It’s 6:30 AM and the alarm goes off. As you are prone to do, you hit the snooze button. At 6:35, the alarm sounds again. You are sleepy this morning, so you hit it again. Knowing it is as far as you can push it, you hit it one more time at 6:40. At 6:45, when the alarm sounds one more time, you finally jump out of bed, knowing that if you let it go any further, it will be too late.
That is how the attack against Jews celebrating Hanukkah on Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia, needs to be understood. It is the equivalent of that last alarm in the morning. It is that final alarm before it is too late.
Any time there is a terrorist attack on innocent people, it pains me. Any time it is on my fellow Jews in particular, I take it personally. This time, however, still felt different. This time, more than any other time, it felt like evil took aim at all of us, and the victims just happened to live in Sydney. As I write this, there are 16 dead and over 40 injured, six of them critically. This attack should teach every Jew one critical lesson: we are all vulnerable.
Hanukkah celebrations are not pro-Israel rallies. They are not limited to the very observant. There is no exclusivity in the community when it comes to these events. Maybe most importantly, they come in all shapes and sizes and take place all over the world. An attack on any size group, in any location, and in any denomination of Judaism anywhere in the world on Hanukkah is the most blatant statement of Jew-hatred possible. It cannot be spun as an attack on Zionists, or the religious, or the wealthy or privileged. It is, simply put, an attack on any Jew the target can find. This is why it speaks to our vulnerability. More so than any attack on a large group of Jews that I can remember, this one felt like it could just as easily have been any one of us, and if we ignore that fact and do not do everything in our power to fight against this scourge of Jew-hatred, led by Muslim extremism, we will ultimately find ourselves in the kind of trouble we have not seen since 1945.
So, what do we do? If we look at things honestly, we will conclude that often, people who do what needs to be done do not know that what they are doing will work at the time they are acting. We all know what our capabilities are, and we can all do something—be it on the spiritual, financial, influential, or even the physically defensive front.
To the Jews who consciously turn away and disassociate themselves from the community, read your history. The only difference between you and the rest of us is that you will be in for a terrible shock when you find out that you were not smarter than the rest of us after all.
So, whatever it is you can do, realize that as a Jew—or any other decent human being who cares about the future of mankind—if your vulnerability does not motivate you to take some sort of action now, 6:46 is approaching, and then it will be too late.
From 9/11 until the murder of Charlie Kirk on September 19, 2025, there are far too many examples of a steady decline of the morals within our global society over the past quarter of a century. Many of us back then hoped that what we saw back then would be the worst thing we would ever see in our lifetime. We hoped that it would be the beginning of a positive progression towards a better world. We hoped society might wake up. And yet, if we are to be honest, evil is not diminishing at all. On the contrary. It is growing at an alarming pace.
As a proud Jew and son of Holocaust survivors, I have always been deeply connected to the horrors the Jewish people have endured. Because of my upbringing, I have known that true evil exists for as long as I can remember, and while it creates a burden in one’s life to spend a lifetime with this realization, like any other disease, acknowledging it and confronting it is the only viable approach. After October 7th I was devastated and furious at the same time. But I held hope, as I always do, that there will be better days ahead. Sadly, evil is not only increasing at a frightening rate, because of technology, specifically social media, it is more on display than ever before.
As I have been every year since 2001, I am very aware as September 11th approaches. Coming into the 24th anniversary of a day I will never forget, I planned to acknowledge it, as I do every year, with respect and reverence. But unfortunately, what I have seen in just a matter of a few days has crystallized not only the significance of the day—it has also magnified the fact that, as a global society, we may be in bigger trouble today than we were 24 years ago.
The first incident was the murder of six innocent civilians—five men and one woman—all of whom were Orthodox Jews, shot at a bus stop in Jerusalem. As has been the case long before I was born, and for as long as I can remember, these were people killed for what many perpetrators of evil see as the ultimate crime: the crime of being Jewish. I have no doubt there were even more evil people out there celebrating the death of what they would refer to as “occupiers” and “colonizers.”
