Tag: politics

Yom HaZikaron in Israel – this year is different

Posted on by Keith Dvorchik

There is something special about being in Israel.  For those of you who have been here, you know.  For those of you who have not been here yet, I can’t explain it.  It’s the air, the sounds, the smells, the energy that exists.  Even in the middle of a war, I feel peaceful.

I got my frozen Aroma (the best coffee drink ever) and went to get a taxi to my hotel.  My driver was former military (like most people in Israel).  As we discussed the war, he shared that when he was on active duty and reserves, his unit was like the one in the TV show Fauda.  If you haven’t seen the show, it is a must, especially with what is going on now with the Hamas-Israel war.  It might provide some insight into the challenges that exist to finding peace.  He showed me a picture of him undercover.  It was incredible to see.  As we pulled up to the hotel and got out of the car, the 8 pm siren went off.  I have been here for Yom HaZikaron two other times and know what the siren is like, however this year was different for me.  As I stood outside my taxi with everybody else around, standing proud, silent, and thinking about all those who have lost their lives in defense of the Jewish people and Israel, I got emotional, and tears came to my eyes.  The minute was over far too quickly, and it made me long for the two-minute siren today and to be in a large group like I will today.  There is something about being a Jew and being the majority especially during significant times like this that is indescribable until you experience it.  It is something that you can’t comprehend and can’t even imagine until you experience.

I went for my walk on the beach, sat there enjoying the sound of the Mediterranean Sea, the fresh Israeli air, and the sand between my toes.  My friend Matthew finally arrived after spending 30+ hours traveling after United cancelled his flight a few days ago and we hung out before crashing for the night.

Monday was the full day of Yom HaZikaron.  It also meant Israeli breakfast.  For those of you that have never been here or had Israeli breakfast, it is simply the best meal of the day.  The options are endless, the fruit and vegetables fresher than anywhere at home other than your own garden, the dairy product incredible, and the best way to start the day.  The hotel had one of the best breakfasts I have had and I sat with friends eating and drinking coffee (lattes and cappuccinos not Nescafe like my first trip in 1989!) 

We left the hotel for the ceremony with the Machal soldiers.  I didn’t know we were going to be with Machal soldiers, and this was very meaningful to me.  When I was running UF Hillel, I learned about Machal and Aliyah Bet from Ralph Lowenstein z’l, who in 1948 was the second youngest North American to volunteer to fight in the war of independence.  Those who volunteered from other countries were part of Machal.  The museum for Machal and Aliyah Bet was included when we constructed Norman H. Lipoff Hall, the home of the Hillel the University of Florida.  Ralph would regale me with stories of his time on the boat traveling to Cypress to immigrate to Israel, his time driving a halftrack in the war, and the conditions they had to fight in.  When we dedicated the museum in 2005, most of the living members of Machal from 1948 came.  They kept thanking me for my part in the museum happening.  I told them that all I did was say yes to a great idea and that they were the true heroes.  It was one of the most humbling moments of my life as these true heroes, who risked everything including being arrested and losing citizenship to fight for Israel and the Jewish people. 

I had been asked to bring some things with me to give to individual soldiers that I met during the trip and was able to hand them out before the ceremony.  I shared this opportunity with some friends on the trip so they could share in the joy of doing something nice for the soldiers.  As I spent time talking to them, most of them from France, I was struck by a few things.

  1. How young they are.  These were babies.  They were younger than my own children. 
  2. They shared how bad it is in France for Jews.  I knew it was bad from reading the news, but they shared much more. 
  3. How happy they were to be in Israel, serving in the IDF, protecting Israel and the Jewish people.  In the middle of a war where they could lose their lives at any moment, they were happy to be able to serve.
Two French IDF soldiers in the Machal unit
A French IDF soldier serving in the Machal unit

They thanked me for coming from the depths of their soul.  I have had this happen in Israel two other times.  The first was during the second intifada when Jews weren’t coming to Israel. The only ones coming were Christians.  When a Jewish group came, they thanked us profusely because they hadn’t seen American Jews coming to Israel in a long time.  It made me sad then and makes me sad now.  The other time was when I came in 2021 just before Israel was reopened due to Covid.  Tour groups hadn’t been allowed to come until ours and the looks we got wearing our badges were incredible.  People came up to talk to us, ask questions, and thank us for coming.  We brought a sense of relief and support once again that had been missing.  It reminds me of our obligation as diaspora Jews to come to Israel, to support of brothers and sisters all the time.  How much they need us even though they appear to be tough and can take care of themselves.  They need to see us, to hug us, to talk with us, and to laugh and cry with us.

During the ceremony, which was very moving, there were a few things that stuck out to me.  First, as Jews we always live with hope.  We always have.  We always will. Hope for the future.  Next year in Jerusalem at every Seder for generations.  My Ethiopian Israeli friends often talk about their hope when living in Ethiopia to one day return to Jerusalem. 

An originial Machalnick from 1948 speaking at the ceremony. May he live to 120.

Secondly, the impact of North American Jews in the creation of the State of Israel in 1948.  Ralph would always share the role we played with the air force in 1948, with getting the planes, weapons, and equipment needed to fight the war.  It was illegal for Americans to help provide Israel with any of this at that time, yet so many brave people did.  My friend Ann Bussell would tell me stories about her father, Shepard Broad, and how he provided the funding to retrofit the ships in the Miami river.  She loved telling me stories about how as a little girl she would play on the deck of the ship, Exodus, in the Miami River.  How American Jews took incredible risks to give Israel a chance to survive.  If they could risk everything on a state fighting with an army that was overwhelmed in numbers and equipment, what are we prepared to risk today for the incredible State of Israel.  It made me think deeply.

As the ceremony ended and we gathered for lunch, our trip leader, Saul Blinkoff, shared some wisdom with us.  I took three things to heart.

One, “if you don’t stand up, you can’t survive.”  It sounds so simple, yet it is very true.  We are not the Jews of the 1930s and 1940s who went to the gas chambers.  We are not the Jews who stood by during the pogroms in eastern Europe.  We are not the Jews who converted during the Spanish Inquisition to avoid prison, deportation, or death.  We stand up today.  We fight back today.  After Hamas violently invaded Israel and murdered 1200 people on October 7th, we didn’t sit back and apologize for existing.  Those days are no longer.  As Jews we are proud of who we are and will fight for our survival.  NO MATTER WHAT.  We have Israel to thank for that.

Two, one of the reminders of the horrors of October 7th was that the Sukkahs were still standing for a long time afterwards.  The attack came on the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah, the end of the holiday of Sukkot.  There wasn’t time to take the sukkahs down as people were reporting for reserve duty immediately.  Many had been murdered in the Gaza envelope so there was nobody to take those sukkahs down.  The sukkah, a reminder of the temporary nature of life, designed as temporary structures, stayed up for weeks after they should have been taken down.  Temporary had become more permanent.  But they were temporary and came down.  Just like the horrors we are dealing with right now are temporary and will end.  The IDF will succeed.  Israel will be kept safe.  We won’t be in Gaza forever, just longer than anybody would have hoped to ensure Israel and the Jewish people are safe. 

Third, time is the one thing we can’t get more of.  We never know how much we have, and we can’t make more.  Yet on Yom HaZikaron, time stops.  This was my third time being in Israel for Yom HaZikaron and time does stop.  Things are much slower.  It’s a day of thoughtfulness, of mourning, of reflection.  The contrast between Memorial Day in America is profound.  There are no sales.  There are no barbecues.  Stores and restaurants are closed.  The siren goes off for a minute at 8 pm as the holiday begins and then for 2 minutes at 11 am the next morning.  The nation stops and stands at attention. 

When we got back to the hotel after the ceremony, we had some free time, which was greatly needed.  My friends Matthew, Michael and I went to the beach to sit, talk, relax, connect, and then go for a swim in the Mediterranean Sea.  The water felt incredible, the wind making us a little cold, but it was refreshing.  In some ways it was like a dip in the mikvah (ritual bath) that refreshes and renews you.  We headed back to the hotel for some time in the steam room to relax before getting ready for our final speaker and then dinner.

Our final speaker of the night was my friend Yaron.  He was a commander in the IDF in Gaza for the first 4 months.  He responded on October 7th.  He had an incredible military career and I have written about him many times.  He is a true hero and a real badass.  He is also one of the nicest and humblest people you will every meet.  He and I gave each other big hugs and caught up a little before his presentation.  Brothers.  Friends.  Judaism is so much more than a shared religion; it is a shared family.  Yaron is like a brother to me and I worry about him during this war. 

Hanging with my brother Yaron

As he talked about October 7th, ‘a day of hell’ as he described it, the day came to life for me in a way it never had before.  His commander ended up at the Nova festival by accident, fighting terrorists and trying to save lives.  Yaron had to defend his military base which was under attack.  He had to defend another military base that was under attack.  He had to fight his way to get from one place to another as terrorists were controlling the area.  The frustration in his voice as he talked about all the phone calls he was getting from people who needed the IDF to save them was palpable.  For some reason, his cell number was given out to people, and he was getting calls from all over, trying to figure out logistics and how to attempt to save people from the terrorists that were committed to murdering, raping, and kidnapping Israeli civilians.  When Yaron decided that he was going to go back to the main base to better help defend Israel, he was questioned about the risk to his own life in trying to get there.  He responded that he had to do it to save lives.  As he went to go alone, one of his friends who served under his command jumped in the jeep with him.  When Yaron told him to get out and not risk his life, his friend told him that he was in the reserves, so Yaron wasn’t really his boss, and he was going.  Two young female soldiers in their early 20s jumped in the back. Yaron ordered them out and they gave the same answer his friend did.  That’s Israel.  Saving lives was most important, even at the risk of their own lives.  When they got back to the base, they began searching for people to save.  I’ll never forget Yaron telling us that ‘there was nobody to save’. 

One of the things that tied together the sadness of October 7th and the way the Jewish people focus on the future and on hope was a picture and story Yaron told us.  He has 7 children and not too long ago his 6th child had his Bar Mitzvah.  They held his Bar Mitzvah at Kibbutz Be’eri, one of the places that was devastated by Hamas terrorists on October 7th.  Despite the death.  Despite the sadness.  Despite the loss.  The Jewish people will live on.  We will celebrate joy.  We will not just survive, we will thrive. 

