ‘we need to come back’. There is something spiritual and holy about this site. Just like there is somethign spiritual and holy about the Nova site and Kfar Aza for me. Red Rocks and Nova will always be linked for me. My vow is that it is also about the future beauty of music and love and community. I won’t let the evil of October 7th ruin the future. Last night I felt like the soul of every person murdered on October 7th was there with me, celebrating the music of Carlos Santana and dancing with me.
I’m back in Israel and have been for two full days. They have been exhausting days, physically, mentally, and spiritually. They have been uplifting days. They have been challenging days. Days filled with emotion and gratitude. Days filled with joy and sadness. Days that end in exhaustion and an inability to think any longer, let alone write. It is Friday here and that means Shabbat. Rest. Recharge. Gratitude. Life. Love. Happiness. Joy.
I have been struck by a number of things on this trip so far. Having just been here last month, coming back has felt different. Normally there is a longing to return after 6 months, a year, or two years. This trip, just a month later, has felt much more like really being home. Not just a spiritual home or a Jewish home, but a real home. The streets of Jerusalem are familiar because I was just walking them. It’s a different feeling and very comforting. Despite all that is going on here in Israel and in the world, there is both a feeling of being safe and a feeling of being where I belong. It is a special feeling that is difficult to describe, especially in the crazy world we live in now.
When we landed, we changed clothes and went to an orchard to pick apples. Sammy, the man who owns the massive agricultural area is a patent lawyer who bought the land and cultivates it purely to feed those in needs. Every bit of produce grown is donated to those in need. Sometimes it is the IDF. Sometimes it is families or even communities. If you are hungry and want/need produce, you get it for free from these fields. Volunteers like us do a great deal of the harvesting however he also hires at risk youth, those from challenging homes, those who need to earn money to help support their families, to come work the fields after school and in the summer. Not only does he not make any money on this massive investment, it costs him money to pay the people to work. It struck me that this is so Israel and is also the way to solve so many of our problems in the world. Imagine if people like Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, etc. used just a part of their immense wealth to follow this model. Imagine if they took just a fraction of their fortune and dedicated it to both feeding those in need and helping provide an income for those who need it. What would our country look like? What would our world look like?
I write a lot about how we all have the ability to change the world. This Israeli patent attorney is doing just that. He took a fraction of his wealth and invested in people. He invested in the future. He invested in humanity. As we filled up these two huge bins with apples, it was clear that his vision and passion had rubbed off on all of us. We were working hard to pick the apples. We were excited to see the bins filled. It was hot and buggy, but we didn’t care because we were doing something that was meaningful and would feed people. We were working the land of Israel. We were making a difference. I truly believe that people want to make a difference and want to give of themselves. We need to do better on all level in making this possible. This means people with the economic ability to invest like Sammy did. It means the rest of us need to invest our time and effort like we and many others do. It is possible with inspiration and commitment. Are we willing to be inspired, to share the inspiration, and committed to doing our part in making the world better?
We finished the afternoon by going to the Kotel, the Western Wall, in the old city of Jerusalem. Being in Jerusalem is always a miracle. It is always special. The place that King David built, thousands of years ago, as the center of the home of the Jews is incredible. As we walked to the Kotel, we came upon an IDF unit being inducted at the Kotel. It was amazing to watch these young soldiers finish their training and take the oath as official IDF soldiers. Many will be sent to Gaza. Many will be sent to the north to prepare for a possible war with Hezbollah in Lebanon. There stood, proud to serve their country, proud to serve the Jewish people. It was powerful to see and be a part of.
I had 20+ prayers/notes from friends to put in the Kotel, to get them directly to God. Each one I read, folded, kissed, and placed in the wall. One after another. The prayers were beautiful. They were selfless. It was all for the betterment of others or of the world. It struck me that if we actually lived this way, our world would be so much better. If our leaders truly were concerned about the betterment of others, the betterment of the world, doing the right thing no matter what, we would live in a magical place. Is it too much to ask? Maybe. Or maybe we need to ask and hope, just not to expect. Or maybe we need to ask, demand, and expect. I don’t have the answer, I only know that if that was how we acted, we’d have the world we want. When I finished with the notes, I placed my head against the Kotel, closed eyes, and thanked God for the life he has given me. For my family, my friends, and the many gifts I get every single day. I asked him to continue to do so and help me live in gratitude each and every day. I asked him to take care of my family, friends, and the world. I spent more time with the notes than I did with own prayers which felt right. As we left, I couldn’t wait to return next week.