The second incident was the vicious murder of Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska. Although this happened on August 22, the footage surfaced only this week. The attack took place in Charlotte, NC, on mass transit, and the video showed a deranged and evil psychopath stabbing the young woman in the neck. The attack itself was horrifying enough, but what you see afterward only compounds the focus on our society’s demise. People did nothing to help her. The attack happened very quickly, and the perpetrator looked terrifying, so I understand why no one tried to intervene. But as Iryna lay bleeding to death, and the attacker had fled, people sitting near her simply got off the train. Not one lifted a hand to help her. Hard to fathom, but it is there for everyone to see.
The third incident was the assassination today of Conservative activist Charlie Kirk. Regardless of your political views, having a high-profile husband and father of two—someone who welcomed and encouraged debate with people who differed from him on political and religious ideologies—assassinated while doing nothing other than speaking to a willing crowd, is one more black mark on our society. Charlie Kirk was a 31-year-old man who openly welcomed people with opinions he disagreed with. Regardless of anyone’s political opinions, even if you disliked him for how he thought, if you believe he deserved what happened to him today, you need to take a good look at yourself and wonder which direction you are going on the scale of good and evil.
Optimism might be the last thing anyone would feel after a week like this on the eve of the anniversary of the worst attacks ever on American soil. Well then, let me show you where we can indeed find a way forward that makes our future look brighter. One of the things I felt more clearly than ever before, after seeing reactions to the assassination of Charlie Kirk, is that our battles are not about politics or even ideologies. This was evident in the number of people who condemned his murder and expressed condolences and prayers for his family. The biggest battle our society faces is not a battle between two sides that disagree on the best course of action. The biggest battle is the same one it has always been: the battle of good against evil. And if we look at history, evil and the devastation it causes have always made far more noise—but good has ultimately, always been victorious.
As important as these, and other awful incidents may be, in many ways the reaction of the populace is equally important. After October 7th, proud Jews and Zionists like myself witnessed masses of people siding with terrorists over murdered, raped, and tortured innocent men, women, and children. But we also saw supporters in places we never expected, and non-Jewish voices shouting at least as loudly as Jewish ones. True evil attracts evil, while true good will never be altered by evil. All of these incidents make the battle lines between good and evil more clear—something we need to see if evil is ever to be wiped from the earth.
As we remember 9/11 and all other victims of evil, if we all use whatever tools we have at our disposal to be forces of good, I believe good will do what it has done since the beginning of time: win.
From 9/11 until the murder of Charlie Kirk on September 19, 2025, there are far too many examples of a steady decline of the morals within our global society over the past quarter of a century. Many of us back then hoped that what we saw back then would be the worst thing we would ever see in our lifetime. We hoped that it would be the beginning of a positive progression towards a better world. We hoped society might wake up. And yet, if we are to be honest, evil is not diminishing at all. On the contrary. It is growing at an alarming pace.
As a proud Jew and son of Holocaust survivors, I have always been deeply connected to the horrors the Jewish people have endured. Because of my upbringing, I have known that true evil exists for as long as I can remember, and while it creates a burden in one’s life to spend a lifetime with this realization, like any other disease, acknowledging it and confronting it is the only viable approach. After October 7th I was devastated and furious at the same time. But I held hope, as I always do, that there will be better days ahead. Sadly, evil is not only increasing at a frightening rate, because of technology, specifically social media, it is more on display than ever before.
From 9/11 until the murder of Charlie Kirk on September 19, 2025, there are far too many examples of a steady decline in morals within our global society over the past quarter of a century. Many of us back then hoped that what we saw would be the worst thing we would ever experience in our lifetime. We hoped it would be the beginning of a positive progression toward a better world. We hoped society might wake up. And yet, if we are honest, evil is not diminishing at all. On the contrary, it is growing at an alarming pace.
As a proud Jew and son of Holocaust survivors, I have always been deeply connected to the horrors the Jewish people have endured. Because of my upbringing, I have known that true evil exists for as long as I can remember. While it creates a burden in one’s life to live with this realization, like any other disease, acknowledging it and confronting it is the only viable approach. After October 7th, I was devastated and furious at the same time. But I held hope, as I always do, that there would be better days ahead. Sadly, evil is not only increasing at a frightening rate—because of technology, specifically social media—it is more on display than ever before.
As I have been every year since 2001, I am very aware as September 11th approaches. Coming into the 24th anniversary of a day I will never forget, I planned to acknowledge it, as I do every year, with respect and reverence. But unfortunately, what I have seen in just a matter of a few days has crystallized not only the significance of the day—it has also magnified the fact that, as a global society, we are in bigger trouble today than we were 24 years ago.
