The amount of lies, misstatements, and falsehoods I have seen since October 7th are truly amazing. I had stopped watching most major media news because of their agendas a while ago. I now see their ‘highlights’ on social media and it disgusts me even more. Critical analysis is to be expected. Factual and fair discussions are to be expected. Disagreements on policy is to be expected. None of that is what we are getting.
What we are getting is truly unethical journalism. It’s agenda based, largely focused on Jew hatred. What we are getting is completely unanalyzed propaganda being spread as fact. I remember going through Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust Museum, the first few times and wondering how that type of crazy propaganda actually worked. We are now seeing it in real life, in real time.
I watch somebody like Piers Morgan go for ratings instead of the facts. I listen to him say the most ridiculous things to get views and clicks on social media. When faced with the facts, he chooses to bulldoze over people and shout them down unless they push back powerfully and argue with him. Which then gets him more views, more clicks, and more ratings. He is now the news version of Jerry Springer. Watch his interaction with Fleur Hassan-Nahoum. He could have asked, “Why don’t Palestinians have the same rights as Americans?” When caught, he quickly shuts down the conversation.
What do the Palestinians want exactly ? Ignorance and hypocrisy in one short clip. Do they want a one state or a two state solution? Even @PiersUncensored is confused 🤦🏽♀️ pic.twitter.com/ZtyohRmE5v
— פלר חסן נחום Fleur Hassan-Nahoum (@FleurHassanN) June 6, 2024
I listen to what Christiane Amanpour says regularly and it makes me sick. A once respected journalist is a shill for terrorists and those who hate Jews. When interviewing people from the UN, UNRWA or UNICEF, she never bothers to ask why Hamas terrorists are being found in their schools and medical clinics. She doesn’t seem to wonder why the entrance to Hamas tunnels are found near the UNRWA schools and clinics. She is happy to highlight that the people near the schools and clinics are in danger but leaves out the reason why – the connection to Hamas. She is happy to report on the Israeli people being unhappy with Netanyahu but neglects to discuss that there is an electoral process that will enable them to choose somebody else. She fails to discuss how Abbas is now in year 20 of a 5 year term or how Hamas has been in power since 2005 with no opportunity for the people to select another form of government.
The lies I see in the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal or told on the nightly national news make my stomach turn. I’ve been to Israel since October 7th and am going back in a few weeks. I see the pain and struggle of the Israeli people. I see the impact of the war and how everybody wants it to end as soon as possible. The hostages are on the minds of everybody, and their return is felt throughout the country. Other than far right extremists, nobody is talking about taking Gaza in a land grab. They are talking about a military grab of the hostages. They are talking about eliminating Hamas and their leadership as a risk to Israel.
On my last trip I went to both Kibbutz Kfar Aza and the site of the Nova music festival. It was one of the most powerful experiences of my life. At Kfar Aza I saw what Hamas did. I had seen it on the 47-minute Hamas video and other clips. I saw it in the Sheryl Sandberg documentary, “Screams of Silence”. Yet standing there, listening to the story of each family at each house, burned my insides. Seeing the street of young people where EVERY SINGLE PERSON was either killed or taken hostage was brutal and I’m not sure I will ever truly recover from that. Walking up to the back gate where the Hamas terrorists came through followed by the second and third wave of ‘innocent Gazans’ who came to rob the people they had become friends with and ate lunch and dinner with regularly, was infuriating. Seeing how close Jabaliyah was (less than a mile from the gate, less than half a mile from the back of the Kibbutz) was a bit shocking. Knowing I could walk to Jabaliyah in 10 minutes or less from the Kibbutz was a reality check. These are the things the media doesn’t show to the masses.
Jabaliya from the back of Kibbutz Kfar Aza. The fence is halfway to the back. It’s less than 1 mile away.All those killed or taken hostage at the Nova Music Festival on October 7th.
I listen to the cries for a cease fire, and I wonder what these people are thinking. A cease fire with people who say they will do what they did on October 7th over and over and over again until all the Jews are dead? How do you have a cease fire with that type of person? You certainly can’t trust them to keep their word. You know that it’s only temporary and the end result will be even more people killed. It seems that the long-standing complaints about our education system are finally showing themselves with so many people unable to do any critical thinking or analysis. Before September 11, 2001, I understood American’s lack of understanding about the risk of terrorism because we had not experienced it. After 9/11 I can’t understand the desire to defend terrorists, especially those who merely call Israel, “Little Satan” because the United States is the “Great Satan”. They openly call for our destruction and American’s still defend them. Who have we raised? Where is basic intelligence?
In the last week, I have begun to see the next wave of this propaganda. Israel is now going to take over Lebanon in the next land grab. The bombs Israel is dropping and the attacks they are involved with in Lebanon are somehow not related at all to Hezbollah sending rockets into Israel on a daily basis for the past month. The fact that Israeli’s who live in that northern area have been evacuated for months due to the bombing by Hezbollah is ignored. Israel fighting back to keep her citizens safe isn’t reported. Once again, it is framed as Israeli (Jewish) aggression and a land grab. They are denying that Arab nations kicked out Jews and that Jews left freely of their own will. They deny their own Judenfrei stated goals. The lies continue.
France has banned Israeli citizens and companies from attending a defense technology trade show.
The Maldives banned everybody with an Israeli passport from entering, now creating an issue for the Christians, Muslims, Druze, and Baha’i Israelis. That’s because the Maldives really only intended to ban Jews and is now trying to find a way to backtrack.
The tent cities are popping back up on college campuses, now not covered by the media because interest in that story has passed. Gabby Deutch highlighted in her X posting that, “The New Republic, a historic institution in American journalism, has a writer covering antisemitism who spent the morning of Oct. 7, after the crimes of Hamas were clear, calling the actions a “rebellion” & writing “good morning” above a picture of the attack.”
Just today, the Department of Education brought the first cases brought since October 7th to a close, finding that The University of Michigan and CUNY didn’t adequately investigate campus antisemitism and Islamophobia There are still more than 100 cases open. Think about that. 100 open cases on college campuses in the United States where they have not protected Jewish students from antisemitism.
This is the world we live in today. I know most people who read this know most of this already. The key is for those of us who know, to keep learning. For those of us who don’t know to learn. And for everybody to educate those who don’t know. There are plenty of people who hate Jews and do this intentionally. There are far more who simply know nothing and believe what they see or read because they don’t have a way to get information. This weekend, I spent time with some friends in Central Illinois. I had a long conversation with one of them who told me he really didn’t know. He didn’t believe what he was reading and seeing because it made no sense, but he didn’t know the history. He didn’t know what was going on. He didn’t know the basic facts. That’s our job. To educate. To challenge the lies. To show proof. When they claim there were no rapes, we need to shout them down and show the facts. When they claim Israel murdered the Israelis on October 7th, we need to shout them down and show the facts, the Hamas self taken videos.
As my friend said today, it’s time to play offense. As Jews, we have hidden or played defense for thousands of years. Playing defense is no longer acceptable. We need to play offense. We need to be educating those who don’t know. We need to be speaking out loudly about what is going on. We need to challenge the lies. We know from our many thousands of years of history that it never just goes away. We can’t hide and escape. Just as Israel is fighting back from the pogrom of October 7th, so must we, in the diaspora, fight back against the lies and hatred since October 7th. Never again is now. How will you answer your grandchildren when they ask what you did to protect the Jewish people after October 7th? This is your chance to choose your answer.
Normal. Such a simple word. I remember when we argued about the meaning. I remember when it was considered offensive because what was normal to me might not be normal for you and vice versa. Over the last few years, it seems that distinction has fallen away as nobody has felt ‘normal’. I was thinking today, “When was the last time we felt normal?”
In January 2017, a few months after I started at The Roth Family JCC, we received our first bomb threat in a series of threats that would terrorize JCCs for 6 months. We received the very first one. A few days later, we got a second one. We got our third in two weeks before our security director guessed that these were robo-dialed calls and not only blocked robo calls but also put in other steps that stopped us from getting any more. The bomb threats cost us huge revenue. As they continued for five more months, security became a priority and an additional expense. Revenue was down. Expenses were up. Morale was down from staff and members. It created an economic hole that took a few years to dig out of.
