Many things feel differently this year. October 7th changed everything. As a Jew, it was a personal Kristallnacht, Pearl Harbor Day, 9/11. In my life I’ve had a number of days that I thought were like this. Three Mile Island and the possible meltdown (I lived 10 miles away in Harrisburg, PA at the time). The day that Ronald Reagan was shot (I watched the news on a small black and white TV at the Harrisburg JCC outside the locker rooms). September 11th. None of them were close.
As we approached Passover this year, the term freedom meant something entirely different. Hostages remain in Gaza. How many are alive, we do not know. I have 3 friends that each have a relative that remain a hostage and 3 other friends that have relatives that were hostages that have been released. For the families where the hostages were released, there is freedom. For those still kept as hostages and their families, there is no freedom. For those of us who are a part of the global Jewish community, we have no freedom as long as the hostages remain in Gaza, kept by Hamas. As we told the story of exodus from Mitzrayim, the dark place often translated as Egypt, I wondered what the story of the exodus of the hostages will be. When will we be able to tell it?
I thought of the 1972 Olympics in Munich when the 11 Israeli athletes were murdered. Israel responded against Black September with Operation Wrath of God to hold those involved accountable. When the Air France plane was hijacked and taken to Entebbe Airport in Uganda, those passengers not deemed to be Jewish or Israeli were released and those who were thought to be Jewish or Israeli kept, Israel responded with a classic and mythical raid to free them. The hostages were safe and only one IDF solider, Yoni Netanyahu (Bibi’s older brother) was killed. Bold action to keep Israelis and Jews safe.
The world understood vicious terrorism and how to counteract it. When terrorism began to hit Europe and then the United States on 9/11, I mistakenly thought that both Europe and the US would really understand the impact and how important it is to eliminate evil. I was hopeful that this would lead to a worldwide effort to eliminate terrorists and make the world a safer place for all. Boy was I naïve. The conspiracy theorists began blaming Israel for the attacks on 9/11. Still, it was a fringe group, and I maintained my hope. Boy, was I mistaken.
Charlottesville and George Floyd had to show America and the world the danger of hate. How to get off the path we somehow got on that encouraged hate. The mainstream middle of the road people had to rise up against the extremism on the right and the left to demand common sense return. I wanted to believe that the desire to live in a world without extremism existed and there was a large mass of people who would be willing to stand up and speak out. People would join together because they agreed on far more than they disagreed. Friendship would win out and people would talk with their friends because relationships matter. Instead, friendships ended. People separated even more.
Covid happened. Open states vs. closed states. Vaccines vs. no-vaccines. At a time when I wondered if we could be divided any more, I learned that yes, we can. Once again, the antisemites began the ‘Covid was created by the Jews’ campaign. I saw it firsthand when they protested at the JCC. When they protested at a local Chabad. When they wore Nazi uniforms at Disney and by the entrance to the University of Central Florida. When they hung banners from the overpasses on I-4. This division enabled the antisemites to be more vocal, bolder, and more visible.
The attack by Hamas on October 7th was traumatizing to most Jews. In the words of Ambassador Michael Oren, the covenant created between the State of Israel and the Jewish people in 1948 was violated. Both “Never Again” and “The IDF will always be there” were not true. Hamas video recorded their atrocities and posted them online. Surely the world would see terrorism for what it was. Surely the world would see evil and respond.
Respond they did. But not as I expected nor as I hoped. The blaming of Israel began immediately. The lies and untruths began almost immediately. “It was because of the occupation.” Except Gaza hasn’t been occupied since 2005. “It was because of the blockade.” The blockade, by Israel AND EGYPT is to attempt to stop the flow of rockets and explosives and terrorists into Gaza. Food and medical supplies were plentiful. When Israel responded with targeted attacks, it became “genocide” even though the number of civilians killed AS REPORTED BY HAMAS was well below the UN and Red Cross’s 9-1 ratio. Lies, repeated over and over again, become accepted as truth and we began to fight against them.
Recently we have seen horrific actions on the campus of Columbia University. The University President, Minouche Shafik, had just testified in front of Congress. While she was better than the prior University Presidents who testified before Congress, she wasn’t good. When the protests began on campus, she showed no leadership. She eventually called in the NYPD to enforce their rules but then wouldn’t let them back on campus. An Israeli professor had his access to campus revoked. Jewish students were advised by a campus Rabbi to go home. Jewish students are now virtual while the antisemites get to go to class in person. It is a hot mess of antisemitism. Luckily some of our Representatives and Senators are calling it out and calling for the removal of their Federal funding. We are at a tenuous time. If campuses are not held accountable for their failure to protect Jewish students, we will continue to mirror 1930’s Germany. At the University of Minnesota, they took down the antisemitic protests within 5 hours! It can be done. Our voices must be amplified. We must speak up loudly against those who claim this is free speech. Even free speech has limitations and advocating and calling for the murder of Jewish students and Jews in general is not allowed nor should it be acceptable. It certainly would not be acceptable for any other group. Alumni are pulling donations. It’s not enough. We need to call our Representatives and Senators and demand that Federal funding be withheld as long as they won’t ensure the safety of Jewish students and faculty. You can’t bar a Jewish professor while inviting a Hamas terrorist onto campus the same day. Columbia did that. They need to be held accountable. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued this statement today – that’s how bad it has gotten. The Israeli Prime Minister, in the middle of a war on multiple fronts, is taking time to address the Jew hatred in the US and on our college campuses. Civilized people should be embarrassed.