The first incident was the shooting of six innocent civilians—five men and one woman—all of whom were Orthodox Jews, shot at a bus stop in Jerusalem. As has been the case long before I was born, and for as long as I can remember, these were people killed for what many perpetrators of evil see as the ultimate crime: the crime of being Jewish. I have no doubt there were more evil people out there celebrating the death of what they would refer to as “occupiers” and “colonizers.”
The second incident was the vicious murder of Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska. Although this happened on August 22, the footage surfaced only this week. The attack took place in Charlotte, NC, on mass transit, and the video showed a deranged and evil psychopath stabbing the young woman in the neck. The attack itself was horrifying enough, but what you see afterward only compounds the focus on our society’s demise. People did nothing to help her. The attack happened very quickly, and the perpetrator looked terrifying, so I understand why no one tried to intervene. But as Iryna lay bleeding to death, and the attacker had fled, people sitting near her simply got off the train. Not one lifted a hand to help her. Hard to fathom, but it is there for everyone to see.
The third incident was the assassination today of Conservative activist Charlie Kirk. Regardless of your political views, having a high-profile husband and father of two—someone who welcomed and encouraged debate with people who differed from him on political and religious ideologies—assassinated while doing nothing other than speaking to a willing crowd, is one more black mark on our society. Charlie Kirk was a 31-year-old man who openly welcomed people with opinions he disagreed with. Regardless of anyone’s political opinions, even if you disliked him for how he thought, if you believe he deserved what happened to him today, you need to take a good look at yourself and wonder which direction you are going on the scale of good and evil.
Optimism might be the last thing anyone would feel after a week like this on the eve of the anniversary of the worst attacks ever on American soil. Well then, let me show you where we can indeed find a way forward that makes our future look brighter. One of the things I felt more clearly than ever before, after seeing reactions to the assassination of Charlie Kirk, is that our battles are not about politics or even ideologies. This was evident in the number of people who condemned his murder and expressed condolences and prayers for his family. The biggest battle our society faces is not a battle between two sides that disagree on the best course of action. The biggest battle is the same one it has always been: the battle of good against evil. And if we look at history, evil and the devastation it causes have always made far more noise—but good has ultimately, always been victorious.
As important as these, and other awful incidents may be, in many ways the reaction of the populace is equally important. After October 7th, proud Jews and Zionists like myself witnessed masses of people siding with terrorists over murdered, raped, and tortured innocent men, women, and children. But we also saw supporters in places we never expected, and non-Jewish voices shouting at least as loudly as Jewish ones. True evil attracts evil, while true good will never be altered by evil. All of these incidents make the battle lines between good and evil more clear—something we need to see if evil is ever to be wiped from the earth.
As we remember 9/11 and all other victims of evil, if we all use whatever tools we have at our disposal to be forces of good, I believe good will do what it has done since the beginning of time: win.
While I’ve had a problem from the start with the nations of the world that have pressured Israel regarding their response to October 7th, I have, for the most part, kept quiet. However, as someone who has committed, and intends to continue committing, much of my life to telling the story of the Holocaust, I must address the following. Everything I do—everything I believe in as a Jew and the son of Holocaust survivors—is put to the test when a German government has the unmitigated gall to take a stand against the Jewish state.
I will share two important points with you, not because I am being apologetic, but merely because they are part of the calculus that brought me to think as I do today. My first point is that while there should never, ever be forgiveness for what the German Nazi Party did to the Jewish people, until recently I at least tepidly gave post-war Germany some credit. Nothing can make up for what was done, and nothing can ever truly be enough to make amends for atrocities so recent that there are still Jews alive today who lived through that horrific time. But where I took a somewhat moderate approach was in recognizing that German laws and actions since 1945 did not ignore accountability and responsibility for the actions of the country. Simply put, I felt there was little more a people and its government could have done to express remorse and apply preventative laws against this ever happening again.
My second point is that many of these countries taking a stance against Israel are doing so because they are frightened by the dynamics created by certain elements within the Muslim populations in their own country. Their policies are rooted in neither common sense nor decency. They are rooted in a cowardice that overshadows any moral clarity. To go after every country guilty of this would be a futile waste of anyone’s time.