Just as we began to recover from the bomb threats and everything that created, there was a new virus that was beginning to go around at that time. We were concerned a little bit about what it could mean but we had other scares like SARS and Bird Flu and H1N1. We were conditioned that this would be another thing that was no big deal. March 13, 2020, we closed the JCC for two weeks to ‘slow the curve’ and the spread of the virus. A week later we laid off 136 of our 139 employees as we shut down for an undetermined amount of time. While we began the reopening process in early May and rehired most employees (some didn’t want to come back because of Covid), nothing was normal again.
Covid, while better in Florida than most of the rest of the country, was filled with stress. Running a nonprofit, trying to deal with a new business model, keeping people as safe as we could with changing protocols and knowledge, was incredibly difficult and challenging. For over two years it was a different reality. As we came out of Covid, we now had to deal with the employment crisis, people not wanting to work, the rising cost of labor, inflation and the rising cost of everything, and nationwide inflation. This year plus was challenging in an entirely different. Staffing was at a crisis level. Everybody wanted more money. Managing through yet another crisis was exhausting.
Then it was October 7th. The world changed. My world changed. For each of the prior crises they were business related and there was a way to manage through them. While there were personal impacts of each, they felt temporary. All three together had taken a huge toll. October 7th was different. It ripped to my core. 8 months later it’s still an open wound. It’s still stressful with no end in sight. I still worry about my friends and family and their children who are serving in the IDF.
It’s been 7 ½ years of stress. Not many breaks. Not much time to rest and recover. One thing after another. I’ve had the good fortune to get to go to Israel five times during these 7 ½ years. It was the spiritual salve I needed to survive. This last trip in May was not only incredibly needed after October 7th, it also gave me the opportunity to really take a deep look into who I am, what matters to me, and what I am going to prioritize. As Saul Blinkoff, our trip leader said to us, “What you will die for determines what you will live for.”
In the past few weeks since I have been back from Israel, this has resonated greatly for me. There are some easy answers. I’d die for my family. I’d die to save the world. There are also some clear other things. I would not die for any material item. If money got it or can replace it, it is not worth dying for. But what about ideas and ideals? What about values? Would I die for freedom of speech? For freedom of religion? If I saw a bunch of people being attacked, would I jump in to save them and risk my life? What if they weren’t strangers and were people that I knew? What if they were clearly Jewish people being attacked because they were Jewish? These are all real questions now.
While I’d like to say I would jump in regardless of who they are, I am not sure that I would. If they were people that I knew, I think that I would. What about if they were a group of Jews being attacked because they were Jewish? Prior to October 7th, I probably would have called the police and not jumped in. Today I would jump in. I would risk my life to save a group of Jews. It’s amazing how that has changed for me. As a Jew, post October 7th, I do feel it is my responsibility and obligation to save other Jews. While I don’t like the fact that I probably would only call the police if they weren’t people I knew or weren’t obviously Jews, that is also my post October 7th reality. I have seen as the world has been silent when it comes to Jews. My obligation, as a Jew, is greater when it comes to Jews because I don’t believe others will protect or save us.
With IDF soldiers who are risking their lives to protect Israel, the Jewish people and me. They are babies and they inspire me.
What about a mass shooter or a terrorist? Would I risk my life to save people in that situation? Before October 7th, I probably would have said something like, “I like to think that I would but I’d probably hide and hope.” After October 7th, I would fight. I would risk my life. I have watched my brothers and sisters in the IDF risk their lives. I have seen those who have lost their lives. Their bravery inspires me to do more. I couldn’t live with myself if I stood by or hid and let terror win.
Rami Davidian, a farmer who saved 750 people on October 7th from the Nova Music Festival. This ordinary man is a hero. He stepped up when called. I have to do the same.
Would I die for the United States? There was a time I would have said yes. Not today. Not with the rise of antisemitism and the weak responses to it. This is not the country I grew up in nor do we follow the beliefs that I grew up with. Equality of opportunity is false. A country accepting of our differences is false. I’m not saying I don’t love America or don’t want to live here. I am saying I wouldn’t die for America because I don’t believe America wants to live for me. As a Jew in America, I don’t think America cares about me. America is an idea and an ideal. Both are failing today. I have always wondered how the Roman Empire, one of the greatest countries/empires ever, fell. I see it in America. I understand how the Roman Empire fell. I wouldn’t sacrifice my life for the fall of America.
This is a theme that I will continue to think about. The stress and lack of normalcy in the past nearly 8 years have had a huge impact on me. I’m not sure I really understood the impact until after October 7th. This last trip to Israel has begun to clear things up for me.
We live in a world where things are valued. Where hate is an acceptable way to deal with stress. People don’t live with values, morals or ethics. It becomes, “How do I get away with doing the wrong thing?” because it is financially beneficial or makes me feel better instead of asking, “How do I do the right thing” regardless of the benefit. We trade time for money when money can be replaced but time cannot. We miss out on our families because we value our title at work more than our families until we lose or the other.
My dad always taught us that family came first. I believed it. I preached it at every organization that I ran. By the end, I found myself enforcing that for everybody in the organization instead of myself. What a mistake. As I experienced October 7th and learned of family of friends who were hostages or who were murdered, it made me value my family even more. The combination of my father’s death and October 7th made me value time highest of all. It made health just behind time. It changed my choices and what I value. There is no employment position that is ever worth dying for. If that’s the case, that means there is never an employment position that is worth living for.
The tombstone you will never see.
I love what I do today because I get to make an impact, work with people I like, on projects that are exciting, and we do things the right way. I have the ability to take on projects that excite me and decline ones that don’t. I can balance my time. I’ve spent more time both working and being present than ever before. It’s really cool. I also have realized how unique it is. That part makes me sad.
After Covid I saw people beginning to ask different questions about work. I didn’t quite get it. After October 7th I did. I grew up in a generation that valued hard work. That valued titles and money. Gordon Gecko’s ‘Greed is Good’ speech was a rally call to my generation.
I was in college when Michael Douglas gave that speech as Gordon Gecko and it defined what we all wanted to be. More was better. Less not so good. A big house was good. A bigger house was better. Two bigger houses was even better. More, more, more. And we only got that by sacrificing time. October 7th reminded me that time is what is precious. That if I am going to be greedy, I want it to be with my time. I want the way I use my time to be meaningful and impactful. The great Rabbi, Jim Valvano, in his farewell speech at the ESPYs in 1993 talked about the three things you should do every day. Laugh. Think. Cry.
Laugh, Think, Cry. That’s a full day. “Rabbi” Jim Valvano (z’l)
That’s how I want to spend my days. Days of meaning. Days of fulfillment. Days of joy.
The great thing about life is that as long as we are breathing, we have the ability to do whatever we want. We can make the changes that we want. We can be the people we want to be. If you want to be inspired to be better, to do better, watch the entirety of “Rabbi” Jim Valvano’s (z’l) final speech. It never gets old for me. It always inspires me. And now it teaches me about the person I want to be in this lifetime.
“Rabbi” Jim Valvano’s (z’l) final speech in full. It always makes me think. It always makes me cry.
Every day, I find myself getting more and more frustrated at the lack of leadership in our Jewish communities, in our country, and around the world. The rise of Jew hatred is not just what we see on college campuses. It’s not just the ICC and the charges from South Africa that other countries are now joining. It’s not just the shooting at Jewish schools in Toronto and Montreal or a synagogue in Vancouver. There is a systemic effort going on to make us think we are safe while the walls close around us. We are once again putting our heads in the sand and failing to see what is actually happening. This scares me.
As things in the north of Israel are now literally on fire, we have reached a new point in both the war and the Jew hatred around the world. Israel has been attacked from the south and many people are no longer living there while the war in Gaza continues. Evacuations from the north are well known but not appreciated. Kiryat Shemona, where I have visited numerous times, now has only 8 houses left standing because of the bombing. Iran has said any offensive by Israel against Hezbollah in Lebanon will result in a full war with Iran. And yet the United States continues to kowtow to Iran and its role as the number one sponsor of state terror in the world. Israel is literally being squeezed from three sides (the third is the Mediterranean Sea). How much longer before the terrorists get an uprising in the West Bank/Judea and Samaria to squeeze Israel on all four sides while the United States plays games with Iran and our upcoming election? This chalkboard image describes a scary future.