Today, Hamas released a video of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, an American taken hostage by Hamas over 200 days ago. An American who is being left to languish by our government. He isn’t the only American hostage. Edan Alexander, Itai Chen, Sagui Dekel-Chen, Omer Neutra, and Keith Siegel are the others. We cannot forget their names. We cannot forget that they are kept in deplorable conditions by terrorists along with the other hostages kidnapped by Hamas. I hope this video is actually recent. His reference to ‘the holiday’ concerns me as he doesn’t say Pesach, indicating it could have been filmed anytime. He says 200 days, but they could have told him that a long time ago. Being kept underground in awful conditions means it is easy to lose track of time. My heart breaks for his family. For the families of all the hostages. Watch if you want – it’s not easy – and pray for his safety and the safe return of all the hostages.
Passover is a holiday about freedom. But more than just freedom. It’s about action. Moses didn’t have to kill the Egyptian overseer that was beating a Jew. He didn’t have to return to Egypt to free the Jews. Nachshon didn’t have to be the one to unwaveringly walk into the Red Sea, believing in God, showing the faith in God that resulted in the splitting of the sea. At Mount Sinai, the Jews didn’t have to create the Golden Calf, but they did, and suffered the consequences. Each year, we tell the story of redemption from slavery, of our exodus from Egypt, or as Mitzrayim mean, from darkness. We are in a time of darkness now. We have hostages being held brutally by Hamas in tunnels, receiving no medical care, minimal food, no sunlight. Who knows what brutality the women hostages are facing – it’s almost too much to even imagine. The antisemitism Jewish students are facing on many campuses is horrific. The lack of leadership is atrocious.
In the Passover Seder we talk about the lessons some of the great Rabbis taught us. It’s important to think of the lessons we are learning now that our Rabbis will record and will be shared hundreds of years in the future. We included empty seats at our Seder table for the hostages. We put up pictures of the Bibas family. They are a family of 4 with 2 boys. We are a family of 4 with 2 boys. My children are about the same age difference as the Bibas boys (3 years apart). They couldn’t have a Seder in the tunnels so symbolically had them at our Seder. We talked about the BIbas family. The age of the children. How they were all taken together. How we hoped they were still alive but were afraid they were not. We are not the timid Jews of the past. We are not willing to go to the gas chambers willingly. We will not allow ourselves to be attacked – in Israel by Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, or Iran or in the United States on college campuses or in Europe. We will not stay quiet and hope it goes away. These are lessons we learned over the past 75 years that won’t go away. We finish the Seder by saying “L’shana Haba’ah B’Yerushalayim – Next year in Jerusalem.” For me it’s next month in Jerusalem. I’ve need to be in Israel since October 7th and next month will be able to return. Visiting Israel often is also a lesson we have learned in the past 75 years and if you haven’t been, I urge you to go. And if you have been but haven’t been back recently, I urge you to return.
I used to say that these were ‘interesting times’ and we were dealing with the ancient Chinese curse, “May you live in interesting times.”. I no longer think that. We live in dark times. We live in Mitzrayim. We have members of the US House of Representatives spreading lies about Israel and the IDF. We have college campuses not safe for Jews and University Presidents who won’t keep them safe. A Jewish woman was raped in France this week to ‘Free Palestine’ – how raping a Jewish woman frees Palestine is beyond me. Jews are being assaulted in Europe and the United States just for being Jewish. A Jewish man in the UK was threatened with arrest because he looked Jewish and that might incite those supporting Hamas.
In this dark time, we need to fight for the light. We need to be Warriors of Light (watch for more about this in the future). We need to fight for what is good and righteous. We need to fight evil no matter the cost. I’m not saying it is easy because it isn’t. And I am not saying there is no price to be paid for it because there is. The alternative is death. The alternative is a return to the gas chambers, to the final solution. The alternative is unacceptable. So in these dark times, let me leave you with a little light. At the University of Florida, where I was the Hillel Director for 15 years, there were more than 1,000 students who attended a Passover Seder held by Chabad in the O’Connell Center (the basketball arena). The University President, Ben Sasse, was in attendance. Look at these pictures and smile because campuses don’t have to be the way Columbia is. University Presidents can lead and protect Jewish students. We have the proof it can be done, so now let’s go do it. (Pictures from the Gainesville Sun).
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