A college friend forwarded me this post on LinkedIn by a friend of hers from childhood. In her own words, “I grew up w Joel. He is the best in his profession. He composes music for ads & commercials. He wrote the music for 7 commercials that ran during this years Super Bowl. He is a giant in the industry.” When I read his post I was horrified and inspired. I was angry and I was proud. I could relate. It’s personal. For all of us.
Last year, I was honored to be named Jury President for Music & Sound Craft at the 2025 The One Club for Creativity. I’ve supported The One Club for decades as a sponsor, advocate, judge, and multi-award winner. JSM has earned dozens of One Show Pencils and topped the One Show Global Creative Rankings both globally and domestically.
Shortly after accepting, I received an email from the CEO and Board stating that my personal social media posts unapologetically condemning antisemitism and supporting the Jewish people were “too much” and “triggering” to some at the Club. They said such posts would not be “tolerated.” They objected specifically to my use of the word eradicate when describing what I hoped would happen to the terrorists of October 7. They didn’t like my post celebrating the IDF’s elimination of Sinwar, the architect of 10/7, who raped, mutilated, burned babies, and held hostages. My expression of joy in his demise, they said, was also “too much.”
I refused to accommodate and resigned.
They knew my nephew serves in the IDF. This isn’t theoretical. It’s personal. My values, my family, my identity, my people were under attack. Again.
In a follow-up call, TOCC leadership asked what they could do to keep me. I requested one simple thing: a specific, standalone statement condemning antisemitism—like they’ve done for BLM, LGBTQ+, AAPI, Ukraine, and others. Instead, they sent a vague, diluted message grouping antisemitism with racism, xenophobia, homophobia, Islamophobia, etc., scheduled to run on Holocaust Remembrance Day.
I told them how tone-deaf and offensive that was. They refused to revise it. And then… said nothing. Complete silence. No statement at all. No support for Jewish creatives in our industry. No condemnation of antisemitism.
I also pointed out that only 1 of 42 board members is Jewish, despite generations of Jewish creatives who helped shape this industry. I can name at least 100 deserving Jewish creative leaders off the top of my head. That silence and lack of representation speaks volumes.
I formally cut all ties. I won’t support any organization, especially in my industry, that refuses to condemn antisemitism. This was a choice. And a refusal.
Many urged me to stay quiet. That going public might hurt the business I’ve built over 35 years.
I can’t.
I will not be silenced. Not now. Not ever. And certainly not by an ad awards show that acts as moral authority on every issue and condemns all forms of hate, except Jewish hate by consciously and purposely remaining silent while Jews are hunted, threatened, and murdered. Again.
I was a Jew before JSM. I’ll be a Jew after JSM.
Am Yisrael Chai.
Joel isn’t the only one who faces this type of Jew hatred, discrimination, and expectation to just accept it. It happens to most of us every day and we don’t even see it or realize it. Some of us even think it’s acceptable because we have ‘privilege’. We cannot stay quiet in the face of this hatred. We cannot stick our heads in the sand and hope that it will just go away or leave us alone. History has shown us that it never does. It comes for us all in the end. We must fight back. We must stand up and speak out. Staying quiet isn’t an option. Joel isn’t. Neither should any of us.
Britain suspended free trade talks with Israel and the EU said it will review whether Israel is violating the human rights clause of the EU-Israel Association Agreement. France, the U.K. and Canada threatened sanctions against Israel. All because Israel refuses to let Hamas, a terrorist organization still holding Israeli hostages, stay in power to murder, rape, and kidnap more Israelis. They think we are the same Jews of the past who meekly hid and accepted our fate. They are 100% wrong. Prime Minister Netanyahu spoke up powerfully about this today.
“The world is telling us to end the war,” Netanyahu said, in the first press conference he has held in Israel since December. “I am prepared to end the war according to clear conditions: Hamas lays down its weapons, steps down from power, returns all the hostages, Gaza is demilitarized and we implement the Trump plan” to relocate residents of Gaza. Whoever is calling for us to end the war is calling for Hamas to stay in power,”
Love him or hate him, Bibi won’t just accept our fate as Jews to be that of victims. Neither should we. Joel showed us how to stand up and speak out. Bibi showed us how to do it. The question is, what will you do? Will you be like Joel and stand up and speak out despite the personal risk? Will you stand up to Jew hatred in the face of your ‘friends’ like Bibi is doing to the UK, France, Canada, and the EU or will you fold because they are your ‘friends’?
