Tag: zionism

We have been outsmarted – time to reclaim our story

Posted on by Keith Dvorchik

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

3.  People don’t hate Jews. 

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

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

The protest outside Eden Golan’s hotel.

4.  The holocaust matters to this generation. 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Yotam Berger wrote this

Posted on by Keith Dvorchik

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

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

Five lessons from Stanford, California 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

2. America deserves Donald Trump.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

As a Jew, I don’t feel safe in the United States

Posted on by Keith Dvorchik

America has always been a beacon of hope.  A melting pot or a salad bowl, depending on which analogy fits you best.  As a Jew in America, I always felt different but also felt safe.  We are a country who follows the rule of law.  We strive to do better and to treat people better.  While America has a troubling history with slavery and the incarceration of Japanese during World War 2, I always felt we tried to recognize our errors and do better.  While racism is real, I also saw strong efforts to combat and eliminate it.  Marriage equality was a big step towards recognizing people are people.

After October 7th, I realized I was living in a bubble, in a dreamworld that doesn’t exist.  I understand my African American friend and my LGBTQ+ friends much better.  The America I thought existed doesn’t.  Hate is encouraged and allowed.  Far too many people, especially ones who call themselves leaders, are more interested in being re-elected than in doing what is right.  I am embarrassed by my naivety when it comes to the struggles of other minorities as my worldview was simply wrong.

I was impacted this weekend with the story of a horrific murder of a Jew in San Diego and the attempted murder of a Jew in Switzerland.  Their offense?  Being Jewish. 

Jewish dentist Dr. Benjamin Harouni was killed and two other people were wounded in a shooting at a dental office in El Cajon, California on Thursday.  The killer was Mohammed Abdul Kareem.  Immediately it was decried that it had nothing to do with Dr Harouni being Jewish or Mohammed Abdul Kareem being Muslim.  Violent attacks on Jews are typically immediately denied being because they are Jews.  Unlike similar attacks against other minorities, attacks on Jews are excused and minimized.  How can be expected to feel safe in America when this type of violence occurs against Jews and is immediately minimized?

On Saturday night, as Shabbat ended, a 62-year-old Orthodox Jew was stabbed outside the Agudas Achim synagogue in Zurich, Switzerland, by a 15-year-old Swiss citizen who shouted ‘death to Jews’.  The man was critically injured.  The rise in Jew hatred is astounding and the lack of response by leaders around the world is frightening.  How are Jews expected to feel safe in this type of environment?

On Saturday, in Times Square, an Uber driver found a grenade in the back seat of his car.  The bomb squad was called to make sure it didn’t go off.  There was a large Israel protest mob there and they wouldn’t let the bomb squad through.  Their hatred of Israel and Jews was so great that they would rather have a grenade go off in Times Square, around them, and have loss of life, than allow the police and the bomb squad through. 

The Uber with a grenade it – anti-Israel and anti-Jewish protesters wouldn’t let the bomb squad get there

As I began to spend a little more time reading about both of these incidents, I noticed a trend occurring.  More and more stories of Jew hatred have been occurring.  And the response to them is absurdly inadequate and being allowed by leaders of organizations, schools, City, State, and the Federal government.

For example, Origins High School in Brooklyn has become a haven for Hitler-loving hooligans who terrorize Jewish teachers and classmates.  On Oct. 26, just three weeks after the Oct. 7 Hamas massacre of 1,200 Israelis, 40 to 50 teens marched through Origins HS in Sheepshead Bay waving a Palestinian flag and chanting “Death to Israel!” and “Kill the Jews!” That is horrific by itself, yet school, city, and state leadership failed to but a stop to it. 

Origins High School Global History teacher Danielle Kaminsky has publicly stated how afraid she is to go to work due to being targeted as a Jew by students, yet the school has done nothing.  How do we know for sure?  Here are few examples of other things that have happened at the school:

  • A student painted a mustache on his face to look like Hitler and banged on classroom doors. When someone opened, he clicked his heels and raised his arm in the Nazi gesture, security footage shows.
  • Three swastikas in one week were drawn on teachers’ walls and other objects.
  • A 10th-grader told Kaminsky, 33, who is Jewish, “I wish you were killed.”
  • Another student called her “a dirty Jew” and said he wished Hitler could have “hit more Jews,” including her.
  • Students pasted drawings of the Palestinian flag and notes saying “Free Palestine” on Kaminsky’s classroom door. One scribbled note that said simply, “Die.”
  • A Jewish sophomore found three swastikas scribbled on his laptop charger when he returned from the restroom.
The door of Danielle Kaminsky’s classroom

The school, the City Government, and the State Government are failing to do anything about this.  No suspensions.  No expulsions.  No disciplinary action.  No protection for Jewish students or teachers. 

