This past Monday, I partook in a beautiful celebration at the Aish Yeshiva. One of our students, Amichai Rosenbaum, spent many hours learning how to read from the Torah and celebrated his adult Bar Mitzvah. Our longtime pillar of the Aish Beis Medrash, Rabbi Gil Eisenbach taught Amichai the proper pronunciations and tunes. His parents flew in from America for the occasion. After reading the three sections from the Torah, the room erupted in song and dance as all his friends celebrated with him.
It was such a fitting Torah portion for Amichai to read as it started by stating that all the Jews were standing together in total unity. So too, here in the Aish study hall, young men from all backgrounds around the globe had come together to celebrate their friend’s Bar Mitzvah. I was strengthened knowing that while so many around the world try to denigrate us, we are still standing strong reading the same texts our ancestors did. Mazel Tov Amichai!
I had two meals this past week that were extraordinarily eye opening. The first was a wonderful lunch with retired IDF General Noam Tibon. General Tibon is featured in our October 7th documentary. A grandfather in his 60’s, he received a call on October 7th from his son Amir who was living in Kibbutz Nahal Oz, about the attack that was happening. He jumped in his jeep and rushed down to save his son’s family. Along the way, he saved many other people. They are making a Hollywood movie about his heroism and it is well deserved.
As I wanted to get to know the General better, I invited him to have lunch with some of the staff at Aish. He requested that Rabbi Yehuda Weinberg, the son of our founder Rabbi Noach Weinberg, zt’l attend. When Rabbi Weinberg came into the room, General Tibon jumped up to greet him and told him that he had the honor of meeting his father many years before. He talked about how much love Rav Noach had for the soldiers of the IDF and what an honor it was to be in his institution.
We talked about the General’s career and the local geopolitical atmosphere in which we find ourselves. He told us a special story about how when he was in charge of the area of the city of Beitar some serious security issues arose. Current member of Knesset Rabbi Yitzchak Pindrus was the Mayor of the city at the time. He suggested that they go together to seek out the guidance of Rabbi Yehuda Leib Shteinman, zt’l who was one of the great Torah leaders at the time. He described walking into Rav Shteinman’s small, nondescript apartment at eleven at night. The Rabbi listened to the issue and asked for the commander’s opinion. General Tibon told him what he thought and Rabbi Shteinman said you must listen to everything General Tibon says. After, Rav Shteinman took his hand and blessed him and all of his soldiers. General Tibon said it was one of the most special moments in his life.
That same night we hosted another special meal. We invited journalists from across the media spectrum to join us for a dinner with Senior Lecturer and Educational Visionary of AISH Rabbi Daniel Rowe, Imam Imad Al-Masri from Haifa, and retired Minister Daniel Kopp from Jerusalem. There was conversation among the group around the ramifications and reactions of their communities to the horrors of October 7th. Imad Al-Masrib talked about how his Mosque opened its doors to their Jewish neighbors shortly after October 7th in an attempt to show support for Israel. Minister Kopp talked about the different parts of the Christian community in Israel and how he tried to support the Jewish community. Rabbi Rowe, who has a tremendous mastery of Islam and has served in the IDF, talked about the ongoing struggle from a historical perspective. It was an amazing night of conversation and dialogue.
What struck me most was the recognition from these two clergymen of the pain that the greater Jewish world has experienced over the past year. Minister Kopp said that he was shocked at the levels of antisemitism in the United States. I reiterated, as I moderated the discussion, how I felt that the Dan Family Aish World Center must be a place of dialogue and respect as we seek out ways to find commonalities.
Inviting General Tibon to Aish, I did not know what to expect. The General identifies as a secular Israeli Jew and I was unsure of how many values we might share. I found a warm hearted Jew and a new friend who inspired me completely. It was the same with the Imam and the Minister. I was unsure how the conversation would go especially given the raw pain and emotion that we have all experienced this past year. I found two serious human beings who wanted to be helpful to our people. I truly believe that so many of us live our lives in an echo chamber only speaking to those who agree with us. We must take the time to make friends with people who may not agree with us on every issue. We can thereby think through more critically our positions and perhaps even win over new allies. Ultimately, if we stand strong with a closeness to the Almighty, as Amichai did this week at his “Bar Mitzvah” will emerge victorious over any challenge that the world may toss at us.
