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Touro Talks are timely conversations engaging college students, thought leaders and experts from around the world on academic and contemporary issues. Hosted by Touro University president, Dr. Alan Kadish.
Touro Talks is sponsored by Robert and Arlene Rosenberg. If you would like to sponsor, please email tourotalks@touro.edu
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[ALAN KADISH] Hello and welcome to Touro Talks. I'm your host, Dr. Alan Kadish, President of Touro University. Our program today is a little different than usual, as we commemorate one year since the terrible Hamas massacre of October 7 and one year of captivity for almost 100 hostages. Tonight, we will hear words to guide and strengthen us from HaRav Yisrael Meir Lau, former Chief rabbi of the state of Israel. We will also hear an analysis of the current situation in the Middle East from former Consul General of Israel and now distinguished Touro faculty member, Ido Aharoni, who will discuss the challenges we face in a post October 7 world.
It's been a very difficult year for all of us, Americans, Jews, Israelis, and really citizens of the world. We've had a disruption of the social fabric, particularly in the United States, but in many countries as well. We have wars that have affected us both personally and psychologically. These challenges have been most prominent on college campuses, where a vocal minority of students, with some support of faculty, have created an environment that's, I have to say, toxic.
There's been evidence of anti-Semitism, anti-Zionism, and to be fair on many American campuses, an attack on the United States and the values that most of us hold in common. This situation has disrupted education, made students feel socially ostracized, and, in many cases, made them physically afraid. It's a situation that's been difficult, that we hope, with collective action, we can address and resolve.
And a situation, which makes tonight's program, where we will hear an analysis of how we can reinforce positive thoughts and what the reality of the situation on the ground is, even more important. Our first guest is HaRav Yisrael Meir Lau. Rabbi Lau is a Holocaust survivor who served as chief rabbi of Israel for a decade. After his tenure as chief rabbi of Israel, he was appointed chairman of Yad Vashem, the Israel Holocaust Memorial Organization.
In 2005, he was awarded the Israel prize for Lifetime Achievement and special contributions to society and to the state of Israel. He's a renowned Jewish leader and Torah sage, who also was awarded the Legion of Honor by France, given by French President Nicolas Sarkozy. Rabbi Lau has a personal story that's both inspiring and teaches us how to overcome difficult times. Welcome, Rabbi Lau.
[HARAV YISRAEL MEIR LAU] [SPEAKING HEBREW] May God bless you from Zion and may you see the goodness of Jerusalem all the days of your life, and live to see your children’s children. Peace be upon Israel. We are approaching the anniversary of the greatest disaster that has happened to us since the Holocaust. There was no disaster like the one that happened exactly on the day of our Simchat Torah, one year ago. Massacre, brutal murder of men, women, children and babies by Hamas, against our brothers, the children of Israel. It was a disaster that will take a long time to recover from.
I understand you, dear students at Touro University, the parents and the alumni of Touro University.
and every Jew, and everyone who is now in the United States and everywhere in the world, together we are grieving and experiencing the terrible pain of what happened a year ago and praying to the Master of the Universe, no more, never again, God forbid, that no calamity befall us, neither this nor any other.Rather, may we truly merit a good and long life and be written and sealed in the book of truly righteous people immediately, for a good life and peace.
Dear students, ladies and gentlemen, there is an interesting idea, that I find especially moving in a Midrash from the rabbis in Eicha (Lamentations) Rabbah. And these words seem to me so relevant for
today. Touching the heart. And I ask for your careful attention.
The first Temple was destroyed. Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, destroyed Jerusalem in 586 BCE and the Temple goes up in flames. The survivors of the children of Israel are exiled. This is the Babylonian exile. The one who sees all these tragedies, all the terrible disaster, is the prophet Jeremiah. He doesn't sit still. He sees what is happening in Jerusalem. He sees the disaster in front of his eyes. He runs from Jerusalem to Hebron, to the Cave of the Patriarchs where Abraham Isaac and Jacob, Sarah, Rebecca and Leah are buried. He goes on the way back to Jerusalem from the Cave of the Patriarchs, to Rachel's Tomb. He wakes up Rachel our mother and tells her what is happening.And she starts to cry. And Hashem says to her, "Stop your voice from crying and your eyes from tears. And your children will return to their border."