Yaron with his son at the Bar Mitzvah at Kibbutz Be’eri

Yaron had to leave after the presentation because he had to back to Gaza.  He said it to me the way I would have said, “I have to go back to the office” or “I have to go to the grocery store.”  That struck me as well.  He was going back into harm’s way as if it was no different than going to the store.  He understands what is at stake is the future of the Jewish people. I’m hoping to see Yaron again today or tomorrow before he has to fly to the US but neither of us in charge of that.  It depends on what is needed in Gaza.  What a strange sentence to type and thought to have. 

The group of us went out to dinner at a great meat restaurant.  They fed us like at a Brazilian steakhouse and we ate and talked.  The sun set over the port of Tel Aviv and we shifted from Yom HaZikaron to Yom Ha’atzmaut (Israel’s Independence Day).  Normally this is an incredible transition with sadness erupting into incredible joy.  I’m still processing how different it was last night and will write about that in my next blog post.  It’s too much right now, especially with the entire day of Yom Ha’atzmaut ahead. As Saul was talking to us about the transition, he talked about pain and suffering and the difference between them.  He told us a story about a woman giving birth and her husband was there with her.  As she was in excruciating pain, he began making faces of pain.  She stopped, mid push, and asked why he was making faces when she was in pain. He told her he didn’t like to see her suffering.  She took a deep breath, paused again between pushing, and told him she was in pain, not suffering.  Saul, and the story, reminded us that suffering leads to nothing.  Pain leads to growth.  As we deal with the pain of October 7th, the pain of the war in Gaza, the pain of the loss of life, we can also grow.  Suffering is useless.  It leads to nothing. 

Today was filled lots of pain but no suffering. I’m so glad to be here in Israel, my homeland, with my brothers and sisters. I can feel the healing beginning.

Gen X, Israel vs. the US, Free Speech and the Roman Empire

Posted on by Keith Dvorchik

For many obvious reasons, I have been thinking a lot about the world we live in today and the attitudes people have today.  It is truly a fascinating time to be alive in so many ways, not all of them good. 

I am part of Gen X.  I think this has a huge impact on the way I view the world.  I know it has a huge impact on how I both raised my children and how I see what is happening on college campuses, in the school systems, and in our country.  My generation grew up with freedoms that future generations didn’t have.  We were latchkey kids.  Most of our parents worked so after school we were free to do what we wanted. 

We didn’t have computers or screens.  There was no internet or cell phones.  We played outside until the streetlights came on.  Often times our parents had no idea where we were after school and that didn’t bother them.  We were independent.  We’d ride our bikes miles to get to other friends’ neighborhoods.  Our friends were our friends because of who they were.  Race, religion, sexuality didn’t matter.  My public school was closed for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur because 1/3 of the students and teachers were Jewish.  We were also closed the first day of deer hunting season because 1/3 of the students and teachers would be out hunting.  We were an eclectic group of people tied together.  I grew up with friends that came from family’s that had lots of money, those who were middle class, and those who didn’t have much money.  It didn’t matter.  Many of us are still in touch today.  We had real friendships that stand the test of time.

I remember when two of my childhood friends finally came out.  I, like the rest of our friends, were happy for them that they felt comfortable coming out.  We also knew they were gay when we were in elementary school, so it wasn’t a big deal and changed nothing as far as we were concerned.  We paid attention to who people were, not identity politics. 

As I look at the world today, I wonder how we lost that specialness from my childhood.  We are more divided than any time since the civil war.  We no longer focus on the quality of the individual but on what sets them apart from us.  We no longer care about who people are but rather how they identify.  When I was running nonprofits, my goal was always to hire the best person for the job.  It didn’t matter to me if it was a man or a woman, what their race or their religion was.  I didn’t care about their sexuality.  I wanted the best person for the job.  Today’s world seems to have more and more focus on the identity of the person as we focus on how we are different instead of how we are similar.

My older son is home for a bit and he took me to the Brightline station (high speed rail between Orlando and South Florida) so I can get my flight to Israel later tonight.  As we were talking, he told me about how many of his ‘friends’ he has had to block on social media because of how they were minimizing what Hamas did on October 7th and the need for Israel to eliminate Hamas to ensure the safety of Israelis and to free to people of Gaza.  It saddened me to hear this.  I don’t know how all my childhood friends feel about the conflict.  What I do know is that the vast majority of them have reached out in support of me.  I’m not asking them to believe what I believe.  I am asking them to be my friend and understand what I am going through as a Zionist and as a Jew since October 7th. 

I have long looked at the difference between Israeli youth and American youth.  From the time I first began to engage with 18-21 year old Israelis, serving their country in the IDF, and comparing them to my own college experience and then, when working on the University of Florida campus, with the UF students.  The similarities and differences were dramatic.  On the many Birthright Israel trips I staffed, we had 8 Israeli soldiers join us.  They were the same age as our students on the trip.  When they showed up in uniform, they were imposing.  Awe inspiring.  A few minutes after arriving, when they changed out of their uniforms, they became peers with our college students.  For the part of the trip they were with us, the similarities between the Israelis and Americans was striking.  When they first arrived and then, when they put their uniforms back on at the end of their time with us, the differences were striking. 

As a result, it didn’t surprise me that after October 7th, so many members of the IDF reserves showed up.  I read that Israel recalled 250,000 reserve soldiers and hoped to get 200,000 to actually show up.  Instead, 300,000 showed up.  People in America were doing all they could to get flights to go back and serve.  My friends who were retired IDF soldiers in the 40s and 50s showed up to serve.  They understood the existential threat that Hamas is as a result of October 7th.  Many of them went from protesting the Netanyahu government and some of their policy positions to a united front for Israel.  It was extraordinary but if you know Israel and Israelis, it was also not unexpected.

Last week, Douglas Murray, one of my favorite people to follow, was given the Alexander Hamilton Award for his ‘unwavering defense of Western values.’  His speech, in text here and the video of it below, was extraordinary. 

He spoke about “What it Means to Choose Life”.  He uses examples of both the Ukrainian people and Israeli people that make me long for the days of my youth.  Unlike our entitled generation that believes everything should be given to them, the people he talks about understand that everything comes with a price.  Unlike the protesting college students who think they have the right to incite violence, take over buildings, violate campus rules and break laws without any consequences, the people Murray talks about understand that everything comes with a cost. 

I want to be clear that I am not saying the college students shouldn’t protest.  Protesting, especially on college campuses, is a right of passage.  We have freedom of speech in the United States and as President Andrew Shephard says in the great movie, The American President,

“America isn’t easy. America is advanced citizenship. You’ve gotta want it bad, ’cause it’s gonna put up a fight. It’s gonna say, “You want free speech? Let’s see you acknowledge a man whose words make your blood boil, who’s standing center stage and advocating at the top of his lungs that which you would spend a lifetime opposing at the top of yours.” You want to claim this land as the land of the free? Then the symbol of your country cannot just be a flag. The symbol also has to be one of its citizens exercising his right to burn that flag in protest. Now show me that, defend that, celebrate that in your classrooms.  Then you can stand up and sing about the land of the free.”

I disagree with the campus protesters position, and I disagree with how they characterize what is going on in Gaza.  I also firmly stand with their right to peacefully say it.  To gather in the public allowed space, in the manner that is allowed for everybody, and protest and hold signs, and say what they want.  Crossing the line to blocking Jewish students from going to class, harassing them as they walk on campus, threatening them, physically assaulting them, breaking the campus rules and breaking laws is not acceptable and comes with consequences. 

I laughed when the spokesperson for the student protesters who took over Hamilton Hall at Columbia University asked for ‘humanitarian aid’.  Nobody was forcing them to stay in the building.  They could walk out of the building to get food and water any time they wanted.  The entitlement was absurd.  The students at Princeton who have decided to hold a hunger strike to protest the war in Gaza also made me shake my head.  Nobody is forcing them to go on a hunger strike.  They aren’t in prison or jail where their care belongs to the state and monitoring them is therefore the state’s obligation. They are choosing not to eat and as a result, they are responsible for their own health monitoring.  When they got upset that the University wasn’t monitoring their health as they were on the hunger strike, I thought to myself, ‘What entitlement’. 

I missed the protests of the 60s and 70s because I was too young.  I have had the opportunity to talk with many people who were part of those protests.  Every single one that I spoke with could tell me how many times they were arrested for their protest.  Every single one of them was proud of their arrest.  They knew there would be consequences for their protest, and they embraced it.  They didn’t whine and cry when the consequences came.  They had that level of conviction.  Today’s protesters seem to lack that conviction.  They want the best of both worlds.  They want to protest with no consequences and have the rest of the world cave to their demands because they protested once.  There are Universities who have done this, and I believe they will face long lasting consequences for doing this.  Others have held their ground and ensured that freedom of speech is protected, and inappropriate actions are held accountable and face consequences.  Those who have made the second choice are also bearing the fruits of this effort.  Their students feel safe.  Their graduations are not cancelled.  Their donors and alumni are not up in arms.  Their University Presidents are not having to testify in front of Congress about how they are failing to protect Jewish college students. 

Our world today has the ‘news’ in the ‘entertainment’ department.  We have the 24 hour ‘news’ cycle and each station has its own agenda to push.  The days of Walter Cronkite reading the news and you getting to interpret it are long gone.  Whatever channel you watch feeds you their narrative.  Critical thinking is dying.  Deep conversations are dying.

On this trip to Israel, one of my hopes and plans is to go visit my friend Mahmoud in East Jerusalem.  Mahmoud is a Palestinian Arab, and his family owns the big Palestinian bookstore in East Jerusalem.  When we met in November 2019, he pushed some of my buttons and challenged me to think deeper and in different ways.  In the 4 ½ years since we met, I have thought deeply on many things he said to us and very much look forward to sitting down for a few cups of coffee or tea, a bite to eat, and having a robust and deep conversation.  We won’t settle the conflict, but we can do our little part to build friendships, understanding, and perhaps share what we learn from each other with our other friends that might impact change.

I think that’s the most important lesson of all of this.  I remember hearing the stories of how President Ronald Reagan and Speaker of the House Tip O’Neill would argue and fight all day long and then go have a beer together.  Mahmoud and I will come from different points of view and will sit over coffee and talk and share.  Even as I write this, a friend reached out to share information I wasn’t aware of and it changed my mind and I went back and edited something that I wrote as a result of this new information.  We need to find a way to get back to that being the norm.  Yelling at each other, only speaking with people who agree with you, repeating lies because they advance your point of view, and anything else that fits into this area does not solve problems.  It doesn’t get us to solutions.  It doesn’t bring us together.  It divides us.  It separates us.  It leads to physical harm.  It degrades us as human beings and as a civilization.

