Dov Hikind Promo

you know growing up i got to tell you i always watched you we always knew that you had our back we always knew that when something was going wrong that dove hiking was going to stand up for our community how did you get it started as an advocate as an activist for us what got you going in in this in this arena i i think the key part is the fact that when you grow up in a home where your parents survived the concentration camps where your mother went to auschwitz in 1944 with her mother other members of the family and most of the family went straight to the gas chambers the day they arrived in auschwitz in 1944 that's what they did to our people and i have spent my entire life from a very young age every single day just about reading studying trying to understand what was done to our people and recognizing that all of us have an obligation to be there for each other you know we should be there for everybody for all good people but we have a special responsibility you know we're members of a beautiful club it's called the jewish people it's a remarkable club and uh and i'm very proud to be part of the jewish people and you know when i served in legislature for 36 years you know i represented all kinds of people every kind of community but always very proud to be a jew period right and you know can you share this i know that you've had so many stories i i have you ever been in a situation where you really had to step up to something that that that scared you that were really that your courage had to come out to defend our people in an environment that may have been a little bit beyond what you expected well i i i'm not sure it's one particular thing but there are many situations you know uh by the way i did not grow up and uh as your previous guests uh no one in my family was involved in politics when i got married 45 years ago we didn't dream of running for office and being involved in the world of politics but it was a way to do things so you know there have been many challenges and difficulties you know when you're a member of one party you're supposed to be loyal to that party regardless of what goes on in that party uh i have always been very proud to say privately and publicly that i am i love america i'm a proud american but i'm a very proud you and the well-being of our people always comes first so that is something that many times is is a real challenge because when you see things going on uh you know sort of whether it's your own political party whatever party that may be it's not always easy to do the right thing uh it's easy to criticize people from somewhere else but not necessarily from within your own family or political parties so you know there have been many many challenges in my life you know uh one of the things uh again it goes back a long time ago one of my greatest challenges back in 1993 one day uh someone by the name of inspector uh well one of the inspectors in the new york city police department came to my office closed the door and said he had to tell me something extremely important and he told me at that time uh his name was kagnelli uh chief scignelli he said to me that i was on a list to be assassinated now i don't know if you're you know you're much younger than me but it was a period it made headlines during that period i was on a list to be assassinated for three months my wife myself the kids we lived with protection from the intelligence division of the new york city police department day and night when i went to schule the police followed me one person walking behind me one a police car when i went to albany state troopers i'll never forget people used to wonder why there was a guy six five he was very tall a state trooper standing behind me all the time on the floor of the new york state assembly and that was part of uh that was a group that was involved a uh radical islamic group that literally wanted to kill me wanted to assassinate me so you know there but there's been a lot of stories similar to that but i think the bottom line is this you've got to be there for your people yeah on whatever level it is it doesn't matter not doing anything is not an option you know it's interesting you say that um and and it's something that i think we're trying to drive home and i'm trying to understand myself and everybody is in this world i don't think that there is a way today i think there are so many ways today um and what what advice would you give people and i i think there's different people with different capacities or abilities and some people have the ability to get up and some people don't some people feel more familiar and comfortable some people don't but i think that everyone has that that fire inside them that says i am a jew and i'm proud to be a jew and i want to be there for my people what are some of the ways that you think people can be there for each other especially during these periods of time and and we are in very challenging times and it's not going to get any easier but every single person you're absolutely correct uh that every person god gives us different things you know some people are great speakers some people uh everyone has something that you can use towards contributing towards your people and by the way it's not always about accomplishing so-called great things right being there for your neighbor being there for your friends you know saying hello to your neighbor and your friend every single day when you see your neighbors having difficulty and you inquire and you try to help and you try to be there so those little things actually get you very far and i think god loves when we are there for each other on whatever level now everyone has to make their own decision what are you going to do what can i do and if you look and if you search you know you can get involved in something that you feel comfortable with that pleases you there is so much out there there's so much good out there okay and everyone needs to be inspired you know project inspire inspiration is one of the most powerful things you're an example of that when you speak and people listen to you inspiration makes people react and they think what can i do and everyone can find that answer if you really look right well i i completely agree and and uh mr hyken you've you've you've inspired us today continue doing what you're doing thank you for what you've been doing for all these years um more people are watching than you think but i'm sure uh you're aware that when you take a stand for our community that you're you're really you're doing for us and i think that message is needs to be clear and i hope that it is because wherever we are we take care of each other thank you for being on the show and thanks for what you do thanks for having me i appreciate it very much thanks so much for watching for more content like and subscribe and be sure to tune in live every thursday at 8pm eastern at the shabbato.com or right here on [Music] youtube