Gov. Josh Shapiro: Proud of His Faith and ‘Getting Stuff Done’

The following is an article that I wrote, which appeared in the April 9, 2025, edition of the Philadelphia Jewish Exponent:

Gov. Josh Shapiro
(Photo credit: Commonwealth Media Services)

Governing is not easy. Yet for Josh Shapiro, the Jewish governor of Pennsylvania who proudly wears his faith on his sleeve, public service is a calling and he seemingly loves the challenge of helping people and delivering for others.

Josh Shapiro’s Judaism and faith is at the core of his being and he takes it seriously and talks about it openly.

“I stand before you, a proud American of Jewish faith who just took the oath of office to be the 48th governor of this great commonwealth on a bible from the Tree of Life synagogue, the scene just four years ago of the deadliest act of antisemitism in our nation’s history,” he declared during his inaugural address in January 2023.

Judaism played a major role in Shapiro’s upbringing.

“I grew up raised in an observant Jewish home. … I went to day school at Forman [Hebrew Day School in Elkins Park] and then Akiba [Hebrew Academy in Merion Station], now Barrack [Hebrew Academy],” Shapiro said in an interview with the Philadelphia Jewish Exponent. “Akiba is actually where I met my wife in the ninth grade. So, we were both raised in similar environments. Every Friday night was reserved for Shabbat dinner, and typically, Saturday morning was spent in shul — we belonged to Beth Sholom Congregation in Elkins Park. 

“We grew up with faith guiding a lot of our daily lives, and it really shaped me in a way that I knew I had to do something in service to others,” added Shapiro. “Now in no way did I think I’d be governor of Pennsylvania, nor did I really think that I’d go into a career in politics, but I knew that because of how I was raised, it would be a life of service.”

For Josh Shapiro and his wife Lori, transmitting the tenets of Judaism to the next generation — their four children — has been paramount.

“We’ve raised our children in many ways the same way that we were raised — an observant Jewish home, a kosher home, and by the way, kosher at our family home and at the governor’s residence. Our kids all went through the same day schools we did and are living observant lives, and we’re very proud,” Shapiro said.

Gov. Josh Shapiro and First Lady Lori Shapiro host a Passover Seder in April 2024.
(Photo credit: Commonwealth Media Services)

Shapiro pointed to Shabbat as one of the Jewish traditions that has been most impactful in his life.

“Shabbat — just knowing that every Friday night we would be together around the table for special family time — that, to me, was always sort of a special moment that I looked forward to. And it’s something Lori and I have tried to give to our kids, and I think they look forward to it as well every week.”

Shapiro’s faith has been his guiding light and moral compass throughout his life and career and it helped shape the person he is today.

“My faith is very important to me. I’m very proud of my faith. I live my life as a proud American Jew,” he said. “Faith has not guided individual decisions I’ve made on policy or what have you, but it has guided the very central question I’ve had to answer in my life, which is, what do you want to be when you grow up? And what do you want to do with your life? I often recite — the vast majority of the time not in front of Jewish audiences — the passage from Talmud that no one is required to complete the task, but neither are we free to refrain from it. I think about that multiple times every day. I have a picture of that in the governor’s office, and it really has driven me to want to serve others and to help do my part. I think we all have a responsibility to do tikkun olam and to do our part, and that’s what my faith has taught me.

“I think it is a universal teaching,” Shapiro added. “I’m not someone who ever preaches my faith to others that you have to believe what I believe, but I am someone who’s proud of it, and I speak openly about it, and I find that I’m able to draw connections with people who aren’t Jewish because of the central underpinnings of our faith that teach us to do service for others.”

Gov. Josh Shapiro hands out Chanukah gelt as he joins the Harrisburg Jewish community to light the menorah at the Pennsylvania State Capitol in December 2024. (Photo credit: Commonwealth Media Services)

Shapiro’s relationship with the state of Israel dates back to his first trip to the country, which he took as a high school student.

“Everybody remembers their first trip, and for me, that was in 1989, when I went as an 11th grader at Akiba Hebrew Academy. … I studied there for about six months or so, and that was so impactful for me. … I traveled the country, met the people, ate the food, really dove into the history in a more direct and meaningful way. And that trip had a big impact on my life,” he said.

Shapiro recalled another meaningful trip to Israel — one that ended up changing his life.

“In 1996, I went back. I went back to visit my brother, who was on that same trip as an 11th grader. And I brought my girlfriend with me to visit my brother, and I proposed to her underneath the [Montefiore] Windmill at Yemin Moshe. … That obviously was a pivotal moment because it set in motion the most important decision I’ve ever made in my entire life, which was to marry Lori.”

Shapiro has been extremely outspoken in the face of antisemitism and never hesitates to call out Jew-hatred when it rears its ugly head. As far as he’s concerned, elected officials and community leaders have an obligation to tackle bigotry head-on.

“I think leaders have a responsibility to speak and act with moral clarity,” he said. “Every leader, no matter what position you occupy, in government or outside of government, has a responsibility to call out hatred and bigotry in all forms and condemn it.

“Simply looking the other way and thinking that you’ve done something because you didn’t contribute to the hatred and bigotry is wrong. I think everybody has a responsibility to speak out against it. I’ve tried to do that as governor. I’ve tried to do that in every position I’ve held. I try and call it out, whether I see it on the political right or the political left, no matter what community is engaging in it, or what individual is pushing it. There should be no place for hate in our communities.”

Gov. Josh Shapiro attends the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia’s Annual Holocaust Commemoration in April 2023. (Photo credit: Commonwealth Media Services)

Shapiro garnered national attention when he was reportedly one of the finalists to be Kamala Harris’ running mate during the 2024 presidential race. While Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz ended up being the Democratic vice presidential candidate, Shapiro felt good about how the process ultimately played out.

“Kamala Harris had a deeply personal decision to make about who she wanted to run with and maybe govern with,” he said. “And in the end, I had a deeply personal decision to make too as to whether or not that was the right thing for me to do. I love serving as governor. I love being in a position where I can chart my own course and do the things that I think are important in service to others. And while I’m not pleased with how the election turned out, obviously, I’m pleased to be where I am.”

The 2024 presidential election was unquestionably a tough one for Democrats, and there’s been a lot of soul-searching in the Democratic Party as to what went wrong and how to rebound from such a stinging defeat. As they search for answers, many Democrats have pointed to Shapiro as one of the leaders of their party and as someone who could be a future presidential candidate. Yet despite the attention and accolades, Shapiro does his best to tune it out and remain focused on his current job as governor.

“I honestly try and ignore all of that, not because the people who are worried about the future of our country aren’t right to be concerned, but because I’ve got a job to do as governor of Pennsylvania, to deliver for 13 million people every day, to try and manage the most critical swing state — a state that swings back and forth in elections, a state with vast rural, urban, suburban populations,” he said. “I’ve got a responsibility to try and bring people together and get stuff done. It is my belief that as I do that work successfully, that can be a model for our party and others to center around common sense, results-oriented leadership that lifts people up and doesn’t tear communities apart, and tries to be a moderate, sensible voice in the community.”