Yesterday we went to the Nova music festival site and Kibbutz Kfar Aza. I was at both last month. Nova was powerful and felt healing last month after visiting Kfar Aza. We were doing it in reverse this time and I wondered how it would be different. It was different. We started with some music that would have been played at the festival. Then we talked about what happened. It was a powerful contradiction that we both felt and discussed. Rami Davidian, a true hero of Octobetr 7th who spoke to us last month also spoke to us. I recorded him so you can not only understand that we can all be heroes but also to see how this simple farmer changed 750+ worlds by saving 750 people on October 7th. The risks he took. The situations he put himself in to save people he didn’t know. You can get a small understanding of what October 7th was like through his words.
His story was even more powerful than before and inspired me to ask myself, what more can I do? If Rami was willing to do what he did, put his life at risk for people he didn’t know, honor the dead, what am I willing to do? One thing that he said that I want to add some context to. When he talks about the dead women tied to the trees, they were naked, at least from the waist down. They had been sexually abused. Rami not only untied them, he honored them by covering them up, by respecting their bodies, and by saying the Shema over each body. In a world with too many October 7th deniers, it is important to understand what Rami saw and hear his story.
We had a chance to wander the site. Look at the posters of those murdered or kidnapped. Put faces to names. Some had stories about them as well to remind us of the person they were. It was incredibly powerful. As one of the students said, “I tried to find this one person’s poster but there were so many posters I couldn’t find it. I kept going in circles until I finally gave up.” The feelings were powerful and deep. Not just the loss of life but the loss of the future. Who among them was destined to cure cancer? Who was going to solve our societal issues? Who was going to write the song that inspired millions, the book that took the world by storm? Who was the artist that was going to provide inspiration to millions? The loss of future is immense.
Our final stop of the day was Kibbutz Kfar Aza. Last month, as I toured Kfar Aza, I was filled with anger and rage. The inhumanity infuriated me. The way the world wants to forget or minimize October 7th fueled a deep rage as I went from house to house to house. As I saw the houses ruined, burned, and the signs on the house that indicated how many people were killed in the house. The stories we heard were painful. In the young adult neighborhood of the Kibbutz the loss of life and future was palpable. Last month my friend Ben was on his 7th visit to Kfar Aza when I was there for the first time. As I told him how painful he was, he said, “This was my 7th time here and it gets worse every single time.” I wasn’t sure what to expect this time.
This time our guide was a resident of Kfar Aza. It was much more personal. Shachar took us to his house to begin his story. His next-door neighbor was away and his wife home alone. The neighbor called Shachar and asked him to check on his wife. He braved the risk of the terrorists to check on her and found her murdered. He got back to his house and hid in his safe room with his wife, knowing that the terrorists came in next door and could come into his house at any time. We sat on Shachar’s front deck under shade as he told us his story. When he told us that the terrorists loved his deck and used it as a place to sit, plan, eat and drink, it was hard to believe that the chair I was sitting in right then was a chair the terrorists used to plan more murder and rape on October 7th. It was personal.
Shachar highlighted how the Kibbutz defense team of 12 was decimated in the first hour, leaving them without any defense for 3 hours until a group of 9 soldiers showed up. They were soon injured or killed, once again leaving them defenseless. There were an estimated 1,000-armed terrorists that entered Kfar Aza against a defense force of 12 and then 9. You don’t have to be a military expert to know those are bad odds. It took the army many hours to finally reach the Kibbutz and, in Shachar’s words, “retake Kfar Aza”. Powerful words.
The armory where many of the Kibbutz’s defense force were killed
We toured the Kibbutz and saw the houses that were burned with people inside. We saw the border and how close Jabaliya is to the Kibbutz (less than a mile from where we stood). We saw the street that is still closed, and pictures are forbidden because they are still working to identify some human remains there. Every person on that street was either murdered or kidnapped and taken hostage in Gaza. Every single person. And entire street. Imagine your street having every single person murdered or kidnapped and taken hostage. It is beyond inhumanity. We saw the youth area with the pictures of those murdered. Banners with pictures of the hostages taken from the Kibbutz. We got to enter two of the apartments where Hamas murdered people. Their personal items are still there. Outside of the massive damage due to grenades and bullets, it was a home. Yet the person who lived there was brutally murdered by terrorists.