This is the Divine promise that has been actualized. We fulfilled it in the last generation 76 years ago, when the State of Israel was established and since then we have returned. But let's go back to the story of Jeremiah the prophet. He comes to Hebron, to the Cave of the Patriarchs, wakes up the patriarchs and matriarchs, and washes their hands, and tells them what is happening in Jerusalem. He tells them to ask for mercy for their children, their sons and daughters. “The Temple is destroyed.”
Abraham our father approaches first and turns to Hashem with these words of the Midrash ”Master of the Universe, my children, where are they? Where are my children?” And Hashem answers him "Your children have transgressed." He does not explain whether the sin was idolatry, immorality, or bloodshed. He just says, "Your children have transgressed."
Abraham our father does not accept this answer. He asks: "And who testifies against them? You wrote in Your Torah that one needs two or three witnesses to establish an accusation. There is no verdict of capital punishment on the basis of one witness. I have not even heard one witness testifying against my children. Master of the Universe, who testifies that my children have sinned?" Says the Holy One, Blessed be He, to Abraham our father. "You know what? The Torah is written using the 22 Hebrew letters. This is the Aleph Bet. I invite the entire Aleph Bet here.
Let all the letters of the Aleph Bet come and testify that your children have transgressed what is written in the Torah." And He arranges a procession of twenty-two witnesses, and the first is the letter Aleph. This is a powerful midrash. Aleph goes up to the witness stand and wants to speak against the people of Israel.
Abraham our father jumps up and says, "Aleph? Aren't you ashamed? You are going to speak against my children? Who agreed to accept you? Who said, we will do and we will listen? Who agreed to receive the Torah? And the mitzvot? No one. Not Amon, not Moab, not Ishmael, not Esau, only my children said, we will do before we hear. So now, when they are in need of words of defense, You, Alelph, are going to be a prosecutor against my children? Aren't you ashamed?"
The midrash tell us that the Aleph was ashamed and went away to a corner, and instead of Aleph, came Bet. As soon as Bet comes, Abraham our father jumps up and says, "Bet? Shame and disgrace, Bet. The entire Torah, how does it start? With you! In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. (In the beginning, Bereishit, which begins with the letter Bet) The Ten Commandments begin with Aleph, I am Hashem your God, (Anochi, I, starts with Aleph) But the entire Torah begins with Bet. Who agreed to accept you and keeps the mitzvot to this day? My children. Today when they need a kind word you are going to speak against them? Shame Bet, shame." The Bet was ashamed and went away to a corner. And the Midrash tells us that all the letters did the same.
Abraham our father told them not to testify and not to speak. This was Abraham our father. But, Moshe our teacher, generations after, remember he was a prophet. No other prophet arose in Israel like Moses who knew Hashem face to face. Moses our teacher came and recited a verse, "And it will be on that day, a day will come when the Nation of Israel will experience many troubles and distress, and it will be difficult. This already happened with the destruction of the first Temple.
What will happen? Says Moses our teacher "And this song will stand as testimony
before Him forever.” I summon the Torah to testify The Torah is called a song. As it says, “write this song and teach it to the People of Israel and place it in their mouths.” I invite the Torah, this song - And it will come and bear witness that it will not be forgotten from the mouth of its offspring.
You the Torah want to testify against my children? Says Moses, our teacher, "The Torah will
not come to testify against us."The Torah knows that if it is not forgotten,
if you do not forget it, it is thanks to the children of Israel who study Torah and observe its commandments. Even if they sin here and there, The Holy One, Blessed be He, will forgive them,
and will not destroy them. Do not destroy your offspring.
What I want to say, dear students in the United States and the entire world, we are the children who study the Torah and observe its commandments. And we know the secret of existence, and the eternity of the Nation of Israel, the merit of Torah study, the honor of observing its mitzvot. You will never lose it and it shall never be forgotten from its descendants.
Yes, it's been a very difficult year. We are still not redeemed. We pray for the captives, the men and women and the babies who are held captive by Hamas. And we pray for their peace, health and freedom, that they return home soon.
In your prayers, dear audience, in your Torah study, that we will not forget the observance of the mitzvot of our children and all the generations to come
until we truly merit complete joy, complete redemption, complete rebuilding. The children will return. The sick will be healed. The wounded will be healed. And all of Israel will surely return home in safety. And the sons and daughters will finally return, and we will all merit together, the complete redemption and the promise of the peace that will soon come, speedily in our days. Amen.