But Germany is a different story. Germany, of all countries, should not get away with its recent actions. This is more than a matter of taking a hardline approach toward the war in Gaza. This is about the timing and the message it sends. Above you see two pictures: one is taken from a bunker in the concentration camp Buchenwald, showing the conditions of the prisoners; the second is a recent picture of Israeli hostage Evyatar David, taken on October 7th, looking hauntingly similar to the prisoners in Buchenwald.
In response to numerous attempts to have a ceasefire contingent mainly on the release of all hostages, Hamas has repeatedly put roadblocks in the path of peace—not surprising when you understand that they do not want peace; they want the death of every Jew on the planet. After the release of the video and the continuing collapse of peace talks, Israel’s government declared its intention to occupy Gaza.
Backing up momentarily, I do not live in Israel, and although much of my heart is there, I do not have to live with the actual consequences of the ongoing war. Therefore, I do not believe I have the right—certainly not publicly—to express criticism toward those protesting against the government, demanding an end to the war and the return of the hostages. If anything, it breaks my heart. I do not disagree with either of those demands. But perhaps being on the outside allows me to see that the sad part is that everything happening today is exactly what Hamas hoped for when they started this on October 7th: the anti-Israel sentiment, the rise in global antisemitism, and any internal strife in Israel are all things they see as a victory.
Hamas knows that if they released the hostages, the war would end. But that does not align with their ultimate goal. Israel’s statement about occupying Gaza has been called a serious escalation by much of the world, while those same voices stayed mostly quiet after the release of a video designed to entice escalation. It was after Israel’s recent declaration that German Chancellor Friedrich Merz announced a halt to German military equipment that could be used in an occupation of Gaza. Barely a week after the release of a video showing a Jewish hostage in Gaza looking like a prisoner in one of the many concentration camps that killed millions of Jews, rather than seeing the picture and acknowledging the historical irony, the reaction of Merz and his government, in many ways, rewards Hamas for its continuous evil actions. How dare you, Germany!
Tolerance does not exist in a vacuum. It is measured against the views of others. But here’s the deal: if I seem intolerant right now toward a country that committed atrocities against millions of Jews so recently that they are the reason I never knew a grandparent, so be it. Jews have shown tolerance for centuries, and we find ourselves made out to be the aggressor just because we were the victim. Makes no sense? That is because everything taking place in Israel regarding wars and terrorist attacks—and every display of anti-Israel or antisemitic sentiment around the globe—is not rooted in anything that makes sense. It is all about one thing: Jew hatred. This time, more than at any other time, the country responsible for translating Jew hatred into action more successfully than any other country in history has a moral obligation to show support. Instead, it is holding its tools for Israel’s self-defense hostage.
On June 12, 1994, I participated in what I would later come to realize would be one of the greatest honors of my life. That was the day I would march together in a procession with thousands of people following behind the body of the Grand Rabbi of Lubavitch, Menachem Mendel Schneerson, or as he is referred to today by so many, the Rebbe. That day, which coincided with the 3rd day (Gimmel) of the Jewish month of Tammuz- the Jewish calendar is a lunar one-coincides with today, June 29, 2025. As someone who is significantly more connected to Chabad, the Jewish organizational structure developed to enormous significance by the Rebbe, than I was back then, I will share with you my experiences of that day and of days of importance before and after his passing.
To this day I remember my reasoning behind going to the Rebbe’s funeral. My personal experiences with Chabad to that point had been limited. I remember celebrating the holiday of Simchat Torah in Philadelphia with them once or twice in my early to mid-teens and being amazed by the excitement and enthusiasm. In 1992 when I had a wife suffering from Ovarian cancer and paralysis from the waist down caused by the cancer, I wrote a letter to the Rebbe in which I wrote something to the effect of “enough is enough”. My now ex-wife recovered from both the paralysis and the cancer, and as I have always said about that time, I do not know whose prayers God answered, but they were indeed answered.
Over the years leading up to June 12, 1994, I worked with people who lived in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, home of Chabad headquarters at 770 Eastern Parkway, known by many as just “770”. I had the occasional interactions and experiences with the community but never was fortunate enough to meet the Rebbe himself. But I did have the presence of mind to understand something very important, something I often said back then when he passed away and something I still say today. While I did not see myself as Chabad, I knew that when the Rebbe passed away, the world had lost someone it really could not afford to lose, and as a proud Jew, I considered it my obligation and responsibility to go to his funeral.