My great-grandfather told us that once, we could go traveling in Syria.
My grandma told that once, we used to be able to travel in Lebanon.
Mom tells me that once we could travel in the Galilee.
And yet, as Jews in the diaspora we continue to fight with each other. We continue to ignore the existential threat to ourselves and work to defend those who openly declare their hatred and desire to murder us. The Jewish apologists in the diaspora, specifically in America make me physically ill. Their efforts not only undermine Israel, they put every Jew in America at risk. They encourage the hatred of Jews by legitimizing it. The encourage attacks on Jews by legitimizing it.
Former Staff member of the US Department of the Interior, Lily Greenberg Call, was quoted as saying,
Instead of fighting for peace and the end of Hamas, true evil, her ‘Jewish values’ requires her to sacrifice the lives of Jews. Instead of being a Queen Esther, a Hannah Senesh, a Golda Meir, she gives up the ability to save Jewish lives. This is the same thinking in Spain prior to 1492 and in Germany in the 1920s and 1930s. It is what led to the destruction of the 2nd Temple by the Romans in 70 and our 2,000-year exile. We refuse to learn. We refuse to stand up for ourselves and fight back. Thankfully we have Israel now who fights back. Israel inspires many of us in the diaspora to also fight back and not put our heads in the sand. Lily Greenberg Call represents a generation that would have Jews eliminated because of their sense of fairness. They, like generations before them, believe that if they stand with those who hate Jews, they will treated as if they aren’t Jews. That never works out. History has shown us that a Jew is a Jew is a Jew.
Somebody I follow on Twitter posted this.
I would add to the bottom, “Don’t defend their actions.” the Lily Greenberg Calls of the world excuse this behavior and blame the victim. The wouldn’t do this for any other group, just for Jews. It is amazing how quickly the world has forgotten the horrors of October 7th. Of the videos made by Hamas of what they were doing that day. I’ll never forget the joy in the voice of the Hamas man who was telling his parents that he personally murdered 10 ‘Yehuds’ (Jews). The joy in his father’s voice. How proud his mother was of him. I’ll never forget watching a terrorist behead a Jewish man on October 7th. Of the father jumping on a grenade to save his children who, traumatized, are taken to their kitchen by the terrorist while he gets a drink. The pain in their voices will never leave my mind. I’ll never forget walking through Kibbutz Kfar Aza and seeing the destruction from not just Hamas, but the second and third wave of Gazan civilians who came in and did more damage, robbed and mutilated Jewish bodies. These were people who the day before had sat together, talking peace, sharing a meal, hoping for a better future. A day later, these Gazans had no problem mutilating them. My friend from the trip, Mikey, posted this on Instagram that captures the feeling of being in Kfar Aza better than I have.
I haven’t given up on the many Palestinian people I have met who do want peace. Who want to live next door to Israel. Unfortunately I am giving up on the world who would rather support terrorists that want them dead than those who want peace. Iran and their proxies Hamas and Hezbollah have been clear that they want a Caliphate. They want the world to be their type of muslim and sharia law to be the law of the world. No more England, France, or Spain. No United States, Canada, or Mexico. No China or Russia. Everywhere must follow their version of Islam and live under sharia law. It won’t take too much longer for the first of these countries to experience this impact. Some are struggling with it again. It continues to be a self-inflicted wound.
I can only hope that our American leaders wake up to the threat. That they decide it is more important to lead than it is to plan for the next election. That being a leader means you do what is needed for the benefit of the country, not what is needed for you to be re-elected. That the threat of Iran, almost a nuclear Iran, is so great that action must be taken. That the corruption of the UN, UNRWA, and the Palestinian Authority is so great than none deserve to survive. That the Abraham Accords, bringing never before seen peace in the region, are a good things and worth investing in. Saudia Arabia and Indonesia were ready to normalize relations with Israel prior to October 7th. The world was changing.
Today we have UNRWA turning their schools in Gaza into military institutions. Tunnels with openings inside or next to the schools. Weapons stored and fired from the schools. These are UNRWA schools, funded by the UN and by the world.
Tunnel opening inside the clinic, weapons in the UNRWA school. Documentation of combat team activity
In response to the anti-tank fire from the UNRWA school towards the troops, the combat team intervened in the school compound, which is also near the mosque and… pic.twitter.com/82QQcZZXP3
We have Hamas using homes as militiary bases and the world cries when these homes/bases are destroyed. The picture below was from a child’s bedroom in Gaza.
The world wants to be social justice warriors and ignore the realities. I am fearful for the future of not just the United States but the world as a whole. What happens when Europe falls? When mass casualty events are occuring in the United States, Canada, South America, Europe, and around the world? Are we really that far away from the post-apocalyptic world of the Mad Max movies? I’ve been watching the new TV show Fallout on Prime with my kids. Is that our near future?
I am also amazed at the power of the protesters who know nothing. They attend Ivy League universities. The attend top academic institutions and yet show their indoctrination and lack of knowledge every time they open their mouths. We all saw the Columbia woman who wanted food delivered to their illegally occupied building at Columbia. We have seen many interviews of people who don’t know what river it is nor do they know what sea it is. This woman might be the worst of them all, self proclaiming she spent a semester in Israel/Palestine yet not knowing anything when asked. She even thinks Israel is a muslim country!
I returned from Israel two weeks ago. I go back to Israel in four weeks. Just as I wasn’t sure what Israel I was going to in May, I’m not sure what Israel I will be returning to in July. Will the hostages, or at least some of them, be freed? Will there be a ceasefire? Will Hamas leadership still be in place? Will there be a full war in the north? Can we go further north than Tel Aviv and Jerusalem? What will my second visit to Kibbutz Kfar Aza and the Nova site feel like? How will the world have changed in just the 6 weeks between visits?
Since my return from Israel, I have dug deeper into what is going on and it makes me sick the more I dig. The systemic hate. The lies that are told. Some of our ‘leaders’ who are filled with hatred and misinformation. I am usually a very optimistic person. I usually can find the good in any situation. I’m known for finding a pathway through challenges to a better place. As I sit here today, I am at a loss. As a world traveler, there are few places other than Israel that I would visit today. As an American, I don’t want to visit many of our states. Part of me thinks the only solution is what some of my Israeli friends have told me – to make Aliyah, to move to Israel where I will be safe. Yet I also know that running from the fight for security isn’t the answer either. The fight is here. There is no escaping it. Leaving it to people like the woman in the video who knows nothing isn’t acceptable. Abandoning people like Mikey who are fighting the fight here isn’t acceptable. Leaving it to apologists like Lily Greenberg Call is doing self harm and not acceptable. So I will stay and fight. I will urge you to join me. The future of the Jewish people is at stake. The future of the United States is at stake. The future of the world is at stake. Don’t sit by idly. Don’t stay uninformed or be quiet because you are afraid of the consequences of speaking out. I promise you, the price of your silences is far worse than the price of using your voice.
The words of Elie Weisel are more important now than ever.
We are the ones suffering and being humiliated. The people of Gaza are suffering and being humiliated because of Hamas, Iran, and those who would sacrifice them on the idol of Jew hatred. We cannot be silent. We cannot be neutral. We are the tormented. And we refuse to the victim once again.
Having been to Israel so many times, I know what is reported in the media isn’t true. I know they exaggerate and like to say and show what they think will draw eyes and clicks. It used to not bother me that much because it was so obviously not the truth and people would ask me about it. It used to be like that.
Since October 7th, the media’s coverage of Israel has been worse than ever. The big difference is now people believe what they are being fed is true and don’t bother asking questions. They see something on social media and that becomes the truth. A perfect example is the recent fire that occurred in Rafa after Israel dropped a bomb on Hamas terrorist leaders. The bomb was a smaller caliber one, targeted to hit an exact spot, which it did, to eliminate the terrorists (which it did). However, the terrorists had additional weapons with them that created a secondary explosion that started the fire that killed civilians.