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[ALAN KADISH] Thank you, Rabbi Lau, for inspiring us during difficult times, as you've always done throughout your life. Turning to our next guest, Ido Aharoni will offer expert analysis of the impactful events of the last year. As an expert in world events, politics and diplomacy, Ido will share some thoughts on the impact of October 7 on security and safety, not only for the state of Israel and world Jewry, but for the world as a whole.
Ido Aharoni is an Israeli diplomat and an advisor to global companies. He was born in Tel Aviv to a family that settled in Israel in the 1870s. His diplomatic career in the United States included a term as Israel's longest serving consul general in New York. He has lectured and been a member of the Board of Governors at Tel Aviv University and currently serves as a distinguished faculty member at Touro University. Welcome, Ambassador Aharoni.
[IDO AHARONI] Thank you, Dr. Kadish. Thank you for your leadership during these fateful days. And indeed, these are fateful times in the history of our people that require both great resolve, and resilience, and a moment of collective awakening. There's no doubt about that. As we gather to mark the first commemoration to the worst attack on our people since the Holocaust, I would like to provide you, right here from the hills of Judea, some observations, things that we have learned and observed a year after October 7.
The first observation is a common misconception and misperception in the Western world that this is part of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which is more than a century old, is about the two national aspirations of two peoples. It's a political conflict. What we experienced on 10/7 had nothing to do with it Hamas. It's not part of the Palestinian National Movement. Hamas is not interested in the national aspirations of the Palestinian Movement.
Hamas is a representative of what we call global Jihad. What is global Jihad? It's the cynical deployment of Islam by Islamists for political purposes. Therefore, this should be viewed as a clash between two civilizations. And this intercivilizational clash is between those who would like humanity to progress, and to achieve a growth, and to draw new boundaries and create solutions to problems facing humanity, take us to a much better future, and those who would like to take us back to the dark days. So that's the first observation.
The second observation. What happened on 10/7, Although, it is a war between Israel and Hamas, a Jihadist organization, also reflects the efforts of an anti-American axis to undermine the positioning of the United States in the world. But that axis doesn't like the fact that the United States is promoting democracy, and freedom, and liberties worldwide. And Israel is being viewed as part of that American philosophy, of that American set of values.
So, in other words, it's not so much about what Israel does, meaning it's not so much about Israeli policies, as it is about what Israel stands for. That's really what bothers them. Third observation. Many Americans, especially American-Jews as well as Israelis, feel shocked by the response of the Western world to Israel's reaction to 10/7. They feel isolated. Many of them feel hurt. They're hurt either by the silence of their friends, Jews and non-Jews alike, or by the criticism coming from some quarters of the American political system.
But we have to remember one thing. The vast majority of Americans put the blame squarely on Hamas. They don't blame Israel for what happened in 10/7. In fact, the level of political support for Israel today in the United States is the highest it's ever been. And the reason is, because for many Americans, 10/7 is a continuation of 9/11. They experienced 10/7 the same way they experienced 9/11. It's very, very important to understand that.
I've been involved with research about Israel's positioning in the world for over 30 years, and we've done a lot of research about that in the United States. This is what we learned, and I'd like to share it with you as we mark the first commemoration to 10/7. By and large, the American population is divided into three groups.
You have the 10%, that no matter what Israel is trying to sell them, they're not buying. They're critical of Israel. Not all of them, by the way, think that Israel has no right to exist. In fact, the majority of the 10% don't think that. But they're very critical. Whether Israel is making peace or going to war, they're against it. They were against Oslo, and they are against what's happening now in Gaza.
Then you have the 20%. Who are the 20%? These are people that report a strong, deep emotional connection to Israel. These are usually people of faith, both Jews and Christians, what we call the Zionists. Who is a Zionist? The Zionist is a person who believes in the right of the Jewish people to have their own independence, what we call self-determination. That's Zionism, plain and simple.
If you believe in Israel's right to exist, if you believe that the Jews deserve to have their own state, to be masters of their own destiny, then you're a Zionist. Winston Churchill was a Zionist. Martin Luther King was a Zionist. And the number of Zionists today in the United States is the highest it's ever been. We must remember that. And a lot of it happened because of 10/7.
