#116: Behind the Bima - Mort Klein, President of the ZOA

[Music] from Boca Raton Florida rabbis Ephraim Goldberg Philip Moskowitz and Josh Brody are taking you behind the bema the BRS Rabbi schmooze about contemporary issues and talk to special guests who give up behind the scenes look at how they got to where they are and what keeps them going welcome to behind the bema 9 pm Wednesday night we are coming to you live from Boca Raton my name is Roya from Goldberg I'm joined by my friend and Calgary by Joshua Brody and we are here to take you behind the bema here to take you behind the bhima it's good to be together as we are together you and I Rabbi Brody of course we continue to desperately desperately miss our dear friendly Moskowitz and all of us trees around the world and the Jews of book are atone very much how the Moscow says on our mind we ask Hashem to shower them with love and support and with comfort and with strength with everything that they need they're very very much in our hearts and on our minds Rabbi Brody you said behind the bema and uh you know somebody knocked you off in the way that you say behind the Beamer they copied you in the behind the bema very recently true right we're getting now an international way we haven't had a chance to share this yet on behind the bema but Jeremy shappy ESPN reporter long time ESPN reporter I had a segment on ESPN's daily podcast and it was on SportsCenter on ESPN about our good friends Myers Leonard who we're in touch with regularly we love Myers and uh in it they quoted in fact on SportsCenter there were certain people that never listened to one share I've ever given have no feedback have never heard of anything and I got like offender like I'm pretty sure I just saw you on SportsCenter I always dreamed that when I would appear on SportsCenter and people would text me I just saw you on SportsCenter that I'd be playing center field for the New York Yankees right or maybe they saw me hanging from the rim after an amazing dunk or something like that but I'll take getting on SportsCenter however we can and when Jeremy shot the great ESPN reporter on the longer podcast version of the story he actually paused when he referenced Myers Leonard's appearance on our show and he said there's a great name for this podcast it's called he loved the name behind the yeah I wonder if he got that from hearing you but maybe he thinks that's like part of the name is to say yeah yeah but he actually said this podcast has a great name it's called behind the Bima yeah and so I did get a flirty of people who also told me not only did he reference the podcast but he said it like Brody says it which is pretty interesting we had a good time it's amazing that the show is uh it's getting such such wide reach right now our friend Myers has worked out for three teams the Lakers is the public one two other teams as well and uh please God I'll be picked up by one of those teams and whether he's recovered from his injuries and his skills are there I think they are but we'll leave it to the professionals to decide but that incident that unfortunately he became famous for and that he appeared on our show about and that was the beginning of our friendship should not be an obstacle because um you know crazy to me it's crazy to me he said one word mistake he didn't know what it meant there's no pattern there's no history nobody dug up anything they put together to show that this is who he was one word they found and he more than apologized and educated himself and made up for it and there are other people there are other people in fact just last night just to tell you that we're live just last night uh do you even know who previously had the scoring record in the NBA Kareem Kareem Abdul-Jabbar previously otherwise known beforehand as do you know his name was Dr J no that is a separate difference but Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was known as Lou alcinder that's right and um he had the scoring record in the NBA and wait you're not impressed with me that I got the the number one yeah somebody told you and he was surpassed last night by LeBron James now while the world is excited I have nothing against LeBron um you know I'm I'm like Jordan is the goat I'm not a LeBron guy but more than that the reason I raise it is because um in 2018 LeBron on Instagram he has more followers on Instagram than 203 countries have populations 46 million people so you have a certain responsibility when you have a platform like that right he has more followers on Instagram than the people in 203 countries and he retweeted a lyric about the Jewish people the lyric was by a performing 21 Savage we've been getting that Jewish money everything is kosher uh an anti-semitic Trope Jewish money would get in that Jewish money and LeBron retweeted that lyric and didn't go on an apology tour didn't meet with that from Goldberg didn't do a basketball clinic at Boca Raton Synagogue didn't learn follicle survivors he wrote some bogus apology online which was terrible it's hard to even call it an apology it wasn't really an apology so breaking the scoring record his longevity his skills it's undeniable he's incredible after the incredible basketball player but you contrast some of the things that Kyrie has done including now by the way taking down his delete I don't know if you saw that story um and and you compare Myers and and Myers really got a unfair treatment and deal on that but yeah I wonder if if you asked uh you know Myers right now if he thinks he's in a better place than he was before you know does he feel better as a person having this experience oh he does and he wouldn't do it again it wasn't that grateful that it happened it was painful very painful we've known him for two years now and sort of lived through some of that pain with him and and the public pain the attacks that he received and threats against his wife but he learned about himself and he learned about forgiveness and he learned about the Jewish people and he learned about responsible language he'll say that he's a much much better person after it and a much better person for it not the way you want to necessarily become a better person but he feels he's a better person for it it's so interesting because this week's partial we're all about learning about Matan Torah hearing about how all the other Jews you know accepted it and all the non-jews They didn't accept the Torah just makes you think that you know what can we do to influence our neighbors and just say you know what we're not that bad we're just we're good people trying to do our best there are a lot of questions around anti-Semitism we've spoken about it on on behind the bema we've written about it and published about it you know people oversimplify it if everything's anti-Semitism nothing's anti-Semitism if nothing's anti-Semitism we're in trouble and we're in danger so what what's anti-Semitism Joe Rogan's got the most popular podcast in the world I think there's 20 million people a day who listen to him right he has more people who listen to his podcast than there are Jews in the world and yesterday he had on two people who have their own podcast and they were talking about making fun of this question should Elon Omar have to apologize for talking about it's all about the Benjamins and Joe Rogan says there's nothing wrong with that everybody knows Jews love money like Italians love pizza there's only anti-semitic about that there was never a systematic attempt to exterminate Italians because of the love of pizza there's never a genocide against Italians because their love of pizza to begin to put that in the same sentence or make a comparison between the two is so grossly irresponsible so is Joe Rogan an anti-semite I don't think so but I do think he needs to be educated I do think he said something irresponsible so these are really really I think important questions as we're going forward so we cancel who do we educate what's anti-Semitism what's the cause and all this is to tell you that next Tuesday night February 14th we're gonna have a great conversation about this topic a dialogue around anti-Semitism with Ben Shapiro and yeah Rosenberg Ben Shapiro people know as the political commentator media host daily wire it also has a very large media Empire Rosenberg a staff writer at the Atlantic the two according to the ADL they are the two most targeted Jews online by anti-semites wow and yet here comes a little bit from the left and Ben from the right and we're going to moderate a conversation between the two live