The choice is yours. Take the risk now or wait for the inevitable that has happened over and over again for thousands of years? I know what I am doing. I’m going to stand up and speak out. I’m going to fight Jew hatred publicly, no matter the personal cost.
It is the middle of January, 2025 and yet it is also October 7, 2023. The calendar moves on yet for many of us, it remains October 7, 2023, one of the worst days in Jewish history. The Holocaust and the destruction of the first two temples are certainly worse, but October 7, 2023 belongs in the top 5 of all time worst days in Jewish history. The 15 months that have followed have reinforced the Jew hatred that we saw on that day.
More than 1,200 men, women and children, including 46 Americans and citizens of more than 30 countries, were slaughtered by Hamas on October 7. Girls and women were sexually assaulted. Babies were cooked alive in ovens. People were beheaded. The depravity of Hamas’s crimes is unspeakable and yet we must speak. I watched the 47 minute Hamas video and those images are forever burned into my mind as are the comments of the representative from the Israeli Consulate that day – that they had worse footage that they simply wouldn’t release because it was too graphic and too horrific to be in the public domain. Hamas also took 254 people hostage that day, including 12 Americans. Four of those Americans – Hersh Goldberg-Polin (z’l), Itay Chen (z’l), Judy Weinstein (z’l), and Gad Haggai (z’l) – were murdered by Hamas.
Since October 7th, the rise in antisemitism has been profound. Jews are attacked daily for being Jewish. Jewish buildings are being attacked. Jewish schools shot at in Montreal. Attempted firebombings. Jews have been threatened with arrest in England just for looking Jewish. Synagogues in the United States have had protests blocking people from entering or exiting the building to pray. University campuses are filled with hatred, not just from other students but from faculty. Classes are including antisemitism as part of their curriculum. Columbia had Jewish students take their finals in the spring of 2024 online because campus wasn’t safe instead of making campus safe.
All of this has made we wonder how we got here. And yet, I do see some brightness flickering. Growing stronger. Not only because people who are Jews but not connected are now saying, if I am really Jewish no matter what, maybe I should learn what being Jewish means. It’s also because of our allies stepping up and speaking out. Shouting from the rooftops that these are lies and fighting not just along side us but often times leading the fight.
They give me hope. Not only do I want to talk about them but I want to show what is possible from things that have happened in the past. We don’t have to accept hatred in our lives, in our communities, in our city, state, country or world. It requires effort and requires allies. Not just to fight Jew hatred but to fight all hatred.
I’m going to start in the past. In 1993 in Billings, Montana, somebody threw a rock through the picture window of a Jewish family’s home. The family had been displaying a menorah in the window, a very Jewish custom and part of the Hanukkah celebration. The local paper—The Billings Gazette—hear about the story and did something that would be shocking in today’s world. Rather than excuse the behavior, rather than publish lies about why it happened, rather than make up something about Hanukkah being offensive to Christians, rather than, as happened in my own Orlando Sentinel where a very well known and respected columnist published a column with the headline, “In college protests, media hysteria overshadows reality“ making the claim that there really wasn’t antisemitism on campus and it was being overblown. He took the side of the terrorists and those who spout hate over Jewish students attempting to go to class. I reached out directly to him, angry and frustrated by what he wrote since it simply wasn’t true. When called out on this, he stood his ground, basing everything on his nephew’s reports and what was happening in Florida. A nephew he admitted is part of the protest movement against Israel and the Jews. Florida, a state in which leadership has done what very few other states have done to protect Jewish students. He never apologized. He never retracted what he said. The column remains posted. At least he hasn’t tried to comment on the rise of antisemitism since then.
In Billings, Montanta, in 1993, they reacted totally different. Instead of minimizing what happened, the newspaper published a full-page image of a menorah, urging its readers to tape the picture up in their windows. There were only approximately 150 Jews in Billings, yet the greater community displayed over 10,000 newspaper menorahs.