There was a fascinating September 2023 CBS News report that said most men think about the Roman Empire once a day, and some think about it as often as three times a day.  My wife asked me about it and I said that I think about it at least once a week.  She was stunned.  Why do men think about the Roman Empire so often?  My theory is that the Roman Empire is a symbol of amazing strength and power.  Incredible things came from the Roman Empire.  It seemed to a power that would last forever.  And it fell.  I always wondered how the Roman Empire could fall.  It had a strong military, powerful leaders, good economy, art, and culture.  It seemed to be the type of society that would last forever.  Yet it didn’t.  The past few years have given me an indication of how it could have fallen.  Internal bickering.  Divisiveness.  Lack of humanity.  Lack of understanding.  Growth of hate.  Poor leaders in control.  I hope that we can learn the lessons from the fall of the Roman Empire to avoid the fall of the American experiment.  Freedom, democracy, and our future are too important to just throw away the way we are. 

We have been outsmarted – time to reclaim our story

Posted on by Keith Dvorchik

There are a number of people that I love to follow.  I enjoy reading what they write, listening to their podcasts, and learning from them.  I don’t always agree with them, but I do enjoy them making me think.  Some of these include Bari Weiss, Douglass Murray, Daniel Gordis, Donniel Hartman, Kareem Abdul Jabber, Gil Troy, and Yossi Klein-Halevi.  I listed this group because if you are looking to find people worth reading, these are a number of them.

In a recent blog post in the Times of Israel, Yossi Klein-Halevi wrote about the war against the Jewish story.  I didn’t love the piece.  I think he is right on with a few things but misses the most important part of both how and why we are losing the war against the Jewish story. 

We have been outsmarted.  They say Nakba.  We say, ‘The war of independence when 7 Arab armies attacked and because of the briliance of David Ben Gurion and Moshe Dayan and many others, miraculously, we won.’

They say apartheid.  We say, ‘Arabs have equal rights in Israel.  20% of college students are Arab.  they vote.  they are in the Knesset.  they are on the supreme court. they have more rights in Israel than anywhere else in the Arab world.’  

They say genocide. We say, ‘The IDF is the most ethical army in the world.  Have you heard this general from England talk about it?  That general from the United States is a big advocate for the IDF and how Israel handles warefar.  Here, watch this video.”

They win because they are clear and to the point while we have to have them listen to an essay to explain things. In addition, we assume a few things:

1. People are smart and will actually bother to learn.

We have seen time and time again that while people may be book smart, they are not smart, and they certainly are lazy.  They have no attention span and believe what they are fed.  This assumption has been proved false and yet we continue to think that they will learn and act the same way. 

2.  The truth will come out and vindicate us.  It does, but that’s on page 25, while the lies are on the front page.

I learned this on my first trip to Israel in 1989.  That was 35 years ago, and we still do the same thing, expecting a different result.  The lies get the front page of the newspaper, the lead story on the news, and the talking heads pontificating on cable news and the Sunday talk shows.  We need to learn to challenge the lies forcefully right away.  Call them out.  And do so in a brief manner.  Better to say “you lie” than to try to explain why it’s a lie to those who won’t spend the time to learn why it’s a lie.

3.  People don’t hate Jews. 

If there was any doubt about this, it has been resolved since October 7, 2023.  It’s clear that plenty of people do hate Jews and will fight for the rights of every other group except Jews.  We will be vilified because we are Jews.  In Germany, we thought we were Germans first.  In the US we think we are either white or Americans first.  We aren’t.  We are Jews first and always. 

We saw this at the Eurovision competition with Eden Golan, who was charged with performing while Jewish. Protesters massed outside her hotel, trapping her in her room. They demanded she be removed from the competition, simply for being from Israel, for being Jewish. In Germany in the 1930s we thought we were German first and were proven wrong. We can’t afford to be fooled like that again.

The protest outside Eden Golan’s hotel.

4.  The holocaust matters to this generation. 

The Holocaust today is basically like the Civil war to my generation.  It is history and not relevant.  It is a story.  They see a movie.  They maybe meet a survivor who is old and hard to hear.  More likely it is a 2nd generation survivor now or somebody who was a child at the time.

They also can’t comprehend 6 million people.  In the Hamas-Israel war, there are an estimated 22,000 – 33,000 people that have been killed in Gaza.  At least 12,000 are combatants.  So somewhere between 10,000 and 21,000 civilians have been killed in Gaza and the world is in an outrage.  Imagine 100 times those deaths.  That would be between 1 million and 2.1 million.  There were 6 million Jews and a total of more than 11 million civilians murdered by the Nazis.  That’s 300-600 times what is happening in Gaza just for the Jews and 550-1100 times the overall number of civilians murdered. 

Many years ago, I worked for the State of Florida.  I had a big work ethic and wanted to do a great job.  I took on more responsibility because I was able to.  As a result, I got dirty looks from my co-workers.  I was showing them up.  When one of them went on vacation for two weeks, not only did I do my job and the extra responsibilities I had taken on, I did their job and not only did the work for those 2 weeks but because I wanted to do an excellent job, cleared their caseload for an extra 2 weeks.  When my co-worker got back, she was furious with me because I made her look bad because I could do my job, take on extra work, and do her job better than she could just her job.  This is what we are dealing with in today’s world.  People want things to be the way they want them to be and when it isn’t, they throw a fit, scream and yell, and some get violent. This video of a protester at Penn is a perfect example.  When he doesn’t get his way, he storms off, screaming like a small child. 

Today’s generation wants the world to work in a way that it simply doesn’t.  Terrorists who are evil don’t just follow the rules because you tell them to.  University leaders don’t typically just do whatever the students want regardless of anything else because the students protest.  Their desire to live in a different world is laudable.  Our world can get better as a result.  It doesn’t happen overnight.  And people like terrorists don’t change because you want them to.  Different cultures have different values.  They don’t change their values because you tell them they should.  Today’s generation truly believes that just because they say it, it happens. Just because they believe it to correct, the world changes for them. 

We are losing the battle today because we are doing an inferior job of communicating our message.  We are simply being outclassed in the battle for the hearts and minds of this generation.   We make far too many assumptions about them and are letting these assumptions get in the way of doing what is needed to reach their hearts and mines.  Israel is a miraculous story.  When you look at what Tel Aviv looked like in the early 1900s when the Jews were forced to leave Jaffa, it is extraordinary to see it today.  A thriving democracy, equal rights for all citizens, making the desert bloom, the start-up nation, a technologically brilliant country that created technology that literally pulls clean drinking water from the air.  The stories of this country should resonate with today’s generation, but they don’t.  That’s on us.  We no longer can treat them the way we want them to act, we need to reach out to them in the ways that they engage and connect.

When the under 40 demographic is truly exposed to the amazing story of Israel, they fall in love with it.  A country that truly lives Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) where equal access is not just a goal but an active process to ensure is a reality.  Medical care for all.  Excellent education that doesn’t break the bank.  Mandatory national service.  So much of what they want in the US is already in place in Israel but we don’t tell our story and let our enemies frame the story against us. 

It’s time for this to stop.  We need to own our story.  We need to tell our story.  We need to allow them to see the beauty of Israel and fall in love with it.  We need them to see Israel as the hope for them to live with the values they want.  It’s our job.  It’s our responsibility.  Are you up to the challenge?

Leadership is doing what’s right no matter the cost

Posted on by Keith Dvorchik

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”. 

Yotam Berger wrote this

Posted on by Keith Dvorchik

For the first time in the existance of this blog, I am not writing it. This was written by Yotam Berger, and Israeli PhD student at Stanford. I couldn’t have said it better or clearer so I’m letting his words say what I think and feel. Please read Yotam’s words and think hard about them. You can read the original post (in Hebrew) here. This translation came from Daniel Gordis’s substack Israel from the Inside.

Man in a Hamas costume on the campus of Stanford this week.

Five lessons from Stanford, California 

The academic year in the United States is coming to an end. In a few weeks, the university students graduating will stand on the grass, in caps and gowns. They will excitedly take pictures, shake hands with the deans, and then fly away, making way for a new generation of their ilk.

Ahead of the graduation ceremonies, the anti-Israel student protests at American universities are also increasing. Let’s start with the “all clear” siren. Here at Stanford, at least, the students who sleep on the campus lawns and call for a “global intifada” are—as a rule—not dangerous in the physical sense of the word. But they are very dangerous in the medium and long term, as far as the image of the leader of the free world is concerned.

This is my second year at Stanford. When we returned here in September after the summer break, I intended to finish the year with an approved research proposal and a third of my PhD written. It’s hard to describe how far I am from meeting that goal. In my opinion, I’m not really unusual. Since October, many Israelis abroad have found themselves forced to choose between two options—to put their heads down or become ambassadors without a choice. Who can even write an article when his two brothers are fighting in Gaza? Instead, I found myself spending much of my time on “outreach” activities that I had no intention of taking part in.

Despite this, I learned some very important lessons this year that I will never forget. As the school year comes to a close, and in light of the wave of anxious questions from around the country in light of the current round of campus madness, I thought I’d share the five most important lessons I learned this past year at Stanford, California.

1. Whether we want it or not, we are always—first and foremost—the Jews.

The first year here was a fabulous academic experience like no other. I felt surrounded by international friends. I was given full access to the world’s brightest legal minds. The feeling was that endless opportunities lay ahead. Friends from Israel, who asked already last year if we suffered from anti-Israelism, sounded funny to me. No way!! I am a liberal Israeli. I wrote for the most leftist newspaper in Israel. I did my clerkship in one of the more liberal courts in the Western world. Why would anyone have a problem with me? I walked among those who I thought were friends as equals among equals. I could talk about Israel freely, criticize it and love it, have discussions that I thought were good and complex about the most sensitive issues even with those who clearly disagreed with me. I felt like a citizen of the world.

That was an illusion. There really is no such thing, it turns out, as a “Jew who is a citizen of the world,” as long as the Jew insists on his right to a national existence. For many of those whom I saw as friends, it turned out, I was first and foremost the Jew. At the moment of truth, few of them stood by me on a personal level. Almost none of them stood by me at the national level. Their double standards allowed Israel-hating students to say horrible things about me and my friends, but silenced our every attempt to oppose it. In some places, I had to choose between apologizing for my Israeliness and rejection. There was no choice to be made.

This eye-opening experience also has advantages. It is a litmus test for the human quality of those around us. Some of the people around me went out of their way to support me, or to show gestures of humanity. I found myself surrounded by strong and durable ties. I will not forget these friends easily.

