WEBVTT 00:00:00.200 --> 00:00:04.559 Hi and welcome. My name is Iqbal Akhtar for another 00:00:04.559 --> 00:00:09.460 episode of Interfaiths for our courses here at 00:00:09.460 --> 00:00:12.019 Florida International University. We're very 00:00:12.019 --> 00:00:15.560 honored to have John here, who is the director 00:00:15.560 --> 00:00:19.100 of Hillel here at Florida International University. 00:00:19.519 --> 00:00:22.140 So I'll let him introduce himself and talk to 00:00:22.140 --> 00:00:25.760 us a little bit about his background and a little 00:00:25.760 --> 00:00:28.960 bit about his life story. Okay, great. Yeah. 00:00:29.820 --> 00:00:31.640 My name is John Warrick. I'm the, like you said, 00:00:31.679 --> 00:00:33.719 executive director of the Hillel at FIU, which 00:00:33.719 --> 00:00:36.979 is the Jewish nonprofit organization here on 00:00:36.979 --> 00:00:40.700 campus at FIU. We're on 700, I think, plus campuses 00:00:40.700 --> 00:00:43.500 around the world. Each one operates independently. 00:00:43.920 --> 00:00:46.560 Some at private schools are embedded in the university. 00:00:47.140 --> 00:00:50.700 But here at public school, we are our own entity. 00:00:51.359 --> 00:00:54.359 uh but we're on campus we pay rent for that and 00:00:54.359 --> 00:00:58.759 so we are a proud tenant here at fiu we work 00:00:58.759 --> 00:01:01.689 with students directly building Jewish community, 00:01:01.950 --> 00:01:04.709 educating Jewish students, building future leaders 00:01:04.709 --> 00:01:07.730 of our Miami community. We also do a lot of work 00:01:07.730 --> 00:01:09.650 with non -Jewish students, interfaith type stuff, 00:01:09.870 --> 00:01:14.250 helping others understand Judaism and understand 00:01:14.250 --> 00:01:17.189 Israel, understand Jewish people's relationship 00:01:17.189 --> 00:01:20.689 to Israel, and fighting anti -Semitism, which 00:01:20.689 --> 00:01:22.810 is big now. So we do work with administration 00:01:22.810 --> 00:01:26.349 and faculty behind the scenes just to make sure 00:01:26.349 --> 00:01:28.430 FIU is a safe place. We have a great relationship 00:01:28.430 --> 00:01:32.659 with... The FIU PD also, which is a group we 00:01:32.659 --> 00:01:35.379 work with. They're fantastic. And so, yeah, certainly 00:01:35.379 --> 00:01:37.400 in today's day and age, we do a little bit of 00:01:37.400 --> 00:01:40.200 everything. Previous generations might think 00:01:40.200 --> 00:01:42.980 of Hillel as like, you know, giving you matzo 00:01:42.980 --> 00:01:44.439 ball soup when you're sick or something like 00:01:44.439 --> 00:01:48.640 that. But, you know, it's more dynamic these 00:01:48.640 --> 00:01:50.180 days. There's a lot more going on on campus. 00:01:50.700 --> 00:01:52.939 And the Hillels are stepping up around the country 00:01:52.939 --> 00:01:56.579 to do that kind of work. That's great. Talk to 00:01:56.579 --> 00:01:59.180 us a little bit about your, where did you grow 00:01:59.180 --> 00:02:02.359 up and sort of your experience being Jewish in 00:02:02.359 --> 00:02:06.599 America? Yeah, so my path to this job is a little 00:02:06.599 --> 00:02:09.099 interesting. I grew up here in Miami, in the 00:02:09.099 --> 00:02:11.580 North Miami Beach, Aventura area, which is a 00:02:11.580 --> 00:02:17.819 heavily Jewish populated area. I think Aventura 00:02:17.819 --> 00:02:19.960 outside of Tel Aviv is the most dense population 00:02:19.960 --> 00:02:24.139 in the world of Jewish people. So when you grow 00:02:24.139 --> 00:02:26.939 up in that, you just assume that the rest of 00:02:26.939 --> 00:02:30.879 the world is even similar. And it is not. Even 00:02:30.879 --> 00:02:33.740 down here on campus, it's worlds away sometimes. 00:02:34.439 --> 00:02:37.199 So I grew up in that. I went to Jewish day school 00:02:37.199 --> 00:02:42.139 at Sinai Academy. And I spent time in the JCC 00:02:42.139 --> 00:02:45.000 at Michael and Russell JCC up there. So I was 00:02:45.000 --> 00:02:46.900 always involved in Jewish life. You know, Bar 00:02:46.900 --> 00:02:49.060 Mitzvah confirmed, you know, doing doing all 00:02:49.060 --> 00:02:53.219 that sort of stuff. You know, in college, I was 00:02:53.219 --> 00:02:56.879 less involved in Jewish life. And so when this 00:02:56.879 --> 00:02:59.139 opportunity for this job came up, I really thought 00:02:59.139 --> 00:03:01.659 about myself in that position. And, you know, 00:03:01.659 --> 00:03:05.740 if. I had had the right leaders, the right guidance 00:03:05.740 --> 00:03:08.819 in that world, I probably would have been more 00:03:08.819 --> 00:03:11.300 involved. And so I actually switched careers 00:03:11.300 --> 00:03:13.939 for this. I was in journalism for a long time, 00:03:14.060 --> 00:03:17.060 a lot of entertainment journalism, magazine work. 00:03:17.180 --> 00:03:18.900 I co -authored some memoirs with some people. 