Sivan’s house was one that we could tour. The holes in the wall and the ceiling were unbelievable. Her bathroom was as she left it.
As I listened to Shachar and toured the Kibbutz, my stomach was in pain. It was a deep gut pain. My insides were twisting with each story. The more Shachar talked, the more it hurt. When he finally went back to work, he told us that in the middle of a dangerous job, he just froze. People noticed and asked if he was ok. When he told them no, they came to take over for him. He hasn’t tried to work since then.
Yet at the end, Shachar stunned me. He told us that he still hopes for peace. After all that he has seen and experienced, he still wants peace. He isn’t sure when it will come but he believes and hopes that it will. He invited us all to come back and visit him. To stay at his house. He loves Kfar Aza. He doesn’t want to ever move and won’t leave. He wants us to come visit and really experience it. Most of all, he still wants peace.
Shachar talking to us
Last month, I wrote about how the bombs going off in Jabaliya were the only thing that gave me comfort during the visit. It bothered me then and it bothers me now. It’s not who I am yet is was who I was at that time. This trip was different. While we heard jets above us, saw missiles fired, heard explosions and gunfire, it wasn’t comforting. It felt necessary. Hearing the personal story of Shachar reinforced the evilness of Hamas. He had told us how after Hamas had murdered, raped, and kidnapped people, the civilians of Jabaliya came across the border into the Kibbutz, looting homes and stealing whatever they could. He saw a man with a crutch tying a TV to his back to take back to Gaza. While I am sure there are some innocent civilians in Gaza, the behavior of civilians on October 7th shows that most are not. From the celebrations on October 7th, the civilians who joined in the murdering, and those who came to loot and steal, the evidence is clear.
As we come closer to the end of the war in Gaza and elimination of the last battalion, it is clear that Hamas cannot remain. The textbooks provided by UNRWA cannot remain. UNRWA itself cannot remain. For there to be any peace, there needs to be both a change in leadership as well as a change in the taught hatred. Without that, we will continue to have ongoing attacks and repeated wars.
Shachar showed us that the desire for peace from Israelis remain. There are serious conditions that must happen before that can occur. The hostages must be returned. Hamas must be eliminated from any type of power structure. Gaza needs to be rebuilt with leaders who want to build a civil society with their neighbor, the Jewish State of Israel. Anything less is unacceptable. If people tell you Israel should accept anything less, tell them the truth. Anything less is not acceptable. It is not feasible. It is not acceptable. And it will not happen.
The Jewish people will not go away. We will not allow our extermination. If it becomes ‘us or them’ we will ensure it us. Am Yisrael Chai.
I’m on my way to Miami today so that I can fly to Israel on Tuesday at noon. It’s one of my least favorite times to fly because you fly all day long and then it’s 7 am in the morning and you start a whole new day. The good news is that by doing it this way, we will get a full extra day in Israel.
This trip is with the Jewish Leadership Institute (JLI), a program I am proud to have worked with for over 25 years. Targeting 19-26 year olds for a 2 week leadership experience in Israel, JLI has had an incredible impact on the lives of those who participate. Heavily subsidized, the program is available to everybody interested in developing their leadership in a Jewish context.
It is amazing that post October 7th, in the middle of a war, with things heating up in the north of Israel with Hezbollah, we have a group of young adults who want to go to Israel for two weeks, volunteer, visit Kibbutz Kfar Aza and the Nova Festival site, learn, and connect Jewishly. It is the essence of Jewish community. It is hope for our future.
Standing at the Nova site
This will be my 22nd trip to Israel. I began going after graduating college in 1989 and didn’t return for a decade. Since then, I go as often as I can. Israel is home. There is a special feeling being there that you can’t explain to somebody who hasn’t been and that once somebody has been, you don’t have to explain. I have been there during the first intifada, the second intifada, just as the country was about to reopen from Covid, and during this war. I have been there during times of quiet and during bombings. I have always felt safe in Israel. Just last month, I walked from Ben Yehuda Street to East Jerusalem through Arab neighborhoods and felt safe. The news tells one story and when you are there, you realize the media lies.
I am proud of the men who I went to Israel with last month. You can watch a 23 minute video of our trip and feel the emotions we felt, experience the power of the trip and of Israel below.