The newspaper menorah from Billings in 1993
Billings didn’t stop in 1993. With the rise in antisemitism, they reprinted the menorah in December, 2022 and held a public menorah lighting. All in a town with a small Jewish population. Because they believe in morals and ethics. Because they chose to stand against hatred, including Jew hatred. In a world where we don’t hear or publicly see much support for Jews, it’s important to recognize it and show people that they can make a difference and they can stand against hate.
It’s similar to the “MyZuzzah, YourZuzzah” campaign that Patricia Heaton created, encouraging people who aren’t Jewish to stand up against Jew hatred by putting a mezzuzah on their front door. Special solidarity mezzuzahs were created for those who aren’t Jewish but want to show solidarity.
That’s what allies do. They stand up. They speak out publicly. We have plenty of celebrities who speak out in favor of Jew hatred. Examples include Mark Ruffalo, Susan Sarandon, John Cusack, Bella Hadid, and many more. We need to focus on those like Patricia Heaton, who stand with us.
People like Douglas Murray, a journalist who has been speaking loudly for a long time. He isn’t Jewish. He has no Israeli family members. Yet he speaks out loudly, clearly, and passionately about the stakes of this war and the moral clarity required. Here is just one example of what he does and says.
There is Australian news anchor Erin Mulan, also not Jewish, who has been actively talking about the truth of what happened on October 7th and the evil of Hamas. It cost her her job. She didn’t care. She continues to speak out and speak up. She uses her platform to advocate for truth, Israel, and the Jewish people. You can watch her recent report from Israel.
Natasha Hausdorff is another ally. She is a British barrister, not Jewish, and an incredible advocate. She often travels and speaks with Douglas Murray. She gave the closing argument in the Munk Debate staying that Anti-Zionism is Antisemitism. With no dog in the fight, she chooses truth and humanity. Listen to her closing argument in the Munk Debate.
It’s not just academics. Boxer Floyd Mayweather recently took his second trip to Israel since October 7th, calling Israel his “home way from home”. He doesn’t just speak with his words. He takes action with his money. He has used his private plane to deliver essential medical supplies to the nation. and during his previous visit in March 2024, he not only spent time meeting with IDF soldiers, rescue workers, and civilians, he donated an fleet of ‘medicycles’ to Magen David Adom.
On his recent trip in December 2024, he visited an IDF base where he hosted a barbecue for military personnel. He visited the headquarters of United Hatzalah, Israel’s largest volunteer emergency medical service and then made a $1 million donation to United Hatzalah, supporting their critical work. He has donated $100,000 to buy bullet proof vests for Israeli medical volunteers. Like I said, he doesn’t just say it with words, he shows it with actions and with his money.
Floyd Mayweather receiving the Champion for Israel Award at the Dan Family Aish World Center
We need to thank our allies. We need to invest in building relationships so we have more allies. Antisemitism thrives when the non-Jewish community allows it to. When the non-Jewish community steps up and says no, antisemitism and Jew hatred decrease. I have spent countless hours talking with non-Jewish friends about what’s going on in Israel, Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, as well as in Orlando, Florida, the U.S. and around the world. Helping them to understand. Perhaps if that Orlando Sentinel columnist had strong Jewish relationships, he would have asked for input before writing and publishing that column. We cannot sit idly by and let others tell our story. We must reach out to potential allies and engage with them. We must thank and engage with those who are our allies and are actively speaking out against Jew hatred.
It’s the only way to survive.
Douglas Murray, Adam Bellos, and me after Douglas spoke in Miami.
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
The murder of Alexei Navalny (z”l) on February 16, 2024, has received a lot of attention. Navalny, one of the most vocal critics of Russian President Vladimir Putin, had been imprisoned in an Arctic penal colony for his crimes of standing up to Putin.
In his death, Navalny has taught us a great deal of powerful lessons. The more I have read about him, the more I am in awe of his dedication, commitment, ethics, and values. After being poisoned and recovering, he returned to Russia to continue his fight for the Russian people, despite knowing he would be arrested and imprisoned. Why would he return, knowing brutal imprisonment and likely death would be the result? In an Instagram post on Jan. 14, 2022, he wrote, “The question ‘to return or not’ never stood before me, mainly because I never left. I ended up in Germany, having arrived in an intensive care box, for one reason: they tried to kill me.”