00:03:18.979 --> 00:03:21.240 I moved to LA for a little while, a little stint 00:03:21.240 --> 00:03:24.240 there, Hollywood style. But I was volunteering 00:03:24.240 --> 00:03:27.729 a bunch. I was really drawn to the work. And 00:03:27.729 --> 00:03:30.090 then this job opened up and they needed a community 00:03:30.090 --> 00:03:32.889 person to be part of this, which is why I got 00:03:32.889 --> 00:03:35.250 the job without maybe the right resume for it. 00:03:35.289 --> 00:03:37.110 But because I was a community person, because 00:03:37.110 --> 00:03:41.169 I could connect with donors and they saw my passion 00:03:41.169 --> 00:03:44.210 for working with students, I was able to come 00:03:44.210 --> 00:03:47.050 on board here. And we took a startup, Palel, 00:03:47.090 --> 00:03:49.990 and we've made it pretty big. Yeah, no, I mean, 00:03:50.009 --> 00:03:51.889 I think the work that you've done in transforming 00:03:51.889 --> 00:03:54.330 it has been quite remarkable and the impact that 00:03:54.330 --> 00:03:57.000 you're having on. with students, just talking 00:03:57.000 --> 00:03:58.400 to the students that are part of the dialogue 00:03:58.400 --> 00:04:03.860 group and how much you guys mean to them. Talk 00:04:03.860 --> 00:04:06.780 to us about how your mission changed after October 00:04:06.780 --> 00:04:11.460 7th. So we've always done, which is interesting, 00:04:11.719 --> 00:04:14.900 we've always done the anti -Semitism work. We've 00:04:14.900 --> 00:04:18.149 always done the Israel education work. I think 00:04:18.149 --> 00:04:20.529 after October 7th, more people were paying attention 00:04:20.529 --> 00:04:24.110 to it. And so it was good to be able to say, 00:04:24.290 --> 00:04:26.990 hey, we're already doing that here at FIU. Because 00:04:26.990 --> 00:04:30.730 like I said, a lot of Hillel's are, because our 00:04:30.730 --> 00:04:32.449 students are community students. A lot of them 00:04:32.449 --> 00:04:35.709 are either from Miami and will likely be here 00:04:35.709 --> 00:04:38.009 after graduation or they're international and 00:04:38.009 --> 00:04:39.910 they're from somewhere else in the world. And 00:04:39.910 --> 00:04:41.870 they're looking for this specific type of community 00:04:41.870 --> 00:04:45.209 as opposed to a college campus in a college town 00:04:45.209 --> 00:04:48.300 where. The people are there for the four years 00:04:48.300 --> 00:04:49.720 and then they're going to go back to wherever 00:04:49.720 --> 00:04:52.480 they came from. They're creating more of a home 00:04:52.480 --> 00:04:54.720 away from home and we're creating a this is your 00:04:54.720 --> 00:04:58.139 home. So, you know, become a leader in your home 00:04:58.139 --> 00:05:00.100 and take care of your city and take care of your 00:05:00.100 --> 00:05:02.639 community. So with that in mind, we always knew 00:05:02.639 --> 00:05:05.300 the education part was important. We always knew 00:05:05.300 --> 00:05:09.720 certainly the outreach to other organizations 00:05:09.720 --> 00:05:12.839 and other student groups were important. And 00:05:12.839 --> 00:05:16.100 so we were kind of always doing that. Even so 00:05:16.100 --> 00:05:18.860 much as we partnered with Jubalong, an organization 00:05:18.860 --> 00:05:20.740 that puts up billboards, pink ones you might 00:05:20.740 --> 00:05:23.600 have seen, a little provocative at times, that 00:05:23.600 --> 00:05:25.759 fight anti -Semitism. And we partnered with them, 00:05:25.800 --> 00:05:28.620 it was before October 7th, well before, on a 00:05:28.620 --> 00:05:31.620 billboard that went in Miami and it had our Halal 00:05:31.620 --> 00:05:33.959 logo on it. And we were the first Halal to do 00:05:33.959 --> 00:05:36.779 that. And looking back, people were like, oh, 00:05:36.800 --> 00:05:39.399 is that really something you should do? But certainly 00:05:39.399 --> 00:05:41.939 post -October 7th, everyone's like, oh, we were 00:05:41.939 --> 00:05:43.279 on top of this. What was the message on that 00:05:43.279 --> 00:05:47.120 one? I think he said something like, we are, 00:05:47.319 --> 00:05:50.060 however many years at the time, removed from 00:05:50.060 --> 00:05:54.339 the gas chambers. A billboard about anti -Semitism 00:05:54.339 --> 00:05:57.480 is not too much or something like that. And then 00:05:57.480 --> 00:05:59.560 we had shirts and we gave out shirts on campus. 