in Boca Raton Synagogue and also streamed online at brsonline.org anti-Semitism to try to address some of these questions and to hear their perspective from very different angles on this topic that's I think very much in our minds and we're seeing almost every day there's something that comes up and Joe Rogan is just the latest of it so what can you and can't you say about another Faith or another another race where do you draw the line like I was at a meeting last week it was a couple of non-jewish leaders and I joked that they said you know we're waiting for a couple rabbis I said oh you know it's uh they're on Jewish time now they said oh Rabbi you could say that we can't say that right so but even the way they said it then it was like okay well do you think we have a problem with time like maybe there's an issue but I don't think there's anything wrong with saying Jewish time is there is that is that no I actually give a Josh recently about that that that's a terrible concept if you look in the urban dictionary online or the Jewish time it says like perpetually late socially late and I think that's an embarrassment Jews punctuality promptness efficiency productivity the preciousness of every moment of time those are Jewish concepts for us killing time is an act of murder and your perpetrator and the victim at the same time so we don't believe in Jewish time I'll tell you one of the things actually Corona introduced for me is I I never started a sheer on time a lecture on time I'd always be like let's give it one more minute two more minutes a little trickling in let's go and and once you went online and you felt like you know you're supposed to start streaming a certain time I'm not sure the mentality why it's different but now it's probably but it's prompt but every time we said we're going to start we start promptly at that time because the Jewish notion of time should be punctuality but I don't think it's anti-semitic to say that you know Jewish time Jews what I'm saying have we swung too far now where the where the non-jew is saying to me oh I can't say that now you could say that I don't take offense to that is that a natural offensive statement we're definitely living in a time of canceled culture and hypersensitivity actually that was my article last week because I sound incredibly so that was by that but you have this was a link to it right now and I promise you everything is unscripted and unplanned I promise and live we're live right now Wednesday night hold up uh here there you go it's like holding up a newspaper like a hostage situation right so um and I spoke about the fact that there's something called immunity debt where they there's a theory not everybody agrees you know everyone you know every family has had the flu or RSV virus or Corona or terrible colds this this winter so there's a theory called immunity debt which is after two years of Corona where we distanced and we wore masks and we weren't exposed to viruses we actually we hurt our immune system so now that we're back out in the public and around one another our immune system can't fight and that's why people are getting so sick they're getting colds and flus and RSV virus because I mean not debt from having been apart yeah you got it you still got that quote right so I wrote an article basically about emotional immunity debt that if we're trying to be overprotective from sensitive language and we're canceling all these words we can't use Stanford University had a whole thing about this so we're creating an emotional immunity debt where we're actually going to make our children and ourselves more fragile more vulnerable more easily hurt by words because we're trying to protect so hard and create this immunity debt so badly we're actually going to create right like it's like the peanut allergy right for a long time they thought how do you how do you protect people from getting a peanut allergy stop eating peanuts you have peanut free zones peanut preschools and peanut free airplanes and peanut free public spaces and then a big study came out of Israel that yeah Bamba the the lowest peanut allergies in Israel because all the children are exposed early the peanuts or Bamba so they don't get allergic so I said you know I'm not I'm not advocating we expose our children to insensitive or harsh or inappropriate or hurtful language but I'm just saying that effort to protect ourselves and to be immune from it is actually hurting our immunity and it's going to come back to hurt us even more so I don't think it's our job to be sensitive and not hurt others and it's our job to not be overly sensitive and to be too easily hurt by others and I think those same things can be true simultaneously it's funny you know Friday Night Live every week we tell a joke and I realize that the jokes and I've been telling you imagine one joke every week for the last 12 years so I have like you know 600 jokes and you look at some of the generals of course they are but they but you know some of them you could look at right now and say is that offensive is that offensive to Jews is that offensive to someone else and it's not meant to be like that and I feel like sometimes it comes it's based on who's the one saying it I'm not a racist I'm a lover I'm the biggest lover out there right so but it's funny it's like you're just pointing out a quirk of a certain person and I I don't understand sure I don't know where where changing yeah the rules so yeah yeah we'll talk a little bit about it next week I hope you don't know Tuesday night please God this event at your Rosenberg and Ben Shapiro last night we had an incredible event five six hundred people at BRS for Rabbi Dr mayor salavechik together with tick for fund it was a great event he's brilliant he's hilarious it was fantastic and tonight we got a great guest Mort Klein and I won't read his bio because we're going to talk to him a lot about his background that people don't know about his background his father sought my connection what professionally he was on track to do before he became the president of the zoa and so much more we've known Mort a long time he's been a good friend a friend of our community and you know some consider more in the zoa to be a little extreme or some considered polarizing and you know everybody's everybody's different you don't have to love or agree with everything but it's got a passion he's got his heart in the right place and he cares and he stead stands up for the Jewish people and we're deeply grateful and indebted to him for that I'm grateful that he's agreed to go behind the bema with us without any further Ado the great more kind we have known Mort Klein who is one of the top leaders of the forward magazine forward newspaper call one of the top Jewish leaders in the United States head of the Zoe we've known you for many years more you're a good friend and thank you for going behind the bhima and thank you for joining us it's an honor to be with you uh you run one of the most important synagogues in the country bringing Yiddish kite to Southern Florida that is the holiest the most important thing a person can do appreciate that I appreciate that very much and appreciate that coming from you given what I'm about to say but I really want to start with is you know more I've known you for a long time but I came to to know several things about you that I didn't before this conversation all of which add up to how small the likelihood is that you would be the head of the Zionist organization of America one that your father was assault hasid an orthodox and in Europe had a long beard and a black hat with Arusha Shiva in his 20s but already your father disagree with the summer but that sat more background and it's not a background that goes back to a great great grandparent your father was a SAT mahasa and here you are the head of the zoa and you add to that we know that you um you have Tourette's syndrome and that impacts the way you speak and and I've always had enormous admiration for the fact that despite something that would maybe cause others to not be a spokesperson for Jewish people you are so passionate for Israel that despite the challenges of navigating Tourette's you nevertheless never hesitate to appear to speak and to stand up and to advocate so you add up all these different parts of your background aside from your own training which we'll get to as well as an epidemiologist and and your research on nutrition and heart disease it was unlikely you were gonna land as the head of this DOA so talk to us about each