An incredible video made by Saul Blinken of our trip. Like #23 Michael Jordan, this 23 minute video is great.
I am proud of the young adults I am going with now. Years from now, my grandchildren and great grandchildren will ask what I did during this time. My children will tell them that I went to Washington DC for the March for Israel rally after October 7th, joining nearly 300,000 other people on the National Mall in support of Israel. I went to Israel multiple times. I helped get the IDF supplies that they need and got them the mezuzahs they needed due to all the reserves called up and the battlefield housing. (If you want to participate in the Mezuzah project, click here.) I took young adults to Israel and worked with organizations that helped displaced Israelis because of the attack on October 7th and the war in the north. I showed up and hope that my children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren will use that as inspiration to do the same.
In the movie, Independence Day, just like Israel currently faces incredible challenges in Gaza, from Hezbollah in the north, from Iran, from the Houthis, and from the international community, the world faced a threat from aliens that was seen as overwhelming. Just like Israel, in the movie, the people didn’t give up and rose to the challenge. The President gave a powerful speech before the attack. It reminds me exactly of what Israel is facing and how we need to rise up and do what we can to support Israel and the Jewish people.
I used to say that I didn’t understand why the German Jews stayed in Germany as long as they did. So many stayed until it was too late. When I am in Israel and when I talk to my friends in Israel, they all ask me the same question. Why are you staying in the US? I hope you don’t stay until it is too late to get out. You need to move to Israel. This is not the Aliyah recruitment that I have experienced since my first trip to Israel in 1989. This is not an effort to get more Jews to Israel. This is true concern for our safety. I find myself wondering if they are right. Like most, I think this is a small minority with a loud voice creating chaos that the media love to cover because people watch, read, and click on it. It’s good business for the media. But what if I am wrong? When will we know that it is time? Will it be when it is too late? I already have the person that will hide my family and me if it comes to that. Does that mean I expect I won’t know it is time to leave until it is too late?
As Jews, spending most of our 3500-year history in exile and under the rule of others, we are used to trying to fit in. We do our best to integrate into the culture of the country we live in and follow their rules. We fool ourselves into thinking that we are just like them. We have seen the consequences over and over and over again. Are we doing it again? The big difference this time is that we have the State of Israel. We have the IDF. We don’t have to fit in. We don’t have to hide and hope they don’t harm us. We fight back. We defend ourselves. We won’t be victims again. For nearly 3400 years, we played defense. We protected ourselves and tried to be invisible. We tried to not be a target and always failed. For the past 76 years that dynamic has changed. Since the creation of the modern State of Israel, we now play offense. When attacked, whether it was 1948, 1956, 1967, 1973, or on October 7th, we fight back. It’s a dynamic the world doesn’t like. Israelis don’t care. Zionists don’t care. Those who care are stuck in the past and would recreate the horrors of our past in order to be liked and to fit in. They refuse to learn the lessons of the past.
As I head back to Israel for the second time in just over 7 weeks, this message resonates strongly with me. I have seen the carnage at Kibbutz Kfar Aza. I have heard from survivors of the Nova Music Festival. I have seen the Hamas 47-minute video. I have been to the Nova site and felt the loss of the souls there. I have met with a hero of Nova who rescued 750 people that day (a truly remarkable number for a farmer in the area to do.) I heard from the woman who had to identify the women’s bodies that were murdered on October 7th, then prepare them for burial. I have spoken to friends who are serving in the IDF, called up from reserves and leaving their families behind. I have heard from those who have lost their children fighting for Israel and the Jewish people and from fathers who have children that are still hostages in Gaza. We are victims no more. We refuse to allow harm to come to the Jewish people without defending ourselves.
Kfar Aza – one of the most powerful and moving experiences of my life.
I don’t know what the future will bring. War with Hezbollah and potentially Iran will be devastating but may be necessary. Israel is already a different country since October 7th. What will it be like after a war in the north? How many people will die? How much damage will be done? Will the United States and NATO step in should Iran get involved? Will this be the start of World War III (WWIII)? There is much that is unknown. What I do know is that Jewish blood will not be cheap. Jewish safety matters. No matter what the ICC, the UN, or other countries say, Israel will defend herself and the Jewish people.
I also know that I have done, am doing, and will continue to do my part. Will you?
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.
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”.