00:05:59.620 --> 00:06:02.120 And that was a big campaign that went well. And 00:06:02.120 --> 00:06:04.620 we saw a lot of people come over to the table. 00:06:05.920 --> 00:06:08.439 Christian, Muslim students come over and talk 00:06:08.439 --> 00:06:12.069 to us. And again, all before October 7th. And 00:06:12.069 --> 00:06:15.949 we had real positive feedback. So where post 00:06:15.949 --> 00:06:18.850 -October 7th, I think we had a lot of support 00:06:18.850 --> 00:06:22.610 that you didn't see on other campuses. That's 00:06:22.610 --> 00:06:25.189 interesting. Yeah, no, I mean, the work that 00:06:25.189 --> 00:06:29.790 you guys do is very important. You know, I'm 00:06:29.790 --> 00:06:34.970 trying to understand a little bit more about 00:06:34.970 --> 00:06:40.930 Hillel's relationship to the community here in 00:06:40.930 --> 00:06:45.149 Miami. So how did the students get connected 00:06:45.149 --> 00:06:49.730 to the larger Jewish community in Miami? Right. 00:06:49.769 --> 00:06:54.350 So there's obviously synagogues of all types 00:06:54.350 --> 00:06:58.089 of observance levels throughout Miami and certainly 00:06:58.089 --> 00:07:00.889 parts of Aventura. I mean, it's everywhere you 00:07:00.889 --> 00:07:05.430 look. And so we'll connect students there sometimes. 00:07:06.459 --> 00:07:09.339 We also do some programming with the JCCs. There's 00:07:09.339 --> 00:07:12.240 three major JCCs here in Miami and then another 00:07:12.240 --> 00:07:15.060 one in Broward that's pretty big. And so we'll 00:07:15.060 --> 00:07:18.500 often partner with them on programs. The Jewish 00:07:18.500 --> 00:07:21.019 Museum, which is part of FIU, we'll do programming 00:07:21.019 --> 00:07:23.600 with them as well. And then there's a ton of 00:07:23.600 --> 00:07:29.639 organizations. For every micro group, you could 00:07:29.639 --> 00:07:33.100 say, there's a Jewish organization that does 00:07:33.100 --> 00:07:36.029 stuff for that. And there's also... community 00:07:36.029 --> 00:07:40.970 service type programs, Israel -related organizations. 00:07:41.389 --> 00:07:43.550 We're constantly partnering with them whether 00:07:43.550 --> 00:07:46.470 they come to Canvas or we go to them to really 00:07:46.470 --> 00:07:49.209 connect the students to the community at large. 00:07:49.370 --> 00:07:51.730 The main partner in all of this is the Greater 00:07:51.730 --> 00:07:55.509 Miami Jewish Federation. One of our goals is 00:07:55.509 --> 00:07:58.899 to be part of the feeder pattern of programming 00:07:58.899 --> 00:08:01.319 that exists. So, you know, you might be in Jewish 00:08:01.319 --> 00:08:03.220 preschool and then maybe day school, and then 00:08:03.220 --> 00:08:05.660 there's high school programs and trips to Israel, 00:08:05.720 --> 00:08:07.879 things you can do. And then we want to be that 00:08:07.879 --> 00:08:09.740 for the college. And then when they graduate, 00:08:09.879 --> 00:08:12.819 there's, you know, professional programs through 00:08:12.819 --> 00:08:16.019 a federation and other organizations and so on 00:08:16.019 --> 00:08:18.980 and so forth. And we really try to connect them 00:08:18.980 --> 00:08:21.300 as much as possible to, and then to individual 00:08:21.300 --> 00:08:23.160 leaders as well, people in the community who 00:08:23.160 --> 00:08:26.589 are doing big things, whether it's. religiously 00:08:26.589 --> 00:08:28.990 or culturally or just as people who give back 00:08:28.990 --> 00:08:31.850 in the Jewish community, we try to connect them 00:08:31.850 --> 00:08:36.929 to as many leaders as possible. Okay. One of 00:08:36.929 --> 00:08:39.529 the things that's become a very hot topic right 00:08:39.529 --> 00:08:44.610 now is the U .S. relationship with Israel. Talk 00:08:44.610 --> 00:08:47.929 to us about what does Israel mean for the American 00:08:47.929 --> 00:08:51.429 Jewish community? Yeah, I mean, certainly... 00:08:52.279 --> 00:08:55.360 For the American Jewish community, a lot of us 00:08:55.360 --> 00:08:58.779 here are a couple of generations removed from 00:08:58.779 --> 00:09:01.279 the Holocaust, either directly or indirectly. 