2. America deserves Donald Trump.

An Israeli friend joked to me that if Trump is re-elected president in November, he will walk the halls of Stanford and hand out baklava. It’s a very funny joke only because it’s not entirely imaginary.

November 9, 2016 was a day that struck me with amazement. Like many all over the world, the fact that the United States of America elected Donald Trump as president was unimaginable. In a very deep sense, no matter how many commentaries I read, how many films and documentary series I watched—the appointment of this man seemed inexplicable to me. Unimaginable. Impossible. Even years later, when the words “President Trump” stopped feeling strange on the tongue, the choice of him seemed inexplicable to me. A glitch in the matrix. I couldn’t understand how his campaign could be successful.

This year I finally got it. No, if I were an American I still wouldn’t vote for Trump. But I now understand those who vote for him. Donald Trump is some Americans’ answer to the madness on the other side, a madness I didn’t notice until it turned its face in my direction. A madness no less terrible than Trumps’s madness. No, if I had the right to vote, I would not vote for Donald Trump. But America deserves him.

3. The progressive movement is not a political ally of liberal Zionists.

Last year, the progressive movement seemed like an amusing youth rebellion to me. Yes, the ceremony where everyone announces their gender at the beginning of class seemed strange to me, not always necessary, but not harmful. The fact that I had to declare my race on every form I filled out (and make sure to state that I was “Middle Eastern”) made me laugh, but didn’t upset me. I saw the American progressive movement as the infantile sister of liberal movements that I respected. I saw it as an ally. That was a mistake.

I saw the American progressive movement as the infantile sister of liberal movements that I respected. I saw it as an ally. That was a mistake.

The “progressive” movement is not an amusing anecdote. This week I was exposed to a particularly graphic expression of this. In the “Pro-Palestinian” encampment (in double quotation marks, since a significant number of its residents are unable to point to the country on a map, and it is doubtful that they are able to name a single Palestinian leader) that was re-established in the heart of the campus, a man was photographed in a full terrorist costume—including a black sock hat with a slit for his eyes, and a green Hamas ribbon on his head, next to students who are active for transsexual rights. This strange alliance [DG – since Hamas executes those it considers sexual deviants, which obviously includes transsexuals] is not funny to me.

The progressives are challenging much more than the state of Israel, or the right of the Jews to a nation state. I’m not sure how many of the people who identify as progressives actually hold these ideals, and how many of them are just repeating them over and over loudly, with the intention of gaining some kind of social sympathy. But those of them who hold this position really no longer believe in the existence of “truth,” or in the existence of facts.

I’m not referring here to those who express the opinion that it is difficult to get to the truth, or who think that the courts do not always succeed in finding out what the facts are, or who hold that different ideas are perceived differently through different eyes. I’m speaking about those who say unequivocally that there is no such thing as truth. They are not interested in presenting facts to support their arguments because they do not believe there is such a thing as facts, and they say so explicitly. They think that it is forbidden to use the term “jihadist” in front of jihadists, or to call supporters of terrorism by their names, because feelings are more important than facts (although, of course, first and foremost theirfeelings). They don’t believe there should be consequences for actions, because they don’t believe there should be consequences for anything. Everything can be disputed, because nothing is real. Life is a debate club. It’s not a treat, or at least not just a treat: it’s an ideology. This ideology challenges the existence of objective truth—attainable or unattainable—as an intellectual concept.

4. Always go straight. It is not so important what is said or written about you.

The denial and turning of the backs of those whom I saw as friends, or at least fellow travelers, came with a temptation: to lower one’s head. I do not belittle and I completely understand Israelis who chose this. At this stage, for now, being ashamed of being Israeli, suppressing Jewish symbols, trying to adopt the American accent—can ensure a reasonable quality of life even in places where hatred of Israel is very present. But when the temptation was placed in front of me—to some extent at least— I tried to remember what I had learned from two teachers in recent years.

Attorney Momi Lemberger usually tells his interns to “always walk straight.” When a decision is made in a case—should an indictment be filed? Should the charges be dropped?—The only thing that matters are the facts and the law. It is easy to be tempted to consider what was written in the newspapers. What the minister says. The chance to advance in the system. But considering such considerations inevitably leads to bragging, to losing one’s way. Judge George Kara used to tell his interns that “it doesn’t really matter what they say or write about you.” The facts are more important. Making the right decisions is more important. There is no reason to align with vanities, even if it has some social or public cost.

These lessons are true in relation to greater and much more important decisions than the personal decision of whether to keep one’s head down or insist on externalizing and being proud of one’s Israeliness, even in unpleasant forums. But they are infinitely true when the heaviest price to pay for going straight is that some American PhD students will turn up their noses at you. Since October, I’ve learned that there’s no point in keeping your head down, while there is intrinsic value in the decision to always going straight, to calling a spade a spade.

5. The solution to the university crisis cannot come from below, but it can be parachuted from above.

The kids protesting in these university yards worked very hard to get accepted to Harvard, Stanford, Yale, and Columbia. Most of them are not the “Vietnam generation,” even if that is what they tell themselves. They are the equivalent of the 8200 children and IDF Radio in Israel. [DG – both very prestigious jobs in the army, the former in one of the most respected intelligence units, the latter on the radio, a position very hard to snag.] They worked very hard and paid a lot of money to get here, and they care a lot about how they graduate. More than that, they care what the characters they value think of them. True, they care what their classmates think. Most of them care just as much what the President of the University, the Dean of the Faculty, and even the lecturer in the course think of them.

For many of them, the current wave of protests can be an educational opportunity. American universities repeatedly emphasize the importance of freedom of speech in American culture, the centrality of the First Amendment to the Constitution which guarantees absolute freedom of speech in the American political atmosphere. They can’t shut them up. That is true. But the universities can, and are even obliged, to educate their students. They should not and cannot prevent these children from screaming their demands to spread the intifada or boycott Israel. But they can tell them that they hold very stupid positions.

If university presidents would stop trembling in their own shadows, they could tell their students that they have a right to express stupid views, but that shouting them out won’t make them any more correct. Lecturers cannot silence their students, but they can emphasize that anyone who expresses uninformed or unfounded positions with great confidence is an educational failure. An Israeli—as I discovered—cannot really convince his American counterpart that Israel is not committing genocide, even if there is not even a shred of evidence to support the argument that what is happening in Gaza is genocide. But if the president of the university were to look at his students and express sincere disappointment when they express such a preposterous position, something in a significant portion of those students might shift.

The effectiveness of the “direct information”—in front of the young students—exists, but is very limited and in any case organized bodies can hardly promote it in an inorganic way. The solution, in my opinion, lies in putting pressure on the presidents. And there is urgency in this—today’s generation of presidents and senior lecturers are still old and established people, who were educated in the 1970s and 1980s. They remember the Six Day War and Yom Kippur War. They are liberals, but they are liberals like Bill Clinton. They have respect for Israel. They have no intention of responding to the BDS demands that many of their students voice. In private conversations with Israelis, they also express their feelings of affection for Israel generously. But their feelings of fear of their American students are immeasurably stronger than their affection for their Israeli students. The pressure needs to be put on them. If they are freed from the terror that grips them of expressing their opinion, they can set boundary lines, and these may seep down—to those who want to participate in the “pro-Palestinian” festivals, to make an impression, but want more to be loved by important people in their professional lives.

If we do not take advantage of the present opportunity, we will find ourselves in a short time standing in front of a new generation of presidents and deans. It is not known if they will still have positive feelings—however repressed—towards Israel.

Fight, Flight or Die – you get to choose

Posted on by Keith Dvorchik

Columbia University has been in the news for the past few weeks due to their anti-Israel and anti-Jewish encampment.  UCLA has been for the same reason.  Portland State.  Northwestern.  Harvard.  Yale.  Penn.  University of Michigan. George Washington.  Cal Poly Humboldt.  Brown. Cornell.  Princeton.  University of Southern California.  Arizona State.  CCNY.  CUNY.  Plenty of Universities where students went beyond free speech and protests, violated University policies, intimidated Jewish students, blocked access to campus, and in the case of UCLA, violently attacked and beat a Jewish woman, Yale where a Jewish woman was stabbed in the eye, and Columbia where two Jewish men were attacked.

Then there are Universities like the University of Florida, University of Texas, Florida State University, University of South Florida, University of North Carolina.  University of Utah, University of Illinois, Mary Washington, Northeastern, Indiana, Wash U in St Louis, University of Pittsburgh, UConn, University of Utah. VCU, University of Georgia, Tulane, and Virginia Tech.  At each of these Universities, the University Presidents and leadership allowed free speech and protests but enforced their campus rules and regulations.  As such, when the protests went beyond free speech, they were broken up and people arrested.

For the most part, it’s the first group of schools that have been in the media.  That’s because of the old news adage, ‘If it bleeds, it leads.’  We saw an incredible lack of leadership by the University Presidents at those schools.  Columbia President Minouche Shafik, fresh off her testimony to Congress, enabled the protesters, didn’t enforce the campus regulations, finally called in the NYPD, and then promptly apologized for doing it.  Jewish students were encouraged to finish the semester away from campus, being denied the equal protection of the law and equal access to the education they are paying for.  Chants of “go back to Poland”, ‘We are Hamas’ and ‘Globalize the intifada’ occurred on campus.  US Representatives Ilhan Omar and AOC showed up to support the active hatred of Jews on campus.  Omar even said, “We should not have to tolerate antisemitism or bigotry for all Jewish students, whether they are pro-genocide or anti-genocide.” 

Khymani James, a student at Columbia and one of the leaders of Columbia University’s anti-Israel encampment threatened to kill Jews in a live stream meeting with the school.  Nothing happened until it became public when he was barred from campus.  He was then let back on campus until they were exposed again and he was suspended.  Columbia chose to be complicit with threats of violence against Jews.

These are threats to Jewish students.  The encampment grew and got more violent and more active.  Finally, they took over a campus building, barricading themselves inside and doing damage to the building.  After a ridiculous press conference with a student leader who demanded ‘humanitarian aid’ for those who chose to occupy the building and could leave at any time, did President Shafik relent and call in the NYPD to break up the protest.  She wasn’t interested in protecting the Jewish students, only protecting her campus buildings.

Northwestern President Michael Schill chose to give in to the student terrorists holding his campus hostage.  Brown University did the same thing.  Their leadership caved to the students’ bad behavior, breaking of the campus rules and regulations and criminal activities.

