Alan Dershowitz speaking in Alaska in honor of Gimmel Tammuz

what an incredible Gathering of people this is remarkable the spirit of Love toward Israel and toward the Jewish people from people of different faiths different backgrounds different positions of authority wow thank you thank you so much for coming here tonight and and I am so inspired d by looking at the picture of this great man who's had an impact on my own life and when I hear words of Praise from my dear friends the late Ellie wiisel the late Joe liberman the late manahan Bean people who I respect so much and who had so much respect for the rebi so I met the rebi on three occasions the first time I was 13 years old I was a Yeshiva student in Brooklyn T muical Academy four blocks away from evit field on Bedford Avenue in President Street and my closest friend was a boy named s Groner whose uncle was the rebies secretary and so he invited me to have lunch with his uncle Rabbi Groner and who walks in but this young handsome man with deep blue eyes and a black beard and introduces himself to me and gives me a Bina a test a test about the talmud he said to me what are you studying and I said Bubba Kama which is one of the tractates of the talmud and he proceeded to ask me questions about it I have no idea whether I passed or failed the test but to be tested by the laab rabbi what a thrill what a thrill then I met him a few years later when I was working for Arthur Goldberg who was a Justice of the Supreme Court and then the United Nations Ambassador he decided to run for governor in 196 70 and the rebi wanted to meet him and so Rabbi uh justice Goldberg asked me to come to help translate some of the yish and Etc so I met him on that occasion and then the third time I met him in person we had a little bit of a disagreement I was then very actively involved in the fight for Soviet jewelry I had gone to Moscow I had defended rusnik I had defended sharansky I had defended the Jews who had stolen the airplane and tried to escape to to Sweden and they were sentenced to death so I was deeply involved in public advocacy in favor of rusnik and against the evils of the Soviet Union the Reby on the other hand was involved in quiet diplomacy and we had a very thoughtful discussion it could have been a seminar about the virtues of quiet diplomacy versus overt public diplomacy and in the in the end we agreed we would each do our own thing and then finally um when he turned 85 they decided to have a dinner for him in Washington and he honored various United States Senators but the guest of honor was Jesse Helms now I did not have good positive views about Jesse Helms he was a segregationist senator from I think Mississippi or North Carolina yeah sorry you're right of course uh and and so I wrote the rebi a very polite letter saying you know I agree with you you know how much I admire you but why Jesse Helms and he said to me Professor dtz you have to understand that in kabad we honor not only for the past but to influence the future Senator Helms has become chairman of the Foreign Relations whatever committee he will have enormous influence over Israel he said do me a favor watch him carefully and then come back and write to me in a year and tell me whether you think I was right and Jesse Helms became Israel's strongest supporter in the Senate and I wrote a letter to the rebi you know you talked about uh the the the word kabad u stands Forma uh Bina and Dot wisdom um thoughtfulness and uh in intelligence and uh we heard before the Tad aski mik who is smart somebody you can foresee the future and the rebi foresaw the future he saw the future of Jesse Helms and he made absolutely absolutely the right decision and it CAU me thinking I'm 85 years old I'm not thinking a lot about tombstones but if I were asked today what would be one of the things on top of my what I want to be remembered for is starting kabad University campus it happened at Harvard it was 1995 and a young man with a scraggly beard uh came up to me knocked on the door he didn't have an appointment and uh he said I want to start a kabad at Harvard and people are laughing at me kabad at Harvard you know Harvard is a very very distinguished place is there room for a group like us there everybody is turning me down and I said I'll be the first faculty adviser I'll help you get the seed money I'll help you get the building and we started the first kabad at Harvard there are now 400 kads in universities all over the world and let me tell you if not for kabad the situation on college campuses today would be much much much worse kabad is the best organization of any pro-israel organization on college campuses today and we wouldn't stop at Harvard uh my wife and I go to Martha's Vineyard for the summer but we decided what did Martha's Vineyard need it had money but it didn't have nshama it didn't have heart so we founded a kabad on Martha's Vineyard and we now have 400 people coming to events uh at Martha's Vineyard and it's just remarkable the influence that kabad has had around the world and we have to increase that influence this is Alaska this is a place that we can learn so much from in the lower 48 we can