00:09:01.679 --> 00:09:04.159 So we've grown up with that education. And we 00:09:04.159 --> 00:09:09.960 see so often Holocaust survivors say in testimonials, 00:09:10.080 --> 00:09:13.179 I was Polish, my father was Polish, my grandfather 00:09:13.179 --> 00:09:16.740 was Polish. We were so... Polish before we were 00:09:16.740 --> 00:09:18.899 even Jewish until the Holocaust started. And 00:09:18.899 --> 00:09:20.519 then our neighbors turned on us and said, no, 00:09:20.620 --> 00:09:23.039 you're Jewish, you're not Polish. And so that 00:09:23.039 --> 00:09:27.440 mentality of I'm a Jewish American, I'm not an 00:09:27.440 --> 00:09:30.940 American Jew, is something that sort of we grow 00:09:30.940 --> 00:09:34.159 up with. And because of that, Israel's existence 00:09:34.159 --> 00:09:36.679 is that safe haven. you know, is the place we 00:09:36.679 --> 00:09:39.399 know where we can go. And even though from the 00:09:39.399 --> 00:09:41.379 outside world might feel dangerous, it actually 00:09:41.379 --> 00:09:43.419 to the Jewish people feels like the safest place 00:09:43.419 --> 00:09:46.419 on the planet. And, you know, so, and it's often 00:09:46.419 --> 00:09:50.460 said that the Holocaust as in a result, I mean, 00:09:50.480 --> 00:09:52.399 Israel is in a result of the Holocaust, but the 00:09:52.399 --> 00:09:54.220 Holocaust would not have happened had Israel 00:09:54.220 --> 00:09:57.340 existed. And so that, that sort of a Jewish person's 00:09:57.340 --> 00:10:00.720 mentality over Israel is that because we have 00:10:01.230 --> 00:10:05.330 uh our our ancestral homeland as a place to go 00:10:05.330 --> 00:10:10.230 for safety um history won't repeat itself and 00:10:10.230 --> 00:10:12.710 so that that's built into the mentality of it 00:10:12.710 --> 00:10:17.750 um plus just as you know regardless of you know, 00:10:17.750 --> 00:10:20.730 how your religious observance, as we were talking 00:10:20.730 --> 00:10:23.950 about earlier, Israel offers a lot to the world 00:10:23.950 --> 00:10:27.649 as a tourist even, right? So to go there and 00:10:27.649 --> 00:10:31.210 to get off the airplane and walk to Ben -Gurion 00:10:31.210 --> 00:10:33.929 Airport, just the feeling you get alone as a 00:10:33.929 --> 00:10:36.549 Jewish person, I can't describe it. But, you 00:10:36.549 --> 00:10:40.309 know, when I was a kid, the first time on the 00:10:40.309 --> 00:10:43.029 March of the Living, after going to Poland and 00:10:43.029 --> 00:10:45.049 seeing the concentration camps, you literally 00:10:45.049 --> 00:10:46.769 kiss the ground when you get to israel like because 00:10:46.769 --> 00:10:49.789 you're just so happy to be there and so now even 00:10:49.789 --> 00:10:51.730 now everyone films you know it's like the new 00:10:51.730 --> 00:10:53.549 version is everyone just films themselves walking 00:10:53.549 --> 00:10:56.429 down the ramp at ben -gurion airport and it's 00:10:56.429 --> 00:10:58.629 like here i am this is that this is my thing 00:10:58.629 --> 00:11:02.529 and um yeah there's a real it's just a real emotional 00:11:02.529 --> 00:11:04.750 tie that's might be hard to explain but it's 00:11:04.750 --> 00:11:10.929 uh it's everything to the jewish people um I 00:11:10.929 --> 00:11:14.509 think, you know, we've been doing some work on 00:11:14.509 --> 00:11:16.730 sort of interfaith dialogue, and I think that's 00:11:16.730 --> 00:11:19.389 something else that's kind of important. Talk 00:11:19.389 --> 00:11:23.289 to us a little bit about what is Hillel or just 00:11:23.289 --> 00:11:26.070 generally kind of a Jewish perspective on sort 00:11:26.070 --> 00:11:27.710 of interfaith relations, interfaith dialogue. 00:11:28.490 --> 00:11:31.330 I mean, look, it's very important. You know, 00:11:31.370 --> 00:11:34.269 we are 2 % of the population in America, 0 .2 00:11:34.269 --> 00:11:39.769 % in the world. You know, we are... A minority 00:11:39.769 --> 00:11:42.429 in every sense of the word, yet so often we are 00:11:42.429 --> 00:11:45.490 spoken of in ways that doesn't make sense, almost 00:11:45.490 --> 00:11:48.929 as if we are a majority in some places. And so 00:11:48.929 --> 00:11:52.649 really to combat that, we have to be having conversations 00:11:52.649 --> 00:11:55.730 with everybody. And it's also to learn about 00:11:55.730 --> 00:11:59.090 others as well. We don't thrive living in these 00:11:59.090 --> 00:12:01.750 bubbles. And I've mentioned Aventura before. 