These Presidents and their administration have failed their test of leadership.  They have abandoned their Jewish students.  There are calls for their resignations as a result.  I can’t imagine any other group facing what Jewish students have faced in which the actions and behaviors of these Presidents and administrations would be acceptable.  At UCLA, their failure, along with the assault on a Jewish woman, resulted in Jewish students believing they had been abandoned and taking matters into their own hands, working to break up the antisemitic, illegal encampment resulting in a riot. 

We have a serious leadership problem on our campuses.  By not holding students and faculty accountable to the rules when it comes to Jewish students, they are guilty of endangering Jewish students’ safety.  They are committing Title VI violations and there may be civil rights lawsuits against them.  They have become a national joke, and the Universities are viewed unfavorably by most.  There is a reason you don’t negotiate with terrorists.  Reinforcing their bad behavior only ensures more bad behavior in the future. 

Compare that to the University of Florida, who’s President, Ben Sasse, provided the campus rules and regulations in advance along with the consequences for violating them.  When the protesters went beyond free speech and violated the campus rules, the consequences were enforced. 

Other universities took action after letting the protesters know they were violating the campus rules and would be arrested if they didn’t disperse.  When they didn’t, the police came in and arrested them. Actions have consequences. Failing to obey the rules and the law is illegal.

I want to be clear.  Free speech is important.  Being able to protest is important.  However, when people decide to break the rules or break the laws, there are consequences for their actions.  That’s what they were arrested for, their actions.  Protests matter and there is a line that cannot be crossed.  When the line is crossed, leadership has an obligation to act.

When I see some of our country’s leaders in an uproar because the protesters are held accountable, I get angry.  They know better and they know it is only happening because it is against the Jews.  When I see our country’s leaders and our Jewish communal leaders be silent about what is happening to Jewish students on campus, I get angry.  We cannot put our heads in the sand and hope it goes away.  We know better.  We know what comes next.  I’m grateful to our country’s leaders and our Jewish communal leaders who have spoken up and taken public positions.  There are far too few of them. 

Sen. John Fetterman, Rep. Elise Stefanik, Rep. Ritchie Torres, and Speaker Mike Johnson have been leading public advocates to protect Jewish students on campus.  Others have joined them.  Yet far too many have been silent or supporting these encampments designed to terrorize, intimidate, and block Jewish students and faculty from entering campus.  In many cases they assaulted Jewish students. This has nothing to do with the war in Gaza.  It has nothing to do with humanitarian aid.  It has everything to do with antisemitism, Jew hatred. 

Chris Cuomo, a TV talking head, spoke out eloquently against the rise of Jew hatred on these college campuses.  His comment on Twitter when he posted it was shocking.  “I never thought in America I would have Jewish people thanking me for arguing that they have a right to exist.”  It is worth watching.

UNRWA came out with an announcement that there is plenty of food available in Gaza but there isn’t money to buy it.  This is humanitarian aid, provided for free, that UNRWA is either allowing Hamas to steal or selling to Hamas who is selling it on the black market.  The more facts that come out, the worse people like AOC, Ilhan Omar, Cori Bush, Jamaal Bowman, Nancy Pelosi, Rashida Talib, and these protesters look. 

May 1 starts Jewish Heritage Month.  President Biden issued a proclamation in which he references protecting the Jewish community in the United States but fails to mention anything happening on campus.  He talks about the hostages but has failed to pressure Qatar, who houses the leaders of Hamas, and continues to provide Iran, the funder of Hamas, with more money.  His words don’t match up with his actions.  We need to demand more of President Biden and of Congress.  We need to make our voices heard loudly.

As antisemitism, Jew hatred, increases in the United States, I see and hear more and more Jewish people speaking up and being outraged.  I am part of a group of parents who are concerned about what is happening on college campuses and I see the change as Jewish parents and students no long look to the Ivy League schools and look for safer campuses.  I have received calls and emails from parents who want to take advantage of Governor DeSantis’s decree that he will waive many of the transfer requirements for Jewish students to transfer to Florida Universities.  Yeshiva University extended their transfer deadline.  The Technion in Haifa has openly offered sanctuary for Jewish students, graduate students, and faculty who don’t feel safe at their University. 

This is America in 2024.  We need to face reality and act.  Raise our voices and speak out and speak up.  We need to thank our allies in other communities.  We need to thank our politicians who are supportive and make sure our voices are heard by those who hate Jews and fight for there to be more antisemitism, more Jew hatred.  If you haven’t been an activist, it’s time to become one.  Our collective silence has brought us to this point.  It is our collective action that will defeat Jew hatred.  It’s your choice, fight, flight, or die.

Screams Before Silence is a must watch

Posted on by Keith Dvorchik

I decided to watch the new Sheryl Sandberg documentary “Screams Before Silence”.  I have seen the 47-minute Hamas video as well as the documentary about the Nova music festival massacre.  Both of those were incredibly impactful and hearing Lee Sasi, a survivor of the Nova music festival massacre speak is something I will never forget.  I’ll be in Israel soon and get to visit the site of the Nova music festival massacre, Sderot, and other areas in the south near Gaza.

Screams Before Silence – because of the topic it won’t embed here but you can click to watch

Since October 7th, I have been wanting to go back to Israel daily.  My last trip was in November 2022 and while I have an ongoing desire to go to Israel, I have not been able to return since then.  After October 7th, my family would not allow me to go to Israel.  Every time I brought up the topic, I was instantly shut down by them.  It wasn’t until this trip that, while they don’t want me to go, they aren’t stopping me.  I leave in 12 days and am anxiously anticipating getting on the plane and heading to our homeland.  There is a deep need inside of me to be back in Israel, connecting with the land and my people to help start healing my Jewish neshamah (soul). 

Many people have asked why I would subject myself to watching the 47-minute Hamas video.  And then also watch the Nova music festival documentary.  And now Screams Before Silence, documenting the rape and abuse of women by Hamas.  My answer used to be simple.  I needed to bear witness for those who were murdered and abused.  Now it is more than that.  In a world where we already have October 7th deniers, where people are saying that Hamas had the right to murder, rape, kidnap and abuse innocent civilians, who call the war between Israel and Hamas “Bibi’s War” or “Netanyahu’s War” I have to do more than just be frustrated and angry.  How can anybody watch these atrocities, much of it filmed BY HAMAS, and hold anybody else responsible?  How can anybody who sees the actual footage, who listens to the survivors, not see the evil that is Hamas and Iran? 

In all three videos, they show the IDF arriving at the Nova massacre for the first time.  Each time I hear the soldier counting the dead as he begins to arrive, my heart breaks.  Echad, Shtyim, Shalosh, Arba, Chamesh (1, 2, 3, 4, 5).  When he looks into the food and drink tent and sees all the dead bodies strewn on the ground, the pain in his voice is palpable.  “Oh my God. Oh my God.”  His questioning plea, “Is anyone alive here?”  “Give us a sign of life.” “No signs of life.  Anyone?  Please?” is haunting as we know there is nobody alive, but he doesn’t yet know that.  In Screams Before Silence, they are interviewing him in between parts of the video.  The look on his face, the pain in his eyes, cuts deep to my soul.  I think about the students and professors on college campuses that are protesting and wonder if their watching this would make a difference.  Are their hearts and souls already too filled with hatred for Jews that somehow, they would feel satisfied that we got what we deserved.  What a terrible world we live in if that were to be true, yet I fear that it is.   

The video of the IDF first arriving at the Nova Music Festival massacre.

When I see people, particularly Jews, who focus only on what is happening in Gaza, I find myself getting angry.  They forget what happened on October 7th that was the cause of the war.  They forget or don’t believe that Hamas uses human shields.  That Hamas was shooting Gazans trying to leave the north for safety in the beginning of the war and it was Israel that created the safe corridors for them.  They don’t want to believe that Hamas would actually turn hospitals, mosques, homes, and ambulances into military structures and make them military targets.  It’s as if they have to find a way to excuse the evil that is Hamas because they can’t bear to believe that there really could be people that evil in the world.  Once again, Jews become the scapegoat.  Instead of Israel being the victim of a horrific and barbaric attack, Israel is the one in the wrong.  Instead of Hamas being war criminals for the taking of the hostages, for the rapes and brutal murders of civilians, for using human shields, for using hospitals and mosques and ambulances as military structures, it is Israel, a country that documents how much they do to minimize civilian loss of life, that gets the blame. 

When I watched Screams Before Silence, there are two moments that really stood out and impacted me.  The first was when Sheryl Sandberg, who does the interviews throughout, asks the first responders to see some of the images that they saw in person.  Each image they show her draws a more dramatic reaction from her.  You can see in her eyes and in her face the impact of the images.  She gasps at a number of them.  The first responders are telling us what she is seeing.  As horrific as the descriptions are, you can watch Sheryl’s face to see that the images are far worse.

The second is at the end of the documentary.  Sheryl moves from the interviewer seat to the one where those being interviewed sit.  You can see how much this has impacted her.  The director of the documentary comes to the seat Sheryl just left and asks her about making this film and the impact.  As Sheryl talks about the experience, tears came to my eyes.  It was incredibly moving.  I had a similar experience just watching it and I can’t imagine what it was like for her to talk to the survivors, hear their full stories, see the images that the first responders took.  It was a beautiful and powerful interview that was emotionally powerful.

Today has been full of events related to Israel and the war with Hamas.  The first lawsuit was filed against Columbia University for their failure to protect Jewish students. 

The Columbia University President set a 2 pm deadline for the end of the encampment and then let it pass with no consequences.  Senator Bernie Sanders called the war “an illegal war”, forgetting or not caring that Hamas attacked Israel on October 7th, murdering more than 1200 civilians, kidnapping more than 250 civilians and still has over 130 hostages.  A number of members of Congress are calling for the federal funding to be removed from the Universities that aren’t protecting Jewish students.  The body of an Israeli hostage was discovered near Gaza, somebody killed on October 7th that was thought to be a hostage.  At UCLA, an anonymous group built a giant screen with loudspeakers outside the UCLA protest showing footage from October 7 on a loop. 

After being instructed not to put up tents at the University of South Florida in Tampa, a few protesters decided they would anyway and were arrested.  That’s what effective leaders do, they follow the rules and regulations in place for everybody.  There are rumors of a potential peace deal brokered by Egypt. Sinwar was seen publicly in Rafah. 

Caitlyn Jenner took on the anti-Israel crowd in a publicly shared video. 

The leadership of Washington University in St. Louis put out a powerful statement about hateful protest on their campus and the arrests made because of the violation of their policies.