The media was all over the fact that Israel bombed a civilian area. That Israel attacked a safe zone. That Israel was burning civilians alive. That the explosions beheaded babies. The “blame Israel” narrative from the media and on social media has been brutal. Now that Israel is responding to the daily massive rocket attacks from Hezbollah in Lebanon, the “blame Israel” narrative is growing. The tent cities are returning on campuses. There were shootings at Jewish Day Schools in Toronto and Montreal and a synagogue in Vancouver (luckily nobody was there when they happened so there were no injuries). Yet the media stays quiet. Since returning from Israel, what I have noticed the most is the combination of silence in defending Israel and the massive attacks on Israel and Jews from all over the place, including Jews.
I understand well-meaning Jews who care about morals and ethics having issues with the Israeli government’s decisions with the war. I don’t understand those who haven’t been to Israel or at least those who haven’t been since October 7th leading the charge against Israel. Being at Kibbutz Kfar Aza was an unbelievably powerful experience. Hearing the stories, seeing the devastation, and seeing Jabaliya so close, there was clarity in the war and the need to eliminate Hamas. Standing at the site of the Nova Music Festival, sitting in front of the pictures of those murdered or kidnapped brought clarity of the evil of Hamas. Stopping to visit the bomb shelter where Lee Sasi hid and survived while so many others died was deeply moving. When I see Jews defending Hamas or using terms like ‘genocide’ for what’s going on, I am reminded of an old joke.
Throughout our history, we continue to make the same mistake over and over and over again. We forget that we will always be Jews first. We think we are Americans. We thought we were Germans. Polish. Austrian. We aren’t. We are always Jews. So those who forget this often times are at the front line of our persecution and then are shocked when they find themselves facing the hatred they denied existed or fought to defend. When I see these Jews posting on social media or being used as props in demonstrations, it makes me sick. We know the ending as we have seen it repeatedly over the past 3,000 years.
Since I have been back from Israel, the other thing I have noticed is the pressure being put on Israel to unilaterally solve the problem without the answer being war and defeating Hamas. It’s as if Hamas never videoed the events of October 7th for the world to see. Or that they didn’t publicly state that there will be many more October 7th events in the future. UNRWA is treated as a legitimite agency despite the proof that their employees participated on October 7th, were involved in hiding the hostages, and their schools and hospitals not only store weapons for Hamas, not only are the base for tunnels built by Hamas, but Hamas uses them to fire rockets at Israel. UNRWA gets the aid coming into Gaza and somehow it ends up in the hands of Hamas instead of the people. This is the agency people are listening to about humanitarian issues – one that behaves as anything other than a humanitarian agency.
Tunnels found under an UNRWA school – they were filled with weapons.
We have a leadership crisis. In the Jewish world. In America. Around the world. In Israel. Our leaders are determined to continue doing what has failed. The President of Iran, Ebrahim Raisi, dies in a plane crash. Raisi, The Butcher of Tehran, is then eulogized at the UN, in the US Congress. A man who murdered tens of thousands of people in Iran is treated as a great leader. Our lack of leadership is appalling and yet we do nothing about it. One of my favorite movies, The American President, addresses leadership incredibly well.
Lewis Rothschild: People want leadership, Mr. President, and in the absence of genuine leadership, they’ll listen to anyone who steps up to the microphone. They want leadership. They’re so thirsty for it they’ll crawl through the desert toward a mirage, and when they discover there’s no water, they’ll drink the sand.
President Andrew Shepherd: Lewis, we’ve had presidents who were beloved, who couldn’t find a coherent sentence with two hands and a flashlight. People don’t drink the sand because they’re thirsty. They drink the sand because they don’t know the difference.
The quote begins at the 2:44 mark but the whole scene is amazing
We often get hung up on our elected leaders and think that they are the only ones who can be leaders. I’m reminded of Rami Davidian, the farmer who lives near the Nova music festival site. Rami is a farmer. A regular guy. Nobody special. Elected to nothing. And yet on October 7th, he rescued 750 people from the Nova festival while Hamas was trying to murder them. We can all be Rami. We can all step up to lead when it is our turn, elected or not. We can speak out and speak up. We can change our small part of the world which changes the entire world. We can get educated and confront those who lie and spread lies.
As Spain recognizes a Palestinian State and calls the war genocide, they quickly backtrack when they realize that by doing this they make every person in Gaza a political refugee able to enter Spain on a humanitarian visa. They quickly stopped being public about either because they realized their words and actions had consequences.
As the Maldives now refuses to allow anybody with an Israeli passport to enter the country, they will see the impact as people with resources and morals refuse to visit the Maldives and pick other options instead, hurting tourism, their top industry.
As politicians lose their seats in the upcoming election because they tell lies and support terrorists, our leaders will shift what they say and what they do.
All of this happens because we take action. We lead by our example. We stand up and speak out when we hear people telling lies about Israel and about Jews. We refuse to be silent and refuse to stand by and allow others to attack us. For generations we were visitors in other countries and so we tried to fit in and keep quiet. We wanted to stay under the radar until it was impossible and then, too late. Today, with the modern state of Israel, we have a homeland. We don’t need to stay under the radar and quiet. Yet too many of us do. Too many of us remain convinced we are Americans first. Too many of us are afraid to lose what we have by standing up and speaking out when history tells us time and time again, if we don’t stand up and speak out, we are guarnteed to lose what we have. We each get to choose if want to be lambs to the slaugher or fight back. We have our examples. Abraham argued with God about Sodom and Gemmorrah. Queen Esther risked everything for the Jewish people. Moses gave up the chance to be Pharoah and rule Egypt to serve God and the Jewish people. King David took on Goliath. Hannah Senesh risked it all and paid the ultimate price for the Jewish people. The list goes on and on.
Hannah Senesh sacrificed her life for the Jewish people
So in these crazy times that we live in, who are you going to be? Are you going to be Nachson, who bravely walked into the Red Sea until it was over his head before God parted it to save the Jewish people or are you going to be the one who served the Egyptians and the Nazis to harm the Jewish people? Are you going to speak up for Israel and the Jewish people like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. did or are you going to be Mark Ruffalo who constantly criticizes Israel for existing and posts his own antisemitic digs at Jews?
I choose to be Dr. King. I choose light over darkness. I choose love over hate. I choose peace over war. I choose hope over despair. I choose being Jewish over hiding who I am. I choose good over evil. I choose action over inaction. I choose speaking up over being silent. Like our historical ancestors, I choose risk to flourish over safety to hide and eventually lose everything.
We each have to make our own choice. I hope you choose wisely.
The wise choice will give you life but the wrong choice will take it from you
Processing my recent trip to Israel has been a challenge. This is my 21st trip yet the first since October 7th. In many ways, this makes it my first trip to Israel. Rather than being able to sum up the trip in one blog post, I am going to take bits and pieces and talk about them. Take bites out of this experience and share them. As I was talking to somebody this morning about the trip, we discussed how it really was an overwhelming experience filled with emotion. I’m going to begin by writing about three things.
In 2021 I participated in my first Momentum trip. One of the people on our trip was an Israeli man named Alex Malayev. While we didn’t become close friends on the trip, we did get to know each other. Throughout the years after the trip, we kept in touch through our WhatsApp group. He shared with us in the group that his son Yoav was in the IDF and killed fighting Hamas on October 7th. It was devastating to hear this news and my heart broke for him. On the trip, he talked about his son and shared what Yoav wrote, after he was mortally injured and was dying.
Yoav Malayev z”l with his father Alex and mother Maya
“The best 20 minutes of my life, we crawled up to here. I got injured, and there’s a barrage now. I’m thinking about you, and I’ll be thinking about you the whole journey. I love you.”
It brought tears to my eyes then and brings tears to my eyes now. As this 19 year old boy was injured and dying, his thoughts were on defending Israel, defending the Jewish people, and how much he loved his family. He was proud of his effort to defend the Jewish people and the Jewish homeland. The best 20 minutes of his life. What bravery. What inspiration. When I first heard it from Alex and read it on the page, I felt like I was being slapped in the face. He was willing to sacrifice his life for the Jewish people and the Jewish homeland. What am I willing to do? What am I willing to risk? How important is it to me? As I sit on my comfortable couch back in America, I continue to ask myself that question. I thought I did enough before this trip. After hearing Yoav’s story, I know I am not. I have to do more. I have to advocate for Israel. I have to advocate for the Jewish people. I can’t be silent because I am worried about my safety. He didn’t worry about his safety.