Gov. Josh Shapiro launches the new state tourism brand “Pennsylvania: The Great American Getaway” in May 2024. (Photo credit: Commonwealth Media Services)

Shapiro’s reference to Pennsylvania as a quintessential swing state is well-founded. It’s an inherently complex political state, yet Shapiro has managed to successfully govern in a fractured and partisan political climate. With the need to address a divergence of opinions on a range of topics, Shapiro has focused on bipartisanship as a way of achieving results.

“I think I’ve earned a reputation for being bipartisan, for bringing people together,” he said. “It is quite literally a fact that I can’t sign a bill into law unless it’s passed the House led by Democrats and the Senate led by Republicans, which means I need votes from both parties in order to advance any legislation or budgets. And we’ve done that really successfully.

“I think showing up in communities, whether they vote for you or not, listening to their concerns, understanding their worries, and then delivering for them is critically important and something I focus on every single day,” he added. “I find that by showing up and listening, you end up tearing down the sort of barriers that get erected through our modern-day political divisiveness. And I’m going to keep doing that work.”

The Shapiro family attends a Philadelphia
Phillies game in October 2023.
(Photo credit: Commonwealth Media Services)

Shapiro’s public service career in Pennsylvania started long before he became governor in 2023. He served as attorney general from 2017 to 2023, chair of the board of commissioners in Montgomery County from 2011 to 2017 and a state representative from 2005 to 2011. However, entering the public service arena was not always Shapiro’s plan.

“It was not really planned early on,” he said. “My faith has taught me the importance of serving others and helping others, and I had two great examples in my life: my dad, who is the local pediatrician, and my mom, who was a schoolteacher. … I saw them both as examples of serving others in different ways. And I thought I wanted to be a doctor like my dad. I thought that was really a neat way to help others. But in my freshman year of college, studying pre-med and playing on the basketball team, three things happened that day. One, I flunked out of pre-med. And I was a good student, I studied, I tried. … Two, I got cut from the men’s basketball team, so I thought my life goal of being in the NBA as a doctor was not going to happen. And then someone knocked on my dorm room door that night and asked if I would run for student government. I’d never thought about that before, but I said, ‘yes.’ I did it and really fell in love with service to my community through government and politics.

“That led to me changing my major — I didn’t really have a choice, because I flunked out of pre-med — doing an internship on Capitol Hill, working on Capitol Hill, rising up to be a chief of staff, going to law school at night at Georgetown and then returning to the community I grew up in to run for state representative. … That was a really pivotal moment for me. But it all goes back to the central teaching in my life about service to others. It just helped crystallize for me what the best way for me to serve was,” Shapiro added.

As he climbed the political ladder and ascended to the governor’s office, Shapiro picked up pointers from various individuals that he encountered on his journey.

“I’ve never tried to emulate one person,” he said. “I’ve had a lot of people along the way that I’ve learned a lot from and who taught me different things that have helped me along the way. I’m really drawn to people with character and integrity, people who have to make tough choices, and make good, tough choices … with integrity and with service in mind. Those are the people I’m kind of drawn to and interested in learning from.”

Despite a busy schedule and juggling multiple responsibilities as governor, Shapiro brings a tremendous amount of energy to his job, and he typically exudes a sense of warmth and excitement when entering a room. For Shapiro, it comes down to his passion for public service.

“I believe in what I’m doing, and I feel really passionate about it,” he said. “I asked 13 million people to give me the chance to be their leader in Pennsylvania, and they blessed me with this opportunity. And I feel like it is my job to work hard for them every single day, as hard as I can, and deliver for them. And so, I think that’s probably what you see. You see a guy who’s energized about service and energized about the job I’ve been trusted with. I don’t know how long I’ll do this, but it’s not forever, and so I feel like you want to make every moment count, and you want to deliver the most you can for people every day.”

Gov. Josh Shapiro visits Emmaus High School in Lehigh County in September 2024 to celebrate the historic investments in education secured in the 2024-25 budget. (Photo credit: Commonwealth Media Services)

Since becoming governor, Shapiro, who talks a lot about “getting stuff done,” has quickly made his mark throughout the commonwealth and across the country by focusing on key issues that he believes impact people’s lives in a significant way.

“I think schools, safety and economic opportunity, they’re the three foundational pillars of everything I do,” he said.

“I think education is the foundation of everything, making sure we strengthen our public education system. … I work hard every day to make sure Pennsylvanians are safe. That is one of my most fundamental responsibilities, to keep people safe. So, we’re going to continue to make investments in that area. … Creating jobs and economic opportunity [is important], particularly in communities that have been forgotten and left behind, or for people who have oftentimes been shut out,” he elaborated.

Shapiro added that he’s also focused on “protecting people’s fundamental rights and freedoms.”

“I know a lot of people are worried, especially right now, about forces that want to roll back the progress that’s been made, forces that want to take away their rights and freedoms, and so I’m doing everything in my power to protect them,” he said.

With a deep and abiding faith and pride in his Judaism, a propensity for bipartisanship and an enduring desire to help others, Josh Shapiro is certainly not refraining from the task at hand and is wholly focused on his mission of “getting stuff done.” 

For David Rubenstein, Success Is Serendipitous

The following is an article that I wrote, which appeared in the April 4, 2025, edition of the Baltimore Jewish Times:

David Rubenstein
(Photo credit: Chris Ullman)

As far as David Rubenstein is concerned, success comes with responsibility, and it is not something to be taken lightly.

A successful businessman who co-founded The Carlyle Group, one of the largest private investment firms in the world, Rubenstein, a resident of Bethesda, Maryland, is also a philanthropist, author, host of a TV show and owner of the Baltimore Orioles. Yet with an exceedingly busy schedule amid a range of projects with which he is involved, Rubenstein has made giving back in a multitude of ways a core element of his identity.

Rubenstein’s life story began with his modest upbringing in Baltimore, first in a home on Beaufort Avenue where his family lived until he was 10 years old, and then in a house on Fallstaff Road after they moved. He recalls the area being very Jewish.

“Baltimore was very segregated by religion, and although the United States Supreme Court outlawed restrictive covenants in 1948, Baltimore never seemed to get the word. So, people who were Jewish or Black tended to live in the same areas. … I lived in a kind of Jewish ghetto. … There were three types of Jewish ghettos. There were blue-collar Jewish ghettos, there were middle-class ones, and then there were the very wealthy Jewish ghettos. My father was working in the post office and was in the blue-collar world. And these were very small homes. I think they’re roughly 800-square-foot homes, and that was where I grew up,” he said.

David Rubenstein’s birth announcement in
Baltimore Jewish Times in August 1949

As a child, Rubenstein, whose birth announcement appeared in Baltimore Jewish Times in August 1949, attended Hebrew school at the Rogers Avenue Synagogue. “That was an Orthodox synagogue,” Rubenstein said. “Orthodox in those days did not mean quite what Orthodox means today. Orthodox today seems to mean what ultra-Orthodox might have meant years ago, but it was a segregated by women and men kind of synagogue. I went to Hebrew school there and High Holy Day observances to the extent that I did. And I went to Hebrew school until I was ready to be bar mitzvahed. The rabbi told my mother that he was going to write it out for me phonetically in English, because he didn’t think my Hebrew was so great. So, he did. I can’t remember if I read it from the phonetic English or if I read the Hebrew, but I got it done, and that was my bar mitzvah.”