Israel is preparing for the ICC to issue arrest warrants for their leaders for war crimes.  The United States seems willing to sit back and allow it to happen although there are members of congress who are urging President Biden to step in and stop this farce. 

The rise of antisemitism is growing everywhere we look.  At McGill University in Canada, a man dressed up as a terrorist with a mock suicide bomb attached to his chest.  How long until they are no longer fake bombs and we see suicide bombers active in the US and Canada?

Jewish students are being blocked from entering campus at UCLA and Columbia. As students they have the right to be on campus and attend class. Their rights are being denied by people who are breaking the campus rules. Where are the Presidents of these campuses? Where are the Governors of California and New York?

We live in a world and a time where activism against prejudice and hate is more important than ever.  The truth and facts don’t seem to matter.  A group of Christians joined the pro-Israel counter protest at Columbia today.  That’s what we need.  People to stand up to hate, especially antisemitism, even when it’s not their group being targeted.  Over the past few years, I have been interviewed on the TV news about the rise in antisemitism far too often.  My message has always been the same.  We need to stand together, speak out together, against all hate.  When we allow hate to grow, we get the evil of Hamas.  We get the uninformed students at Columbia, Harvard, Yale, NYU, and many other Universities who wouldn’t dream of saying what they are about Jews about anybody else. 

The question for each of us is, what are we going to do?  Are we going to sit back and hope it goes away?  Are we going to hide so that we can try to stay safe?  Are we going to speak out, speak up, and be loud about how this is wrong?  Are we going to challenge our friends and family who spew Jew hatred couched in anti-Israel or anti-Zionism troupes?  Are we going to reach out to our US Representatives and Senators and demand that they protect not just Jewish students on campus but Jews everywhere in the United States?

I started by talking about the film Screams Before Silence.  It is something everybody should watch.  It’s not easy.  It’s painful.  It’s hard. It’s necessary.  It’s available to watch on YouTube.  I urge you to watch it.  I urge you to watch it with others.  I urge you to have your friends watch it, especially those who are critical of Israel. 

I’m doing my part with the film.  And I’m going to Israel on May 11th to not just visit my homeland but to do my part in the healing after October 7th both for myself and for Israel.  I’ll pick produce.  I’ll visit the sites of the horrific October 7th attack.  I’ll cook for IDF soldiers and serve them dinner.  I’ll be there for Yom HaZikaron (Israel’s Memorial Day) which will be very different than the other times I’ve been there for it.  I’ll be there for Yom Ha’atzmaut (Israel Independence Day) which will also be different than any other time I have been there.  I’ll spend Shabbat at the Kotel (the Western Wall).  I’ll spend time with my Israeli friends who are like family to me.  And I am planning to meet with at least one of my Palestinian friends for a powerful conversation about how we move forward. 

Wearing Tefillin and a Tallis at the Kotel (Western Wall) before I went to pray and connect spiritually

I’m not asking you to do what I’m doing.  I am asking you to do something.  Are you up for the challenge?

I took this picture – it always inspires me. I hope it inspires you to take action

Is making Aliyah the answer?

Posted on by Keith Dvorchik

I’ve been captivated by watching what is happening on the various college campuses in the United States over the last week.  I admit that when I was in college, I was not an activist.  It was the mid to late 1980s and while there were some protests on campus, it was largely calm and quiet and a wonderful place to be.  I had way too much fun and not enough studying and almost no activism.  When I began working at the University of Florida Hillel in 1998 that began to change and by the time my tenure at UF Hillel ended in 2013, I was a full-fledged campus activist.  My focus was on understanding, partnership, friendship, communication, and inclusion.  Focusing on our similarities rather than our differences became a passion of mine during those 15 years and remains one today.  So as I watch these ‘activists’ on college campuses and how the ‘leadership’ at each University chooses to handle their behavior I am fascinated by what is happening.

I grew up in an era where we had a lot of freedoms.  My mother was famous for teaching us, and our friends, that you do whatever you want as long as you were willing to pay the consequences.  It was a lesson I learned early in life and have continued to use today.  Actions have consequences.  Take the risk, accept the consequences.  This lesson is part of what I find so challenging as I watch what is happening now.

These ‘campus activists’ (I use quotes because many of them are not from the campus nor are they activists, they are imported to agitate and inflame the situation) fully expect that there will be no consequences to them for their actions.  They expect others to have consequences.  Delays in getting places.  Inability to access campus.  Having to take classes remotely.  They don’t get the permits they need or if they get them, they don’t follow the rules that are affiliated with the permit.  Their entitlement is amazing to witness. 

You see it being taught by their professors.  As the videos of professors being arrested because they thought they were above the law are shown, I find it humorous.  These entitled individuals are shocked that anybody would actually hold them accountable.  The students and the professors have grown up in a world in which nobody taught them that actions have consequences.  That if they take the risk, they have to be willing to accept the consequences.  We see it with the University Presidents who choose to allow these encampments to remain and who won’t discipline or remove the discipline from those who violate the rules.  They aren’t doing these students or professors a favor. 

Emory Professor being arrested because she isn’t follow police directions and is breaking the law

And then there are those who do hold people accountable for their actions.  President Ben Sasse at The University of Florida ensured there would be no encampment by reminding everybody in advance what the rules are and what the consequences are for violating them.  Nobody questioned whether he would enforce the consequences of their actions and as a result, free speech was maintained as was the safety of Jewish students.  At places like The University of Minnesota, The University of Texas and Emory University, those violating the rules and/or breaking laws were arrested.  When they chose not to listen to the police officers, they were forcibly removed.  That’s the real world.  Actions have consequences. 

Growing up in the 70s and 80s, I admit my generation was different.  It’s something that we need to look back upon and see how far we have gone off the rails in the name of ‘protecting’ our children.  This video, while intended as humor, also shows the difference.

@graeson.mcgaha.comedy

Gen x and the generational hate war #genx #80s #80sbaby #genxcrew #genxtiktokers #genxcrazytrain #fyp #fypシ #80smusic #80sthrowback #genxmom #genxmom

♬ original sound – Graeson Mcgaha Comedy

The rise of hate speech isn’t new, and it doesn’t begin in 2016 with Donald Trump like many want to believe.  For proof, I offer this 2010 letter to the Editor that I wrote in the University of Florida campus newspaper, The Alligator, calling out hate speech

It was more civil in 2010

In July 2014, the Pacific Northwest head of the National Rifle Association (NRA) came out and said that The Holocaust wouldn’t have happened if Jews had guns in Nazi Germany.  At the time, I called the statement, “Idiotic, simplistic, and simply wrong.”  I stand by those words today.   More Nazis would have been killed but likely more Jews as well.  It was a statement based on the belief that Jews are weak and won’t fight back and need guns in order to be allowed to exist.  I’m not anti-gun at all.  You can ask those who know me.  I am anti-hate and anti-stupidity.  As a child, my mom would often complain that I had no tolerance for stupid people, and it caused me problems then as it does today.   Smart people can act stupidly at times.  We see that today.  My fight with the NRA in 2016 over this person’s comment and antisemitism got national attention and you can read about it in the Seattle Times.  Or just google me and the NRA and it comes up. 

https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/jewish-group-says-gun-remarks-lsquoidiotic-simplistic-and-wrongrsquo

And since 2014 it has gotten much less civil.  On June 26, 2016, this op-Ed I co-wrote was published in the Seattle Times. 

https://www.seattletimes.com/opinion/recognize-and-speak-out-against-anti-semitism

A few weeks later, on July 10, 2016, the following response denying and minimizing the rise in antisemitism was published.

https://www.seattletimes.com/opinion/dont-believe-that-washington-state-is-awash-in-anti-semitism

Over the last 8 years it pretty clear that I was right and the author of the second piece, who likely approves of the antisemitic, hate filled, violence driven campus actions, was wrong.  Some people won’t learn even when they are the target.

Seven (7) years ago we got this warning from the UAE’s Foreign Minister and failed to heed it.  It helps explain why were are where we are today.

Today we see elected officials like US Representative Ilhan Omar (D-MN) join the antisemitic and violent gathering at Columbia and publicly make the following statement while facing no serious consequences.

“I think it is really unfortunate that people don’t care about the fact that all Jewish kids should be kept safe and that we should not have to tolerate antisemitism or bigotry for all Jewish students, whether they are pro-genocide or anti-genocide.”

While she is trying to say that Israel is committing genocide, a factual lie.  In reality it was Hamas who did commit a genocide on October 7th.  And intended to kill more Jews.  And has openly stated that they will continue to kill Jews until they are all eliminated.  That is the definition of genocide.  Yet Rep. Ilhan Omar faces no backlash.

We see Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Ortiz (AOC) (D-NY) also visit the Columbia cesspool of hate and then posting on X (Twitter)

“Calling in police enforcement on nonviolent demonstrations of young students on campus is an escalatory, reckless, and dangerous act. It represents a heinous failure of leadership that puts people’s lives at risk. I condemn it in the strongest possible terms.”

They are peaceful to her as a woman of color who isn’t Jewish.  In this case, she is the one with the privilege she often rails against.  Calling the police on people breaking the law is what we do in the United States, unless you live in New York.  Enforcing our laws is what happens in countries ruled by laws unless you live in New York.  I do agree with her that we have a ‘heinous failure of leadership that puts people’s lives at risk’ but I assign that failure of leadership to Columbia University President Manouche Shafik who chooses daily not to enforce the rules of Columbia.  I assign it to the leadership of Columbia University who continue to allow President Shafik to remain in her role when she is showing daily that she isn’t able to do her job and protect ALL students, which includes Jewish students. 

Representative Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) was also at Columbia University, not protecting the Jewish students from his district but to encourage those breaking the law and violating Columbia’s policies to continue doing it.  To continue to chant things like ‘Death to America’ and ‘We are all Hamas’.  To harass and threaten Jewish students.  As one Jewish student recounted,

“They were pushing and shoving me. . . They threw rocks at my face. At that moment, my life was totally threatened. And there was no safety authority on campus.”

At least Representative Bowman is losing his primary race and will hopefully not be in office in just a few months.

I grew up in a Zionist home with parents and grandparents who were Zionists.  We all support the existence of a Jewish homeland, the State of Israel.  The fact that there was a country that we could be a citizen of just by showing up sounded really amazing and empowering.  The thought of actually making Aliyah, moving to Israel and claiming citizenship, was a fantasy throughout my youth.  My cousin actually did it in 1980 and was the outlier we all used as our token Israeli relative.  During and after college I had a few friends who made Aliyah and I thought it was cool for them.  During my 15 years at UF Hillel I had many students who chose to make Aliyah, become lone soldiers and serve in the Israeli Defense Force (IDF).  It wasn’t until the 2000s that I thought maybe some day it would actually be something that I would want to do.  The more I went to Israel, the more time I spent there, the more the fantasy became a dream and maybe even a goal and objective. 