00:12:01.889 --> 00:12:05.029 That is very much one of those. And so for young 00:12:05.029 --> 00:12:07.840 people, it's important to understand. the world 00:12:07.840 --> 00:12:12.399 but in turn it's also important for us to tell 00:12:12.399 --> 00:12:14.440 the world about us otherwise they're going to 00:12:14.440 --> 00:12:16.720 read something on the internet or even sadly 00:12:16.720 --> 00:12:19.480 in the regular media today that's just that's 00:12:19.480 --> 00:12:21.279 going to be false and they're going to believe 00:12:21.279 --> 00:12:23.940 it and there's going to be a hatred that grows 00:12:23.940 --> 00:12:29.299 because some of the same dialogue antisemitic 00:12:29.299 --> 00:12:32.919 dialogue has existed in different forms but basically 00:12:32.919 --> 00:12:37.419 the same for thousands of years and I think what 00:12:37.419 --> 00:12:41.000 we see now, especially post October 7th, is it's 00:12:41.000 --> 00:12:44.159 never actually going to go away. But as Jews, 00:12:44.179 --> 00:12:48.500 we can have the conversations to fight it constantly, 00:12:48.659 --> 00:12:51.620 to not give up on it ever. And so I think that's 00:12:51.620 --> 00:12:54.080 very important. And we do it here on campus, 00:12:54.220 --> 00:12:58.000 you know, for all those reasons. Right. We want 00:12:58.000 --> 00:13:02.129 to be part of. the larger fabric of FIU and what's 00:13:02.129 --> 00:13:03.950 going on and what's popular and what's great 00:13:03.950 --> 00:13:06.769 here. And we also want to be able to have those 00:13:06.769 --> 00:13:10.409 important conversations. And it's been tough 00:13:10.409 --> 00:13:13.370 post -October 7th. A lot of the dialogue that 00:13:13.370 --> 00:13:16.090 has gone on for a long time in the community, 00:13:16.230 --> 00:13:21.090 it didn't seem like it worked. A lot of people, 00:13:21.190 --> 00:13:24.330 we felt, turned their backs on the Jewish people, 00:13:24.470 --> 00:13:27.529 even within this community here in Miami. And 00:13:27.529 --> 00:13:30.059 so it's been difficult. But I don't think it's 00:13:30.059 --> 00:13:32.200 something that anyone should ever give up on. 00:13:32.860 --> 00:13:35.259 In fact, I think it's even more important now 00:13:35.259 --> 00:13:38.320 because what we've seen, I think, in the dialogue 00:13:38.320 --> 00:13:41.480 course we're doing is that it's really outside 00:13:41.480 --> 00:13:44.259 voices that are influencing the conversation. 00:13:44.600 --> 00:13:47.299 It's not necessarily the Jewish students and 00:13:47.299 --> 00:13:50.799 the Muslim students who can't figure it out because 00:13:50.799 --> 00:13:52.379 they actually have more in common than they have 00:13:52.379 --> 00:13:55.759 different. It is a very loud outside voice who 00:13:55.759 --> 00:13:58.970 likely can't even find Israel on a map. who decides 00:13:58.970 --> 00:14:02.549 how you know these world politics and usually 00:14:02.549 --> 00:14:05.470 without any real solutions just with anger and 00:14:05.470 --> 00:14:07.750 so the dialogue really brings people together 00:14:07.750 --> 00:14:10.470 who actually have a vested interest in what's 00:14:10.470 --> 00:14:12.409 going on which i think is important absolutely 00:14:12.409 --> 00:14:14.889 i mean that's the thing i've also we saw in this 00:14:14.889 --> 00:14:16.450 kind of these sessions that we've been having 00:14:16.450 --> 00:14:18.929 which have gone really really well it's just 00:14:18.929 --> 00:14:22.970 to see the shared lived experiences, right, of 00:14:22.970 --> 00:14:26.210 being minorities, of, you know, trying to live 00:14:26.210 --> 00:14:28.669 your law and sort of the faith in the United 00:14:28.669 --> 00:14:31.710 States. I mean, a lot of similarities in terms 00:14:31.710 --> 00:14:33.110 of the way that it moves through the world. And 00:14:33.110 --> 00:14:38.190 so it's interesting that the way that the Israel 00:14:38.190 --> 00:14:41.350 -Palestine thing has been essentially... weaponized 00:14:41.350 --> 00:14:43.649 by ideologues, right, to kind of create division 00:14:43.649 --> 00:14:47.649 between people and faith communities. And I think 00:14:47.649 --> 00:14:49.330 that that's something that, you know, hopefully 00:14:49.330 --> 00:14:52.870 this is the start of kind of larger programming 00:14:52.870 --> 00:14:55.389 to be able to bring in bridges between these 00:14:55.389 --> 00:14:58.649 communities. And, you know, like I was saying 00:14:58.649 --> 00:15:02.710 earlier, my recent trip to Israel, I think that 00:15:02.710 --> 00:15:05.769 it was remarkable to see kind of how much integration 00:15:05.769 --> 00:15:10.149 and kind of the success that Israel has had in 00:15:10.149 --> 00:15:12.309 terms of drawing in. I think that was something 00:15:12.309 --> 00:15:14.529 else that was quite remarkable is that it's a 00:15:14.529 --> 00:15:18.350 society that has been able to draw in vast amounts 00:15:18.350 --> 00:15:20.850 of like talent and resources