Within weeks of his arrest, he sent a note to his friend and mentor, the journalist Yevgenia Albats. It read:
Zhenya, everything is O.K. History is happening. Russia is going through it, and we are coming along. We’ll make it (probably). I am all right, and I have no regrets. And you shouldn’t, either, and shouldn’t worry. Everything will be all right. And, even if it isn’t, we’ll have the consolation of having lived honest lives. Hugs!
I think about the courage and commitment it takes to think that everything will be alright, and if it isn’t, you still lived an honest life. Far too often today people need to be right. People need to win. People refuse to do what’s right because it’s not what is expedient or because it affects their ego. Navalny shows us that living that way isn’t worth it. It’s better to live honestly, where your word means something, where the focus is on the bigger picture, the long view. It is the famous line from Star Trek, The Wrath of Khan, “The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. Or the one.” Far too many people focus on the needs of the one and neglect the needs of the many, of the larger community, of those that are impacted by the consequences of taking care of the needs of the one.
Spock and Kirk – the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one.
The Free Press posted his 2014 speech to the judges upon conviction of bogus charges. As I read it, I was struck by the power of both his words and that he addressed the panel of judges directly, calling them out on their behavior. When he said,
“I call you “people who look the other way.” Do you even notice that you are constantly looking down? You’re looking the other way. I am talking to you but you’re looking down all the time. None of you have anything to say.”
As I read the article, I could feel the shame of the judges as they were called out. He wasn’t willing to allow people to behave in an unethical or immoral manner without being made to face the choice that they made to sell out their values. Navalny was not afraid to hold those accountable who had not done what they were supposed to do. They did what Putin wanted. But as the Klingons in Star Trek would say, “You have no honor”. Navalny stresses the importance of honor. The criticalness of integrity. He understood and tried to communicate how without any of these things, life is hollow. Those who judged him had no honor or integrity because they didn’t stand for or live by their values. The lesson to us is to remember that. When we make choices in our personal and professional lives, do so with honor and integrity. Don’t look at the small picture of what it may do for us, look at the bigger picture of what it does for the world. Make sure you are able to live with yourself based on the choices and decisions that you make.
Later in the speech, he said,
“But, in spite of all of this, it’s important to me to address you, the people who will watch or read my last words. It’s more or less pointless, but the people who look the other way are also a battlefield. On one side of it are the crooks who have seized power in our country, and on the other are people who want to change this. We are fighting over the people who look the other way, the people who shrug their shoulders, the people who are in a situation where all they have to do is not do something cowardly, who do it anyway.”
In today’s world we are fighting over the people who just have to not do something cowardly, and they can help change the world. Stand up to hate. Stand up to terror. Stand up to lies. It’s easy to be a coward and go along with another leader tells you. It’s easy to be a coward and look down, avert your eyes, as injustice is done. Navalny, through is actions and his words, is teaching us all not to be cowards, not to just go along, shrug your shoulders, and allow the wrong thing to be done, even when we know it’s the wrong thing. He is telling us that our job isn’t done because people don’t care. Our job is to make them care. It reminds me of the famous line in Pirkei Avot (Ethics of our Fathers) that reads,
“It Is not up to you to finish the task, but you are not free to avoid it.”
It is not our responsibility for their choice of action or inaction. It is our responsibility to do what it takes to encourage them to take action. To act honorably. To act with integrity. In today’s world, too many people accept the status quo. They believe the lies they are told without asking any questions or doing any research. They take the simple way out, the way the judges in his case took the simple and easy path rather than the honest and difficult one. Navalny continues,
“There’s the famous quote from Dragon: “Yes, everyone was taught to be evil, but why did you have to be top of the class?” I’m not just talking about this court. A huge number of people are either forced to act like cowards or act like cowards without being forced or even asked to. They just look the other way and try to ignore what is happening. We are fighting for these people. We are trying to get them, you, to admit that everything that is happening in our society is based on endless lies.”