Alex’s son Yoav may have died but he didn’t die in vain. Not only did he help protect Israel and the Jewish people, his life and death is an inspiration to us all to do more. To give more. To take bigger risks. To represent being Jewish in a public way. We have a collective responsibility. When Israel called, 350,000 reservists answered right away. More than were expected. The Jewish people are calling. Israel is calling. We need to respond. I know that I will. The next few weeks will be figuring out exactly how. I urge you, if inspired by Yoav, to do the same.
The second thing I want to talk about is when we went to the Shura army base. When we arrived, we got there just as the body of Nachman Vaknin z”l was being loaded into the van to be taken to Eilat for burial. Nachman had been killed in battle a few days earlier. It was incredibly powerful watching his coffin being loaded into the van. Then, the doors were kept open so one of our group, who was saying mourners kaddish for his mother, could say kaddish there for both him other and for Nachman. When he finished, we were given the honor of escorting Nachman out of the parking lot and on his final journey home, where he would be buried later that day.
Nachman Vaknin z”l
None of us had known Nachman yet all of us felt we lost somebody close to us. This 20 year old boy was defending us. He was defending Israel. He was defending the Jewish people. On Thursday, we had been in Kfar Aza, less than a mile from Jabaliya. Before that, we had been working on a farm in the Gaza envelope where we could see Khan Yunis. After Kfar Aza we went to the site of the Nova music festival. Both Kibbutzim and the Nova festival were attacked on October 7th and suffered losses. Two of the three also had hostages taken. In the middle of the war, we knew that we could have been attacked at any time at those sites. Nachman was killed on Saturday, just two days after we were in the area. I think all of this combined to make him feel like an additional son to all of us.
We were incredibly moved by being there for Nachman as he was put into the van and driven away. It made us think about life. Earlier on the trip, Saul, our trip leader, had talked to us about what we would die for determining what we would live for. I know that as I stood there with Nachman’s body, I knew what he would die for and so I knew what he lived for. It continued the spin in my head. What would I die for? Because I know that determines what I live for. Now that I am home, that spin in my head hasn’t stopped. Yoav and Nachman both knew. My head still spins. They were 19 and 20 yet they knew. I am 56 about to be 57 and I am not sure. My family is one thing that I would die for. I know that and have known that for a long time. What ideals? What values? It goes to my core which is what makes it so difficult. A core value of mine is honesty but would I die rather than tell a lie? I don’t think so. Where that line is a challenge for all of us to ask of ourselves. This trip has truly highlighted it for me and I want to be like Yoav and Nachman and know to my core what I would die for. Then I know what I truly live for.
The final thing I want to write about also is from the Shura army base. After we said l’hitraot to Nachman on his final trip, we were introduced to Noa, who talked to us about the forensic center located at the base. Noa has 8 children and on October 7th, 7 of their family were called up from reserves. This includes both her and her husband. This means 7 of 10 people in her family have been active duty in the war since October 7th. It makes the story in Saving Private Ryan seem tame as he was one of 4 brothers and these are 5 siblings and 2 parents. Her job at the forensic center was to prepare the bodies of those who were murdered on October 7th for burial. One of the beautiful things she said that she always believes that the neshama, the soul, of the person who died is in the room with her. You can listen to her talk in this first video.
Noa speaking to us and introducing herself and the base.
Noa was truly amazing and inspiring. She talked about how they got not just the bodies of soldiers but of civilians as well. Men, women, and children. They also got the bodies of terrorists. This made it challenging as many of their bodies were booby trapped with bombs and grenades. Imagine working to humanely treat the bodies of the dead and having to rush out because there is concern one of the bodies has a grenade or bomb that could go off. As she talks about how many bodies were there on October 7th in such matter of fact voice was chilling. She finishes talking about an injured soldier with a twin brother and how she can’t make a mistake in the identification.
Noa talking more about the base and what she does.
When we went inside the thing Noa talked about that stuck with me the most was how after all the horror she saw, after all the blood she described dealing with, after seeing the mutiliated and abused bodies, she finds that she must still look for the positive. She still has to think about how to make the family a more delicious dinner. How to be a better wife and mother and friend. After all the horrors, instead of being stuck in them, she looks for the beauty in life. She looks for ways to make life better not just for herself but for those she cares about and loves. What a beautiful concept.
After she talked about that, I found myself thinking about the things that I struggle with that keep me from focusing on the beauty of life. What things am I allowing to keep me from asking how I can be a better husband, father, and friend. What more delicious dinner should I make? What keeps me focused on the negative instead of the positive? And if Noa can do this after what she has seen, what stops me from doing it? It should be so much easier for me as I haven’t seen the gore she has. I haven’t dealt with the inhumanity that she has.
Now that I am back in the United States, far away from the active war, I want to do better. I want whatever comes to my life to only make me want to do more. To do better. I have seen religious people talk about this often in the past, regardless of their religion, and always questioned it. After October 7th, after meeting Noa, after seeing the sacrifice made by Yoav and Nachman, after being at Kfar Aza and the Nova music festival site, I feel like it is my obligation to find ways to bring more light to world. Not to allow the darkness we all face to win. Noa actively shoves the darkness away and doesn’t merely make room for the light, she is the light. She fills the room with light. We were all amazing by Noa. Who she is as a person. What she does for Israel, for those who die in service to Israel, and for their families. The type of mother, sister, and wife she is. Who she is as a human being.
Three amazing people to inspire me and hopefully inspire you. Yoav, who while giving his life for the state and people he loves not only celebrates the opportunity but shares his love for his family. Nachman, who paid the ultimate price to keep us all safe and while we didn’t know him, felt like a family member to us all, and Noa, who took care of those from October 7th and every female soldier since so they get treated with dignity and respect before burial. Who makes sure the families going through intense pain and loss know somebody was caring for their child until they are buried. All three knew what they’d die for. All 3 knew what they live for. While only one remains alive today, all three have full lives. All three have changed my life. I hope that over the rest of my life, I can live up to the standard they have set. I know I have work to do.
I met Mahmoud in 2019 on my Encounter trip. You can read about the trip starting with this blog post and continue forward. It was great to see Mahmoud and we hugged when we saw each other. He asked us to sit as we caught up on our families, work, and life changes. This of course brought up the war which has impacted him both economically and in terms of how safe he feels for his family. It was another connection point as I have those same feelings as a Jew in the United States.
Mahmoud is incredibly smart. The conversation was deep and not stuck on talking points or things that often impede real conversation. It was refreshing to have somebody to talk with about what is happening without the incitement of specific words.
We didn’t use words like Genocide. We both agreed that lots of people were dying, and we wanted that to stop. We didn’t use words like forced famine. We agreed that not enough food was getting to the people, and they were hungry. He doesn’t believe enough food is getting in even if it wasn’t being stolen and sold. He said there were fewer trucks going in now than before the war. From what I understood that wasn’t accurate but I didn’t have the facts in front of me so chose not to dispute that point and just agree that people were hungry. We agreed that the Hamas attacks on October 7 were unacceptable. We agreed that Hamas was evil. We agreed that Hamas must be removed and cannot continue to exist in power. The murders, rapes, burning of bodies, and other actions were evil and unacceptable. He shared that he and his friends were horrified when they learned of the attack. We agreed that taking the civilian hostages was unacceptable and he shared that his hope was that they would be released the very next day. He also said that he felt the taking of soldiers was different as this was an act of war by Hamas and taking military personnel for future prisoner swaps was ok. While I understand his position on this, I struggle with it because of how Hamas treats prisoners.
We talked about Zionism. When we met in 2019, he made the comment that, “If Zionism means the Jews have a right to the land and we do as well, then I am ok with Zionism.” When I said that the definition of Zionism is that the Jews have a right to a homeland and says nothing about anybody else, he commented that too many people disagree with me. There are people who believe all of historical Israel belongs to the Jews and not only should we have the West Bank/Judea and Samaria but also Jordan and more. That Greater Israel should be ours. Just like there are Palestinians who believe there should be no Jewish state at all. They believe the entire land should be Palestinian. We can’t listen to the extremes and that’s where we are at the current time. The media only covers the extremes. That is what sells. That’s what gets ratings and advertisers.