to develop itself 00:15:20.850 --> 00:15:24.470 as a society. And that's like, I think it's a 00:15:24.470 --> 00:15:30.860 positive. An example, I think, to countries in 00:15:30.860 --> 00:15:33.679 the larger Middle East whose governments don't 00:15:33.679 --> 00:15:36.659 work, whose economies are failing. And I think 00:15:36.659 --> 00:15:38.340 also the resolution of the Palestinian -Israeli 00:15:38.340 --> 00:15:40.860 conflict eventually, I think, will also help 00:15:40.860 --> 00:15:45.379 to, you know, reintegrate, I think, the Jewish 00:15:45.379 --> 00:15:48.299 people back in the Middle East. Jews have been 00:15:48.299 --> 00:15:50.779 in the Middle East for more than 2 ,000 years. 00:15:50.899 --> 00:15:53.919 So there's no reason, at least among the Muslim 00:15:53.919 --> 00:15:57.039 world and even older, it goes back thousands 00:15:57.039 --> 00:16:01.440 of years. So the question is, how do we create 00:16:01.440 --> 00:16:04.639 new relationships that echo some of the older 00:16:04.639 --> 00:16:07.460 partnerships that existed in the past? It's really 00:16:07.460 --> 00:16:09.279 important, even theologically and culturally, 00:16:09.399 --> 00:16:13.570 to have that interchange. Yeah, absolutely. And 00:16:13.570 --> 00:16:15.309 I think I think it's more like 4000 than 2000. 00:16:15.429 --> 00:16:19.610 Yeah. So it's right. It's it's a very long time. 00:16:19.669 --> 00:16:24.169 And then what we see, you know, now is unfortunately, 00:16:24.429 --> 00:16:27.950 Israel is really the only place where Jews live 00:16:27.950 --> 00:16:32.669 in any real amount of numbers anywhere in the 00:16:32.669 --> 00:16:35.059 Middle East. People talk about what's going on 00:16:35.059 --> 00:16:37.299 in Israel, which they always say is the size 00:16:37.299 --> 00:16:40.080 of New Jersey. If you zoom out on the map a little 00:16:40.080 --> 00:16:42.820 bit, you can see it tells a much different story 00:16:42.820 --> 00:16:46.159 of Jewish life that used to thrive in Iraq and 00:16:46.159 --> 00:16:49.240 Iran and other places that doesn't exist anymore. 00:16:49.799 --> 00:16:54.899 And so on one hand, Israel is this amazing place, 00:16:55.000 --> 00:16:58.240 but also I think Jews thrive all over the world 00:16:58.240 --> 00:17:01.120 and we shouldn't be forced to one space either. 00:17:02.080 --> 00:17:03.799 You know, that's that's the dynamic. And then, 00:17:03.840 --> 00:17:06.319 of course, you know, when you when you go and 00:17:06.319 --> 00:17:08.400 you go to Israel, you go to visit, you see it's 00:17:08.400 --> 00:17:12.720 it's a pretty remarkable place that is not at 00:17:12.720 --> 00:17:17.539 all what you read about in some cases. But then 00:17:17.539 --> 00:17:19.759 then there's always the idea of, well, well, 00:17:19.779 --> 00:17:23.339 Jews don't deserve to be there either. Or, you 00:17:23.339 --> 00:17:26.849 know, they're doing these things. for some nefarious 00:17:26.849 --> 00:17:30.430 reason. Their technology is great, but somehow 00:17:30.430 --> 00:17:32.589 that's bad for the world as opposed to good. 00:17:32.890 --> 00:17:35.509 And so that's always an uphill battle for the 00:17:35.509 --> 00:17:38.890 Jewish community is we do something that we're 00:17:38.890 --> 00:17:42.029 proud of and people want to take it away from 00:17:42.029 --> 00:17:45.940 us in some way. And that's an everyday struggle 00:17:45.940 --> 00:17:50.440 with Israel. But certainly in America here, too. 00:17:50.559 --> 00:17:52.819 People say, oh, you control Hollywood. Well, 00:17:52.980 --> 00:17:56.019 A, that's not true, as we see with a ton of protests 00:17:56.019 --> 00:18:00.220 and things that are happening. And Jewish impact 00:18:00.220 --> 00:18:03.660 on Hollywood is because at the time, it was one 00:18:03.660 --> 00:18:05.759 of the few jobs that the Jewish community could 00:18:05.759 --> 00:18:07.680 have because there was discrimination against 00:18:07.680 --> 00:18:12.519 Jewish people. Catch 22 of, okay, fine, this 00:18:12.519 --> 00:18:14.059 is the only thing we're letting you do because 00:18:14.059 --> 00:18:16.019 nobody cares about it in the moment. And then 00:18:16.019 --> 00:18:18.059 we turn it into something pretty decent and it's 00:18:18.059 --> 00:18:20.140 like, oh, you have too much power. And there's 00:18:20.140 --> 00:18:22.440 a constant cycle of that in anything. Same thing 00:18:22.440 --> 00:18:25.539 in banking and money lending. Those were jobs 00:18:25.539 --> 00:18:29.720 that Jews were allowed to do. And here we are. 00:18:30.460 --> 00:18:32.059 One of the things that's important, I think, 00:18:32.099 --> 00:18:35.710 in Judaism is this idea of tikkun olam. Can you 00:18:35.710 --> 00:18:37.130 talk to us a little bit about what that means? 