At Berkeley, a pro-Palestinian mob surrounded a campus auditorium, broke a window, and harassed Jewish students trying to enter the building.  Israeli lawyer Ran Bar-Yoshafat was invited by a Jewish student group to address the subject of Israel and international law. This included “the rules of wartime conduct and how the [Israel Defense Forces] can better protect civilians.”  An estimated 200 protesters chanted “intifada” and “free Palestine” and banged on windows.  Three Jewish students were injured.  What has happened to freedom of speech on college campuses?  Is it only freedom of speech if you aren’t Jewish?  Doesn’t the University have an obligation to protect the students and speakers who are exercising their right to free speech and sharing information that an educational institution is supposed to value for debate and deep thinking?

It gets worse, however.  The leaders of Bears for Israel, the pro-Israel group that organized the event, had been seeking a meeting with Berkeley’s chancellor since October 2023. Nearly 5 months and the chancellor hasn’t made the time for Jewish students with concerns about Jew hatred, antisemitism, and the safety of Jews.  They reached out again last week but have not heard back. They have been told the chancellor would “absolutely” consider a meeting with them but declined to say more.  Think about that.  Absolutely consider.  Not that the chancellor would meet with them, but that the chancellor would CONSIDER a meeting.  It’s clear that the safety and security of Jewish students don’t matter at Berkeley.

A few weeks ago, on February 19, the Jewish studies director at California State University at Long Beach, Jeffrey Blutinger, was invited to San José State to give a talk on “how to achieve peace between Israel and Palestine.” Pro-Palestinian protesters showed up outside the classroom. A San José State history professor and supporter of Israel, Jonathan Roth, got into an altercation with some of them, grabbing a person’s hand after they tried to block him from recording with his phone. Blutinger was escorted out of the classroom by police.  Once again, freedom of speech doesn’t apply to Jews.  Ensuring there is an opportunity to listen and learn on a college campus used to be sacrosanct. In today’s world that happens for everybody but the Jews.

If that wasn’t enough, the next weekend, signs were found on the walls of UCSB’s multicultural center attacking the student-body president, Tessa Veksler, who is Jewish. The signs said, among other things: “You can run but you can’t hide Tessa Veksler,” “Tessa Veksler supports genocide! You cannot hide,” and “Zionists are not welcomed!”  The signs were removed, and the multicultural center is temporarily closed.  The students who did this will not be held accountable and Veksler has to live in fear of being targeted at her university because she is Jewish.

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has filed a federal complaint against the Berkeley Unified School District, alleging officials ignored the bullying and harassment of their Jewish students. The harassment has led some families to decide to move out of the district.  One parent publicly stated:

“What drove me to leave the district was a pervasive bullying, as well as an antisemitism and the inability of the district to educate my child while keeping her safe.” 

Jewish children are not being kept safe in public schools in America.  I think about the stories my Uncle Ralph talks about being in elementary school in Berlin in the late 1930s and I don’t see much of a difference between what is happening in the world today and what happened to him as a child.  It’s frightening. 

In Canada, it might even be worse.  The Canadian International Women’s Day (INSPIRE) cancelled its keynote speaker because she had previously served in the IDF more than 30 years ago!   INSPIRE had rescinded its speaking invitation to Leah Goldstein, a Jewish motivational speaker and the first woman to win a grueling 3,000- mile bicycle race across the United States, citing as the reason “a small but growing and extremely vocal group” that took issue with Goldstein’s IDF service more than 30 years ago.

It gets worse.  I am not old enough to have seen the ‘No dogs, no blacks, no Jews’ signs on stores and restaurants.  Yet in 2024 here is a sign in Toronto saying, “No service for Jews.”

Sign from the days of Jim Crow
Sign in Toronto March 2024 – not that different

The college campuses aren’t just antisemitic in the US.  At Toronto’s Ontario College of Art & Design University (OCAD) a Jewish student said she feels unsafe returning to class after antisemitic messages, including death threats, were scribbled on the walls of her school.

She stated, “I had never felt so sad in my life.  They were all like horrible things about me, horrible things about Jews.”  She is the former president of the university’s Jewish Club and reported that the messages were found in the school’s so-called “yellow staircase” – a six-story space where students are encouraged to express themselves freely on the blank wall space.

She tried to combat the hate with painted words of peace, but those, too, were covered up by messages like “F U Zionists.” 

“I started getting death threats. There was even sexual connotations relating to my mother and Hamas.”

And in shocking news, she has not received an adequate response from the school following the incident and has missed more than two weeks’ worth of class due to concerns about her safety.

“There were talks about a meeting three weeks ago and they still haven’t followed up about that.  It took them forever. It took them days to shut down and paint over the stairwell.”

I wish this was everything but unfortunately, it’s not.  Before winter break in a public school in Toronto, there was antisemitic graffiti drawn on the walls.

The graffiti included an X drawn through a sketch of an Israeli flag and the Star of David, the words “Free Palestine,” “get rid of the k-kes” and “Hitler was right,” plus a sketch of a Palestinian flag and a sloppily drawn swastika. There was also the hashtag “KillTheJews.”