There are many dates that are significant in people’s lives. December 7, 1941.May 14, 1948. November 22, 1963. April 4, 1968. June 6, 1968. July 20, 1969. March 28, 1979. April 20, 1999. September 11, 2001. December 14, 2012. February 14, 2018. In Seattle, it was July 28, 2006.
All the dates above are significant ones. All have meaning in my life. However, for me, October 7, 2023, is a date that changed who I am as a person. Israel has always been an important part of my life and my identity. I remember the stories of my grandparents listening on the transistor radio on November 25, 1947, as the UN voted on the partition plan to create a Jewish state. My grandparents were passionate Zionists, and both sets of them went to visit Israel. I am the rare American Jew who is the 3rd generation to visit Israel. My first trip was the summer of 1989 and I have been a total of 20 times so far with my 21st planned for this year and hopefully my 22nd and 23rd as well.
As I sat in my living room on October 7, 2023, watching the horrors on television and sending WhatsApp messages to my family and friends in Israel to check on them, I knew that I was different as a result. I could tell that I was changed as a result of what was happening. I will never forget the image shown over and over on television of a minivan on the side of the road. The father was the driver and had been murdered, his head laying against the steering wheel. His young daughter was laying on top of him, also murdered. This was one vehicle among many that were shown. As more information and video came out, the horror increased. I sat in my chair watching the reports and getting live info via WhatsApp from friends. My friend Maor, the consul general from Israel to Florida reached out to check on me and told me to stop watching the news because it was bad for my mental health. But I couldn’t. Senator Rick Scott called me to check on how I was doing. I was both shocked and grateful that he called. I worked with some friends to put together a community gathering to express our pain and anger, to give the community an opportunity to grieve together and hopefully a chance to begin to heal. We had US Representatives there, Florida Representatives there, members of the US Senate sent aides and so did members of the US Senate. Mayor Jerry Demings and his wife, Representative Val Demings came. I don’t remember what I said when I spoke but I remember is was passionate, direct, and was filled with emotion.
When it was announced there would be a rally in Washington, DC, on the mall, I knew I had to be there. I knew that both for my own soul and to be able to answer with integrity what I did after October 7th by my future grandchildren, I had to show up. Being there with 300,000 other people was an amazing experience. We sang Hatikvah together, heard from amazing speakers, carried our signs, chanted “Bring them home” about the hostages. It was a feeling I will never forget.
Riding the Metro to the rally when we broke into song. Am Yisrael Chai!
As time moved on, I learned of 4 friends that had family members taken hostage. Six people taken on October 7th by Hamas. Ultimately, four of them have been released. One turned 13 the day after she was released. Her mom was released day after her birthday. My friends and I put together a campaign to get her birthday and Hanukkah presidents. The video of her with the presents is priceless. It made my heart sign. Even today, watching it brings joy to my heart and soul. This precious child was kidnapped, held as a hostage, kept in tunnels, and was traumatized. To see her smile with these presents warms my being.
I worked with the Israel consulate to host a showing of the 47-minute Hamas video for politicians, law enforcement, and some members of the community. Many told me that they couldn’t watch it. Many told me that I shouldn’t watch it. It was painful to see but for me, bearing witness was essential. There are images I saw that I will never forget. The cries of two little boys after their father was murdered in front of them, one having lost the sight in one eye. Their mother coming to site hours later and seeing her husband lying dead in the doorway of the safe room. Beheadings. Blood smeared all over a room where people were executed. Terrorists calling their parents to brag about how many Jews they killed and hearing the excitement not just in their voice but the voice of their parents. It was the same type of pride I felt with my children when they graduated high school and college except this pride was for the murder of Jews. It was horrifying to see and yet, I can’t imagine having not seen what the terrorists of Hamas did to my Jewish mishpacha (family).
A friend of mine in Israel was recalled into the IDF and was the head of operations in Gaza. He told me about what he did on October 7th to try to save people. He spent 120 days in Gaza, coordinating the efforts to eliminate Hamas and free the hostages. I got occasional messages and worried about his safety every day. After 4 months of service, he was released from service temporarily to decompress. He came to the United States for work related projects and happened to be in Orlando. We had a chance to get together and during that time he shared a bit of what it was like during those 120 days. How many times he was nearly killed. He told me that the flight from Israel to America was incredibly difficult for him because it was the first time he had experienced quiet in 120 days, and he finally had a chance to process what happened. I showed him the video of the little girl opening her birthday and Hanukkah presents after being a hostage. The look on his face is one I will never forget. It’s why he does everything he does.