He isn’t giving up on those who are acting as cowards. He isn’t willing to write off this group of people who just go along, put their heads down so they don’t have to watch, and allow the lies to take root. Navalny is telling us that not only do they deserve a chance, but we need them to fight off the crooks, the bad people, often times our leaders. He is telling us that it is our job to inspire the masses who keep their head in the sand, don’t want to make waves, and let things be.
In today’s world, with the rising antisemitism and overall hatred, what could be more important? We live in a world where it has become challenging to have difficult conversations because people only want to be heard, not to listen. People want to be right, not to be informed. Navalny is telling us what Ghandi told us, that we have to be the change. We have to be the ones who will brave the tough discussions. We have to be the ones who will speak out. Who will take the risk? Who will work to inspire others to lift up their head, see the realities around us, and join in being the changemakers? He finished the speech by saying,
“Thank you, everyone, for your support. I know for a fact that when they isolate and imprison me, another will take my place. Nothing I did was unique or special. Anyone can do what I did. Live not by lies.”
I think this is perhaps the most important part of his entire speech. Many people hold him up to be a hero. To make him into something unique and special. And while he was unique and special, it was because of what he chose to do. We all can choose to do that. We all can stand up to injustice. We all can look for the greater good. All of us have the opportunity to not be silent and bury our heads in the sand. When I read this, I hear him saying that even when he is gone, he can be replaced by many others. It’s our job to make sure we are included in the group that is going to make a difference. That is going to stand up and speak out. That isn’t going to allow the lies to go unchallenged. That isn’t afraid of the consequences to speak up and take action because we know the consequences of being silent are so much worse.
I think of my Uncle Ralph Preiss who grew up in Berlin in the 1930s. He was there during Kristallnacht (the night of broken glass). He tells, with great emotion even today, the story of him being told in 1st grade that he could no longer pledge allegiance to the Fuhrer (Adolph Hitler) because as a Jew, he was not his Fuhrer. The praise he gives to President Quezon and the Frieder Brothers (from Cincinnati) who did all they could to save Jews from the Nazis by getting them to the Philippines. They spoke out and stepped up and saved many lives as a result. They didn’t put their head in the sand and pretend nothing was happening. Instead, they took action to save Jews. Many of us have seen Schindler’s List but few of us know anybody who was saved by Schindler. I am grateful to President Quezon and the Frieder brothers for saving my Uncle Ralph.
My Uncle Ralph Preiss telling his story on International Holocaust Rembrance Day in 2021.
Alexei Navalny gave his life for what he believed in. In his letters to Natan Sharansky from the gulag, printed in The Free Press, he clearly knows what is in store for him, yet he and Sharansky are able to joke and laugh because they both fought for something far greater than themselves. Just like his 2014 speech, in his first letter to Sharansky he writes,
“Nonetheless, the “virus of freedom” is far from being eradicated. It is no longer tens or hundreds as before, but tens and hundreds of thousands who are not scared to speak out for freedom and against the war, despite the threats. Hundreds of them are in prisons, but I am confident that they will not be broken and they will not give up.”
In 2014 he talked about somebody taking up after him. Here he writes about tens and hundreds of thousands who are willing to speak out for freedom. The virus of freedom that Putin is trying to eradicate is instead growing. This is what happens when we take the risk and stand up for what we believe in. When we do the right thing and live with integrity, even if it makes it harder for us individually, as it makes it better for the entire community. Navalny may no longer be among the living, but his ideas and ideals live on far beyond him. And more and more people are now picking up the responsibility from him, taking it on themselves, and working to make the world a better place. Just like those in Russia that he writes about, we have that same responsibility in the United States. We cannot be silent. We cannot stand by while antisemitism and hate continues to grow. We cannot put our heads in the sand, hoping that it will go away or they won’t notice us and will leave us alone. We saw how that worked in the Shoah. We have thousands of years of history that show us how it doesn’t work. Navalny is reminding us, once again, that silence only helps those who want to harm others.
Sharansky, in his response to Navalny, had a passage that struck me deeply.
I was very angered by the question of a certain European correspondent the day after your return to Russia. “Why did he return? We all knew that he would be arrested in the airport—does he not understand such simple things?” My answer was pretty rude: “You’re the one who doesn’t understand something. If you think that his goal is survival—then you are right. But his true concern is the fate of his people—and he is telling them: ‘I am not afraid and you should not be afraid either.’”