of those variables or influences and how they did not hold you back from where you are today and what you're doing today well my father Oliver shoem had Tourette Syndrome he was also a really a great talmudic scholar I mean if I would read him a sentence from the hummish he could give me the next 20 sentences without looking at it he just knew it by heart they're Rashi the same he knew the Rashi backwards and forwards he passed controls he answered serious complex questions all the time to people he was a serious scholar and he had Tourette my brother by the way is a world-renowned scientist at Washington University St Louis medical school so he got the brains I got the Tourette so and my brother says it's fair we each got one what's unfair about that at what age at what age does Wayne and educate me I apologize for my ignorance I'm embarrassed by it but tell us a little bit about Tourette's and and what it's been like I haven't overcome that and I know that's not the focus of our conversation but it is an opportunity for other people um to be able to be inspired by the fact that it hasn't held you back at all well Tourette is a neurochemical disorder I've had it since age five there's really no treatment for it except very severe drugs that that really make makes you a sort of like a gork so you're not really quite the same even though you no longer have ticks so I've never taken any of the drugs I just live with it and uh my father also was a was a well not also but he was a wonderful order and he spoke publicly despite his Tourette and uh no I never looked it as a challenge I just ignored it to tell you the truth I simply ignored it now and when I started college and started dating people I did have women with whom I had very nice relationships who broke up with me because they couldn't tolerate my Tourette and I told them I don't blame him I wouldn't I wouldn't like it much either but I have no choice so that it did affect me there but in terms of public speaking I never even thought about it I do let people know I have tourettes so if they hear me make sounds or have facial tics they should know it's uh it is that neurochemical disorder it's nothing else and and I tell you when I first came into the zoa Israel business because I was the only significant head of a significant Jewish organization that publicly opposed Oslo and Arafat predicting unfortunately that it would lead to disaster that this will never work I was attacked relentlessly by my colleagues and some of them even would say Morton Klein is mentally ill look at all those ticks he's a nut case it was outrageous wow as I and when people heard that and told me that I would tell people uh look I may be mentally ill but the two red is not the proof of it exactly so five years old is a young age to stand out or be different and was it hard to navigate growing up going through questions I went to yeshivas you know my satra Hasidic father made me go to yeshivas and kids did make fun of me and mimic me and uh it's funny I can't even explain it I just ignored it I just ignored it that's all because I said to myself what can I do it's me I I would not like it to be this way but it is and I have to live and I ignored it so it's not like I never found it a challenge or this is horrible why did God do this to me and uh it's never slowed you down even now does it get me nervous before you get up a big speech you just put recently here in Florida for a thousand people does it does it give you pause that are concerned about no are there things that exacerbate or make it better or worse have you learned how to navigate foreign I've been president of zoa for 29 years believe it or not I'm there I'm a nervous wreck before every speech before every TV program radio program before this blog that I'm on with you Rabbi both rabbis I am always nervous I can never get over it but that's not because of the Tourette just because I'm I'm nervous about making a fool of myself so uh so that's what this but the Tourette has never stopped me it's never been a factor of being nervous and not wanting to speak I never turned down speaking engagement because I want always want a Podium to promote the truth or the Arab Islamic war against Israel and the truth frankly of uh American Jewish leadership which is a you know an issue I'm afraid I'm just wondering do you think that there you said it never it never held you back but you think it actually made you stronger that it kind of pushed you into a position of leadership it's very interesting to say that two months ago zoa honored former president Donald Trump at our national Gala because not a single organization Jewish organization said thank you for moving the embassy recognizing the Golan ending all Aid to the Palestinians until they stopped paying people to murder Jews he did an incredible you know the Abraham Accords or no there's over 20 things so I said I wanted to honor him and I spoke before him uh and I told everyone I have to read and I got a tremendous response to my talk it was very nice very very kind of in the audience and Donald Trump got up and said nice things about my speeches is you know what more I think your Tourette is what makes you a better speaker than you that this makes you want to fight harder to to do a better job so he actually said that to me he thought my Tourette was actually a positive I don't agree I'd like to go away uh within five minutes from now that would be my pleasure let's go back to your to your background and your father when did your father pass away was did he know of your work in the zoa was he proud of it he himself I know he himself disagreed with his own sophomore background how did he come to that conclusion was it his experience as a Survivor did he disagree if there were in Israel that itself is a fascinating history all I know is that my father Oliver Shalom told me that he did in his interpretation of the Torah and he was a serious scholar he said there was nothing there that precluded the Jews reestablishing the Jewish State he just didn't think there was anything that Torah uh that required you to not create recreated Jewish state it was only that I don't know if his being a survivor of Auschwitz and by when my father lost his first family he lost eight brothers and sisters he was the only one living in this entire family he was alone and uh he had a rough time in his life he was depressed about all of that he always said why why did I survive and not my brothers and sisters he would say frequently who are better than me he would say they should have survived so that it was a major consequence in his life after surviving Auschwitz so I don't know if that was the fact that I'm winning a state because the state could have saved millions of Jews he never said that to me he only said to me the toe work permits reestablishing a state he disagreed throughout by title bomb who he got a smirk from and he went to Brooklyn argued with him about it really and uh he said the only thing they finally agreed with during their arguments about the Eric's Israel the only thing they agreed with is he should leave Philadelphia and move to Williamsburg that's the only thing they and he agreed with that but he just didn't have just wasn't resourceful to be able to to get that done you yourself were born in a displaced person's camp at DP camp in Germany and you only moved at the age of four I don't even know if you have memories from being born in those four years in Germany do you think being a second generation Survivor has influenced an impacted your leadership on behalf of Israel too with the stories did you grow up hearing those stories and did that help shape you my parents almost never talked about the Holocaust both my parents are survivors but my mother from Poland my father from Czechoslovakia maybe once or twice in all the years did they ever say something about the Holocaust they didn't want to talk about it so uh I never consciously uh look I didn't go into this business I went into uh math and statistics and epidemiology I worked with the greatest chemists who ever lived for 20 years Linus Pauling a two-time Nobel Prize winner it's only in the late 80s not my late 80s I'm not there yet in the late 80s my wife Rita my lovely wife who helped me set this up I have trouble with this even though I have a math break on you think I could through all this out my wife started complaining that the media the media is so unfair to Israel attacking Israel all the time lying about Israel exaggerating lies about Israel she said Mort it's