00:18:37.450 --> 00:18:40.710 Yes. It means to repair the world. It's, I think, 00:18:40.730 --> 00:18:45.289 a pillar of Judaism that, you know, belongs in 00:18:45.289 --> 00:18:48.609 every Jewish life. And so, you know, we're constantly 00:18:48.609 --> 00:18:51.230 doing that at Hillel is how can we, you know, 00:18:51.230 --> 00:18:53.990 part of our outreach and part of our work in 00:18:53.990 --> 00:18:56.529 the community is how can we better society? And 00:18:56.529 --> 00:18:58.589 I think we, you know, we all kind of live with 00:18:58.589 --> 00:19:01.230 that in our minds as something that's important 00:19:01.230 --> 00:19:04.509 and something that we should be focused on. Now, 00:19:04.710 --> 00:19:07.210 the question is, how do you repair the world, 00:19:07.329 --> 00:19:09.910 right? And so, you know, sometimes you have to 00:19:09.910 --> 00:19:12.970 say to yourself, well, I need to be healed myself 00:19:12.970 --> 00:19:15.829 before I can heal others, right? Or our community 00:19:15.829 --> 00:19:18.490 needs to be healed before it can help others. 00:19:18.650 --> 00:19:24.049 And too often, you know, we are currently in 00:19:24.049 --> 00:19:27.250 the state of the world, our state, certainly 00:19:27.250 --> 00:19:28.869 of America, I'll only speak for America, but 00:19:28.869 --> 00:19:31.789 it exists everywhere, is we're so polarized as 00:19:31.789 --> 00:19:35.160 a society. where does the Jewish Takkun Olam 00:19:35.160 --> 00:19:39.700 really take place? If you're now trying to support 00:19:39.700 --> 00:19:42.700 something because this is my, I'm supposed to 00:19:42.700 --> 00:19:46.500 support, I'm supposed to help, but then it's 00:19:46.500 --> 00:19:48.319 actually hurting other people or in some case 00:19:48.319 --> 00:19:51.799 your own people in the process, it becomes more 00:19:51.799 --> 00:19:53.940 difficult. So that's a conversation a lot of 00:19:53.940 --> 00:19:57.460 people are having of what does Takkun Olam really 00:19:57.460 --> 00:20:03.279 look like in 2025? and how we best serve the 00:20:03.279 --> 00:20:06.400 community in that capacity. You would think it 00:20:06.400 --> 00:20:07.640 would be easy, right? You would think it would 00:20:07.640 --> 00:20:09.319 be easy. Hey, we just want to help everybody 00:20:09.319 --> 00:20:11.079 we could help. But, you know, sometimes when 00:20:11.079 --> 00:20:14.579 you help one, you hurt another. And especially 00:20:14.579 --> 00:20:18.359 today, it's tough. What's unique about Miami 00:20:18.359 --> 00:20:20.980 in terms of your experience? I mean, you live 00:20:20.980 --> 00:20:23.720 in different places. What do you think is unique 00:20:23.720 --> 00:20:25.980 about the types of people and kind of the religious 00:20:25.980 --> 00:20:28.380 institutions here in Miami for the work that 00:20:28.380 --> 00:20:32.119 you do? I think because when you think about 00:20:32.119 --> 00:20:34.660 South Florida in general, Dave Broward, Palm 00:20:34.660 --> 00:20:37.519 Beach County, the numbers are pretty large. So 00:20:37.519 --> 00:20:39.880 when you combine it together, and I do think 00:20:39.880 --> 00:20:42.960 there, I think we're connected in a way that 00:20:42.960 --> 00:20:46.119 you might not see in other places. Even New York 00:20:46.119 --> 00:20:50.079 and LA, there's a lot of separate things going 00:20:50.079 --> 00:20:52.619 on. Whereas I think in Miami, and maybe I'm just 00:20:52.619 --> 00:20:54.519 biased from it, but I certainly felt it when 00:20:54.519 --> 00:20:57.400 I lived in LA. Miami feels like one big family. 00:20:57.799 --> 00:21:00.019 in a sense. And even when we argue among each 00:21:00.019 --> 00:21:03.859 other, you know, based on, you know, religious 00:21:03.859 --> 00:21:06.500 observance, for example, or based on, you know, 00:21:06.519 --> 00:21:09.619 we have people from different parts of the world, 00:21:09.700 --> 00:21:12.400 you know, for a lot of first gen American Jews, 00:21:12.480 --> 00:21:14.019 especially here in Miami, and they might come 00:21:14.019 --> 00:21:17.619 with a different set of customs, you know, and 00:21:17.619 --> 00:21:21.660 how they see Judaism. But yet, when push comes 00:21:21.660 --> 00:21:25.980 to shove, we do really feel connected in a way 00:21:25.980 --> 00:21:28.640 that I I don't see anywhere outside of Israel. 