We talked about the campus protests. He wasn’t aware of the number of outside agitators that were involved with them. As we discussed it, he commented that the fascists and communists always do that. This is their pattern throughout history, so it isn’t a surprise. I shared that in my opinion they were stealing his story and his pain for their own agenda which had nothing to do with Palestinians. It was about anarchy and changing the United States government. He agreed.
We discussed how the status quo in the relationship between the Israelis and Palestinians was not something that could continue long term. When I participated in the Encounter trip, one thing that was clear to me was that the status quo couldn’t continue. We agree on that. From the day I met him, Mahmoud has been a proponent of a one state solution. For him this doesn’t mean someplace that is free of Jews. It is his position that Israel already controls the entire area and that it is already one state in which some of the people who live there get treated differently. The challenge of a one state solution is that it would mean that Israel would no longer be a Jewish state. That’s the cost of peace in a one state solution. Unfortunately, I agree with him that the cost of a one state solution is the loss of Israel as a Jewish state. I chose not to tell him that this would be unacceptable to the world Jewish community as the entire purpose of having a state of Israel is to have a Jewish state. It is why I believe a one state solution will never occur. The Palestinians would have to agree to leave the land and they are not going to do that.
He was pessimistic about any chance of a two-state solution working. He made the point that Gaza was effectively a two-state solution. We see how that worked out. I agree with him. The challenge of a two-state solution is that the Palestinian leaders and people need to not just accept that Israel exists as a Jewish state but also there will be travel limitations and challenges because there are two countries with sovereign boundaries. This also doesn’t even consider the trust factor needed. The current trust factor is at best zero right now. When I made the comment that it might take ten (10) years to get to a real two-state solution he shook his head and told me that was likely too long. He said if it is going to take 10 years, it is dead. I don’t agree with him here and we spent a lot of time talking about leadership.
For those who have been reading my blog, you know how critical I have been about our lack of leadership. This lack of leadership exists in the Jewish community, in America, in Europe and certainly in Israel and with the Palestinians. The Palestinian Authority President Abbas was elected to a 4-year term in 2005. There have not been elections since. He is in year 20 of a 5-year term. The world stays silent and supports him. Prime Minister Netanyahu has been in power longer than any other Israeli Prime Minister. While he has been in and out of power due to free elections, there is a reason why many countries have term limits for these and other positions. A new voice is needed. New leadership.
Both Mahmoud and I expressed our concerns about future leadership. Who might it be? Mahmoud is concerned Israel will elect Ben-Gvir, Smoltrich, or somebody on the far right like them. I don’t share those same concerns as the Israeli people are not far right like them. They are given a far too large platform because Netanyahu needs them to remain in power. I am concerned that the leadership that will follow Abbas is going to be Hamas or Hamas like. Somebody who will not lead towards peace but will lead back to the days of the intifadas and violence. Both of us are stunned that in the United States, with well over 300 million people, these are the two candidates we have for President. Because of their age, it is unlikely that either of them will be running in 2028 (one won’t be eligible per our constitution) so perhaps we can see some change in the US in four years but no matter who wins, it will be a very challenging four years. With all this negativity about leadership, Mahmoud wanted to talk more about the people rather than leadership.
His concern is that leaders are elected by the people. His concern is that the anger and rage at Hamas is spilling over to the Palestinian people and will make things worse. There are people who say, “just bomb them all” or “flatten Gaza and kill them all” or “they are all terrorists”. I shared with him that as I was in Kfar Aza and at the Nova site, I felt rage. I didn’t share that at Kfar Aza, as each bomb exploded in Jabaliyah, I felt better, as not only does that really bother me that I felt that way but also it would have been counterproductive to our conversation. He isn’t wrong. Israel is not the same country as it was on October 6. The people of Israel are not the same. The events of October 7 have altered the people and the country. I don’t know where it is going to end up. I told him I remain hopeful that when the war ends, and the war will end at some point, I am hopeful that the Israeli people can heal and look to a future where there can be peace and something like October 7 will never happen again. He was much more pessimistic and really fears that the long-term impact on the Israeli people will be to radicalize them further and further to the right. I shared my hope that after the war, it would bring them back towards the center due to the desire to live life.
We also spent time talking about how important it is for Jews and Palestinians to talk the way we were. To respect each other and share ideas, not ideology. To work towards finding solutions, not arguing and fighting for the sake of arguing and fighting. He shared that while some Israelis do some to talk with him, he has no platform in Israel to do this. Coming to the United States to talk to Israelis and Jewish communities isn’t the answer either. We need more dialogue. We need more discussion. This brought me back to my points about leadership and how they can’t and won’t do this. Perhaps after the war ends and Bibi is replaced and in the next few years when it is likely that Abbas will die, we will have a chance for new leadership that is willing to engage with each other and really work for the benefit of their people rather than to remain in power. Maybe I am overly optimistic. Maybe I am being too positive and too hopeful. I don’t see another way to live.
As we wrapped up our 90-minute conversation, there is much to think about and much to contemplate. We hugged goodbye and made plans to get together on one of my future trips to Israel. Because of the time and the heat, we chose to take a cab back instead of walking. Matthew and I began to talk a little about the experience, but those conversations will happen back in the US over a coffee or twenty.
I appreciate Mahmoud for giving his time. For sharing his opinions and concerns. For listening to both Matthew and my comments, concerns, and opinions. For being open to a real discussion and conversation. For looking to the future and not being stuck in the past. As we said during the conversation, we can’t change the past, but we can change the future. I look forward to future conversations with Mahmoud and to a future where there is peace. To a time when the Palestinians can live in peace with their neighbor Israel. When the thought of another October 7th isn’t on everybody’s minds.
My friendship with Mahmoud and a number of other Palestinians living in East Jerusalem and the West Bank/Judea and Samaria (two names for the same place) are examples that we can live together. We can have difference and get beyond them and live together. It gives me hope that when we finally get new leadership who truly cares about a different future, we might be able to have peace.
The events of October 7th have been widely circulated and publicized. Most people know what happened and even thought there are deniers, they are largely discredited. As sombody who sat in front of the TV all day on October 7th while sending WhatsApp messages to my Israeli friends and family to check on them, I have been more aware than most. In addition, I put together a viewing of the 47-minute Hamas video and I saw the Nova music festival documentary and heard a survivor speak afterwards. I have friends in the IDF reserves who gave me updates.
I thought I was prepared when we went to Hostage Square and heard from the fathers of two hostages earlier in the week. I wasn’t. Hostage Square was overwhelming and I want to go back and just sit there for hours with the family members to show support. Hearing the pleas of the fathers of two hostages was beyond painful. I’ve mainly processed the experience and while the hostages will be in my heart and mind until they are released, I figured out a way to cope with the experience.
Today, we went to the Gaza envelope. This was something I have looked forward to being able to do since October 7th. To volunteer with agriculture because the Kibbutzim and Moshavim are short workers. To visit Kfar Aza or Be’eri, the Kibbutzim that were brutally attacked. To be at the Nova music festival site and pay tribute to those murdered by Hamas terrorists while they were enjoying live music and their friends. It felt noble. It felt important. And it was.
The location of the farm where we worked on the lemon grove
Working on the lemon fields was rewarding. It wasn’t fun work. It wasn’t hard work. It was necessary work. We started by seeing the office area, using the bathroom, and getting a feel for where we were. We were about 2 miles from Gaza. They had a collection of rockets fired from Gaza in the front as well as some remnants from the Iron Dome rockets that shot them down. I got a chance to hold one of the Iron Dome rockets which was much lighter than I expected.
Holding an Iron Dome rocket used to shoot down a Hamas rocket
We then spent about an hour and a half cleaning the trees, cutting away excess branches that made it harder for them to properly water and nourish the trees. The lemons were big and delicious and I cut one up to squeeze into my water bottle. As we worked the fields, we found parts of rockets and Iron Dome rockets lying around. They couldn’t be bothered with cleaning up the smaller fragments from the grove.
Our guide from the kibbutz shared the challenges with having lost their workers from Thailand and all the workers that came daily from Gaza. The King of Thailand won’t allow them to come back to Israel but he was able to get some Thai workers back by having them go to Cypress and then pick them up there. They also added some workers from India but are still woefully short of labor. When we asked him if the Kibbutz lost any members on October 7th, his response was a bit surprising. “Yes, only 4”. I had to double and triple check that he understood I meant were any of them murdered by Hamas terrorists, not if they decided to leave the Kibbutz. He understood clearly as he told me they had 3 women and 1 man murdered. He said they got lucky. Some people climbed out of the window and ran to other houses, allowing the people coming from Gaza to just rob their homes. Others opened the door and told them to go away and they did. Nobody is sure why they got so lucky (as if having four people in your community murdered is lucky) but they were.