not enough that you make a living and you figure out what movie we should go to this weekend you have to use your talents that God gave you to fight for the Jews and I said look Rita I don't know anything I mean I love Israel it should be well but I can't argue anything about Israel I don't know the issues she said so learn so it was my my mother my wife who kept pressuring me to do something I was afraid of losing her respect was a motivating factor for me that I started reading everything I could about Israel so I'd be able to converse about the issues with because I could not and that's how I went into it it's interesting line is pulling I asked him why did you go and work on P an International Peace and you end up with a Nobel Peace Prize I said you're a chemist why did you care he says I didn't care my wife kept screaming at me that if the world is destroyed by world war or nuclear war your Chemistry will mean nothing and should get Badger me and he said to me I was afraid I would lose my her respect for me and that's why I went and did peace work I did it to maintain my wife's respect and so in a more minor way I got into this to maintain my wife's respect and so I learned everything and then my daughter came home one day from high school and I read her history textbook every paragraph about Israel there were several pages in Israel every paragraph had a lot at least one lie about Israel now that I I was knowledgeable and I was horrified and I to make a long story extremely short I went to the next board meeting of the school board made an issue out of this and uh it's quite interesting the Jewish people in the board wanted nothing to do with do with this they actually called me at home and say stay away from this you're only going to make it more Trump Troublesome for Jews that you're making trouble the Jews the non-jews said I want the book changed because I don't want my kids learning falsehoods not that they cared about Israel they just went accurate history so I wrote a bunch of articles about it went to the superintendent the schools wrote to the uh DC Heath the publisher to make a long story short they uh asked me to rewrite the textbook I wrote a nine page of single space explaining every lie and what what is true and they read they redid the textbook this made national Jewish news that I changed this textbook then I changed a better course travel guides it's a long story I won't get into any of this better because it's the oldest travel Book Company in the world out of Stuttgart Germany they had over 100 lives about Israel in their travel guide I wrote articles about it in Jerusalem Post and elsewhere they Simon Schuster that distributed the guy got in touch with me they asked me to come to Germany to meet with the with the board I flew to Germany at their expense met with them they hired me to rewrite the the travel guide and it was done a new travel guide and I did many such things churches universities and uh because of my wife and because I became incensed that the lies about my against my people and my Jewish homeland I I and I just couldn't tolerate it and that's when people from zoa came to me and asked me to run for president I had no interest in being president I don't know how to be president so they asked me to be president and I said to run for president there was an incumbent they said you know you can't win because they don't really know you they know the incumbent he's friends with everybody you'll lose so I said to him look if you promised me I'll lose because I don't want to be president I don't know how to be president but if you promise me I'll lose and you think this will help make him more of an activist if you promise me I'll lose I'll run no politician would ever say that but I ran as if I cared about winning and I won by 17 votes out of many hundreds cast and I became president and I didn't it was a and we were the organization was completely broke we had no money what year was this in part this was 19 December 93. eyes right around Oslo I I did the reason I agreed to even though I thought I wouldn't become president the reason I agreed to run was was Oslo I was so horrified by Oslo I thought if I win I'll have a Podium to speak against it because I thought this was one of the greatest mistakes any government has ever made me have for his people having negotiation and Deals and elevating one of the great terrorists of the world Yasser Arafat and giving land away to a terrorist entity and I wanted to speak about it and that that is without Oslo I wouldn't have done it I wouldn't have run at the time president was our late position or a professional position for six years I worked without salary full-time I I didn't think I worked full-time but we had no money I had to spend most of my time begging people for money and I didn't know I knew one wealthy friend Irving Moskowitz you may know the name sure yeah one of the great Jews who put up so much land in Jerusalem to save it for the Jewish people I knew one wealthy man and uh I called Irving and I serving I have no money out we're going to declare bankruptcy it's over he said well how much do you need I said to survive six months I need 250 000 and to survive I said I'll have to fire almost everybody I can survive he said my goodness more you really need that much yes that's what I need I hadn't there's no we had three thousand dollars in the bank she said more if I give you 200 000 can you raise the other 50. I said no I don't know anybody no people give me your money you're it yeah and I he said well all right maybe I said well before you offer it to me Irving I said you have to know in six months if I don't continue raising more money we're going to go bankrupt the 250 you're giving me if you decide to give it to me may be thrown down the drain you may lose all of it he said Mort this is not the way a fundraiser speaks you don't feel like a fundraiser that this may be thrown out I said but Irving I have to live with myself I cannot take your money unless you recognize you may lose all of it because I don't know I'm not a fundraiser I'm a biostatistician I don't know anything about fundraising and that's how I started zoa and I I was successful in raising money somehow and the philosopher Irving mosque was we were to close the doors right away he saved the away Irving and Turner mosque would saves you away are there donors To This Day to zeroa a great man and to give people some perspective at the time and you alluded to it you're a lecturer at Temple University a biostatistician at UCLA School of Public Health you're working at The Institute of science and medicine you published on epidemiology and academic journals in fact I understand that your research on nutrition and heart disease yes with cited is one of the top 50 scientific studies of 1992. so you abandoned a career the very year before you left to go to the COA you have you have one of the most cited studies of the Year prior on nutrition and heart disease is it true by the way that a glass of wine every day is good for the heart the best of my understanding it is true okay good but it's more important is Vitamin C 500 kilograms of vitamin C reduces hard episodes by forty percent that was my big study interesting and it has not been disproven since then I I don't think so no no I in fact that study was cited in all the major TV programs it was so astonishing and it's true uh so so you had a career right the year before you have one of the most cited studies and you have a whole career I gave up a salary six years I worked without pay my dear wife who was a teacher not exactly a wealthy well a wealthy a big salary she said this is important work we have money in the bank we can survive for a while do it she didn't say you got my respect but just keep the job yeah got my inspection now go back to work and after six years we were running out of money I went to one of my my donors who was a very major philanthropist you would know his name I'm not going to mention it and I said I'm going to be leaving and he said you know you don't get paid no that's ridiculous he said change the bylaws I will pay her salary he increases gifts he's been paying my salary for 23 years most of my salary anyhow so if it wasn't for this one guy I wouldn't be here anymore so you think you're the president of the COA and you come onto the scene with Oslo obviously you had that impact with textbooks and I think it's really important for everybody watching and listening before you became you know more inclined the public face of the