Antisemitic and Jew hatred graffiti in a Toronto school.

The school didn’t even inform parents for more than a month.  Nothing was done to address the hateful graffiti or ensure the safety of Jewish students. 

Let’s not leave out our federal government.  The Houthi’s are still not designated as a terrorist organization.  Iran continues to fund Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis and has instructed Hezbollah to increase attacks on Israel and they will send rockets and money to them to do it.  We continue to think we can use diplomacy with Iran.  Congress can’t pass the financial aid package for Israel to defend herself.  Just the other day, Vice President Kamala Harris called for Israel and Hamas to accept immediate six-week cease-fire, stating that the ‘Deal is on the table’.  The challenge is that Israel has been ready and its Hamas that refuses.  Yet there is no criticism of Hamas.  Reports have come out that Sinwar wants to incite violence during Ramadan and won’t accept a ceasefire because of that.  Yet no outrage from our government about this.  No outrage at the Red Cross for failing to see the hostages and deliver medication.  The hostages have now gone 150 days without ANY medication.  As a son with Type 1 diabetes, I know that if he didn’t get insulin for 150 days, he wouldn’t survive.  Where is the outrage? 

I never thought I wouldn’t feel safe as a Jew in the United States.  Yet here in 2024, I do.  I refuse to let fear dominate my life.  I wear my new, special Magen David (star of David) proudly outside my shirt.  I have two dog tags I wear, one ‘Bring them home now’ and the other ‘We will dance again’.  I put a piece of tape on my shirt, over my heart, with the number of days the hostages have been in captivity.  I won’t hide but I don’t feel safe. 

A friend of mine in Israel recently asked how many of his friends have changed their last name on their Uber account due to fears of safety.  It was a sad question, and the answers were sadder.  My younger son still wears his Chai necklace but no longer wears it outside his shirt when he is on campus.  My family is concerned when I wear my Israel sweatshirt, t-shirt, or soccer jersey.  I want to fly an Israeli flag but don’t due to safety concerns for my family.  This is the world we live in today and this is the America we live in today.  Jew hatred is not just on the rise, it is here.  In June 2016, I wrote an op-Ed in the Seattle Times about the rise of antisemitism and there was real pushback by many that it wasn’t really happening.  I wish that they were right.  What was happening nearly 8 years ago has only gotten worse. 

We’ve seen the hate groups locally, most recently in Winter Park just 2 weeks ago.  We see it happening nationally and internationally.  We see it with the anti-Israel and Jew hating mobs.  It’s why I chose to write this blog today.  And as I was finishing writing it, my wife sent me this article from The Atlantic about how The Golden Age of American Jews is ending.  Some of what I have written about is included.  There is much more involved and it’s a long read but well worth it. 

We live in scary times.  Unlike the 1930s in Germany, we now have Israel and Jews aren’t afraid to stand up and speak out.  I know many Jews who have gotten their conceal carry permits and who now are gun owners and practice at the range.  I have to admit that I am one of them.  America today isn’t safe for Jews.  We are being attacked everywhere we go.  Public schools, Universities, Synagogues, restaurants, and in the streets. 

For those of you who have previously stood up against hatred against other groups, thank you.  Hate is not acceptable PERIOD.  I ask you now to stand up against Jew hatred.  You can dislike the Israeli Government and Bibi Netanyahu.  You can want the war to end and no more innocent civilians on both sides to be killed.  That happens when the hostages are released and Hamas surrenders.  Put the pressure on Hamas to release the hostages.  Put the pressure on Hamas to surrender.  If you pay attention, you will see that the people of Gaza, particularly in the north where Hamas is no longer in control, and publicly condemning Hamas for creating all the problems they face. 

Everybody in the United States is supposed to feel safe.  It’s clear from the past few years that there are many groups who do not feel safe.  I don’t know that I truly understood what they faced until now.  I stand with them and their right to live in safety and security.  I hope they, and you, will stand with me and the Jewish community as we only want the same thing.

I’m going to finish with an ask. JOIN Orlando, a group I am involved with and get much value from and have much gratitude for, is doing a 36 hour fundraiser where all gifts are matched 3X. So your gift of $100 is really $300 to JOIN. I agreed to be a champion and help raise money for their programs. I personally have been to Israel with JOIN, I learn with a Rabbi from JOIN, I am friends with leaders of JOIN. During these challenging times that I just wrote about, JOIN helps keep me grounded. So if you would consider making a gift, not only does it get matched 3X, it would be a personally meaningful thing to me. Click on the link to donate. And you can watch the video below to see the work that JOIN Orlando does. Thank you for considering making a gift.