Sharansky, who himself spent 8 years in the gulag for standing up for what he believed, understands that survival, while important, is not the most important driving force. Standing up for your beliefs, for what is right, having morals and ethics, living with integrity, is far more important. Showing others, through his own example, that they don’t have to be afraid and that they can make a difference is what matters. Sharansky did it himself. He will also be a hero to me as his struggle in Russia happened when I was a child. I remember him being sentenced to the gulag for wanting to be a Jew and wanting to move to Israel. I remember his release and the celebration that occurred upon it. And I remember meeting him in DC and truly feeling like I was in the presence of somebody great. The lesson from Navalny and reiterated by Sharansky is that we can all be that person. Both Navalny and Sharansky play down their own heroism to play up the role that each of us needs to take to better the world. We can, and should, learn from their teachings.
The time I met Natan Sharansky. I was with my best friend, Todd Sukol.
The final letter from Navalny to Sharansky had a simple but powerful line that resonated for me. He wrote,
“But I continue to believe that we will correct it and one day in Russia there will be what was not. And will not be what was.”
He doesn’t talk about in his lifetime. He doesn’t talk about survival. He doesn’t even talk about himself. It’s all about the future of the country and the people who live there. His concern isn’t for his well-being but for the greater good. The selflessness in this line is so incredibly powerful and inspirational. When I read what he and Sharansky wrote about taking action, I can relate to that and it inspires me to so. When I read this line, I see true greatness. Few of us can truly look beyond our own lives, sacrificing our lives, in order for a brighter future that is not promised but we believe in. It’s an inspiration to do better. It’s a reminder that the world existed before us and will exist after us. What matters is what we do while we are here, not how long we are here. We get to decide that.
In Sharansky’s final reply to Navalny, he quotes he first verse of Nikolai Zabolotsky’s poem “Ne pozvolai dushe lenitsa” writing,
“Do not let your soul be lazy, to not pound water in mortar, the soul is forced to labor, both day and night, both day and night.” In Russia, people struggle with this, but you do it effortlessly.”
The brilliance of these two men who understand that the world is greater than themselves is astounding. The way they are able to communicate, not only to each other but to the world, the importance of taking action and not sitting by idly, is inspiring. Each of these men spent years in the gulag, in the arctic circle, living in terrible conditions, yet expressed no regret for their actions, no fear for the possible outcome of death, working to inspire others to follow their lead to change the world. As the poem expresses, we cannot let our souls be lazy, we cannot just stand by and do nothing while the world implodes. Our soul, our very beings, are forced to do the hard work all day, every day, to improve the world. We often talk about Tikkun Olam, repairing the world, and do so with periods of activity. Both Navalny and Sharansky remind us that the job is not to do occasional acts to repair the world, it’s to constantly be living and acting in a way that does repair the world. In that final sentence above, Sharansky recognizes that this struggle and effort is not easy for people and most struggle with it. He complements Navalny, who like Sharansky, were able to do it with such dignity and deep belief, that it looked effortless, even though they both know it’s anything but.
Alexei Navalny (z”l) was and is an inspiration to us all. While many of today’s youth only know Sharansky from his time in Israel, as a member of the Knesset, as the head of the Jewish Agency for Israel (JAFI) and who he has become after his release from Russia, he was Navalny in the 70s and early 80s. These two men teach and inspire us to be better human beings and to do better. They remind us through not just their words but also their actions that freedom is not free, that to have the world we want to live in requires sacrifice and effort. They tell us point blank that if we want to sit back and let others do the work, the work will not get done.
My friend Ari Shabat finishes his weekly video blog on the torah portion by saying “This Shabbat, I’m going to think about……”. I’m going to copy him this week. This Shabbat I’m going to think about the things that I am doing to improve the world and the things I am willing to stand on the sidelines while others do the work. I’m going to focus on what I can and should be doing to live with integrity, in line with my values, and to truly be involved in Tikkun Olam all day, every day, like the poet that Sharansky quoted wrote. Today I am going to do what I can to make the world a better place.
keithdblog 