Just a couple of years ago, in my mid-50s, I realized that I didn’t really want to make Aliyah.  It was a fantasy.  I wanted to live as an American in Israel.  Expensive apartment.  Eating dinner out at fancy restaurants.  Not have a real job to go to every day.  I changed my fantasy to spending a month in Israel every year at some point.  That seemed more realistic.  It became something to being to save and plan for.  I knew my wife would never really want to make Aliyah and be that far from our kids and her parents and siblings but a month a year was something I could discuss with her. 

Since October 7th, I have been questioning everything.  As America becomes more and more unsafe for Jews, my fantasy of being an American spending a month in Israel every year has gone back to considering if maybe we did need to move there in order to be safe.  A country under attack from at least 4 fronts (Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis in Yemen, and Iran), in an active war zone, was safer than America.  What a scary thought.   Yet I also know I am not the only one who struggles with that concept and that thought.  I talk about it with friends.  We look back at those who saw the signs in Germany and Europe and left when it was possible compared to those who were stubborn and stayed until they went to the death camps and want to learn from their sacrifice.  From their murder. 

And then I find Arabs speaking out against Hamas and trying to speak sense to these radicalized students and professors.  People like my friend Ali Abu-Awaad.  People like Loay Alshareef, who I have reached out to, who is traveling to campuses all over America and posting on social media. Watch a few of his posts and you may have hope that there is a future with peace.

So maybe I need to stay and fight.  Maybe there is a third option that our ancestors in Germany and Europe didn’t have.  Instead of running to safety or sticking our heads in the sand, maybe we can stand up together and fight back.  We can be the nonviolent version of Mordechai Anielewicz, who at 20 years old was trying to get Jews to return and fight against the Nazis.  Who just before he turned 20 began to fight back in the Warsaw Ghetto.  And who at 23 led the actual uprising against the Nazis.  Their valiant effort didn’t defeat the Nazis but it showed that Jews could and would fight back.  It inspired the future leaders of the new State of Israel to fight and defend themselves.  He and those who fought with him inspire me not give up hope and to keep fighting. 

Mordechai Anielewicz didn’t do it along.  There were other leaders who joined him.  Icchak Cukierman, Tosia Altman, Marek Edelman, Cywia Lubetkin

One of the great things about being Jewish is we have thousands of years of role models. Not just the biblical ones we learn about but recent ones like Mordechai Aneilewicz. Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Natan Sharansky. David Ben Gurion. Moshe Dayan. Golda Meir. Elie Wiesel. Betty Freidan. Harvey Milk. Louis Brandeis. Judy Blume. Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel. There are many more. And that’s just recent role models.

I choose to follow the role models I mentioned and fight. I choose to not give up and not be quiet. I choose the third option. What will you choose?

Responsibility and Leadership go hand in hand. We need both and have far too little of each.

Posted on by Keith Dvorchik

I’ve been thinking a lot about responsibility lately.  Personal responsibility, parental responsibility, spousal responsibility, family responsibility, community responsibility and worldwide responsibility.  What about the responsibilities as a leader and of our leaders?

I was inspired to think about this by a number of different things happening right now.  The lack of leadership being shown by University Presidents both in their testimony in front of Congress and recently with the pro-Hamas demonstrations on many campuses.  Columbia University gets the most attention, but they are going on at 40 campuses, highlighted by Harvard, Penn, Brown, The University of Michigan, Yale, MIT, Cal Tech, Northwestern, and George Washington. We have also seen University Presidents and administrators break up these protests at University of Minnesota, University of Texas at Austin, University of Southern California, Emory, Princeton, and Emerson College.  The difference in the two groups of campuses is entirely based upon the University’s leadership.

Columbia University has turned into a cesspool of antisemitism and Jew hatred. Much of this is due to a lack of leadership from the University President.

There is little doubt that had these encampments been created to protest any other ethnic group in existence, all of the Universities would have shut them down.  An anti-LGBTQ+, anti-Muslim, anti-Black, anti-Christian, anti-Hispanic, or anti-woman protest with racial/sexual epithets being shouted at these students and threats of violence along with actual violence would not be tolerated.  So, what is the difference?  Why is it ok when it’s Jews being targeted?

Many people say it’s the influx of Arab money, specifically from Qatar.  Others cite the latent antisemitism that has existed for generations at many of these schools.  Still others cite the woke movement in which Jews are considered white and privileged and not deserving of protection.  While all these play a part, I think it is entirely about a lack of leadership at these Universities.  The leadership of those Universities are choosing not to protect Jewish students and instead protect the racists, bigots, and those assaulting other students.  Columbia actually created an arguably apartheid situation where Jewish students must take classes and final exams online while those who harass and attack them are allowed to take them in person.  The lack of leadership enables and encourages bad behavior.  The lack of leadership means there is no consequence for inappropriate actions.  After giving a midnight deadline for the encampment to be taken down, Columbia President Minouche Shafik promptly did not enforce it and a few days later, nothing has happened.  That’s a serious lack of leadership.  USC cancelled graduation ceremonies because they can’t control the protestors.  That’s a serious lack of leadership.  At the Universities where there were involved leadership, these encampments were taken down, often by law enforcement, those not following the campus rules and regulations were arrested and face consequences.  Their graduation ceremonies are not in jeopardy of being cancelled. In a country ruled by law, this is how things need to be handled. 

Compare that to the University of Florida, where the Chabad Seder had over 1,000 in attendance, including UF President Ben Sasse. President Sasse addressed the crowd, stating, “What is happening on campus at Columbia and Yale the last few days is grotesque, and we don’t want anyone here to be confused.  We are delighted that the University of Florida is the most Jewish campus anyplace in North America.  We don’t want anyone to be unsafe, or to feel unsafe….”  That’s leadership.  Two sentences is what it took.  And there is no doubt that had he been speaking to any other group that was facing similar situations that he would have said the same about and to them. 

UF President Ben Sasse at the 1000+ person Chabad Seder on campus. He continues to show great leadership.

This week, an anti-Israel, anti-Jewish protest happened on the campus of University of Florida.  Why is it not in the news?  Because the leadership of UF did what leaders do.  They led.  They set in place the enforcement of their campus rules and regulations THAT WERE ALREADY IN PLACE.  They promised to hold students, faculty, and anybody else attending the rally accountable for their actions.  Look at the rules that UF published for everybody to see and follow.  There was no encampment at UF, no violence and calls for death of Jews. Free speech is being permitted.  That is how leaders act. 

University of Florida shared the existing rules for any gathering and the consequences for not following them. This should be the expectation for all Universities.

It’s not just on the college campuses where leadership is missing.  President Biden finally made a big deal about the hostages held by Hamas on Thursday April 25th when he issued a statement along with leaders of 17 other nations calling for their release.  Why it took over 200 days of captivity for this to happen is beyond me. 

How we still have members of Congress calling the war between Hamas and Israel “Bibi’s War” or “Netanyahu’s War” is beyond me.  Hamas began the war on October 7th with their attack.  If Hamas released the hostages and surrendered, the war would be over.  This is Hamas’s war.  This is Iran’s war.  Israel is doing what is needed to protect herself but has not nor been the aggressor.  While we have seen some of our leaders being very public about the war and antisemitism on campus, particularly Senators John Fetterman (D-PA) and Rick Scott (R-FL) along with Rep Ritchie Torres (D-NY), Hakeem Jefferies (D-NY), Cory Mills (R-FL), and Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), many others have been silent or playing both sides for election politics.  That’s not leadership.  Hamas and Iran are evil.  The people of Gaza and Iran want regime change.  Instead, we get Rep Nancy Pelosi and Sen Chuck Schumer calling for early elections in Israel, which is totally inappropriate for an ally and another democracy. 

President Eisenhower is the example of what is needed.  Jason Riley in the Wall Street Journal says it best:

“In 1957, white mobs in Little Rock, Ark., in defiance of the [Brown vs. Board of Education] ruling, were preventing black students from safely attending school. President Dwight Eisenhower decided to do something about it. In a prime-time television address, the president explained that ‘demagogic extremists’ and ‘disorderly mobs’ were thwarting the law and that he had an ‘inescapable’ responsibility to respond if Arkansas officials refused to protect black students. ‘Mob rule cannot be allowed to override the decisions of our courts,’ he said. Then Eisenhower sent in the 101st Airborne Division. The particulars then and now may differ, but the same principle is at stake. The federal government was obligated to come to the aid of an ethnic minority group being threatened by mob violence. Jews in 2024 deserve no less protection than blacks in 1957. And if university officials can’t handle the situation, or won’t let police deal properly with the unrest, Mr. Biden needs to step up.”

When will our leaders actually lead instead of worrying about re-election campaigns?  I’ve said for a long time that I want leaders who lead and will support them for doing it.  And when they worry about being re-elected instead of doing their job, I won’t.  It goes back to the classic line in the movie, The American President, when Michael Douglas as President Andrew Shepard, says the following line, “I was so busy keeping my job I forgot to do my job.”  It’s time for our leaders to remember to do their job instead of being busy keeping their job.

The full speech that includes the line above. Inspired leadership.

Recently, Representative Jamaal Bowman (D-NY), an avid antisemite, began accusing those who disagree with him and are supporting his primary opponent, George Latimer, of only doing so because of his race.  We cannot tolerate this any longer.  Rep. Bowman has a history that is being attacked which has nothing to do with his race or ethnicity.  He has taken public stands that people disagree with and that’s why he is being targeted in the primary and that’s why he will hopefully lose the primary.  When our leaders fall to this level of excuse, it minimizes the situations when it is real.  When students are targeted on college campuses.  When a Jewish woman is raped in France to ‘Free Palestine’.  When people are attacked for being Jewish or wearing things that identify them as Jewish, Muslim, or a member of the LGBTQ+ community. 

Even J Street finds Jamaal Bowman not worthy of being in Congress

Our Jewish communities struggle with leadership as well.  The time when significant leaders went through a serious training process and there were being mentored and trained by significant and serious leaders is gone.  In some communities there are still roles and a pathway to leadership positions.  In most there is not.  Whoever is willing to take the board leadership position often gets it, whether they have the training, experience, and knowledge or not.  The serious involvement in the National Young Leadership Cabinet of JFNA is no longer emphasized by most Jewish organizations. 