A graduate of the University of Chicago Law School, Rubenstein practiced law in New York in the early 1970s before turning to a career in public service. He began by serving as chief counsel to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Constitutional Amendments before heading to the White House to serve as deputy assistant to the president for domestic policy during the Carter administration from 1977 to 1981.

David Rubenstein, left, with his parents, Robert and Bettie Rubenstein, and President Jimmy Carter
(Photo credit: The White House)

Rubenstein described the path and thought process that led him to ultimately working in the White House.

“In those days, if you were in a blue-collar family, you didn’t generally aspire to go become an extremely wealthy person — the ideas of tech startups, private equity firms, hedge funds, didn’t really exist,” he said. “If you were Jewish and wanted to go into business, you usually went into your family business — the business your father or grandfather had started. In those days, there was a fair amount of, I would say, solid discrimination. So, if you were Jewish, I don’t think you could go work at IBM, Procter & Gamble, and think you were going to rise to the top. And so, people who were Jewish tended, with some exceptions, obviously, to go into more entrepreneurial businesses that were often started by their family members. But if you didn’t want to go into business, you might go into law or medicine or dentistry. And my skill set was probably better in things that led to being a lawyer. I was interested in politics and public service. I did not aspire to make any money, and so I just thought going into public service would be a useful way to spend my life. And so, I ultimately got a law degree, thinking that that would help. And then I did go to work in public service on Capitol Hill briefly, and then in the White House for four years.”

While in the White House, Rubenstein was involved in many different initiatives, but one project stood out and has remained important to him to this day.

“My boss was Stuart Eizenstat,” he said. “He and I — but really, he — sent a memo to the president recommending that we create a memorial for the Holocaust victims in the United States. We didn’t have one. Carter ultimately announced it. Now, as you know, it’s open. It was announced in 1978 and it opened in 1993. … Stuart, my former boss, is now the chairman of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, and I have become a good-sized donor to it.”

In 2022, Rubenstein donated $15 million to the museum to support its National Institute for Holocaust Documentation, which was ultimately renamed in his honor.

“The atrocities that have occurred and are still occurring in Ukraine remind the world daily that the lessons of the Holocaust have not been fully learned by those who still have the power to kill others senselessly and those who collaborate with them. So those of us in a position to do more to remind the world of the Holocaust have a moral obligation to do so,” Rubenstein said at the time. “I am pleased to help toward that mission and encourage others to reflect on what more they might be able to do to help remind the world that the Holocaust might be not just a historic tragedy but also a precursor to what could happen again.”

David Rubenstein at the Library of Congress
(Photo credit: Robert Severi)

According to Rubenstein, going from a career in public service to co-founding an incredibly successful investment firm involved a fair amount of luck.

“Like most things in life that tend to be good, they often are by serendipity,” he said. “I worked in the White House for four years. I thought Carter would be reelected. I couldn’t imagine he would lose, but we did have hostages in Iran, we had gas lines, we had high inflation. And despite my telling Carter, ‘Look, you can’t lose to somebody so old — he’s 69 years old,’ when 69 seemed like an ancient age to me … we lost.”

After Carter lost to Ronald Reagan, Rubenstein found himself looking for work.

“The only skill set that I had was practicing law, which I’d done in New York,” he said. “So, I went back and practiced law in Washington for a few years, but I realized I really didn’t enjoy it and I probably wasn’t really good at it. I read about something called a ‘leveraged buyout’ and I decided I would start a leveraged buyout firm in Washington where none had existed and I recruited some people to do it with me who raised a little money.”

As to his decision to walk away from the legal field, Rubenstein said it wasn’t a difficult choice.

“It was mostly because I didn’t think I was very good at practicing law, and I didn’t really want to do this the rest of my life as a lawyer,” he said. “And what lawyers in Washington often did is they would practice law then go back into government and then practice law, then go back into government, back and forth. And I didn’t really think that was something I wanted to do that much. Also, if you did that, if you were a lawyer and you were kind of connected to government, you often had to go raise money for politicians. And I just didn’t want to be in the business of raising money for politicians — it just wasn’t something I was interested in. So, I decided to try to start this firm, and it took off, and obviously became one of the larger ones in the world. But it was by serendipity, and we got lucky.”

David Rubenstein at the top of the Washington Monument
(Photo credit: Tami Heilemann)

As he achieved great financial success, Rubenstein became very involved in various philanthropic efforts. He’s supported institutions such as the Jewish Museum of Maryland and Jewish Life at Duke (Rubenstein graduated magna cum laude from Duke in 1970). In addition, he’s been a major contributor in the area of patriotic philanthropy and made significant gifts to help restore and repair the Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, Jefferson Memorial, National Archives, Library of Congress, and many others.

“When you get lucky and you make a fair amount of money, you can be buried with it … but I just thought that it was better to do things while you’re alive and help other people,” he said. “What is the most important part of life? I think it’s the pursuit of happiness. And how do you get happiness? No one can really completely define it, but I think it’s probably helping other people.

“I decided when I got financially lucky that I would start giving away the bulk of my money, which I’ve been doing, and I’ve got various causes that I’ve been involved with,” Rubenstein said. “A lot of them relate to history or heritage of the country. A lot relate to education; a lot to medicine. And very often, when I give money to somebody, they will probably put my name on something. And I haven’t been upset with that, because my theory has been that if you come from very modest circumstances, and you get lucky financially, and you’re Jewish, putting your name on something that, let’s say, relates to George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, it shows that people who are Jewish are not only giving money to Jewish causes, which is what some people think, and that you can be Jewish and contribute to non-Jewish causes and be actively involved in and supporting the history and heritage of the country, even though a lot of this history and heritage occurred well before people who were Jewish really became prominent in this country.”

In addition, Rubenstein has been supportive of the arts, and specifically the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. However, his lengthy tenure as chair of the Kennedy Center recently came to an end when President Donald Trump removed the Kennedy Center board members and replaced them with his allies. The board then voted to remove Rubenstein as chair and appointed the president as chair.

“I’d been the chair for 14 years and been on the board for 20, and at the end of this past December, I had planned to retire,” Rubenstein said. “And the person who was going to succeed me ultimately decided not to do it. And so, the board asked me to stay another two years, and I was prepared to do that, but President Trump decided that he wasn’t happy with the Kennedy Center for some reason, and so he decided he would make himself the chair. And while no president of the United States has ever been the chair before, I guess he could do that. So, I’m out now. I did give the Kennedy Center about $120 million over the years, and I enjoyed it. But things move on.”

Rubenstein has also been financially supportive of efforts to combat the rising antisemitism that is being seen on a global scale. Noting that antisemitism in Europe “is very, very virulent” and that “antisemitism in the United States is also on the rise,” Rubenstein discussed why he believes it’s become so pervasive.

“The human brain has some flaws, and one of the flaws it has is it says, if you look different than me, you think differently than me, you pray differently than me, then I might not like you as much. … I don’t know that we’re going to correct that flaw in the human brain, and as long as it’s there, if Jews worship differently or think differently than other people, or look differently or dress differently, there’s going to be antisemitism,” he said.