I do not clearly remember the events that took place in Crown Heights that day, but I will never forget what happened as they finished. Thousands of people began to walk behind the procession carrying the Rebbe’s body as it would be delivered to the cemetery in Queens in what is now knowns as the “Ohel”. We marched through the streets of Brooklyn with the goal of getting to the Belt Parkway, a road difficult enough to drive on, let alone march on, albeit off to the side. We made it to the Belt Parkway, and now the crowds seemed smaller, either because we had broken into smaller groups or because the numbers were steadily diminishing. As people came from all over the United States to pay their respects, there were yellow school buses carrying people from different communities. Seeing people on the side of the road, these buses would stop to see if anyone would need a lift the rest of the way. After a certain number of miles- I will never know for sure how many- I got on one of those buses. All I remember was that it was the one bus that came down from Albany, NY, and the people on the bus were extremely friendly, as they drove me the rest of the way to the cemetery.
Years later I would write the book “Jew Face”, be contacted by Wim de Haan in Holland regarding the violin belonging to my uncle and mother’s brother Bram and begin to put together presentations in which I would tell the story, with the violin being played by an accompanying violinist. In July of 2023 I received an inquiry from Chabad of Delmar, NY about having an event that following November. After first communicating with his wife Chanie, I got on the phone with the Rabbi of the Chabad of Delmar, Zalman Simon. Delmar, NY is a hamlet right outside of Albany. This is what the Rabbi told me. When he was 9 years old, that summer he remembered that the Rebbe passed away. His father took him on the one and only bus from Albany to go to the Rebbe’s funeral, and even though he was a young boy, he remembered the bus stopping off the side of the road to pick up people walking to the cemetery. As there was only the one bus from Albany, I can say with certainty that I was one of those people.
While the story is remarkable in how coincidental it is, it also speaks to one of the great accomplishments of the Rebbe. Because of the push to have Chabad houses all over the world, and Shlichim (messengers) of Chabad in every corner, Judaism is accessible to anyone visiting a free society. With this accessibility comes connection, and with the connection, unity, on full display when I was able to say, somewhat whimsically, at the event in Delmar in November 2023, 29 years after the Rebbe’s funeral, “nice to see you again Rabbi”.
Years later after far more exposure to Chabad, including going to Crown Heights for Simchat Torah 8 times and being a regular attendee at services at the one near my current home, I can honestly say I have met people from all ends of the religious spectrum at various Chabads. That is something that truly matters, because it is indicative of how Chabad houses all over the world give the opportunity to find a Jewish home in communities where it otherwise might not be possible. It allows men and women of all ages to find Judaism in some of the most remote parts of the planet.
Even though the Lubavitcher Rebbe passed away 31 years ago, his reach and influence lives on, and as a result, even in these troubled times, Judaism is alive and well. The acronym of the Hebrew name “Chabad” stands for Wisdom, Understanding and Knowledge. With outreach and education worldwide, we see the prevalence of those values in the Rebbe’s disciples, and for that we can be grateful. As I previously started, I went to the funeral in 1994 because I felt we could not afford to lose someone as important as the Rebbe. Little did I know back then, maybe in the ways that matter most, we didn’t.
This is the story of Bram Rodrigues and the very special violin that made it back to his family 76 years after it left his hands. My name is David Groen. In March of 2019 I received a message on Facebook from a man whose father was friends with my mother’s younger brother Bram who was killed in Auschwitz in September of 1943.
The man’s father and my uncle were close friends before the war, living around the corner from each other and forming a band together. My uncle played the violin and the man’s father played guitar.
Before my uncle tried to flee Amsterdam with my grandfather, only to be picked up in Belgium and taken to his death, he asked his friend to look after his violin. The man did so till the day he died, protecting it as though it was a sacred artifact. Upon his passing away the man would leave the house and everything in it to his only son. His son thought that my uncle had no living relatives till he found me online through the book I wrote about my parents experiences under Nazi occupation, “Jew Face: A story of love and heroism in Nazi occupied Holland”, and through my website, Holland’s Heroes hollandsheroes.com . The man contacted me and said that he wanted to return the violin to its rightful heirs, which he did in an event on July 21, 2019, in Amsterdam.