I think the most impactful think that he said to us was that they were planting because it gives them roots. They aren’t going anywhere. They aren’t leaving the land. They aren’t moving and they aren’t afraid. This is their home. It was a powerful statement and I thought to myself, “F them! I’ll move here. I’ll live here to show Hamas and others that we as Jews aren’t going anywhere!” Since my wife has already said I have the softest hands of anybody she knows, that feeling was really good for about 30 minutes and then reality set it. I’m not moving to be a farmer in the south of Israel. But it should did feel good for a while. Israel is our historic home and after 2,000 years, we aren’t giving it up and aren’t leaving.
On the way to Kfar Aza, one of the men on our bus asked if we could stop at the bus shelter near the Nova site to pay tribute to two of his friends who were murdered that day. As it turns out, one of the people was the uncle of the woman I heard speak in Orlando after the showing of the Nova documentary. Lee survived the massacre. Her story was brutal and gunwrenching. She had described the shelter she hid and and where she watched her uncle and others die. To see it in person and pay my respects both to her uncle and the others who perished but also to honor her survival, I wanted to get out and see it as well.
The exterior of the bomb shelter where Lee Sasi hid and her uncle and 11 others were murdered
I have been inside bomb shelters on prior visits to explore them. I knew what the size was like, the dark and dinginess. The feeling of being trapped even as the only one in there. For some reason I didn’t apply that when Lee told her story. As I stepped into the bunker, it all camp flowing back. I thought about 25 or more people cramped in this tiny space. I thought about being trapped with no way out as terrorists reached their guns around the corner and began firing randomly, guaranteeing to hit people based on both the small area and the concrete walls. I thought about what would happen each time a grenade was thrown into that small space by the terrorists. I thought about Lee, hiding underneath dead bodies to protect herself from the bullets and the grenades, using the dead bodies as shields from the explosions of the grenades. It became overwhelming and I quickly left.
Walking through the bomb shelter where Lee Sasi hid and 12 people, including her uncle, were murdered.
On the entrance and interior of the shelter there are plaques to commemorate the 12 who were murdered in this shelter. There were stickers to commemorate and remember each individual who was murdered here. It was a powerful thing to see. I’ll never forget Lee Sasi’s story nor will I forget seeing As we headed to Kfar Aza, I had no idea that this wasn’t even close to what I would experience.
Earlier I said I thought I was prepared for Hostage Square and wasn’t. I also thought I was prepared for our visit to Kfar Aza. I have a friend who is from Kfar Aza and I knew it was beautiful before October 7. When we pulled up, it looked like many other kibbutzim that I have been to. Beautiful trees, grass, and warm, welcoming feel.
Welcome to Kfar AzaBeautiful entrance to Kfar Aza
For those of you that don’t know, Kfar Aza is located in what is known as “The Gaza Envelope”. It is 1 mile west of Gaza and the city of Jabalyia. You can easily see Jabalyia from Kfar Aza. The people of Kfar Aza were peaceniks. They believed in peace and lived in peace. They had Gazans coming to work at the kibbutz and eat there as well. They’d sit as friends. On October 7, 2023, Hamas terrorists broke through the gate of the kibbutz, massacring the people in the kibbutz. 62 people were murdered with another 19 people taken hostage. Four of those people remain hostages today.
Jabalya in the distance. The back of the Kibbutz’s fields are only a few hundred feet from Gaza.
As I said earlier, I thought I was prepared for Kfar Aza. I thought I understood what happened there. After all, I had watched tv all day on October 7th, talked to friends of mine who live in Israel and serve in the IDF, talked with friends who live in the south, close to Gaza. I saw the 47-minute Hamas video. I watched the Nova documentary and heard a survivor speak afterwards. I talk with my friend who is a reserve commander in Gaza and one that is a reserve commander in the north. I’m very plugged in and get real information. And yet, I wasn’t close to being prepared for what I saw.
As we began to tour the area of the Kibbutz where the Hamas terrorists attacked, I was sad with what I initially saw. It was what I expected. Houses with their roof torn off.
House in Kfar Aza with the roof torn off House in Kfar Aza with their Sukkah still up 7 months later.
Then we moved deeper into the Kibbutz and our guide from the IDF started telling stories. Watch her tell the stories. They are powerful and painful. It is something I will never forget.
Outside one of the homes in Kfar Aza where the IDF soldier tells us the story of the family who was murdered by Hamas.
This was powerful. It was hard to hear. Hard to look at the house and know the story that went with it. Yet we were only beginning.
She walked a little bit, stopped at another house, and told us another story. I’m sure she has told these stories many times. It was clear to me that no matter how many times she tells the story of the people murdered in each house, it causes her great pain. My anger continued to grow. I could feel the rage growing in my body. We moved on to another home and another story.
By this time I was boiling over with rage. I began thinking about those who deny this happened. I was thinking about those who say and believe that these people deserved it. I was furious with those who say it is all Israel’s fault and Hamas was right to massacre the Jews. I began hearing bombs dropping in Jabalya and something strange happened that I didn’t really like and continue to struggle with. Instead of feeling fear, I felt relief. Each time I heard a bomb explode just a mile away from me, it made me feel better. I’m not proud to say this and I don’t want any innocent people to be harmed. Yet what Hamas and those Gazans who followed them and looted and raped did was so horrific, bombs became the salve for my soul. Part of me feels terrible for this. Part of me is glad that something soothed my soul. It’s incredibly conflicting and I don’t think I will come to any resolution for a long time. We began walking to the next home.
The next area of homes were the youth village. At Kfar Aza, when you turn 18, you move out of your parents home and into your own apartment in this part of the Kibbutz. She told us that this was filled with life. Music and dancing. Karaoke. Barbeques. Fun. It was the heart of the Kibbutz. This was the part that was hit the hardest by Hamas. As we walked down the street, we saw pictures of those murdered and kidnapped.
There were so many, I only took a few pictures. We reached an intersection and turned towards the gate that Hamas breached to enter the Kibbutz. You can see from the picture, Jabalya is just behind the Kibbutz. 1 mile away. Maybe a little less.
I went to the gate and recorded this video. As the bombs continued to fall, it made me feel good. I hate writing that and I hate admitting it. It is not the person I am nor the person I want to be. Hamas is that type of evil. As we experienced the impact of October 7 in this part of the Kibbutz, the need to eliminate Hamas was not only clear but became an imperative.
As we headed down that part of the Kibbutz, the IDF soldier asked us not to take any pictures of the houses on that street. Everybody who lived on that street was either murdered or kidnapped. Let me repeat that again. EVERYBODY WHO LIVED ON THAT STREET WAS EITHER MURDERED OR KIDNAPPED.
The bombs went off again and I hate to admit that my thought was, “They are not coming fast enough. We need more bombs in Jabalya. We need bombs in Rafah. We need them home.” I’m not proud of these thought but I want to be honest about the feelings that were occurring as I was seeing and hearing the horror of Hamas terrorists.
We headed to the final home we would learn about and visit. They had previously explained to us that the circle with the dot inside on the walls meant there was a dead Israeli inside. They explained all the other symbols as well but that was the one I looked for first. On this house, however, along with the circle with the dot inside, there was written in Hebrew that there were human remains on the couch. Watch and listen to her tell the story.
The couch no longer exists although some of the remains are outside the house. There are pictures of the couch inside. Here are pictures of not just the couch but also inside the house. Grenades were thrown in the house so what you are looking at are because of grenades, not bullets.
Picture of the couch with human remains on it. You are looking at the blood.The ceiling. These are from grenade explosionsMore damage to the ceiling from grenades. Imagine being in the room.More pictures of the horror inside this house
I was glad this was the last house. I was completely overwhelmed with anger, resentment, sadness, grief, and similar emotions. The horror documented in this house was beyond comprehension. I couldn’t speak for a bit as we walked down to the end of the road and met with one of the new leaders of the Kibbutz security team. The team is new because 7 of the 12 members were killed by Hamas and 3 were injured. Listen to his words and maybe you can understand what they faced and what it is like today not just in Kfar Aza but all of Israel.