So you have the 20%. When something happens to Israel, it's as if it happened to them. That's how strongly connected they are to Israel. I should add that there is no other foreign country in the United States that enjoys that level of emotional connection like Israel. Has a lot to do with the fact that I'm here in the Holy Land. It's the Holy Land that speaks to many Americans.
Then you have the 70%. Who are the 70%? Largely, the uninformed and the uninterested. They don't know much. Now, what we should have done is provide the 70%-- focus our advocacy efforts, our marketing efforts, our educational efforts on the 70%, providing them with the knowledge they need to combat the toxicity and the vitriol coming from the 10%, so that when someone says that Israel is an apartheid state, that the 70% will be in a position to negate that with facts, and knowledge, and experiences, just like birthright is doing.
Unfortunately, this was not done enough. And today, we're facing a situation that despite the fact that over 80% of the American people put the blame squarely on Hamas and agree that Israel has the right to defend itself, we still have some very disturbing allegations and accusations thrown at Israel. And the 70% does not have enough immune system to effectively negate those allegations.
So that's my observation. We need, collectively, to invest more in the 70%, to invest more in what Touro University is doing, educating people, doing it in good faith, doing it efficiently and effectively, providing people with the opportunity to learn.
My next observation. Since its establishment in 1948, one of the main tasks of Israeli diplomacy was to-- this allow the creation of Arab solidarity. That's why making peace with Egypt in 1979 was such a dramatic event, because Egypt was and still is the most important Arab country when you look at the Arab League, which is the umbrella organization of the Arab world with 23 members.
The fact that Egypt, that only a couple of decades earlier, was championing Arab solidarity against the existence of the state of Israel, and in 1945, they enacted the Arab economic boycott that practically every major corporation in the world followed. Israel was isolated even before it became a state. What happened is that Hamas attacked on 10/7 hoping that Israel will react harshly, as Israel did and rightly so.
And that very reaction, that was the plan by Hamas and Iran, that will re-galvanize and re-solidify the creation of a United Arab anti-Israel front. Arab solidarity. Well, guess what? It didn't happen. How do we know it did not happen? First of all, the leaders in the Arab world are very quiet about Hamas. In fact, Hamas, which is an extension of the Muslim brothers of Egypt, a religious Islamist organization founded over a century ago in Egypt, is the biggest threat to all the leaders in the Arab world.
So the Abraham Accords that were signed exactly four years ago between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Israel and Bahrain, Israel and Morocco, Israel and Sudan, still hold, not only that, that they still hold. Saudi Arabia, which is the second most important Arab nation after Egypt, is still entertaining normalization with Israel. In other words, 10/7 created exactly the opposite impact.
Instead of generating Arab solidarity against Israel, it pushes more Arab countries to consider normalizing their ties with Israel. This is what's called the theory of unintended consequence. This was not the intention of Hamas or Iran.
Another observation. So the anti-American axis, led by Russia, supported by Iran-- unfortunately, countries like Turkey and South Africa-- Turkey is a country that enjoyed a great deal of attention from the United States, and support from the United States, and from NATO. That axis is failing to undermine the positioning of the United States, largely, thanks to the efforts Israel is making.
Right now, as I'm sitting here in front of you, Israel is fighting in multiple fronts to defend the very same values being held so dearly by so many Americans, again, the majority of Americans. So this is the observation. One should look at Israel as an outpost of American values in a very hostile territory. Israel doesn't have the luxury of not winning in this war, although a victory is not necessarily like in the movies. It's not going to be swift. It's not going to happen overnight.
Hamas is a state of mind. It's very difficult to destroy an idea, a state of mind. What we can hope for is to cripple the military capacity of both Hamas and Hezbollah, because this, you have to understand. No country in the world can live like that. When you have two deadly armed to the teeth Jihadist organizations bent on killing you--
You have Hamas, and we've seen what they're capable of doing. And then you have Hezbollah with close to 150,000 missiles and rockets. Some of them are guided. Some of them are unguided. So inevitably, at one point in time, and it may happen tomorrow and it may happen a year or two from now, the state of Israel will have to neutralize the threat posed by those Islamist organizations.