Our Jewish professionals are not getting the training they need either.  There are some excellent programs available however not enough of them nor are there enough participating.  I was lucky to have an incredible mentor/coach when I was first beginning my career.  He spent a week a month on the road with me for an entire year and we spoke weekly when we were not together.  I learned at his feet, and I will always appreciate his mentorship and teachings.  I still think of the lessons he taught me and hear his voice in my head on a regular basis, guiding the decisions that I make.  As I have now taken on that role for others, it is a combination of my profession and paying it forward.  If we want to have excellent Jewish communal leaders, investing in our volunteer and professional leadership training and development is essential.  Great leaders don’t just happen.  They are taught.  They are given experiences and responsibilities to build upon and grow and develop.  I talk with a number of my friends and former colleagues about the challenges in the Jewish world and leadership is one of the big ones. 

I always think of the stories I heard about the old guard in Seattle.  The “triumvirate” of Seattle, Jack Benaroya, Sam Stroum, and Herman Sarkowsky, would make sure that the people they did business with who were Jewish were investing philanthropically in the Jewish community.  They would make sure that anybody who was going to ‘make it big’ in a deal with them, understood that part of their new wealth included a responsibility to philanthropy and giving back.  If people didn’t want to follow their lead, they would do business with other people instead.  They taught many of the large philanthropists of today about the importance of giving.  Some of those they taught also taught others.  Far too few people do that today.  Without the guidance and training from ‘the old guard’, there will be no ‘new guard’. 

Which brings me to my favorite leadership development program, The Jewish Leadership Institute (JLI).  Founded more than 30 years ago by Rabbi Mayer Abramowitz (z”l) and now run by his son and my friend David Abramowitz, this is the premier leadership training program in the country for college students.  Taking students to Israel for 2-3 weeks for an immersive and intensive leadership development program, they get results.  I admit I am biased.  I had the privilege of sending students on this trip for the 15 years that I ran University of Florida Hillel and got the benefit of the experience when they returned.  It changed their lives.  It changed our campus.  And it continues to change the world as the students who had the experience are now adults and making a difference in the world.  There is going to be a trip in July 2024 (July 2-16) and this incredibly subsidized trip (only $395 INCLUDING AIRFARE FROM MIAMI) will change lives, change college campuses, and change the world.  I encourage Jewish student campus leaders to apply and go. 

JLI participants. This program changes lives and changes the world.

In addition, we are working on a JLI young leadership trip in early 2025.  This will also be a highly subsidized trip and I can’t wait to share more information about this as it is developed and confirmed.  As somebody who believes in leadership development, believes in leadership training, mentoring, and role modeling, I am excited to work on this with David and make it into a reality. 

Leadership and responsibility go hand in hand.  We have many people who have the title ‘leader’ but are not.  In the words of Winston Churchill, “The price of greatness is responsibility.”  Many of our ‘leaders’ merely think they are great but shirk their responsibility.  Those who are truly great, embrace the responsibility.  I found this quote by Warren Bennis and Burt Nanus about great leaders and believe it to be true. 

“While great leaders may be as rare as great runners, great actors, or great painters, everyone has leadership potential, just as everyone has some ability at running, acting, and painting.”

Leadership potential doesn’t become true leadership without training, mentoring, and guidance.  The same is true with responsibility.  People don’t understand responsibility and how to act that way without training, mentoring, and guidance.  We’ve seen enough of our ‘leaders’ exhibit no leadership and no responsibility.  It is time for us to change that by investing in our future leaders.  By holding our current leaders accountable for their actions.  For not settling for what we can get but demanding what we desire.  It’s only through our efforts to improve our future leaders and to hold our current leaders accountable that we will get the change we so desperately need.

My perception has changed. Where did WE go wrong?

Posted on by Keith Dvorchik

I grew up in an interesting community.  In the 1970s and early 1980’s, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania was very middle America and a very integrated place.  My friends growing up were of various ethnicities and backgrounds.  We went to school together, played together, and grew up together.  I like to joke that because 1/3 of my public school was Jewish, we were closed for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, and you would see tons of Matzo at lunch during Passover.  But because it was Central Pennsylvania, we were also closed the first day of deer hunting season, because 1/3 of the school (including teachers) wouldn’t be there.

My friends were Christian, Jewish, and Hindu.  They were African American, Indian, and Caucasian.  They were gay and straight (although nobody had come out at that time, we all knew).  They were in the gifted program and in the regular educational program.  They came from different socio-economic backgrounds.  We were kids who liked each other and hung out together and were friends.  It’s amazing how many of them I keep in touch with even to this day.

Growing up in this environment, I didn’t see the challenges that some of my friends faced.  They were my friends, so the fact that they were African American or gay wasn’t an issue to me and I wrongly assumed it wasn’t an issue in general.  I was ignorant because I made a key false assumption that people thought the way I thought.  As a result, I never saw the challenges they faced or would face in the future.

When October 7th happened, not only was I horrified, I also expected that the world would be horrified with me.  When I saw that not only were they not horrified but they also wanted more October 7th type violence against Jews, that they blamed Jews for being attacked and murdered by terrorists, and that the world openly turned against the Jews, I got it.  I finally understood what my friends dealt day in and day out that I never saw.  Just like I saw them as people first, there are those who see Jews as people first.  But there are far more who are filled with hatred towards Jews.  I felt guilty for how I missed what my friends dealt with and deal with. 

Protests defending the rape, murder, and kidnapping of Jews by Hamas after October 7th

I used to get frustrated when I would see things like ‘Queers for Palestine’ and think to myself, “Don’t they know that they would be persecuted and killed there?”  I would think, “Israel is the only place in the Middle East where you can be openly gay.  Don’t they know that?”  I would wonder, what’s wrong with them?  Since October 7th and in the aftermath, I no longer think that way.  I now wonder what did we do wrong?  How did we let them identify with a group that hates them instead of with Israel?  How did we abandon them?  Sure we fought for gay rights, marriage equality, the right to adopt, and many other things.  But we didn’t understand their challenges in the world.  We didn’t identify WITH them.  So instead they identify with those who would kill them, who want to kill us, because they did identify WITH them. 

I used to wonder how the African American community could have forgotten the civil rights movement and how the Jewish community played such an integral role in fighting WITH them.  How could they abandon the people who helped found the NAACP, who fought so closely in the 1960s for equal rights?  Since October 7th and the aftermath, I now wonder, “How did we abandon them?”  Where did WE go wrong?  How did WE move on and no longer serve as allies, creating an identification with terrorists who hate the very freedom we fought together to have? 

Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel marching with Dr. King

The same is true for a part of our Jewish community who fights against Israel.  I used to wonder how THEY went wrong.  How could THEY be self-hating, how could THEY not understanding their homeland, how could THEY be so misinformed?   Since October 7th and the aftermath, I now wonder, how did WE lose them?  How did WE not provide what they needed?  What do WE need to change to ensure the future generations understand the real meaning of Zionism, the importance of Israel to all Jews, and that it’s ok to disagree with the ruling government without trying to delegitimize the only Jewish country in the world. 

If it’s really on US to change then we have to do things differently.  We have to not only invest in the relationship but also work to understand the barriers they face on an everyday basis. 

I read about Bayard Rustin, an openly gay black man during the civil rights movement who was the architect of the 1963 March on Washington.  He was the right-hand man for the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. until he was blackmailed and chose to step away rather than risk damaging Dr. King and the movement.  A man who formed BASIC – Black Americans to Support Israel Committee in 1975.  There was a movie made about his life in 2023 that is available on Netflix.  I am fascinated by this amazing man that I never knew about and it made me wonder how many more people like him do I not know about.  How many historic figures do our schools do not teach.

Bayard Rustin, a man I knew nothing about yet we all should.

I knew a little about the Tuskegee airmen but just a little.  I read an article in The Free Press about them and the lesson in excellence that they taught us.  It’s a lesson I never learned because schools don’t teach about them.  There is a lot for me to learn about the Tuskegee airmen, much to read, much to understand.  A few of the remaining airmen spoke in Orlando recently and I was disappointed that I had a conflict and couldn’t hear them speak.  If I get the opportunity again, I won’t miss it.  I heard a story from the event that really hit me.  One of the airmen said that many years later he met a white pilot who the airmen had supported and escorted many times in battle.  The white pilot had never met or known who escorted him so many years later, he went up and thanked him.  I can’t even imagine doing what they did with that little recognition or acknowledgement.  True heroes.  I was so inspired by the article that just like the author, I am getting a piece of artwork signed by some of the actual airmen to hang in my office to remind me what excellence, bravery, and commitment are really about. 

One of the autographed prints I am deciding amongst which will hang in my office

When I lived in Seattle, a friend of mine who is gay, made a comment, complimenting me and talking about Harvey Milk.  I had heard the name but didn’t know much about him at that time.  Since she was saying it as a compliment, I wanted to learn about him and his story.  What I learned was fascinating and once again, I was stunned and disappointed that I never learned about him in school. I had always heard of the ‘Twinkie defense’ in California and we used to joke about it growing up and even in college.  That was common knowledge.  The fact that the man who murdered Harvey Milk was who got away with murder for using the Twinkie defense wasn’t something I learned until I started reading about him.  I was stunned that such an important part of the story of the Twinkie defense was never taught.   I watched the movie Milk, starring Sean Penn, and was amazed at what a great job they did telling his story. 

Harvey Milk, who should be taught in our schools

I wrote earlier about my Palestinian friends and how I reached out to them to check on them.  After Iran attacked Israel, I reached out to friends in Iran to see how they are doing.  The people of Iran are not the government, and they have publicly supported Israel.  They have painted things like “Israel bomb the Ayatollah’s house” and cheered for Israel in the streets.  I am concerned about the safety of my friends in Iran, both from the government and potential attacks.  Since October 7th and the aftermath, I don’t want to repeat the same mistakes we have made with other communities.  So I reach out.  I share empathy.  I do my best to understand what they are going through and share what I am going through with them.  Build on commonalities so we see our similarities. 

I don’t know if it’s too late for the generation who thinks those that hate them are the ones they need to support.  I don’t know if we can educate or change their minds.  I know that I have to try.  I know that I have an obligation to make a difference with those that I can.  The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. finished his famous ‘I have a dream’ speech with the following words:

And when this happens, and when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual:

Free at last! Free at last!

Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!

We need to speed up that day with our actions.  I am committed.  I ask you to join me.