learn so much from how people get together yeah you have differences you have strong views you're very much in favor of Independence and Liberty but the way you work together is absolutely absolutely amazing and so Carolyn and I have had the most wonderful trip um we came up the coast and we've seen the the wonders of nature but the wonders of nature tell only half the story of Alaska it's the wonders of the people the wonders of the community it's just amazing and it's very hard to describe I'm going to I'm going to try my best but this community is a model Community it shows the rest of the world what could happen when you stick together when you work with great Governors great Senators great members of Congress great political figures of all parties we know that together we can uh Prevail and so I don't want to change the name of kabad to kab but I would like to add o to the end of the three virtues of mind and I think kabad is doing that today and so I love kabad I love Alaska what could be better than coming here on a night like this a of Shabbat celebrating with the nicest people the people who are so supportive of Israel and so may you go from strength to strength thank you so much for the honor of speaking before you [Music] the global spiritual giant the laaber rebba rabbi manam M schneerson began his leadership immediately after the Holocaust the rebba championed the belief that the greatest lesson from the Holocaust is the advancement of moral and ethical education the rebit taught that the seven universal values given to Noah after the great flood are the Bedrock of humanity and the Hallmark of a healthy and peaceful Society through practicing these values today we prevent hate and violence [Music] tomorrow we are presenting uh to you on his behalf cumly the Congressional gold medal it's one of the highest awards that can bestow on any citizen as I said is attribute uh not only to the impact of the work of rabach nerson around the world but especially the impact of his work here in the United States for which we are all profoundly grateful so RAB I'd like to present the medine now it's very beautiful and we're honored to to present it to you we may no longer see the rebi with our eyes but his Spirit lives in our hearts in our souls and in our Deeds this award this medal for the RBI brought Democrats and Republicans liberals conservatives Northerners and Southerners blacks whites and Hispanics it brought us all together perhaps this is the moment to remind all of us that the did not need medals nor did he need honors theab was the one who gave honors whenever I would see the rabbi he touched the depth in me but that is true of every person who came to see the Reby somehow when the person left he or she felt that they lived deeper and higher on a higher madri on a higher level Del wizel said the Rabbit doesn't need this medal but maybe America through its elected representatives needed to award this medal to the labere because of what he came to mean and means to the American Jewish community and to America generally I have come tonight to uh our great master and teacher the rabbi to ask and get from him his blessings before I go to Washington to meet President Carter rabash N is a great man in Israel all of us respect him all of us accept his judgment the rabbi say but I only add a few words to recapitulate my blessings for the great success of this very important mission of the Premier Minister and also to underline a second time that I accept this homor of his visit and certainly not on my personal account and on account of the movement of Lich who was dedicated for centuries to permeate the Jewish people everywhere is a fearing facei in God Almighty and feeling faith in their Fai that they have all their wishes for good fulfilled and in holding on to our tradition of Torah and mes to go from strength to strength in spreading kindness and goodness around us and that will be also a good vessel to accept the blessings of godes in all their needs in the asora and in the holy land and to have real peace as a preparation for the coming of messiah speedily in our time that's give to charity for your success in helping your husband and doing work together for spreading indish especially in Alaska that is two from here and that is has made to be a Cod they call the attention to all things around them don't use the about and special temperature especially [Music] [Applause] on the occasion of the 80th birthday of the rebi I was invited uh to his birthday and of course I attended the birthday there was a thousand people there hang on it and they came from Alaska California Australia New Zealand Europe Israel for your help very nice to meet you that is I believe I hope this a good beginning well thank you we have my Senator that's right I hope to be your Senator and work with you for many years thank [Music] you so we know that in June of 199 before the rebes Nisha his soul departed this Earth but here on Earth his vision his leadership his teaching his effect on people is more alive today than ever before in a very real sense his eyes are not dimmed and his natural force of leadership is not uh diminished [Music]