At the end of the day, the real problem in our region is the role played by Iran. Iran is the source of instability throughout the entire region. They've done it in a very sophisticated way. But the state of Israel is determined to defend itself against Iranian aggression. And this, again, must be emphasized. Israel has no issue with Iran. We've never had any conflict with Iran.
In fact, until the Islamic Revolution, we had very intimate diplomatic ties with Iran. Many infrastructure facilities in Iran were built by Israeli companies in the 1960s and 1970s. We don't have a dispute with Iran over water, over territory, over energy. These are usually the reasons countries go to war. This is not happening between Israel and Iran.
The only problem we have in Iran is that Iran is being ruled by a radical Islamist regime that wants to annihilate the Jewish people-- not only Israel, the Jewish people-- for ideological, religious reasons. Has nothing geopolitical in it. And lastly, my last observation, which is also an opportunity for me to express some optimism and hope regarding the future.
When you look at Israel's trajectory, Israel's progress, in 1948, 550,000 Jews faced an unprecedented attack by several well-organized military armies. We were outnumbered. We didn't have the resources. For example, we did not even have an air force. We did not have an adequate navy, not enough ammunition. Our soldiers were not very well trained.
My own father was injured twice and was sent back to the front lines in 1948 because they didn't have the luxury of allowing him to properly get better. They sent him back to the front lines. He was injured twice. We didn't have the luxury of losing the war in 1948. And we won that war. So from 550,000 people, we doubled the population in the next six years.
When I was born, Israel was already 2.5 million people. When the 73 war was imposed on us, we were already 3.2 million people. Today, we're 10.5 million people, and we're projected to be by 2050, 20 million people. After every military challenge, you could detect a spike in the performance of Israeli economy, and the performance of Israeli military, and in the performance of Israeli society.
Same thing happened after the Second Intifada. Before the Intifada, tourism to Israel was barely around 2.5 million people. During the Intifada, it dropped to 0, understandably. But following the Intifada after 2005, tourism went up to 5 million people. So we are experiencing a difficult period. This could be a prolonged time of crisis, but there's no doubt in my mind that Israel will rebound and bounce back in a very impressive way, because this is what we do.
This is part of our DNA. This is part of who we are. Resilience, resolve, and the refusal to accept limitations imposed on us by others, in this case Iran and global Jihad. When you look at the younger generation in Israel today, these folks give you so many reasons to be hopeful and to be optimistic. You see young men and women that are ready to fight for their country, ready to defend their peers, their parents, their friends.
My son's unit-- my son was called to the army on October 8. His unit expected 100% turnout. It was 150% turnout. More people showed up than the army needed on October 8. Show me another country in the world that can say that about its younger generation. The very same Gen Z that everybody likes to ridicule, well, in Israel, they showed up. They showed up with unprecedented and unmatched desire to help, and defend, and displayed unbelievable bravery.
And I believe that within the ranks of the younger generation, we will find also the future leadership of our people that will lead us to a glorious future. So these are my observations as we mark the first commemoration to 10/7. It's been a tough year. The future is not going to be a walk in the park. But when the whole saga is over, I can assure you that Israel will emerge stronger, more vigilant, more attentive to the threats coming from the region, and more determined to invest in itself and to grow further as a society and as a people. God bless all of you from the hills of Judea.
[ALAN KADISH] Thank you, Ido, for your observations and, maybe most importantly, for your reminder that Israel and the Jewish people everywhere have resilience and resolve baked into our DNA, that we will heal and rebound. It has been a difficult year. And we can all hope for better times. Exactly in what time frame that will happen and how it will happen is still a bit unclear.
But talks, as we've heard tonight, create the atmosphere for us to continue to hope for better times where peace and tranquility can return to Israel, to the Jewish people, and, quite frankly, to the world as a whole. I'd like to once again thank Rabbi Lau and Ido Aharoni for sharing their thoughts, to all those who've joined us for today's Touro Talks, as well as our other programs, and to our Touro Talk sponsors, Robert and Arlene Rosenberg.
Touro Talks is produced by Nahum Twersky and Sam Levine. Until next time. Wishing all of you a happy, sweet and peaceful new year. We all hope that we will hear good news in the next few weeks and in the next year. Thank you, and have a great day.
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