In 2024, Rubenstein became the principal owner of the Baltimore Orioles when he led a group of investors who purchased the team for $1.725 billion. The Baltimore native and longtime Orioles fan saw an opportunity and chose to pursue it as a means of giving back to the community.

David Rubenstein, bottom row center, with his Little League team
(Courtesy of the Rubenstein family)

“I played baseball when I was a boy at Little League. I wasn’t a particularly great athlete — I probably peaked at seven or eight, maybe nine years old. I thought maybe I would be the next Sandy Koufax or something, but when I got to be about nine or 10, I realized I wasn’t going to be Sandy Koufax. … But I, like many people who grew up in Baltimore, worshiped some of the Oriole players and went to as many games as I could afford to go to,” he said, fondly recalling his baseball experiences as a child.

“I recognized that the Orioles ownership was maybe going to get ready to sell at some point,” Rubenstein said. “I had resisted buying sports franchises because I generally didn’t want to take my focus off my main business, which was Carlyle. But as I stepped back from being the co-CEO of Carlyle, I thought I could maybe get involved with some sports teams. And the only one I was really interested in was the one in Baltimore, which is the Orioles, because I knew that franchise a bit.”

The path to Rubenstein’s ownership of the Orioles was a gradual one.

David Rubenstein
(Photo credit: Chris Ullman)

“I was teaming up with Ted Leonsis, who owns the Washington Capitals and the Washington Wizards … and I kind of agreed I would maybe support him if he tried to buy the Orioles, and I would be part of his group. But he tried for a while and it didn’t work out. And then John Angelos came to see me — he knew of me a bit from Ted Leonsis’ efforts — and said maybe I should just buy myself a small part of the Orioles. And I thought about it, and I went back and said I would be interested, but I’d like a path to eventual control. And then to my surprise, he came back and said maybe they’d be willing to sell control sooner than I thought,” Rubenstein said.

For Rubenstein, the decision to become the Orioles’ owner came down to one thing: his love of his native city.

“The reason I did it was in part philanthropic,” he said. “I thought that Baltimore, where my parents were born in, my parents were married in, my parents raised me in — I was born there, my parents were buried there, I’m going to be buried there — I thought I hadn’t done enough for Baltimore relative to what I’d done in Washington, D.C., or other parts of the country. So, I thought if I could buy the Orioles and help be part of the renaissance of Baltimore and revive the team a bit, I could maybe fulfill an obligation to Baltimore that I felt I had. That was the real motivation.”

“I don’t want to lose money, but I don’t expect that it’s going to be my most successful investment ever, and I expect that it’ll be in my family long after I’m gone,” Rubenstein added.

David Rubenstein greeting Baltimore Orioles fans
(Photo credit: Chris Ullman)

“There are 30 teams and only one is going to win every year,” he said. “We haven’t had a World Series championship since 1983. We’ve had three of them. We’ve been to the World Series six times, but we lost three of them. 1983 was a long time ago, so I’m hoping that the team can get energized and win a World Series. But it’s obviously a bit of a crapshoot to get to the final games and win.”

How does someone who’s involved in so many things successfully juggle multiple projects simultaneously? “Well, actually, I’m a triplet and I have two identical other brothers that do some of this stuff,” Rubenstein said jokingly, before taking a serious look at how he manages everything effectively.

“When you’re doing what you want to do, and you enjoy it, it’s not work,” he said. “Work is when you don’t really enjoy something but you feel you need to do it. Everything I’m doing now, I really like, so it’s just a question of, at some age, you can’t do everything you want to do because the body slows down. But right now, I’m not big on vacations, I’m not big on many things that people do to relax, and so everything I’m doing kind of relaxes me. So, reading books, writing books, doing TV shows, interviews, it’s relaxing to me; maybe it keeps my brain sharp, so I enjoy it.

“My father retired when he was 55 years old. I’m 20 years older, and I’m working as hard as I possibly can on things. I enjoy what I’m doing, so I don’t regard it as work. And it kind of relaxes me to do things like this,” he added.

One thing that Rubenstein really relishes is his role as host of “The David Rubenstein Show,” where he engages in conversation with an array of influential leaders in various fields. Over the years his interview subjects have included Warren Buffett, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Bill Gates, Sylvester Stallone, Oprah Winfrey, Jeff Bezos, Bill and Hillary Clinton, Elon Musk, Josh Harris, Benjamin Netanyahu, Cal Ripken Jr. and Robert Kraft.

David Rubenstein speaking with Oprah Winfrey during an interview at “The David Rubenstein Show: Peer to Peer Conversations” event in New York on Dec. 12, 2016.
(Photo credit: Kholood Eid/Bloomberg TV via David Rubenstein)

“Well, it’s always good when you have a live audience, because you can play off the audience,” he said. “If I ask somebody a question in a studio just one-on-one, they might not get some of the jokes I might be asking in the question. So, like when I asked Bill Gates one time in his office, do you think you’d be more successful if you actually had a college degree, he didn’t quite get the joke. But when I’ve asked that question of him in front of an audience, the audience laughs, and then it works better.

“It is said when you get older, you need to keep your brain active,” Rubenstein added. “And there are a number of ways that people are said to be able to do that. One is to do crossword puzzles — I’m not good at that. Learn a foreign language — I have no language skills, which is why I had to do my bar mitzvah probably in phonetic English. Another thing is you learn a musical instrument — I’m tone deaf. So, I substitute all those things for doing interviews, because when you do an interview, you have to prepare, you have to read, you have to engage with the person and you have to be alert. So I do it in part because I enjoy it, but I get to meet a lot of interesting people … a lot of these people probably wouldn’t spend their time with me, but if I’m interviewing them and they want to be on a TV show that I have, then they get to know me and I get to know them. So, I do it for a lot of reasons, but it’s mostly pleasure.”

Rubenstein, who is a student of American history, has amassed an impressive collection of historical artifacts, yet his collection is not for him alone.

David Rubenstein with a 1297 copy of
the Magna Carta which he owns and
has loaned to the National Archives
(Photo credit: Chris Ullman)

“I stumbled into buying [a 1297 copy of] the Magna Carta, which is the only one in private hands and the only one in the United States,” he said. “And once I did that, people started offering me other historic documents. … I think I have the largest collection in the United States of Declarations of Independence, more than the U.S. government. And I lend mine to the U.S. government very often, as I have with the Magna Carta, the Emancipation Proclamation, the 13th Amendment, the Bill of Rights, and so forth.

“The reason I do it is because the way the human brain has evolved, it hasn’t yet evolved so that if you see a computer slide of the Magna Carta, it’s the same experience as if you see it in person, because if you see it in person, you’re more likely to be educated by a curator, you’re more likely to read about it afterwards,” he added. “And so, I think as a way of teaching people about history, preserving these artifacts is probably not a bad thing to do. And I kind of got into that. And the same thing with fixing buildings like the Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, I just think preserving these things, making it better, gets more people knowledge about American history and so forth. So that’s why I do it.”