zoa who's interviewed in prominent places you were just more inclined than private citizen who was bothered by textbooks and travel guides and everyone you know people bemoan Israel and anti-israel sentiment anti-Semitism they sit around their Shabbos tables and they and they WhatsApp and text one another but they don't do anything about it you don't have to be the head of the real way or the rabbi Bogart's own synagogue to do something right you could write a letter and you can protest and you can rewrite a textbook and you can demand of leadership to have more accurate portrayal depiction of Israel so more what would you say to the person listening or watching about how every person whether you're shy introvert extrovert you have Tourette's but you don't everybody could get involved in doing more to stand up for Israel well Apex news letter called nearest report actually did a full page article about all the work I did with textbooks travel guides universities and such entitled it one man can make a difference wow because I did as a private person I mean it does take work but anybody can do it and I urge everyone when they see things in the newspapers or the media that are false about Israel they should always write a letter even if the letter isn't published that may cause them to publish someone else's letter if they see people care about this it has an impact and they should write to members of Congress they check all the mail they get every day emails every day and it makes an impact I'm constantly told by members of Congress we Lobby all the time that that they hear from uh anti-israel people radical Muslims they don't hear from Jews don't hear from Jews even and one of the I mean even this latest vote we just had this week it's because Jews have not made a public issue out of Elon Omar and the other radical Jew haters and Israel Bachelors Elon Omar was finally thrown off of the house Foreign Relations Committee she's one of the worst haters of Israel and and Jews in Congress and every single well 211 people voted to support her 218 voted against her and I have to say just a fact it's not a political statement every single Democrat voted to support her every single Democrat and the 27 Jews Democrat Democrat Jews every one of them voted to support her everyone from from Jerry Nadler to Guggenheim to isn't Moskowitz your new Congressman down there yep he voted if he knew that the Jews of South Florida would go crazy if he voted to support her he wouldn't have done it but he knew no one's going to say anything right we're going to say something but more what would you what would you say to somebody who says you know the zoa today is essentially a republican right-wing organization in Israel it's not bipartisan it's really very narrow who it only speaks to a very narrow audience the most right-wing or the most extreme or the most Republican the VOA is just a mouthpiece or a uh you know a partner Organization for them what would you what would your answer be to that absolute rubbish my devotion is to the Jewish people in Israel because Republicans have to be better in Israel are more inclined toward Republicans not because they're Republicans because they're better in Israel and I all when people even in my speech that I just I gave many speeches last week in Florida and one of them a woman came up to I'm surrounded by 100 people and she says you made so many extreme statements Mr Klein I'm so upset with you such an extreme speech you've made so many hostile statements about Arabs so I said my goodness I don't want to give an extreme speech if I said anything extreme I never want to do that again tell me ma'am what name one thing I said that's extreme just one thing and I'll never say it again oh you said so many things that are extreme I I understand you think that but I'm just asking for one let's start with one I'll never say it again oh well uh uh she's not pumping there's 100 people around uh oh I got it you said that DeSantis is a great friend of Israel I said that's extreme first of all he told me you're upset about the Arab statements I don't even mentioned you bring up the Santas who I know personally I I lobbied with him I testified three times before his committees I went to Israel with him his first trip as Governor I know him personally he's a great friend of Israel and if you disagree that doesn't make me extreme we disagree and then I said and then people start yelling at her so name one thing tell Mr Klein one thing she just turns around and walks away and I would ask you a rabbi rabbis what it allows you to say we're narrow we're right wing we're pro-republican tell me what we do that would allow you to make such a statement because it's not completely untrue well I'm not making the statement that I believe that you know you know where not only fans of the zoa we're very honored to be recognized this year at the zeroa dinner in Florida so obviously we have no problem we're grateful and grateful supporters I'm not making that statement myself I'm really asking what would you say to the person who does make that statement who sees that the zoa or that you might be you know perceived as this position for polarizing um and what would you say in terms of is it better for Israel to be more more Broad and a place like a wider swap feel comfortable and rally around the things because right I mean more the things that you say are are right on they're dead on don't give money to people to terrorists and terrorist families who kill Jews and don't support terrorists who have rejected Israel's attempts to piece countless times demand of them right the things that you say are dead on and yet somehow by some you're perceived as divisive or polarizing so I imagine what you know what would you say why would they feel that way and why are they wrong well of course I asked them if just I asked you what have we done or said that allow you to say that they never have an answer they'll have an answer like the one I just told you you know nonsense and I would tell them what have we done that's important we've we've we've lobbied against Oslo predicting it'll lead to Terror to to more terrorism and that our fight is still a terrorist that turned out to be totally true we've we we're the only Jewish group that lobbied against the gas withdrawal where Sharon through ten thousand Jews out of their homes in Gaza and Northern Samaria we predicted this will lead to Hamas and thousands of rockets that's exactly what happened but we had a vote in the conference of presidents the umbrella group of all the Jewish groups on the gas withdrawal it's one of the few votes we've ever taken the vote was 50 to 1. every Jewish group voted supporting the gas withdrawal right Zio is the only one who said this will lead to Absolute disaster they were all wrong but since they're part of the much larger majority of people promoting a certain belief even though it's wrong they're considered mainstream and reasonable we tell the whole truth which is out of the mainstream unfortunately and uh look we've honored many Democrats at our dinners unfortunately fewer and fewer Democrats are worthy of being honored by zeroa I'm happy to honor any Democrats we've we've honored uh Brad Sherman and Elliot Engel and such who were great friends of Israel uh because all we care about is Israel so it is simply false by telling the whole truth of the Arab Islamic war against Israel you notice I don't say Arab is really conflict because it is not it's an Arab Islamic war against Israel in the west Israel has offered a state a state to the Palestine Authority four times in the last 20 years four times including 97 of Judea and Samaria the West Bank three percent of Israel proper to make up for the three percent they can't give away because it's a half a million Jews there half of Jerusalem billions of dollars in Aid and and they've and they said no without a counter offer and when I asked by the way and this is interesting I asked prime minister omir how could he turn down your insane offer I said I wrote articles blasting you he says I know more I read them how could you how could you vote for such a thing he said well I wanted to finally get the piece I said why didn't he accept it how on Earth did Abbas not accept your offer where you gave him virtually everything he asked for and you know what omit said to me Abbas said to me you have to get rid of three clauses one we accept this was a Jewish State we're not doing it two that we're not allowed to bring as many uh so-called refugees into Israel