We headed to the bus, all of us shaken by the experience. It was quiet and solemn. It was intense. We were all a little anxious as our next stop was the Nova music festival site. After what we just saw and experiened, would we be able to handle the Nova site? I really didn’t know.
We arrived at the Nova site about 20 minutes after leaving Kfar Aza. I needed the time on the bus to just have quiet and some peace. As we pulled in, it looked so peaceful and beautiful. I could imagine the festival happening and the joy of everybody in attendance. When we got off the bus, Saul Blinkoff, our amazing trip leader, showed us a picture of where we were standing from October 7, 2023. I took a picture on May 16, 2024. You can compare the two and see how much was left in haste compared to the emptiness now.
October 7, 2023 Nova Music FestivalMay 16, 2024 Nova Festival
I wandered around the site, letting everything seep into me. There was a sadness and a beauty to the site. It was also overwhelming at the sheer number of people that were memorialized at the Nova site.
The pictures of everbody who was murdered or taken hostage at the Nova music festival. Look closely as there are a lot pictures of people.
I wandered amongst the pictures and notes about each one of the victims. Looked each person’s picture in the face and said their name in my head. Remembering them as living people. Paying tribute to how they died. Praying for their safe return if they were taken hostage. It was amazing how many young lives were ended. It reminded me of Kfar Aza and how the young people were wiped out.
Walking through the Nova site
After wandering around looking at the images of those murdered or kidnapped and taken hostage, I found myself wanting to sit down in front of some of them and really look at the person. Spend some time with them, as if I was sitting at their grave. Treat it like I was going to the shiva house (house of mourning for the 7 days after burial). So I did. It was beautifully peaceful. It felt right. Investing time in remembering these beautiful, innocent people who were murdered by Hamas because of hate. As I sat for 5-10 minutes in front of various memorials, I found some peace. Kfar Aza was hard. Nova seemed different. Perhaps it was the lack of obvious violence at the site. Maybe it was the beautiful tribute to the souls lost or kidnapped on October 7. At both Hostage Square and Nova, I felt the same peace in my soul. Awful atrocities happened at Nova and Hostage Square is a remembrance of the kidnapping and murder of innocent people. Yet both seemed to have a soul calming effect for me.
In front of the Nova tribute. It’s beautiful and peaceful and sad.
While at Nova, we had the privilege of hearing directly from Rami Davidian, a true hero of October 7 and the Nova music festival. You will want to read about him here as I can’t do justice to his story, but I will tell you a bit of it and the impact and takeaways for me.
Rami is a farmer who lives in the Gaza envelope. At 6:45 am on October 7, he received a phone call from a friend, asking him to rescue his daughter, who was near a farm in the area. She had been at the Nova festival and managed to escape and was hiding from the terrorists. Rami not only saved her, he found others on the way to save her and got others to come pick them up. Since he was out saving people, his number was shared to those who had children at Nova and his WhatsApp was filled with requests to save people. He showed us the number of messages he received. It was unbelievable as scrolled and scrolled and scrolled.
The story he told us that made us all gasp was when he went to rescue a girl named Amit. He was able to figure out where she was and as he came up to rescue her, he saw that she was surrounded by 6 Hamas terrorists. Thinking quickly, he spoke to them in Arabic (he is fluent) and introduced himself as Abu Rami, a muslim. He told them that the IDF was closing in on them and they needed to run now to stay alive. As they began to move, he told them he would take the girl to his car and come around to pick them up. It would save them time and keep them safe. They believed him, gave him Amit, and ran. He took Amit back to the car and drove away.
Unfortunately, Rami also found many people who were murdered. He took them all to one spot where he laid them together. For each person he found dead, he would also say the Shema before he left them, saying the prayer for them in case they weren’t able to. There were people who reached out to him to save their children and Rami knew they were already dead. He didn’t feel it was his place to tell them this news so he would either lie that he couldn’t find them or ask them to pray to God for safety. Even during this crazy and horrific time, he thought with compassion.
Rami is a true hero. A regular man who took action when needed and saved 750 people. To put that into context, Oskar Schindler, famous for saving Jews in the Holocaust and highlighted in the Steven Spielberg movie, Schindler’s List, saved 1200 people. Rami is a role model. A hero. A regular man who did great things. He should inspire us all to do what we can to make the world a better place. There are generations that will exist because of Rami.
Standing with Rami, a true hero, at the Nova site. He rescuted 750 people that day.
We finished our time at Nova in an incredibly beautiful way. We had Anders, a musician, with us all day and at Nova, he gathered us together in a circle to play guitar and sing. Since we were at the site of a musical festival that was attacked by terrorists who committed horrific murders, rapes, and kidnappings, I couldn’t think of anything better as a tribute to those at the festival than to play music and sing. As he played the song and we joined in, our singing attracted others. A number of boys from Miami who were visiting the site joined us as we put our arms around each other, rocked back and forth, and sang loudly. It’s something I will never forget. While the impact of Kfar Aza remains and I have much more processing to do, the time at Nova was incredibly healing. It is a place I want to return to regularly, not just to pay tribute to those who lost their lives, were kidnapped, or who escaped, but also to heal my soul.
Anders leading us in song at the Nova site. It felt right to be singing and brining music to this site.
This was a heavy and hard day. Our trip leader told us that what we were doing was similar to visiting Auschwitz not long after it was liberated. I don’t like comparisons to the Holocaust as nothing does compare to it. 6 million Jews and 11 million people are not the same as the 1,200 people murdered and 250+ kidnapped on October 7. The thought behind it, however, was the same. True genocide. Not the made up word used by those who hate Israel and the Jews. Full intent to kill every Jew and Israeli they found. The goal was to eliminate the Jews. I think back to the joy in the voice of the Hamas terrorist telling his parents that he killed 10 Jews with his own hands. His celebration. He dad congratulating him. His mother being excited and elated that he killed 10 Jews.
It bothers and frustrates me that people think Hamas is the victiim. That those who support Hamas and their evil are the ones deserving of praise. When it’s a Jewish person, I shake my head, as they clearly don’t understand that these people want them dead. The media does a terrible job reporting on Israel, with tremendous bias and often times outright lies. After having been to both Kfar Aza and Nova, it is even clearer what a terrible job they have done. The horrors at Kfar Aza will remain with me. The feeling of standing on the grounds of the Nova festival will remain with me for life. Looking at the skyline of Jabalya, less than a mile away, will stay with me. Note that I said skyline – there are buildings, and plenty of them, in Jabalya.
This has been a pilgrimage for me in many ways. I needed to be in Israel for my own connection. I needed to be immersed in the culture and with the people. I needed to be here for Yom HaZikaron and share the sadness with my Israeli brothers and sisters. I needed to visit Kfar Aza to see and experience the horrors that happened there. I needed to put my feet on the ground at the Nova site, to walk around and pay my respects to those who were murdered and those who were kidnapped. I needed to sing while at Nova to honor the festival and heal my soul.
As somebody who has been to Israel 21 times now, I know not the believe the media reports. Too many others don’t. It isn’t the same Israel that I visited the first 20 times. There are questions about the hostages. Questions about Hezbollah and the north. Uncertainty about American policy. PTSD from October 7 and everything that has happened since. The hostages need to be returned. Hamas and the war in Gaza needs to be finished. Hezbollah and the north need to be stabilized. There are many existential issues facing Israel and Israelis. I’m glad to be here now and make my contribution, however small it may be.
At the end of the day, we can all do something. If you can come to Israel, please do. If you can’t, do what you can. Speak up. Speak loudly. Don’t hide. Learn the facts to address the lies. What we each choose to do now will not just shape the Jewish future, it will determine the Jewish future.
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.
How young they are. These were babies. They were younger than my own children.
They shared how bad it is in France for Jews. I knew it was bad from reading the news, but they shared much more.
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 unitA 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.
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.
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.
The police tore down the “Liberated Zone” at University of Pennsylvania this morning.
An anti-Israel student later showed up to mourn met pro-Israeli students.
He said that the hostages are liars but are at least kept alive by Hamas.
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?
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