Whether it’s his activities in the business sector, with the Baltimore Orioles, in the philanthropic world, or in any of his many other pursuits, Rubenstein enjoys what he does and has achieved great success. Yet despite the enormous amount of effort and energy that he exerts in each of his endeavors, in Rubenstein’s eyes, his success is primarily attributable to one thing: serendipity.

Renowned Philly Restaurant Owners Honored for Steadfast Support of Israel

The following is an article that I wrote, which appeared in the April 3, 2025, edition of the Philadelphia Jewish Exponent:

From left to right: JNF-USA CEO Russell F. Robinson, Michael Solomonov, Steven Cook and Steve Dabrow at the JNF-USA gala in Philadelphia on March 27. (Photo credit: Jordan Cassway Photography)

The Greater Philadelphia Jewish community came out in force on March 27 to support Jewish National Fund-USA’s efforts to rebuild northern Israel and to pay tribute to two well-known honorees.

Over 600 people came to the Bellevue Hotel in Center City and watched as Philly’s chef Michael Solomonov and Steve Cook, co-owners of CookNSolo Restaurants and owners of Philadelphia’s Zahav restaurant, received JNF-USA’s Tree of Life Award. The organization’s highest honor was bestowed upon Solomonov and Cook for their enduring commitment to the state of Israel and, in particular, their steadfast support for northern Israel.

Almost immediately after the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks, Hezbollah began firing a barrage of missiles at northern Israel, which led to mass evacuations in order to protect Israelis from the relentless rocket fire. In an effort to assist the people adversely impacted in northern Israel, JNF-USA launched its “Reimagine” campaign to help rebuild the communities and enable the evacuees to return home. For Solomonov and Cook, supporting JNF-USA and its initiatives to bring positive change in northern Israel has been paramount.

The gala attendees, which included leaders from Philadelphia’s Jewish community and well-known personalities, including culinary author and food journalist Joan Nathan, Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History President and CEO Dan Tadmor, and Marc Zumoff, the former play-by-play announcer for the Philadelphia 76ers, dined on an array of delectable food offerings before heading into the large ballroom for the formal program.

Steve Dabrow, president of JNF-USA’s Eastern PA board of directors, welcomed the crowd and noted that the event raised an incredible $2.7 million, which drew a big round of applause from the attendees.

Lori Dabrow, a JNF-USA Eastern PA board member and a member of the organization’s Task Force on Disabilities, introduced members of the Special in Uniform band, which is comprised of young men and women with special needs that also serve in the Israel Defense Forces. With music playing in the background, the three singers gave a rousing performance, singing several Israeli songs, as well as “Hatikvah,” Israel’s national anthem.

The crowd was on their feet, singing, dancing and waving Israeli flags, as the two young men and one young woman performed.

As he began his remarks, JNF-USA CEO Russell F. Robinson urged the crowd to talk to their elected officials and “demand that our hostages come home now.”

Referring to the atrocities of Oct. 7, Robinson emphatically declared, “We are winning, we will win and the Jewish people are strong and united everywhere, and it’s because of people like you that are standing up and being counted.”

Robinson spoke about the situation in northern Israel, where he said 85,000 people were forced from their homes, noting that JNF has long had a presence in that area. “We’re welcoming them home today and every day,” he said.

“Because we were there, because we know those people, on Oct. 7 and Oct. 8, we were able to go into action,” Robinson said as he referred to the communities near the Gaza border. “Thirty-eight thousand people in 72 hours in the Israel Envelope were evacuated and sent to communities because of Jewish National Fund and because of your support.”

After Cook accepted his award, he spoke about the decision he and Solomonov made in terms of how to brand their restaurant.

“I want to take you back to 2008. It was a few months before Zahav was set to open, and we had a meeting with our public relations team to discuss our communication strategy for the restaurant,” Cook said. “At some point, the question was raised, well, how should we refer to the restaurant? Should it be Israeli, or was it more broadly going to be Middle Eastern, or even safer, Mediterranean? I think we talked for about five seconds before responding, Zahav is going to be an Israeli restaurant.”

“At some point, we realized that the restaurant was no longer just a hot restaurant at the moment, that it was on its way to becoming an institution in the city and beyond, and Mike and I became custodians of that institution, something we took very seriously on behalf of the hundreds and hundreds of employees and the thousands and thousands of guests that have passed through our doors that shared that vision with us. And it all started with that seemingly innocuous decision to call Zahav an Israeli restaurant,” he added.

Marina Furman, executive director of national major donor advancement at JNF-USA, introduced a video that was shown at the event, which centered around a new bomb shelter that was built and beautified in northern Israel in memory of Michael Solomonov’s brother, David, who was serving in the Israel Defense Forces when he was killed in 2003 near the Lebanon border.

During his remarks at the gala, Solomonov spoke about his brother, discussing the origin of the picture that’s depicted on the bomb shelter, which he noted was a painting that his brother made when he was in third grade. The painting hung over his grandmother’s couch in her apartment in Lod, Israel, and after she passed away, Solomonov brought it back to the U.S. It’s been on top of every one of his children’s changing tables, and it currently hangs on the wall in his son’s room.

“For me, it’s a way for my brother to embrace my kids,” an emotional Solomonov said.

Solomonov also spoke about how he and Cook decided after Oct. 7 that they were going to donate 100% of revenues from their restaurants to support Israel.

“I got to show my nephew, who was called back into reserves in Gaza, where he spent 300 days, the video and the pictures of all of you standing outside of our restaurants for eight hours, showing him and showing our family in Israel that we are one,” Solomonov said to a huge ovation from the crowd.

Grief, Outrage and Hope

The following is an article that I wrote, which appeared in the February 27, 2025, editions of the Washington Jewish Week, Philadelphia Jewish Exponent and Baltimore Jewish Times:

Posters featuring Ariel and Kfir Bibas at Ben Gurion Airport, where people placed stuffed animals and toys next to the photos of the children. Photo credit: Aaron Troodler

I had flaming red hair as a young child. In fact, my hair didn’t look all that different from Ariel Bibas’ hair when I was that age.

That being said, it wasn’t our shared hair color that forged a bond between us. Our connection was much more profound. Our bond was formed the moment Ariel, his younger brother, Kfir, his mother, Shiri, and his father, Yarden, were kidnapped by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023.

For over 500 days, we prayed for the Bibas family. The heart-wrenching images of them being forcibly dragged from their home in Kibbutz Nir Oz by terrorists is forever seared into our hearts and minds. Yarden being led away by Hamas, his head bloodied after being struck with a hammer. Shiri, with a terrified look on her face as she desperately clutched her two children — Ariel, who was just 4 years old at the time, and Kfir, who was only 9 months old — while Hamas terrorists whisked them away to Gaza. Those indelible and indescribable images can never be unseen or forgotten.

We held our collective breath for the past year and a half as their fate remained unknown, clinging to the hope that they would somehow survive their ordeal in hellish and inhumane conditions under Hamas’ diabolical control and ultimately return home safely.

Our hopes were shattered last week when the bodies of Shiri, Ariel and Kfir, along with the body of 84-year-old Oded Lifshitz, were returned to Israel in coffins. Yarden Bibas, who was released by Hamas on Feb. 1, was left to somehow process the fact that his wife and two young children are tragically never coming home.