as we want which would end Israel as a Jewish State and three you have to get rid of the Clause that says no further claims and Albert said to them what do you mean no further claims we're giving you everything that means it's over no further claims no we're not signing it what more proof do you need that that person Authority has zero interest in peace they have zero interest in the state if it means making any concession to Israel they have zero interest they as I said they could have had a state four times in the last 20 years eight times in the last eighty years their Warfare state in 1937 by the appeal commission where they offered the Arabs 95 of the rest of Palestine that was left five percent for the Jews the Arab said no and they're offered a 50 50 deal resolution 181 in 1947-48 and six Arab countries went toward to destroy Israel they could have a state since 1948. so and and why don't does why don't Jewish leaders Israeli leaders rabbis not all rabbis many rabbis make this clear we should be proud that that Israel's done everything they could to make peace it's the Arabs that refuse to accept it yeah we make this clear and and um you know who agrees with you more is the Israeli people this this current government evidence of that but all the polls across Israel show that there is no more left-wing of Israel there is you know that a two-state solution advocacy um is shrinking in in Israel itself because the people himself have become you know absolutely disillusioned by the notion of continuing to make offers when there's no one on the other side is willing to accept them I once had the I call it a privilege but under a previous administration I went to the White House several times a small group of of Jewish leaders were invited to to communicate on issues of Israel and when I pressed the administration officials on that and I said why do you keep putting pressure on Israel all they've done is making sessions the other side hasn't made one let them make a concession and prove that they're an honest partner and you know what the answer was I remember I walked away so depressed what he said the other side is so weak if we put pressure they'll crumble Israel's strong so you have to put pressure where they're stronger so I said they're so weak you can't even put pressure but Israel should make concessions with them no there's a more powerful Point why don't they accept almost everything they've asked for for a state that's even more powerful don't ask them for concessions accept what Israel is offered which of course I oppose because it'll be very dangerous for Israel but but but that's not made clear in fact one of the most extraordinary things that isn't made clear even Bibi just was interviewed on on television Israeli leaders Jewish leaders passion Authority pays Arabs lifetime pensions to murder Jews right and and but by the way the pension is five times the average salary of a Palestinian Arab it's a very lucrative and the more Jews you murder the higher your pension this guy who murdered seven innocent believing Jews in the school of last week his family he was killed his family now get a lifetime pension for that why aren't Israeli leaders and Jewish leaders and every Rabbi screaming you're dealing with Arab Nazis they pay people to kill us it's just unbelievable they've named hundreds of streets schools sports teams after Jew killers they honor them and they they put posters I think I have one here yes I do they make posters of the of Jew Killers that's a that's a real poster they put them in all the high schools and colleges and the Palestine Authority honoring Killers who have murdered Jews we're dealing with a vicious vicious nazi-like culture and I don't hear Israeli leaders Jewish leaders or even most rabbis making an issue out of this on campuses when I talk about all this nobody can believe me they say if this is true why isn't Israel screaming about it why aren't my my Rabbi my conservative synagogue is screaming about it we have all the truth on our side we don't make the case what do you make of that so why you know I understand that some some will become assimilating your values some who are afraid of being canceled but Israeli leaders why don't you hear Bibi Netanyahu talking about it why don't you hear the most right government in Israel it's recent history why isn't this the top of their agenda to be able to correct the record on all these things I know all these Prime Ministers they're my friends I deal with them from BB and the rest of them I've told all of them you have to make this a major public issue don't talk about this every time you're on TV or radio make it clear what a monstrous regime you're dealing with Mahmoud Abbas is one of the vicious Jew haters killers in the world and you know what every single prime minister said to me I can't do that then they'll accuse me of trying to ruin the chances for peace I find that response astonishing astonishing I and that and the person they're putting they don't say it they don't say it I mean if Jews were paying Arab with Jews if the Israeli government was paying Jews to murder Arabs every Arab would be screaming about this day and night Congress would be screaming Jewish leaders would be screaming I'd be screaming it would be so horrible and yet that's the case with the Arabs and we ignore it they spend 450 million dollars a year paying Arabs to murder Jews this is not a small thing this is a major thing and and no one knows about it it is so important that we expose the fact that Mahmoud Abbas and Palestine Authority is that vicious terrorist dictatorship to reduce Sympathy for the Palestine Arabs it would be harder to support the Palestinian Arabs if they knew that they're paying people to murder Jews that they're naming everything after Jew killers that they have parades for terrorists that after seven Jews were killed they were handing out candy in all the streets they had fireworks in all the Arab cities praising these murders it's astonishing and when Bibi spoke about this to uh that Tapper he just said he just said oh they have fireworks after this he didn't say can you believe they did do you realize what we're dealing with that fireworks we had fireworks after 9 11 the average American citizen was deeply offended by those fireworks after 9 11. so we have to make that comparison you know seven Jews murder outside of a synagogue is another yet another 911 for for Israel and every time they celebrate it should be an offense to all of humanity they don't make it clear they don't make the case everywhere they go in the media their their fireworks they hand out candy they're so thrilled they're Dancing in the Street this is a monstrous culture and they say well if I say this they'll tell me they'll call me an islamophobe I don't care I don't care if they say that you're telling the truth let people know but know very few people Jews almost no Jewish college students or others know what I've just said and yet it's been happening for for decades Jewish leaders but they don't do it APAC ADL AJ committee none of them make an issue out of this none of them let me see more you mentioned that COA uh recently honored president Trump and and there's no question any objective person who measures uh his impact and policy difference for Israel it's extraordinary the the record of what he did and you don't have to embrace his personality and character to be able to simultaneously say that the administration did wonderful things they don't they don't go together although you know nuance and subtlety is lost today in the world you either all in or all against and you're not allowed to buy for Kate and say that I'm grateful for policies even if I am repulsed by a certain character or other things about somebody but but you know the equation changed a little bit when Trump had hosted for dinner Kanye West and Nick Fuentes and and you I think to your great credit spoke out about that you spoke out about your concern about that you were willing to be critical about that and I think that is a level of credibility when people are willing to be critical of both sides not only critical of the people they're against but critical of their friends too but you know was the criticism strong enough would it have been more criticism if it was Biden or somebody else who hosted them I'm curious given that relationship were you critical to him directly did he have an explanation or excuse to do we not have to worry the same way that we can't tolerate awarding or rewarding or giving money to Jew Killers