Enjoy the video from JOIN ORLANDO

The Center for Israel Education inspires and teaches

Posted on by Keith Dvorchik

Approximately 20 years ago at an AIPAC Policy Conference, I attended one of the breakout sessions to learn a bit more about a detailed topic.  The presenter, Professor Ken Stein from Emory University, blew my mind with details and facts that I didn’t know.  I sat there taking notes with tons of questions forming in my mind.  There were so many of them, I had to write those down as well.  After the session, I went up to talk with him and ask some of those questions.  It was an inauspicious start of a friendship and professional relationship that lasts until today.

My friend Professor Ken Stein

I made it a point to always attend Ken’s sessions at AIPAC.  I was amazing that he was the only speaker on Israel that I found nobody had a problem with.  They may ask tough questions, but Ken wasn’t trying to do Hasbara (trying to convince somebody you are correct) but rather shared the facts and allowed you to determine your own beliefs.  As a result of this, I brought Ken to Seattle and then to Orlando to teach about the history of Israel. 

In 2008, Ken created the Center for Israel Education (CIE), a nonprofit dedicated to educating the public about modern State of Israel.  Using source documents, CIE provides context to a challenging topic.  A number of years ago, I was honored when Ken asked me to join the board of directors and I have been a member ever since. 

Each week, CIE provides information that is both timely and interesting.  Sometimes it is related to, “This week in Israeli history” while other times it relates to what’s happening in the world.   I find it interesting and learn a lot about people and policies that I didn’t know.  This week’s information was particularly interesting for two reasons.

The first reason relates to ‘This week in Israeli history’.  On Feb. 14, 1896, Vienna journalist Theodor Herzl published 500 copies of a pamphlet entitled “Der Judenstaat” (“The Jewish State”), declaring the need and justice of Jewish sovereignty 18 months before he convened the First Zionist Congress.  I’ve been to Israel 20 times and been to Herzl’s grave at least 20 times.  It’s a powerful place to visit as he was the person who had the vision of a Jewish state.   Whenever I am there, I find myself humbled by his vision and always remember his famous quote, “If you will it, it is no dream.”   That quote has inspired me throughout my career.

Theodore Herzl – the founder of Zionism

Interestingly enough, Herzl’s idea wasn’t limited to the middle east or to the historic greater Israel.  He merely wanted the Jewish people to have their own land where they were in charge and had self-determination.  He wrote about It wasn’t until the First Zionist Congress held in Basel, Switzerland with 200 delegates from across the Jewish world, that the goal to establish a Jewish State in the Land of Israel were explicitly adopted by the new Zionist movement.

Theodore Herzl at the First Zionist Congress in Basel on August 25, 1897

Herzl, as a secular Jew and journalist, was inspired by the Dryfuss Affair to find a way to keep Jews safe.  It was his vision to have a Jewish State, a homeland, where Jews would be in charge and Jews would be safe.  Where Jews would have the power of self-determination.  He didn’t care where it was, only that it existed.   It was at the First Zionist Congress that non-secular Jews, who understood the tie to the biblical land, ensured that the land would need to be in our historic homeland, not just anywhere.

The Dryfuss Affair on the cover of The New Yorker

Captain Alfred Dryfuss, wrongly convicted because he was a Jew.

It ties to the famous Chaim Weizmann quote.  When a member of the House of Lords asked him, “Why do you Jews insist on Palestine when there are so many undeveloped countries you could settle in more conveniently?”

Weizmann answered: “That is like my asking you why you drove twenty miles to visit your mother last Sunday when there are so many old ladies living on your street?”

Wiezmann said, ‘Mr. Balfour, if you were offered Paris instead of London, would you take it?’ … He looked surprised. He said: ‘But London is our own!’ Weizmann said, ‘Jerusalem was our own when London was a marsh.’ He said, ‘That’s true.'”

Dr. Chaim Weizmann, one of the great founders of the State of Israel

Having been to Israel 20 times in my life, there is something special not just because it is a Jewish state and the only place that I am in the majority.  Being in Jerusalem and standing at the Kotel is a direct connection to King Solomon.  It’s a direct connection to the ‘holy of holies.’  To 5,000+ years of Jewish history.  

Being at the Kotel is always such a special feeling

Going to Hebron and visiting the graves of Abraham, Jacob, Sarah, and Leah is a special feeling. (Isaac and Rebeca are also buried there but they are on the Palestinian side so Jews can only go there 10 days a year).  I’ll never forget sitting between the graves of Abraham and Sarah as my friend Harry Rothenberg led us in a discussion focused on the text where Sarah was told by God that she would get pregnant when she was 90 years old, and she laughed.  We explored not just the story but the love story of Abraham and Sarah.  It was incredibly powerful to do this between their graves. It’s something I will never forget.

We also learned that one of times when all of the Tomb of the Patriarchs and Matriarchs is open to Jews, Christians and non-muslims is during the Shabbat of Chayei Sarah. This is when Sarah dies and is buried in Hebron. There are 40,000-50,000 people who come to spend Shabbat outside the Tomb. They bring in catered meals, tents, and it’s a huge party. Watching the videos of the celebration put this on my bucket list.