I attended the AIPAC Policy Summit in Washington, DC, just a few weeks ago. We heard from parents of a current hostage. We heard from a young woman whose parents were murdered while her brother hid under the bed, lying in their blood and urine for hours. We heard from a survivor from the Nova Music Festival. It’s always powerful to hear from our national politicians however it was nothing compared to hearing from those who were impacted by October 7th. On the last morning on the Summit, we learned that a US citizen who was taken hostage was murdered by Hamas. We all gasped at the news and the room was filled with sorrow.
Later that day, I finally went to get the tattoos I had wanted for a few months. One is the words of Mia Schem, a hostage taken from the Nova Music Festival. She said, and then got tattooed on her arm, “We will dance again. 7.10.23”. I proudly have that on the inside of my right forearm. The other one is a tree and under the roots it says NOVA 7.10.23. They are constant reminders to me of the horrors of October 7th, of the rise of antisemitism, how we will always be Jews first and foremost, and that there is no need to hide being Jewish, my pride in my Jewish identity, and the importance of Israel to me.
I felt like I had been through the ringer since October 7th. Powerful emotions, loss, fear, concern, anger, frustration – you name it, I have felt it. I have wanted to go to Israel since October 7th however my family has not wanted me to go yet, so I have waited. It’s been incredibly difficult for me not to go, not to be there, not to take action to do my part for Israel and the Israeli people. The concept of Shalom Bayit (peace in the home) has been more important however it hasn’t been easy. Initially I was going in March 2024 that was postponed until May 2024. That date may even be changed.
So having been through the ringer, when there was a showing this week of the new documentary about the Nova music festival, I wanted to go. I had no expectations about the movie or the speaker afterwards. I think that was good because if I had expected the experience to have the impact that it did, I may not have gone.
The documentary was shown through the eyes of those who were attending the music festival. It’s not what I expected. I didn’t expect it to be quite so ‘first person’ view. You could hear the music, see the dancing, and celebrate with joy the fun those who were there enjoyed. It reminded me of many things I used to do with my friends at that age. When the rockets started at sunrise, it was strange hearing them talk about ‘fireworks’ because we already know they were rockets, but those at the festival didn’t at first. Then they saw Iron Dome taking them out and they still had no idea what was coming. As somebody who knew what terror was about to happen, it was hard to watch them in real time, make assumptions that we all would have made at that time. You begin to see the terrorists arrive on bikes, trucks, and gliders. You hear their joy and excitement because they are about to murder and rape and kidnap Jews. I saw that in the Hamas video, but this one was different as it contrasted with those attending the festival. Flipping back and forth between the arriving terrorists and the festival goers who didn’t know what was happening truly felt like a horror movie.
As they began to run and hide, the videos shown were more from those hiding. You could feel their anxiety as they recorded messages. Some send goodbye messages to their families. Some spoke to their parents who begged them to hide, play dead, do anything to survive. The one thing that really hit home was their expectation that the army and the police would come rescue them. As Ambassador Michael Oren has said, it was part of the covenant between the State of Israel and the people. The army, the IDF, would always be there to protect them. On October 7th, they weren’t. Not only could you feel the loss of trust from those hiding, I felt it personally. I always had incredible support and admiration for the IDF. High expectations. We don’t know what happened or why they were so unprepared on October 7th but the reality is they were unprepared. They weren’t there when they were needed. That loss of trust is palpable. It doesn’t surprise me that over 300,000 reservists returned to duty after October 7th, more than were recalled and far more than were expected.
There is a saying in the Talmud, “Kol Arevim Ze LaZeh (or BaZeh depending)”. It means “All of Israel (or all of the Jewish community) is responsible for each other.” It’s commonly said by Rabbis during a sermon urging us to do a little bit more. On October 7th, it showed me what it really means. We are all one. What happens to one of us happens to all of us. If we don’t stand together to take care of each other, nobody will stand with us and we will all fall. It’s why I have struggled with not going to Israel since October 7th. In my heart, in my soul, I need to be there helping in any way that I can. I also need to be here with my family. It’s my own internal struggle that I face and deal with on a daily basis.