Upon returning it to the United States we had the violin restored to playing condition and it subsequently is once again a beautiful instrument providing beauty with its sound, and hope and inspiration through its history.
The presentation tells a background story of my family leading up to the Nazi invasion of the Netherlands, the story of my Uncle Bram’s early life, the tragedies he went through at an early age that made his violin and his friends so important to him, and how his best friend’s son would find me so many years later to return the violin to his family. A musical performance of the violin is available upon request with musical interludes during my presentation, the amount to be determined by how long you wish the presentation to last. A Question & Answer session is more than welcome after the presentation and is recommended, as this story generally stimulates a great deal of emotion and curiosity.
This past Thursday night my good friend Phil Silverman passed away. Phil was a force of nature. He lived life hard and fast. He constantly gave of himself. He made an effort to find a way to enjoy every day he had on his earth. With his failing health over the past few years, somewhere in the back of my mind I knew this day would come. But as always is the case when you lose someone you care about, that never makes it easier. I sit here and write this because I wish to honor him and remember him publicly. But if I am to be honest, and all those who know him are likely to smile when they read this, I am writing this because I know he would have killed me if I didn’t write something about him.
While I do not remember the exact timeline, I believe I met Phil around 15 yeas ago. I was working in a mortgage company and struggling to generate business. With one foot out the door, one of the owners, Frank, someone I now call a friend, approached Phil and asked him to take me under his wing and see if he could get me on track. Phil, someone whose goal in life sometimes seemed to be to meet and befriend as many people as possible, was more than happy to oblige. With Phil’s help I would significantly improve my performance at the company, would remain there for 6 years, and Phil and I would become friends. Over the course of that friendship I have met people I have valued and liked, people who remained Phil’s friends till the end. Monique, who was literally there for him to the very end. Others who enriched my life as well, people who would likely not have been in my life had it not been for Phil. Jamie, Joey, Livio, Rich, and Frank, who I will say more about later, all have made positive impacts on my life, and I have Phil to thank for so much of that.
Within that 6 year period when working with him, something happened that would be the foundation of our friendship moving forward. Phil in what could only be described as an earlier life, was a Disc Jockey in NY City. He was well known, loved and respected in that community. Back in the days when Studio 54 was the place to be, Phil Silverman was one of the premier DJ’s, and as was the case with many living in that world, he lived a life of excitement and excess.
While he would leave that world and enter into sales, a place where he could use his God given talents, some of the excesses would follow him through life. While I have done my fair share of partying, I am not someone who ever was nearly as much a part of it as Phil, and knowing this I became concerned that Phil’s influence on me would be detrimental. But Phil’s friendship had already become important enough for me to go to the top for advice. My father has already passed, but my mother was still around, and this is what she told me almost verbatim. “He is a Jewish man like you, he has no one, and he needs you to be his friend”. So I listened to my mother and stuck it out. And I am so glad that I did. Instead of my concerns being realized, the opposite happened. Phil felt that our friendship brought him a peace and stability he had not remembered having, and rightly so, he credited my mother. “Mom” as he would subsequently refer to her, was watching over him now, and he could rarely mention my mother without his voice cracking. Phil saw a number of people as being instrumental in making his life special, but he sometimes spoke about Mom as having saved his life. From this point on our friendship was solid and strong.
What I know for sure is that everyone who knows him will nod their head and smile when they read this next paragraph. It is hard to imagine there has ever been anyone in the history of this planet who has used the term “I love you” more than Phil. But long before his passing I thought about this and realized what made that so special. He was one of the most social people you’ll ever meet, an incredible salesman, special friend, and a persistent, enthusiastic person who never meant anyone harm. We all have met people who use the term “I love you” frivolously and in doing so diminish its meaning. But if you saw Phil, and saw how and when he used it, it truly felt like in every moment he said it, he truly meant it. In my opinion, that is the greatest tribute to his memory.
Over the past few years I would call Phil on Friday and say prayers for him before the upcoming Jewish Sabbath. After calling him on Friday, September 20, I received the following text the next evening.
He made me promise that if he would pass before me, that I would see to it that everything post death would be seen to in accordance with Jewish law. I am so thankful to those who helped make it so that his life’s ending would be handled with dignity on what the Jewish religion sees as the highest level.