In Hebron, the oldest complete building still used for it’s original purpose in the world. Inside are the caves (graves) of the Patriarchs and Matriarchs.

Below is the cave with the grave of Abraham, the patriarch.

Across from the cave of Abraham is the cave of Sarah our matriarch, where Abraham buried her himself.

The grave of Jacob, our patriarch. He wrestled with the angel and got the name Israel. It’s unbelievable to be at his grave.

The grave of Leah, our matriarch. Rachel was buried on the road (her grave is in what is now Bethlehem) while Isaac and Rebecca are on the side controlled by the Palestinians and are only accessible 10 days a year to Jews.

I’ve been the Tomb of Joseph, not too far from Nablus.  There is something unique and special being there, knowing his story and how integral he was to the Jewish people.  It’s hard to explain the feeling of connection, of thousands of years of history, and of peoplehood that occurred for me there. 

The tomb of Joseph in Nablus. When I was there it was packed with Jews praying over his grave.

Being in the Jordan River is another unique experience.  This is where our people crossed over to enter the land of Canaan after leaving Egypt.  The history and connection is amazing.  It was smaller than I expected and reminded me of the Ichetucknee River outside of Gainesville, Florida, that I used to go tubing down in the summer.  I had imagined this powerful river that was both wide and deep.  It’s the same river my ancestors crossed thousands of years ago as they entered ‘the land of milk and honey’ for the first time.

Rafting down the Jordan River is always fun – on one trip we went with a group of Muslim women who were fully clothed while we were in bathing suits. They started a splash fight with us and we had so much fun with them. 

As you drive through Israel you see the field where David slew Goliath.  In Tzfat you see the fields where Lecha Dodi was inspired, the mikvah of the Ari, various ancient synagogues.  In Akko the excavated buildings from the crusades exist.  You can see the Dead Sea Scrolls.  It’s a land filled with rich Jewish history everywhere that you turn.  That’s what Herzl didn’t understand but was smart enough to listen the First Zionist Congress.  It’s why the modern State of Israel is home to all of us.  It’s not just a country of Jewish self-determination.  It is our historic homeland, our past, present, and future.  It is tied to our souls as anybody who has visited there, Jewish or not, will attest.  I’m grateful that Herzl listened to the delegates at the First Zionist Conference and wouldn’t accept just anywhere.  Israel is my mother that I travel 6,500 miles to visit and it’s worth it every time. 

Looking out on the fields in Tzfat. This is what inspired L’cha Dodi and where they would walk out to meet the Shabbat Bride each Friday night.

Looking down at the Mikvah of the Ari from the 1500s. It’s inside the building. He used in the 1500s and I used in in 2021 and 2022. That’s the power of Israel for Jews.

The actual Mikvah itself. The Ari used it in the 1500s, stepping into the same pool (not the same water) as I did in 2021 and 2022.

The second piece of information that I found fascinating goes back to 1993.  During the Knesset debate over the Oslo Accords in September 1993, then Foreign Minister Shimon Peres warned that “There are in Gaza this year between 750,000 and 800,000 inhabitants. Within 20 years, there will be almost 2 million residents in the Gaza Strip. The population density leads to violence, the poverty leads to terrorism.” If you read his full remarks, it is fascinating to apply them to today. 

I met Shimon Peres more than 20 years (and 70 pounds!) ago. A truly special man and leader.

As Israel continues to respond to the horror of October 7th, there are more than 2 million people in Gaza.  Life there has led to violence and terrorism.  Hamas, UNWRA, and the UN have contributed to these problems.  At a JNF lunch event today, Ambassador Michael Oren told us that Israel is figuring out how many of the terrorists on October 7th were taught at an UNWRA school.  I’m afraid to see how high that number will be.  UNWRA ignored or allowed the strategic headquarters of Hamas to be built in tunnels under the UNWRA headquarters.  The textbooks are filled with antisemitism.  Even children’s programming is targeted to hate and kill Jews.  The Hamas version of Sesame Street, Tomorrow’s Pioneers, is focused on murdering Jews.  This clip blames the Jews for a character cheating in school.  Shimon Peres was right about the growth in Gaza and what the consequences would be.  October 7th proved him right.  The question is how do we move forward from here?

The textbooks provided by UNRWA to the Palestinian/Gazan children are filled with antisemitism and Jew hatred. 

In the same warning, Peres stated, “Neither do I propose that we talk of economic cooperation. Why? Because the Arabs believe that the State of Israel wants to dominate the region. We do not want to do the Arabs any favors. I am not even suggesting economic cooperation with the Arabs. All I am telling the Arabs is this: There are problems that will remain unresolved unless we tackle them jointly. We should make a joint effort only when problems are insolvable without such a joint effort.”