we can't tolerate giving an audience or hosting for dinner you haters anti-semites so do we have to be careful when we go all in in celebrating someone as the best ever on something and then it turns out that they're doing the very Behavior which we should find repulsive look Donald Trump was the greatest friend to Israel in the White House we've ever had he did extraordinary things we at zoa felt it was our moral obligation to say thank you sir for everything you've done especially since no other Jewish group did that that doesn't mean that I'm I I love his personality or his personality flows are a problem but that's separate than his policy but a week after we honored him he had dinner with these two jew-hating monsters and he refused to condemn them a week later I wrote an op-ed in the Jerusalem Post condemning Trump with this demanding he condemned them I even said to him you don't even have to apologize for having him for dinner he you claimed that you don't know Fuentes was a was a Jew hater a Israel bastard all right now you know so condemn them they won't apologize don't say I shouldn't have had him it's okay with me personally but I do it's not okay if you don't publicly condemn the statements that each of them have made as being disgusting it took weeks for him to condemn Fuentes he did condemn Puentes but he never condemned Kanye West and it's really uh almost unforgivable so well so do you worry and I'm not saying that you did or zoa did but do you worry just as an observation in general because I think this was actually a challenge in the in the Orthodox Jewish Community some of who almost deified Donald Trump during his presidency because he was doing these remarkable things like one thing history should teach us is not to go all in on anybody that many political leaders are sometimes transactional some are more sincere than others you know there's a rabbinic term Cabello respect them and be cautious and suspicious of him and maybe that's been verified trust and verify and maybe there's something to learn that we shouldn't be too all in or too glorifying or too deifying or too you know we have to be able to even while we are gratefully admire policies we have to have some some boundaries and cautiousness because people you know we don't know what they're going gonna end up doing and who they're going to be and as you said it's unforgivable and the same way we condemn those who compensate terrorists we have to condemn and be intolerant of those who who you know are willing to host or invite Jew haters to yes well it was a rare occasion where Trump you know did something it was the this harmful that enabling uh anti-Semitism so his record is overwhelmingly positive for us overwhelmingly so even though he did this I'm still grateful for his presidency he was very wrong about this issue you know one can speculate why he wouldn't respect condemn Kanye West some people speculate that he thinks Kanye West by being friends with him will help him get more of the black vote that that could be a factor I don't know but he did condemn Fuentes it took him weeks but he did so this is not condemning Kanye disqualify him in your mind no no it does not that's why he did some he did as much for Israel as I would have done if I was President I couldn't have done any more so what he did was so extraordinary and the people he gave us David Friedman Jared Jason Greenblatt incredible Friends of the Jewish people Mike Pompeo nickel nick and Nikki Haley I mean this guy was unbelievable for us so that overwhelms his refusing to condemn look he didn't praise Kanye West for what he said he I I think there may be a political reason that he did this he's wrong but what he did is so overwhelmingly positive that we should still be grateful to uh to Donald Trump despite some of his personality flaws and he does have personality flaws give us some good news on Israel anything good going on that you see trended in the American the U.S Israel relationship or with Israel give us some good news this year away seeing yeah well at least by asking that question we don't need that much time [Laughter] now the good news first of all the proof there is a God is that we Jews have made so many mistakes I have had so many problems and yet we're still here to me that you don't need any more proof that there's a God than that fact that the Jewish people remain that we're here and thriving the good news is the Israeli people are sick and tired of trying to deal and and appease and make huge concessions that don't even work with our enemies like the Palestinian Arabs that they finally have voted in a rational centers I don't call them right wing truth is not a political position truth is not a political position if these guys smoked rich and Ben gavir and Bibi are telling the truth about issues that's not right wing for example and so I think it's a tremendous the positive development that we have Ardent courageous scientists now in the government we never really had that before and Bibi is going to be I believe be brought along with them he's the weaker of of of the links in this government he'll be brought along to do the right things and what are the things they're proposing uh death penalty for convicted murders of Jews we had the death penalty that's extreme that they want any terrorist who's convicted and goes to prison when he comes out of prison Deport him is that extreme remember Israel is not America we don't have terrorism constantly Israel has seven terrorist attacks every single day for the last year and maybe the last 75 years they really are suffering terribly from being a attacked by Arabs who surround them so they need to be a little tougher they want Jews to pray in the Temple Mount any Jew who believes it's it's appropriate to pray if Muslims can pray on our holiest place the Temple Mount why can't a Jew who believes it's okay it's outrageous that we can't pray there this is Extreme this is just normal and the Jewish the grandparent Clause I assume you're familiar with the grandparent clause in 1970 they changed the rules that any anyone can automatically become a Jew automatically a Jewish citizen excuse me if they have one grandparent who's Jewish well you know what that's done over half the people who moved to Israel last year are not Jewish over half the people who moved to Israel are not Jewish we have gone 30 years from 84 percent of the people of Israel are Jewish now it's 73 we're losing one percent every three years of the majority of of Jews there are 500 000 non-russian Jews in Israel 72 percent of the Russians who come to Israel are not Jewish only 13 percent of the Russians convert they're not interested so this is a real problem if if we don't make do do something about non-jews coming to Israel this will no longer be a Jewish state in a number of decades it's a so that's that extreme that's rational and appropriate if you want to talk about the Supreme Court I'm happy to talk about that as well but every but we now have strong Jews committed courageous to do what's right for the people none of it is Extreme they're trying to get rid of extreme policies like the grandfather clause and the Supreme Court being choosing judges by their own courts the Supreme Court deciding who the next judges will be the policies now are extreme they're trying to make them rational centers that's a positive development mortimus epidemiology do you miss uh science do you miss lecturing at uh University I miss people saying really nice things to me when I was a scientist s because I only got the nicest compliments uh and I I miss the fact that in science generally not always people look at the data and the data will will control in the Jewish world that I'm in now I can tell people you know when I came into this business one of the reasons I did is I thought I said to my wife you know Rita God bless me I'm very persuasive I know how to debate and how to make an argument I said to my wife so when I get into this business I'm going to be able to convince people to agree with my positions on Israel I was completely wrong no matter what data I showed it to people on the left or even the center it doesn't matter and science generally it matters not always but generally so I I missed having rational debates and rational discussions with really smart people in the Jewish world I am really disappointed in the Jewish leadership they're really weak and they refuse to look at the data and one of the reasons they do and is they think if they act too tough I believe too tough with Arabs