The end of the movie is when the IDF does finally show up, approximately 7 hours after the attack began. I have seen this footage before and in the movie, they chose to blur out the dead bodies lying around the festival. The footage I saw showed the bodies. It was horrific. You could hear the urgency in the IDF soldiers voices as they cried to out for any survivors. Is there anybody alive? And reporting to everybody else that everybody they found is dead. It’s a sobering sight. It reminded me of the pictures from US soldiers discovering the Nazi death camps but now in real time for me. The first time I saw that footage, I was struck by the number of people who were murdered, who were lying there dead only because they were Jews. This time it was the voices of the IDF soldiers, devastated that by the time they arrived, there was nobody to save. I felt their failure through their voices. The breaking of that covenant. The change occurring for all Israelis and Jews in the diaspora. The need to look deep within and ask, “What am I doing? How can I help? What’s my obligation?”
WARNING – The video below is GRAPHIC. You may not want to watch it.
THIS IS GRAPHIC – THE IDF ARRIVES AT THE NOVA MUSIC FESTIVAL TO FIND EVERYBODY DEAD
The movie ended, the lights turned on, blinding us for a moment. I think we needed that moment of blindness to return us from the horrors occurring at the Nova Festival on October 7th to the current day.
Lee Sasi, a young woman from Los Angeles, who is a survivor of the Nova music festival massacre, took the podium and began to speak to us.
Here is a video interview she did with Jake Tapper of CNN on October 11th. The story she told us was similar to what she shares here, only with more detail. The way Jake Tapper is stunned and doesn’t know what to say is how we felt listening to her months later. Her pain, expressed days later, was no different when she spoke to us.
I get angry when I hear about Israel’s ‘indiscriminate killing’ of Gazan citizens, because it’s not true. The data, even using the numbers provided by Hamas, shows that the civilian to military casualty rate is approximately 1:1, one of the lowest ever. The UN reports that the normal rate is 9:1, meaning 90% of all casualties in war are civilians. This means that Israel is 9 times better than the accepted ratio by the world. War is awful and innocent people die. It’s why we need to try to avoid war at all costs. But when we can’t, we have to fight the evil. Hamas is the evil that is involved with indiscriminate killings. Listen to Lee’s description of how the terrorists fired into the bunker of civilians. How they threw grenades into a mass of civilians. How they executed a man in front of the bunker as he yelled to them in Arabic, “I am an Arab, I am an Arab.”
Listening to Lee speak about what happened at the Nova festival and the horrors and evil of Hamas impacted me deeply. It became more personal than before. It reinforced how essential it is that we fight against evil because if we don’t eliminate evil, if we allow evil to live, it will grow. And evil will destroy all of us, just like Hamas executed the Bedouin man outside the shelter who was yelling to them that he was an Arab. Evil doesn’t care.
We see this in our own country as people are choosing to attack Jews in the name of Palestinian freedom. How does a synagogue being attacked help the people of Gaza? How does protesting a Jewish actor just for being Jewish, not for any statement or action, help get food to the people of Gaza? How does blocking streets in America help stop the corruption of UNRWA who isn’t delivering the humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza and instead is giving it to Hamas who is keeping it or selling it on the back market? Listen to what the people of Gaza are saying. The humanitarian aid costs too much to buy. IT’S FREE unless Hamas is stealing it. The food packages don’t include any meat or protein. That’s because HAMAS IS STEALING IT.
I worry about not just the future of Israel but the future of the United States, of Europe and of the world. We are allowing evil to win. Hearing Lee Sasi share her story forces me to increase my efforts to fight evil. After coming home from the event, I reached out to friends of mine who are Palestinians in Bethlehem, East Jerusalem, and Beit Jala. I wanted to check on them, reaffirm our friendship, and set up a time for us to talk about what the future may look like and what we can do together, to fight evil and change the world. I urge you to do the same with your friends, wherever they are. Start in your local community. Reach out to people who are different than you and get a cup of coffee. Have a conversation. Begin by agreeing that you want a better world and perhaps you disagree on how to get there. Start the process.
We owe it to Lee Sasi, her uncle who sacrificed his life to save hers and others, and all those murdered on October 7th to make the world a better place. We owe it to all those who have lost their lives as a result of the evil of Hamas to not let their deaths be in vain. We can change the world but it takes our effort, our commitment, and our dedication to make it happen. We need all of us to do our part.
keithdblog 