Was this Peres foreshadowing the Abraham Accords?  The threat of Iran brought Arab countries together to recognize Israel, forever changing the dynamic.  The Iranian problem was insolvable without a joint effort.  After October 7th, these nations did not abandon Israel.  They understand that Iran is the problem and that it’s insolvable without Israel being a part of the solution.  Could this be the basis for a new government in Gaza and perhaps the West Bank/Judea and Samaria?  Could this be the key to rebuilding Gaza and finally making it into the ‘Singapore of the Middle East’?  Could this be the basis for peace and a willingness to live together?

An incredible picture of the signing of the Abraham Accords as more muslim countries recognize and normalize relations with Israel.

I find myself looking to some of the great Israeli leaders of the past for inspiration on a regular basis.  David Ben Gurion.   Golda Meir.  Shimon Peres.  Yitzhak Rabin.  Moshe Dayan.  Menachem Begin. 

Picture of Ben Gurion reading the Declaration of Independence in Independence Hall

When I saw this statue of Ben Gurion, I had to get a picture with it. The more I learn about him, the more in awe I am of who he was and what he did.

I think of current Israeli leaders such as Ambassador Michael Oren, Ambassador Ron Dermer, and the many Consul Generals I have had the pleasure to interact with and befriend.  We are wise to listen to their insights.  Michael Oren has a substack that I now subscribe to.  Their words are treasurers. 

Michael Oren speaking in Orlando this week at a JNF event. A future blog will talk about what he said.

Talking with and listen to Michael Oren is truly incredible. A brilliant man to learn from

Two of my favorite Ben Gurion quotes are: 

“Dare, Persevere, Succeed.”

“Pioneering is refusing to accept reality as it is.”

As I look back at Herzl and at the words of Peres; as I look forward to ‘The Day After’ and the Abraham Accords, these two quotes inspire me for the future of Israel.  And they inspire me personally.  We change the world by being daring, persevering, and succeeding.  And by being pioneers and not accepting reality as it is, we have the opportunity to create a new reality.  A new dream.  “If you will it, it is no dream.  Dare, persevere, succeed.  Refusing to accept reality as it is.”  Three quotes that sum up Israel and the Jewish people.  Three belief systems that will change your life and change the world. 

Survival of the Jewish people

Posted on by Keith Dvorchik

Over the past 3 months, I have discovered substack and the amazing wealth of great writing that is there.  Bari Weiss’s The Free Press and Kareem Abdul Jabbar are my two favorites so far and I have paid subscriptions to both.  I am currently exploring Daniel Gordis’s Israel From the Inside with a free subscription to decide if it’s worth paying for as well.  His piece on Friday moves me closer to paying for the content.

In Friday’s piece, he writes about the letters left by IDF soldiers for their families in case they are killed in combat, highlighting two that have been publicly released and discussing the number of IDF soldiers who have them either on their bodies or left in their rooms at their home.  In his words, these letters “reveal a young Israeli generation astounding in the depth of its commitment to the Jewish people.”  And more importantly to me, he states, “If the West is to survive, its young women and men will need to emulate them.”

Those statements and the article itself made me think deeply about the future of Judaism, of Jewish life in America, the future for my children and future grandchildren.  It brought me back to my childhood and talking with my grandparents about Jewish life when it was so different than today.  I also thought about my own Jewish identity, both what it means to me and how I express it.  I thought about the way I grew up and how I live now, both the similarities and the clear differences. 

For many people, what it means to be Jewish changed in the aftermath of October 7th.  For some, it was because of the murder, rape, kidnapping, and other atrocities that were reported.  For others, it was watching their ‘friends, colleagues, and allies’ abandon them.  Others watched or experienced the increase in antisemitism and Jew hatred around the country, in their backyard or on their alma mater’s campus.  They were shaken by the hatred they saw or experienced.  Many people, for the first time in their lives, realized that they were Jews first and that every other identity was secondary.  It was similar to the revelation the Jews of Germany experienced in the 1930s. 

I have wondered about the future of Jewish life in America for most of my 25-year career in the Jewish world.  I have watched as Jews of all ages have drifted away from Jewish life and spent more time and resources in the non-Jewish world.  I have seen both in my personal life and with my friends and others, the lack of synagogue affiliation, fewer and fewer people keeping kosher (I grew up in kosher home but haven’t kept kosher since I left for college), and more and more people choosing secular life over any form of Jewish life.  I wondered if after thousands of years of hatred trying to eliminate the Jewish people, would it finally be their love and acceptance that did it.

The post October 7th world shows me that I may have been right.  The increase of Jew hatred has seemed to generate interest in Jews exploring Jewish life and finding out what being Jewish means for them.  In many ways it reminds of me of what happened on September 11th on college campuses when it became ok to ask spiritual questions and students were very much asking about God.**

As Jews begin to question what it means to be Jewish, they are finding all sorts of different answers.  For me, I have found a few things that answer that and are meaningful. 