or Muslims it'll only make them angrier and they'll become even more violent toward us they're afraid this is frightened appeasement it's not principle it's frightened appeasement uh so yes I do miss being in science I miss working with people like Linus pulling it was a great great pleasure work working with someone with you know with unbounded intelligence just so smart so knowledgeable I don't find that in the Jewish world yeah it's also that appeasement is foolish if you look at Israel's history the only Prime Ministers and the only governments that made peace with Arabs were the right wing through strength and again if we're students of history and you look at it and analyze it you'll see that it's only when you express uh strength that the other side actually makes pieces where they think they can exploit you and that you'll compromise in ways that hurt your own people that they're unyielding so history should teach us anything of that Donald Kagan the great professor of classrooms at Yale wrote a book called on the origins of peace and the prevention of War that's what the book was called he looked at 3 000 years of turmoil between peoples he said throughout history appeasement has always failed he said it's never worked he didn't talk about Israel by the way he said appeasement has always led to more terrorism more war more violence appeasement fails it even fills with our own children if we try to appease our children to do what they are screaming for you only get more screaming later it doesn't work if they say see you're strict about an issue they'll learn don't even try to bring it up it's not going to work so and yet the Jews have been trying to appease forever to this minute and and as you said it doesn't work history has shown it but I believe you said you missed hearing nice things so it will end with something nice and we're not just appeasing you but we mean it but I will say that you know for those who agree those who disagree with you but I think overcoming what you don't consider an obstacle but you know overcoming Tourette's to be a spokesperson of the Jewish people to fight with passion for the Jewish people unabashedly unapologetically is something that we all owe you a huge thank you and we have tremendous admiration for and are inspired by that each of us whatever we conclude whatever we believe however we think we can make that difference for Israel in whatever way we have that obligation we have that responsibility if we don't like the way someone else is doing it then we should get involved we do like the way they're doing it then we should get behind them and help them do it but none of us can afford to be passive or indifferent or silent on it all of us should get involved and you're a great great example of that so thank you for your leadership and thank you for all that you do for the Jewish people think what you do for fighting for Israel thank you for being our friend and thank you for going behind the bema with us thank you for those kind words uh I haven't heard anything like that in a while and I will cherish it and relish it I appreciate it very very much and uh you know after it's 29 years since Oslo was signed with Arafat and there's no peace we're further peace than ever more terrorism than ever when are we going to learn that has nothing to do with the Palestine State solution notice I don't say two-state Solutions because Israel's already a state this is a misnomer it's not a two-state solution it's a Palestinian State solution that the left promotes and and since they've been offered a state eight times in 80 years four times the last 20 what and there's no peace now 29 years later we've given them 40 percent of Judean Samaria all of Gaza they they run their own lives in those areas and there's still no peace when will we learn that the issue has nothing to do with land or a Palestine state it has to do with Israel's existence and that's why nothing works because the goal is destroying Israel and the Jewish people not at Palestinian statehood which they could have had so many times absolutely so we pray for peace we pray that everybody comes to realize the truth and the truth drives peace across the region around the world and certainly our thoughts are with our brothers and sisters in Israel and those families who are sitting shiva and lost their loved ones and we we're thinking about the people of turkey as they I know I saw that you tweeted uh thoughts with them and our hearts with them that they shouldn't suffer from this and we thank you more God should give you strength continue to fight the good fight for the Jewish people thank you and thank you for promoting Torah and Yiddish kite which is debate the most important thing any Jew can do that's why we're here to to pray to Hashem to live by his uh Commandments and live by his principles and live by Torah as best we can and uh so the holy work you do is greatly appreciated get more people to become serious Jews there's nothing more important than that thank you thank you Lord all the best nothing more important holy Jews getting Jews proud Jews and uh knowledgeable Jews and self-respecting Jews you heard it from more most important thing and we mentioned at the end of that and certainly we should have said at the beginning of course we're thinking 12 000 people have died in Turkey earthquake sometime it's insane crazy number I'm sure Israel's right there I'm sure they're probably the first to respond yeah Israel had I think three or two or three Tremors minor Quakes today like something's going on over there you know I mentioned the partial class purchase yesterday like yesterday like listen to what's happening in the world and don't just turn the newspaper page don't just eat another spoon from your cereal like right what is it real what does it mean for me what is the message what is the son to think about more client takeaways Rabbi bro day I'm saying he's just someone that took uh took his passion and he ran with it and he wasn't involved in in Jewish communal work and he he totally changed his career his his professional path and it's commendable I think think imagine if there's so many people that are working in the you know call it in the in in the secular world who could be giving so much of their talent towards the Jewish world and helping yeah anybody could do it I mean that was his message too you could get someone to change the textbook and make the travel guide more accurate and you just have to care enough to get involved and say your piece and stand up for our people and uh you know anybody can do it all right even if you can't rewrite it just point out that it's wrong find someone that can rewrite it stand up call out do those kinds of things right that is for sure that is for sure we don't pay enough attention so someone forwarded me Rabbi Ray Cafe my great teacher at Chris Colo the great Rabbi Cafe sure give a talk um and he referenced rubber Muslim and being on behind the bema and his disagreement was Rabbi meizelman about the legacy of salavechik so it was a great uh you should get him on let's talk about it segment I said to myself you know what Roberta Cafe what a what a story he's got his own life story and his teaching and he's a lot of fun a lot of energy a lot of yeah we not had him I wonder how this happened so we've got a lineup already coming up exciting guests that are coming up but we've got a we've got to add rubber Cafe to that list he definitely would be great closing thoughts everybody what are you what are you working on what's going on in life anything else you want to share yeah I know it's just a pla plugging along every day another day one day at a time Hashem loves us that's what I'm learning right now Hashem loves us more than you know it and let's just uh don't do what you know what we ordinarily do which is just hurt that relationship does love us wherever we go whatever we're walking through Hashem is by our side it's the only way we can get through it that's right we're sending lots of love lots of blessings lots of strength to all the people that we love yep a lot of people need a lot of love they need a lot of strength right now so we're sending it and we're feeling it and we love you and we're with you and please God please God we should all only be able to uh to share good things with each other until next time don't forget February 12th next week Ben shapiri at your Rosenberg a big night dialogue and anti-Semitism watch it online or come in person until next time stay happy stay healthy and stay holy