Lastly I would be remiss if I didn’t thank Frank. Had it not been for him, I would never have had this special friend. Rest in peace Phil, and give Mom a kiss and a hug from me.
After yesterday’s events in Amsterdam, telling Holland to wake up is a natural and understandable reaction. But I could just as easily said, “Wake up world”, for what we saw take place in the city where my parents grew up, is going to happen everywhere in Europe, and beyond, including eventually America, if this problem isn’t addressed. While I like to believe the majority of Muslims are not a problem, let’s call this what it is, a Muslim problem. Maybe more importantly, we should learn from history and identify the parallels of what we are seeing in Europe today to what we saw in Europe in the 1930s.
While we might be inclined to say that this is different because it is not government sanctioned, that is not entirely accurate. After the Islamic revolution of 1979 in Iran, it was made very clear that the goal was to make the entire world Muslim. Much of Holland’s Muslim population is of Moroccan descent, an important point to make when addressing the issue. Morocco traditionally has been a country welcoming to Jews. When Jews left Morocco for Israel in the first large migration of Jews from North Africa, the Royal family practically begged them to stay. But with the tentacles of Iran spreading everywhere, and using the Palestinian issue as there moral high ground, they have spread their evil rhetoric worldwide. That coupled with the funding of Qatar and others has fueled this rise in Muslim fundamentalism, And of course, just as was the case with Nazi Germany, while there ultimate goal is world domination, their favorite target is the Jews.
For those who throw around the terms “Nazis” and “fascists”, if you truly want to see an example of that today, just YouTube yesterday’s events in Amsterdam, events eerily reminiscent of Kristallnacht, which took place 86 years ago tomorrow. My fellow Jews need to call to task all of those who stay quiet when the Jewish people, .02% of the world’s population, are treated as though they are the problem and are targeted and attacked just because they are Jewish. We must not remain silent and we must not be afraid to speak the truth, regardless of who it offends or angers.
As for not only Holland, the country not just of my ancestors but my immediate family, but the rest of Europe and countries beyond, if you do not wake up, your governments will ultimately fall and you will enter an age of terror not seen since the 1940s. I like to believe that it is not too late, and in all honesty I just don’t know, but what I do know is that the only chance we have is in identifying and dealing with the real threat, not whatever scapegoat is easier to target and makes us feel better about ourselves.
For over 25 years I have enjoyed saying that there is nothing cooler than a cool Puerto Rican. So when I tell you that I did not like Tony Hinchcliffe’s joke about Puerto Rico being floating garbage, I am speaking the truth. But if speaking the truth is what we are doing here, the direction this issue went after Sunday evening needs to be addressed. I am not referring to the comment made by President Biden, I am going back to something that happened before the current President went rogue on a laptop. I am referring to the importance put on the opinion of Puerto Rican recording artist Bad Bunny.
If you had told me 10-20 years ago that I would be doing something in defense of Israel and the Jewish people in regard to actions by someone named Bad Bunny, I would have chuckled and thought you were crazy. Yet here we are in 2024 when that very person is not only seen as a critical spokesperson and defender of Puerto Ricans, he is also seen as someone the Harris campaign wants to have in their camp. I do not blame him or anyone for being offended by the joke, but if you are going to extrapolate that a bad joke at a Donald Trump rally is a reason to call him a fascist, hateful or another Hitler, dangerous and irresponsible wording, you must look at the other side as well.
I could write 1000 words about why the comparisons to Hitler being thrown around is an issue almost to the point of being a crisis, but instead I will take you to a recent Bad Bunny concert. At this concert, Bad Bunny who mixes with people who have made a point of always being on the side against Israel, displayed a Palestinian flag with blood red hands at a recent concert. In my searches I found no evidence that Bad Bunny even supports Israel’s right to exist. All I found is his unwavering support for the Palestinians at a time when Israel is fighting for its very survival. So I think it’s rather obvious whose hands he believes that blood is on.
Let me be very clear. So clear that I will designate this comment to a stand alone paragraph. To my fellow Jews who refuse to face this important truth, the survival of the Jewish people everywhere in the world, including the United States of America, is dependent on the survival of the State of Israel.