I have chosen to get involved in Jewish rituals.  This includes things like putting on tefillin, lighting candles on Shabbat, and I am preparing to bake challah once again with a new gluten free recipe so I can enjoy it as well. 

I am spending an hour a week learning Torah with a Rabbi and meet with another Rabbi friend of mine for an hour a week to talk and begin doing some Jewish learning.  I enjoy these deep conversations and how each week we take ancient Jewish text and convert it into a lesson for the 21st century and my daily life.  Unlike Hebrew School as a child, the time flies by as we discuss, argue, debate, and question each other.  It’s intellectual, spiritual, and fun. 

I wear very little jewelry.  It’s not who I am.  After October 7th, I decided that I wanted to wear a piece of Judaica, so I searched and found a beautiful Magen David (star of David) made by an Israeli artist that has Israel at the center of it.  I wear it proudly outside of my shirt, publicly displaying my Jewish identity and my love of Israel. 

I hung a new, special mezuzah made from the plastic removed from the water by Tikkun HaYam (Repair the Seas) on my new home office.  You can purchase one of these mezuzahs or the other cool things they make from recycled plastic here. 

I continue to watch the inspirational messages that my friends Harry Rothenberg and Ari Shabat send each week based on the Torah portion.  The 3-4 minutes I spend to watch each of them inspires me and gets me thinking about something I can do in my life.  I look forward to getting them each week.

As you see, it’s not a lot.  Yet it is meaningful and makes my day better because I take the time to do something Jewish on a regular basis. 

It brings me back to the two statements above from Daniel Gordis:

“reveal a young Israeli generation astounding in the depth of its commitment to the Jewish people.” 

The IDF called up 300,000 reserves and expected 250,000 at most to actually report for duty.  Instead, 360,000 showed up.  This was due to their commitment to the Jewish people.  The bitter political divides in Israel were put aside after October 7th as the commitment to Israel and to the Jewish people took precedence.  Watching the Haredi (groups within Orthodox Judaism that are characterized by their strict adherence to halakha (Jewish law) and traditions) sign up for the army when they were exempt was extremely moving for me.  I was also incredibly moved by Mia Schem, held hostage by Hamas in Gaza for 55 days. Not long after her release, she got a tattoo that reads, “We will dance again”. Her commitment to not allow Hamas to define her future shows me that I can’t allow anybody to determine my future either. This is the commitment of the Maccabees, of those on Masada, of Ruth and Queen Esther. It is what has allowed the Jewish people to continue to survive.

 “If the West is to survive, its young women and men will need to emulate them.”

This is the important point for those of us in the United States and in the diaspora.  Our young men and women need to emulate this commitment.  I watch the divide among our youth about Israel and Judaism and fear for the survival of Jewish life in the diaspora.  We fight amongst ourselves and give those who want us to not exist the ammunition they need.  We defend those who exhibit Jew hatred, antisemitism, through intellectual statements, qualifying what they said, blaming others, or using things like race, religion, history of being in a persecuted or minimized group as the reason they have these beliefs and that they don’t really mean it.  It’s time for our Jewish young women and men to accept that when people say they want to kill us, they really want to kill us.  When people defend those who promise to kill us and are actively killing Jews, they want the Jews to be killed by these people. 

We need a radical new approach to Jewish life.  We need to inspire people with the beauty and power and meaning of Jewish life.  We need to help people understand it’s not ‘all or nothing’ as they may have been taught growing up.  Instead, it’s take something, anything, and do it, use it, live it, love it, and maybe it grows into something a little more. 

  Wearing my Hanukkah PJs – that one thing can be fun!

I saw a meme this Hanukkah that said the miracle of Hannukah is not that the oil lasted 8 days.  The miracle of Hanukkah is that it has sustained the Jewish people for over 2,000 years.  Let’s not let that miracle burn out when a little effort will make the flames of Judaism grow exponentially.

** I know many people choose to write G-d to not write God’s name but since that isn’t really the name, I choose to just write it.

I think too much

Posted on by Keith Dvorchik

Since October 7th not a day goes by where I’m not thinking of Israel.  Thinking of my friends who are on the front lines.  Thinking of the children of my friends who are fighting in the IDF against Hamas.  Thinking of my friends still running to their safe rooms due to the rockets.  Thinking of my friends on the moshav who need help harvesting the crops.  Thinking of the more than 260,000 Israeli refugees who fled their homes more than 2 months ago and have been living in one hotel room for an entire family since then.  I think about what it’s like to share a hotel room with my 2 adult children for a night or two and can’t imagine more than 2 months of that being our home.  Without our things.  Without a kitchen. 

I use the term Israeli refugees instead of evacuees because I have been an evacuee.  In 1979 we lived in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania when the Three Mile Island (TMI) accident happened.  We evacuated to my grandparents’ home in Connecticut for a week and then returned home.  Living in Florida, we have evacuated to my in-laws in Gainesville when a hurricane is coming.  We’re usually there for a day or two and then return home.  Spending more than two months out of your home, with no return in sight, is not being an evacuee.  It’s being a refugee.