And as we grieved their loss and tried to understand how and why a mother and her two beautiful, young children could have befallen such a terrible fate, we felt another emotion as well: outrage.

Outrage at the fact that Hamas barbarians ripped these innocent souls from their home and brutally murdered two young children. Outrage at the fact that when Hamas released the bodies last week, it choreographed a sickening spectacle that saw the promotion of terrorist propaganda right behind the coffins and armed Hamas terrorists and crowds of Palestinians who gathered to take part in what disgustingly became a communitywide event and a twisted and sadistic celebration. Outrage that Hamas initially returned a body that was purportedly Shiri Bibas but turned out to be someone else. Outrage at the fact that far too many people around the world continue to vilify Israel while inexplicably giving Hamas a free pass for their depravity and the unimaginable pain and suffering that ensued as a result of their heinous acts.

The Bibas family deserved better. Oded Lifshitz deserved better. Every single one of the hostages deserved better. In some way, it feels like we failed them, and that failure hurts.

The photos of the two young Bibas children that we have seen from the past, whether it be baby Kfir, his face lit up by his beautiful smile, or Ariel wearing his Batman pajamas, are a painful reminder of the lives they should have had, but that were tragically cut short. Ariel and Kfir could have been my children, your children, our children. It is hard to fathom how something like this could happen.

We must hold the photos of the Bibas family that we have seen close to our hearts and use those images as motivation to keep their memories alive. Ariel and Kfir Bibas were our children too. And every one of the hostages is our mother, father, sibling or child too.

No one should ever forget what happened to Shiri, Ariel and Kfir Bibas. There are no words to adequately describe the grief and outrage we all feel. Yet despite our pain and anger, we cannot falter in our efforts to bring every single one of the remaining hostages home and we cannot forsake the hope that we must hold on to in order for us to persevere despite the immense challenges that we face.

We should channel our emotions into action, and they should fuel our enduring efforts to make sure the world never forgets what happened on Oct. 7. Despite the widespread indifference and deafening silence in the wake of Hamas’ savagery, we cannot lose hope that all of our hostages will soon be reunited with their families.

As we grieve for Shiri, Ariel and Kfir Bibas, and Oded Lifshitz, and in the face of Hamas’ abject evil and wanton disregard for human life, we must let the world know that the spirit and resilience of the Jewish people will never be broken.

Rabbi David Stav: Working to Bridge the Divides in Israeli Society

The following is an article that I wrote, which appeared in the February 20, 2025, editions of the Washington Jewish Week, Philadelphia Jewish Exponent and Baltimore Jewish Times:

Rabbi David Stav (Courtesy of Tzohar)

The schisms in Israeli society are an age-old problem. Whether it be political, societal or religious in nature, there is inherent tension between different segments of Israeli citizens, and many perceive the enduring conflict to be a regular part of Israeli life, despite the damage that these divides cause.

Yet there is one person who has made it his mission to do whatever he can to bridge the divides that tear at the fabric of Israeli society.

Rabbi David Stav is a very busy man. A renowned Torah scholar and rabbinic leader who was considered as a candidate for chief rabbi of Israel, Stav has served as the chief rabbi of the town of Shoham in central Israel for the past 28 years.

Stav was born in Jerusalem and grew up in the Rechavia neighborhood. Although he attended Netiv Meir Yeshiva High School in Jerusalem, Stav did spend one year during high school at Ner Israel in Baltimore, Maryland. He also attended Mercaz Harav Yeshiva in Jerusalem where he received rabbinic ordination and was authorized to be a rabbinic judge.

A leading voice in the Religious Zionist community, Stav is also co-founder and chairman of Tzohar, an organization that is dedicated to fostering stronger Jewish identity through inclusivity and inspiration and making religious life more accessible to Israelis from an array of backgrounds.

Tzohar was founded in 1995 shortly after the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin, and according to Stav, the timing was not coincidental.

Citing the friction between religious and secular Israelis in the wake of Rabin’s murder, Stav said in an interview that he knew something had to be done to stem the tide of discord that was essentially tearing the country apart.

“We gathered a group of rabbis and asked ourselves, what should we or can we do in order to try to bridge the gap that has been created between observant and nonobservant [Jews],” Stav said. “And when we started to look at the points of conflicts that upset the secular Israelis, one of the issues that we thought about was the issue of church and state, and especially the marriage issue.”

Stav noted that in Israel there is no civil marriage, and people must get married through the rabbinate, regardless of their level of religious observance.

“Now, for those who are traditional and they are religious, it’s not a problem. For many of those who are secular, it creates a problem for many reasons. A few of them are not satisfied with the essence of the idea of getting married halachically [in accordance with Jewish law]. … So, for many reasons, people had a lot of antagonism against the religious establishment. And therefore, we felt that this could be an area where we have an opportunity to inspire instead of turning the couples away,” Stav said.

Once Stav and his colleagues identified the problem, they immediately put forth a solution to address it. They established a group of Zionist rabbis that would voluntarily perform halachic weddings for secular couples. There was no charge for this service, and Stav said it began spreading “like wildfire.” Today, rabbis affiliated with Tzohar perform more than 5,000 weddings a year and have officiated at over 143,000 weddings since beginning this program.

Rabbi David Stav officiating at the wedding of Elinor Yosefin and Uri Mintzer, who got married in October 2023 before they reported for reserve duty in the IDF. (Photo credit: Avi Friedman via Tzohar)

Under Stav’s leadership, Tzohar has helped foster meaningful connections to Judaism for countless Israelis, many of whom are experiencing a sense of religious life for the first time.

Tzohar’s religious programs and services reach over 100,000 Israelis each year and touch upon virtually every aspect of Judaism as it relates to religious lifecycle events. For example, in addition to weddings, Stav’s organization has helped thousands of Israelis with bereavement guidance, provided kashrut supervision to numerous food establishments and imparted religious guidance to thousands of couples. Another area that Tzohar focuses on is its Shorashim project, which helps immigrants prove their Jewish roots, which is a legal requirement to get married in Israel.

Tzohar, which has grown exponentially as an organization, has over 100 employees and thousands of volunteers. Its annual budget is around $14 million, and Stav noted with pride that over 60% of those funds are raised in Israel, “which means that the Israeli society has a lot of trust, faith and confidence in the activities that Tzohar is doing.”

Stav is the father of nine children, five boys and four girls, and his children’s service in the Israel Defense Forces is a particular point of pride.

“I’m proud to say that all of my boys and all of my sons-in-law served in the army in the last year and a half that we have been under terrorist attack and in a war. I’m proud to introduce myself this way because I believe that this is one of the toughest issues that Israeli society has to deal with, and that’s the issue of service in the army. I believe that every Jew — it doesn’t matter where he lives, it doesn’t matter what his beliefs are and it doesn’t matter whether he’s studying Torah or not studying Torah — should serve in the army. That’s a fundamental demand in the halacha and it’s a fundamental demand, I think, based on the moral values of carrying together the burden with your friend.”