Your vote is your choice. But if you were all up in arms over Tony Hinchcliffe’s joke about Puerto Rico and attach it to Donald Trump, but choose to revere Bad Bunny and put importance on his endorsement of Kamala Harris, you are being naive at best, disingenuous at worst. As a proud Jew and Zionist, I have stood by long enough watching people get all up in arms over attacks against other groups that pale in comparison to the attacks against the Jews. And when I say attacks against the Jews, I am including attacks against Israel, for they are one in the same. If you support Donald Trump or Kamala Harris, that does not mean that you should accept hateful behavior by any supporter of theirs, no matter how powerful or how entertaining they may be in your estimation. And if you are Jewish or Pro-Israel, if you are not putting the safety and existence of the State of Israel at the forefront of your decision, you are making a tragic mistake.
You know who you are. You masquerade as humanitarians, social justice warriors, educators and public servants. Some of you whose job is to act or make music think that you have a better understanding of right and wrong than the rest of us. You opine and preach about how much you care about your fellow man and the injustices committed against women and children but pick and choose which women and children to protect. You are ignorant hypocrites at best, evil servants of the devil at worst. Your shortsightedness blinds you from seeing how on the wrong side of history your stances have placed you. But you will not come out ahead, and this is why.
You are merely an insignificant speck of dust in the global scheme. You have made the choice to pick the chosen people as the target of your hatred. Last year in Israel, on the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah, the holiday coinciding with October 7th in the Gregorian calendar, you watched and learned of a massacre unparalleled in recent history. One would have thought that your credibility would have been unquestioned after learning of 1200 people being slaughtered, babies being purposely murdered, and young women being raped. But rather than seeing this as the horror that it was, your hatred of the Jewish people combined in many cases with personal financial gain, caused you to support the perpetrator, and chastise the victim. You jumped at the opportunity to attack Israel for protecting its people and conveniently ignored the acts of terror committed against them, in favor of those who committed or supported these atrocities. And you did this for one reason above all others. You hate the Jewish people.
Jews have been persecuted, expelled and murdered more than any other people throughout history. Empires and mighty nations have found themselves obsessed with our very existence. They have made their attacks on Jews more than just a policy, they have made it a priority. You feebleminded, hypocritical, self-serving pieces of garbage have spent the last year criticizing every action Israel has taken in the name of their safety and that of the Jewish people. You have chosen to ignore the restraint Israel has shown, the caution it has taken, and the well thought out methods it has chosen to prosecute a war they did not start. You refuse to admit that there is not another country on the planet that would have shown the mercy Israel has shown over this past year.
But when all is said and done, you will lose. This is not a warning or a threat. This is very simply a reference to the past and an understanding of reality. Before so many evil nations or empires crumbled, one of the last things they did was persecute, expel, or kill their Jewish population. The Spanish Inquisition, Russian pogroms and Nazi Germany all lead to defeat of evil governments, to a large part because they were consumed by their hatred for the Jews, but to an even greater part because they picked the wrong people to mess with. They may have had the power and military might to inflict devastation on Jewish communities, but ultimately they could not and never would have overcome the spiritual power of the Jewish people. That is why, and read this carefully all you determined to see us wiped off the planet, they are gone and we remain standing.
So to all of you Jew haters who are ignoring history, know this. No one has been able to extinguish our light till now, and no one ever will. You are on the wrong side of history, a side that sees darkness, chaos, death and destruction, every thing the Jewish people are not. If you choose to remain on that wrong side of history, your world will ultimately crumble around you like so many worlds before you.
I have never been more proud or more happy to be a Jew than I am today. In the past year the Jewish people have rallied militarily, thanks to the amazing IDF, financially, thanks to donors both large and small, and last, but not least, spiritually. The prayers of Jew and non-Jew alike for the safety and continued existence of the Jewish people has never been stronger. So to those of you who still choose to hate us, do so at your own peril, because ultimately it will be your demise, not ours.
May God Bless the souls of those murdered last Simchat Torah, October 7th, and all the amazingly heroic members of the IDF who have made the ultimate sacrifice. And may strength and peace be the blessing bestowed on all those who have suffered pain and anguish from the events of a year ago. This year on Simchat Torah, while the Jew haters will drown in their evil desires, we will dance for all those who can not, and for all those whose souls we hope to uplift. That is how we as Jews spend our time. You might want to learn from that.
Holland's Heroes 