Israel is a small country, and everybody is family.  I learn more about the cost of October 7th all the time.  I have two friends who have family members who were taken hostage by Hamas into Gaza.  Thankfully they were all returned in the last ceasefire.  I have a friend whose cousin was murdered at the music festival.  I have a friend whose son was an IDF soldier that was killed in the fighting on October 7th.  Being Jewish isn’t about our religion, it’s about being part of a people.  It’s being mishpacha, Hebrew for family.  Every day when the names of the soldiers who were killed are released, I take a deep breath and then read the names, hoping and praying that they are not names that I know.  And when they are not people that I know, I am deeply sad because they are people I will never get to know.  People who paid the ultimate sacrifice to save Israel and fight for the Jewish people.

I learned today that there is currently a 60% dropout rate in Israeli high schools.  Think about that – 60% of high school students have dropped out.  Maybe they will return when the war is over.  Maybe they won’t.  How will this affect the IDF, where they normally join after graduation?  What if they go back but are a year behind?  That means that 60% of those who would normally be joining the IDF are not.  How does this affect their long-term success, when military service and the unit you serve in is so integral to future opportunities?

A friend of mine is from Sderot, a town on the Gaza border that I have visited many times.  The playgrounds are also bomb shelters.  The movie theater is also a bomb shelter because why would anybody go to the movies if it wasn’t with the regular rockets fired by Hamas at Sderot.  I’ve been to the police station there many times where they talk to us about the ongoing rocket attacks and show us the rockets that Hamas fired at Sderot.  A friend who was in Sderot just a few weeks ago sent me a picture of the police station.  It’s gone, completely leveled.  My friend who lives there went back last week and told me that the town is empty.  There is nobody there because it’s not safe.  My heart breaks for my brothers and sisters who live on the border and are now refugees inside Israel.

My friends who live on moshav Bitzaron in southern Israel need help harvesting their crops.  I think of how I can put together a mission to help them and how I can approach my wife and children about doing that since they don’t want me to go because they are in fear for my safety in a war.  I haven’t figured out a way to bring that up in a way that wouldn’t get them angry at me for even talking about it, knowing how they feel. 

I think about the rise of antisemitism that I have seen and been talking about for a decade.  I wrote a piece with some colleagues in 2016 for the Seattle Times.  That was more than 7 years ago and yet it has grown.  And I think about the op-Ed disagreeing with me, saying that antisemitism wasn’t a problem and how frustrating it was then and how angry it makes me today.  Over the past 75 years we have convinced ourselves in the United States that we are US citizens just like anybody else.   That antisemitism was going away because of wonders of the United States and our freedom of religion.  Our Jewish history is that we forget who we are due to assimilation.  Here we are again.

In a piece by Daniel Gordis today, he wrote about how, as Jews, our history in the diaspora has always been based on the question, “How long are we going to be here until we get thrown out. Now, why would anybody think they were going to get thrown out? Because they always did.”  Whether it was England in the 1200s, the Spanish Inquisition, the pogroms in Poland/Russia in the 1800s and 1900s, Germany in the 1930s and 1940s, or the many Arab states in the more recent past, this is our history.  Once again, we are finding ourselves facing this hatred in the US and around the world.  Only now we have Israel, our homeland.

I have had a number of people reach out to me to ask questions about what’s going on in Israel and to ask for clarity on many things that they are hearing, or friends are saying to them.  It’s startling to me the lack of information that so many smart, well-educated people have.  The number of people who don’t know that Gaza hasn’t been occupied since 2005 is shocking.  Or that Gaza has a border with Egypt.  Or that the blockade didn’t occur until after Hamas took over and started raining bombs and attacking through the tunnels they built.  People don’t know that Israel has been sending in humanitarian aid and continues to increase it.  There continue to be cries for Ceasefire Now, not understanding that what they are asking for is Israel to allow Hamas to restock, rebuild, and attack again, killing more Jews and resulting in the death of more Gazans.  The lack of information is an incredible failure in Israel education.  It’s why I volunteer my time as a board member for the Center for Israel Education.  I’m proud of the work they do and we need much more of it.  Check out the website – it’s worth it and the amount of information available is incredible.

I think about the word Zionism and how many people don’t know what it means.  How many people think that it means you can’t criticize the government (I don’t know a single Israeli who doesn’t criticize the Israeli government!!).  They think it means that only Jews get to live in Israel.  They think it means that if you aren’t Jewish and are a citizen in Israel, you don’t have equal rights.  They don’t know that it’s simply the right for Jews to have self determination and a state of their own. 

Since October 7th, I think too much.  Yet if I don’t think about these things and do whatever I can to deal with them, who am I?  What do I stand for?  Each of us has a role to play.  We can speak out.  We can educate those who don’t know.  We can learn more ourselves. 

What are you going to do?