The subject of Israel’s Haredi community serving in the IDF has long been a contentious issue, and since Israel’s Supreme Court ruled in June 2024 that there is no legal justification for Israel’s longstanding military exemption given to ultra-Orthodox religious students and the military was ordered to begin drafting Haredi men, the controversy has been front and center. As far as Stav is concerned, this is a clear-cut issue and there should be no debate on this subject. He believes strongly that Haredim should serve in the army.

“We haven’t arrived to the point where we negotiate about the conditions that the army has to provide to the Haredi soldiers in order to make them draft and keep their beliefs and keep their lifestyle. … There isn’t even one statement that was made by any Haredi rabbi and Haredi distinguished leader that would say, under this and this conditions, we will be ready to be a part of Klal Yisrael [the whole Jewish community] and to share responsibility and solidarity in this war. … You have to show even one, serious, good intention to say, ‘Well, I’m ready under this and this and this to be a part [of the army].’ … They don’t even try to pretend that it’s because of Torah studies. … It’s not about Torah, it’s about keeping their community under their control, and keeping people under your control is not something that a democratic society could accept,” Stav said.

Stav added that when it comes to the issue of ultra-Orthodox Jews and Israeli army service, he believes the government is culpable as well.

“I’m criticizing … the government. The government that cooperates with this lie and with this behavior, that discriminates between blood to blood, is not less responsible than the Haredim themselves,” he said.

The efforts of Stav and Tzohar have positioned the organization as somewhat of an alternative to the chief rabbinate when it comes religious life in Israel. From Stav’s perspective, an alternative is what Israelis need, and he cites to three specific areas to prove his point.

“Unfortunately, the chief rabbinate in the last decades was not relevant to most Israelis, and it’s actually still not relevant. They have certain authority regarding kashrut [Jewish dietary laws] in which they failed in managing the kashrut in Israel. And I think that most people that care about kashrut know that they could not take for granted a certificate of kashrut that is supervised by the rabbinate. And the second area where they’re supposed to take responsibility, and that’s the conversion issue, is also not something that they could be proud of. … And the third mission, which is to reach out to the secular society and to expose them to Judaism in a nice and proper way was also not one of their biggest achievements. So unfortunately, the chief rabbinate is not relevant to the vast majority of the Israelis,” he said.

Stav expressed hope that the new chief rabbis will be able to improve the situation. “They started well … I hope that it will continue.”

While discussing the multitude of challenges facing the Jewish community in Israel and around the world, Stav emphasized the need to continue strengthening Jewish unity.

“I think that today, more than ever, Jewish unity is fundamental. Unfortunately, the political leadership in Israel … is creating barriers and fences between societies. By doing this, they believe that they will strengthen their political power, but they are weakening the solidarity of the Israelis. … So far, the vast majority of Israeli society was mature enough to understand that, and they show their seriousness and their maturity by drafting to the army, by helping the soldiers, by helping the reserves, by understanding that the unity between the different tribes is essential and is a fundamental demand for us in order to survive,” Stav said.

“I think that that our duty at Tzohar is to strengthen that common Jewish denominator that exists between us and to strengthen the voices that speak out for unity,” he added.

Since Oct. 7, Stav, along with all Israelis, has faced an array of challenges. Following the Hamas attacks, Stav was busy answering complex questions pertaining to Jewish law, which dealt with a range of issues relating to IDF soldiers and families who were directly impacted by Oct. 7 and the ensuing war. In addition, Stav’s organization quickly sprang into action to try and help those in need.

“Tzohar’s first mission was to take care of all the families that lost their loved ones and were not observant and didn’t want to see a rabbi. … We knew that our reputation allows us to send our rabbis, our volunteers, to make shiva visits to every family, despite the fact that the vast majority of those who live in the areas surrounding Gaza were kibbutznikim from the left wing, most of them not religious, and sometimes even anti-religious. We sent our volunteers, and they were so warmly received, that we felt that this mission is the most important one — to bring the voice of Judaism, of Jewish mourning, to those who were suffering the loss of their loved ones,” Stav said.

Rabbi David Stav visiting the Western Wall in Jerusalem. (Photo credit: Yonatan Sindel/Flash90 via JNS)

Stav spoke about the profound impact that the events of Oct. 7 and its aftermath has had on Jewish identity.

“I think that what we have seen in Israel, and I think that I hear it in the United States as well, is that since Oct. 7, the Jewish awakeness is rising up. … All of a sudden, many, many Jews … realized that the conflict between us and the Palestinians is not a political conflict. It’s not a conflict about territories. It’s not about the economy. It’s not about sources of water. It’s about something which is much more fundamental. It’s a battle between good and evil. It’s a battle between those who want to be a source of blessing … versus those who wants to be a source of brutality, of cruelty, of evil. And I think that for many Israelis, it was kind of revealing that people hate us … because we are Jewish, and that woke up a lot of Israelis.”

Stav noted that this sense of awakening post-Oct. 7 leads to another factor as well, which he said is the need to better understand our Judaism.

“What does it mean to be Jewish? Now, I’m not talking about the religious way to implement that, but to understand what Judaism is about. Why do certain people hate Judaism? What is it about us that causes that hatred, that leads to that hatred, and what does it require from us? And I think that for many Jews in America and in Israel, it was something that … opened their eyes and maybe sent them to start learning what is our story, and I think that’s amazing,” he said.

The plight of the hostages weighs on Stav. And after seeing the photos of recently released hostages Eli Sharabi, Ohad Ben Ami and Or Levy in a malnourished state, it is yet another reminder of the dire need to bring all the hostages home immediately. Yet the situation is extremely complex, with many debating the decision to release hundreds and hundreds of Palestinian terrorists, some of whom murdered Israelis in cold blood, as part of the hostage deal. According to Stav, this is a political issue, not a halachic one.

“It’s the government or the prime minister who have to make their decisions based on a broader view of what will be the effect of not ransoming the hostages, what will be the effect on the society and on the army. And on the other hand, they have to look [at the fact] that we want our enemies to be deterred, and we want our enemies to understand that it doesn’t pay to take soldiers into captivity. … That’s a political decision that has to be taken by the government. And I hope and I pray that Hashem will give them good advice,” he said.

As we experience a frightening rise in antisemitism around the world, Stav spoke about the need to recognize and embrace our Judaism as a means of combating the Jew-hatred that we are facing on a global scale.

“Prior to any other thing, we need to try to understand what Judaism is about. And once we understand what Judaism is about, we understand what our identity is. If we understand what our identity is, our neighbors and our friends will understand what we care about and what our mission is. … After all, you cannot create identity based on something which is negative. People have to understand what is positive about Judaism. … A person has to be defined by what is my story, and what is our common story? What is our Jewish story? … I think once people understand that our mission as a nation … is to be a big family that cares about human values, first of all, it defines for us what we are and what we stand for. And once we will be convinced of that, I’m sure that others will be influenced by that.”

Stav addressed the American Jewish community’s support of Israel and the vital role it plays in the wellbeing of the Jewish state, noting that, “for many Israelis, it was a discovery to see how the entire Jewish community in America was so supportive to the state of Israel” after Oct. 7.

“Sometimes I felt even ashamed, embarrassed, that we have to get support of helmets and vests, or dry meat, or whatever things that I would expect my government to provide and not to be depending on foreign support,” Stav said, referring to the basic needs of IDF soldiers during the Israel-Hamas war.

Stav pointed to two areas where the support of American Jewry is essential.

“One is to come to visit … not only because it strengthens the Israeli economy, but because it strengthens the Israeli spirit. And when people see how many American Jews come and support them and give them a hug and embrace them, it strengthens, it encourages the Israeli society.”

He added that he would like to see the support “coming to the areas where it can strengthen the unity and weaken the disputes,” recommending that American Jews should “strengthen all the organizations that deal with strengthening unity among the Israel society, versus those who try to build on our divisions.”

Despite all the various projects in which he is involved, for Stav it always comes back to the need for unity.

“I think that the biggest challenge of Tzohar today is to raise the voice of tolerance, to raise the voice of solidarity and to strengthen the voice of us being Jews,” he said.

My letter in The New York Times about antisemitism and the Holocaust

The following is a letter to the editor that I wrote, which appeared in The New York Times, about antisemitism, the Holocaust and the danger of downplaying Germany’s Nazi past:

January 30, 2025

To the Editor:

Re “On Auschwitz Anniversary, ‘Great Sorrow’ for Rising Nationalism” (front page, Jan. 28) and “Musk Urges End to Guilt for Nazi Past of Germany” (news article, Jan. 28):

As we mark 80 years since the liberation of the Nazi death camp Auschwitz-Birkenau and remember the unspeakable horrors that were perpetrated there against Jews, it is disconcerting that this significant and solemn anniversary is marred by a tsunami of antisemitism both in Germany and throughout the world.

When Holocaust survivors, who endured barbarism and torture, feel compelled to stand up eight decades later to sound the alarm of bigotry and rising Jew hatred, it is a stark reminder of the challenges we still face on a global scale. Efforts to normalize and legitimize the propagation of antisemitism are repugnant and have no place in a civilized society.

No one should be rolling out the red carpet for extremism, xenophobia and hate-mongering. And attempts to minimize or move past the Nazis’ crimes against humanity are an affront to all of us. We cannot and should not wipe away the memory of the atrocities that occurred during the Holocaust, nor should we turn a blind eye to the tidal wave of antisemitism that is sweeping across the globe.

N. Aaron Troodler
Bala Cynwyd, Pa.

A Dizzying Emotional Roller Coaster

The following is an article that I wrote, which appeared in the January 9, 2025, editions of the Washington Jewish Week, Philadelphia Jewish Exponent and Baltimore Jewish Times:

Hostage posters line the streets in Israel. (Photo credit: Aaron Troodler)

It is extremely difficult to sleep through a siren. During my recent trip to Israel, I was awakened in the middle of the night on three different occasions by the wail of a siren that has become all too familiar to Israelis. After the warning of an incoming missile fired by the Houthis in Yemen roused me from my slumber shortly after 2 a.m. and I ran to the shelter in the Jerusalem building where I was staying, I looked around the safe room at the other people who gathered there in their pajamas, which included a family with two young children and another family who tried to keep their dog calm amid the tension that permeated the air. It was a stark reminder of what Israelis must contend with daily, trying to go about their lives even as enemies from near and far actively seek to destroy the Jewish state.

The next morning, while still feeling the aftereffects of having been woken up at an ungodly hour and then having to struggle to fall back asleep as I waited for the adrenaline to abate, I walked to the synagogue for Shabbat services. It only took a short while before the beautiful tefillot helped me forget the previous night’s siren, and as the entire congregation sung the various prayers, including a beautiful rendition of the prayer for the soldiers in the Israel Defense Forces, I felt spiritually uplifted and experienced a sense that everything was once again normal.

Shortly thereafter, as I walked to my daughter’s apartment for Shabbat lunch, my family and I came across a vigil for the hostages still being held in Gaza. As we passed through the large crowd, which included Rachel Goldberg-Polin and Jon Polin, the parents of murdered American Israeli hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin, I was immediately reminded that things in Israel are not yet OK. The exuberance I had felt earlier that day in the synagogue was replaced by a sense of unease and a disconcerting feeling that life in Israel is anything but normal in our post-Oct. 7 world.

Reminders of the hostages’ horrific ordeal are everywhere. The all-too-familiar hostage posters are still ubiquitous — in the airport when you arrive in Israel and on city streets throughout the country. One sign, which was particularly powerful, had photos of two male hostages and a question in large, red Hebrew letters: What if this was your father? The message was clear: We need to do everything in our power to bring the hostages home.

At a concert that I attended in Tel Aviv featuring Ishay Ribo, the famous Israeli singer-songwriter, the largest ovation of the night came when Ribo welcomed to the stage Moran Stella Yanai, who was abducted by Hamas on Oct. 7 and held hostage for 54 days. Watching them light the second Chanukah candle together was an emotional moment which I will not easily forget.

As I contemplated the current situation and ruminated on the fact that too many of our brothers and sisters have been held captive for approximately 450 days, it was impossible not to think of the brave men and women of the IDF who put their lives on the line every day to protect Israel and its citizens. It is the IDF soldiers who are literally on the front lines and making tremendous sacrifices on behalf of Jews both in Israel and around the world. It is our soldiers who are selflessly risking everything for others.

One of the highlights of my trip took place in an unlikely location: the Ofer Prison, where terror suspects in Israeli custody are detained. My family, together with my daughter-in-law’s family and some others, helped sponsor and organize a barbecue for the soldiers housed at the base located on the prison grounds. The goal was to not only thank the soldiers for their incredible service but also to provide a bit of respite from the countless challenges they face in the course of their military duties.

As several hundred soldiers gathered on the first night of Chanukah in the large tent that serves as their dining hall, I had the privilege of lighting the first Chanukah candle and leading them in the brachot, which was followed by festive singing in conjunction with the holiday. My children helped give out cards to the soldiers that were prepared by the middle school students at my wife’s school, which were thank you cards and messages wishing the soldiers a happy Chanukah. Aside from the cards, we also distributed chocolate Chanukah gelt, a staple of the holiday.

In addition to the sumptuous feast that volunteers prepared for the soldiers, which included fresh sufganiyot, the traditional doughnuts that are consumed on Chanukah, which were fried on site, we also brought in a DJ to augment the celebratory atmosphere and enable the soldiers to further enjoy themselves. As upbeat Israeli music filled the air, we danced together with the soldiers, all of whom thoroughly enjoyed the impromptu dance party.

At the end of the evening, numerous soldiers came up to us to express their thanks for what had been a magical night. At the same time, we thanked the soldiers and offered them our deepest gratitude for everything they have done and continue to do for our people and our Jewish homeland. We exchanged hugs and heartfelt thanks and left that night feeling fortunate that we were able to give the soldiers a Chanukah gift that they truly relished.

My trip was essentially a dizzying emotional roller coaster, with the moments between concern and contemplation and pleasure and positivity waxing and waning at a seemingly frenetic pace. The fact is that witnessing the resolve of the Israeli people — whether it be soldiers, civilians or families of the hostages — was inspiring. Yes, we are still facing incredible challenges on multiple fronts. Yet the reality is that through our faith and fortitude we will ultimately prevail.