00:21:29.240 --> 00:21:31.559 And I think that's special. And I think all the 00:21:31.559 --> 00:21:35.180 organizations act in that way. You see a lot 00:21:35.180 --> 00:21:38.799 more positive interaction between Reform and 00:21:38.799 --> 00:21:41.980 Orthodox Jews, between Ashkenazi and Sephardic 00:21:41.980 --> 00:21:45.980 Jews, between the Israeli community so embraced 00:21:45.980 --> 00:21:47.980 here that we have a pretty large population. 00:21:48.920 --> 00:21:51.839 And again, the Greater Miami Jewish Federation 00:21:51.839 --> 00:21:55.160 does an amazing job of making all that happen, 00:21:55.200 --> 00:21:57.380 bringing people together. And, you know, our 00:21:57.380 --> 00:21:59.299 Hillel is just a small sort of subset of that. 00:21:59.339 --> 00:22:02.640 But we we really are a microcosm of the whole 00:22:02.640 --> 00:22:04.920 city because we get we get the students from 00:22:04.920 --> 00:22:07.740 all over Miami, different communities. In so 00:22:07.740 --> 00:22:09.720 many cases, we'll have a student who grew up 00:22:09.720 --> 00:22:11.680 in Aventura where everyone in their class is 00:22:11.680 --> 00:22:13.759 Jewish. And then their friend that they met here 00:22:13.759 --> 00:22:16.359 at FIU went to, you know, Coral Reef or some 00:22:16.359 --> 00:22:18.900 different high school down south. that maybe 00:22:18.900 --> 00:22:20.720 they were the only Jewish person and maybe they 00:22:20.720 --> 00:22:22.940 had one other Jewish friend. And now they're 00:22:22.940 --> 00:22:25.160 here at FIU together and they're sharing their 00:22:25.160 --> 00:22:29.500 shared experiences. And Miami's really special. 00:22:29.619 --> 00:22:31.220 And just like for me personally growing up here, 00:22:32.079 --> 00:22:35.299 I run into people, everywhere I go, I run into 00:22:35.299 --> 00:22:37.299 someone I know. I can't go to dinner anywhere 00:22:37.299 --> 00:22:40.539 in this entire county without running into a 00:22:40.539 --> 00:22:44.059 Jewish person, probably, who I know. And I just 00:22:44.059 --> 00:22:47.039 don't think... Even New York and L .A. and Chicago 00:22:47.039 --> 00:22:49.740 and those major cities are built in the same 00:22:49.740 --> 00:22:57.319 way. What about being here at FIU? What is your 00:22:57.319 --> 00:22:59.920 experience been like here at this university? 00:23:00.740 --> 00:23:03.319 I mean, I think FIU is great. I think I've been 00:23:03.319 --> 00:23:05.740 here. I'm in year eight now and it just grows 00:23:05.740 --> 00:23:07.799 every year. You know, I always talk about the 00:23:07.799 --> 00:23:09.880 apartment buildings on 8th Street. They didn't 00:23:09.880 --> 00:23:13.069 exist when I first started. And now this year, 00:23:13.069 --> 00:23:16.069 there's like 9000 students living on or around 00:23:16.069 --> 00:23:19.670 campus, including those buildings. And I mean, 00:23:19.690 --> 00:23:22.450 that's such a huge change. You know, our Hallel 00:23:22.450 --> 00:23:26.269 space, which backs up to 8th Street in PG6, it 00:23:26.269 --> 00:23:28.069 used to be in like a bad location because the 00:23:28.069 --> 00:23:29.869 dorms are on the other side. And now with all 00:23:29.869 --> 00:23:31.289 those buildings, all of a sudden we're in this 00:23:31.289 --> 00:23:34.549 great location. And so like you see that growth 00:23:34.549 --> 00:23:37.509 and you see what they're trying to do with some 00:23:37.509 --> 00:23:39.329 of the athletics and what they're trying to do 00:23:39.329 --> 00:23:43.109 with the Greek system and some of the other programs. 00:23:43.450 --> 00:23:46.289 And they're really successful. Like you can see 00:23:46.289 --> 00:23:49.329 the growth. The hard part is we are, as someone 00:23:49.329 --> 00:23:51.269 who went to University of Florida, we're like 00:23:51.269 --> 00:23:54.109 100 years behind, you know, what these other 00:23:54.109 --> 00:23:56.289 state schools were doing. So on one hand, the 00:23:56.289 --> 00:23:58.670 growth is really exciting and it's exciting. 00:23:58.690 --> 00:24:02.450 You watch it every year. But there's still a 00:24:02.450 --> 00:24:05.650 ways to go as far as student life goes, as far 00:24:05.650 --> 00:24:07.829 as, you know, just the way that it's a very big 00:24:07.829 --> 00:24:11.369 university to the way people interconnect. Like 00:24:11.369 --> 00:24:13.069 even you and I should be a lot easier for us 00:24:13.069 --> 00:24:16.089 to meet. But like we didn't until recently, just 00:24:16.089 --> 00:24:18.930 because of how massive the university is. So 00:24:18.930 --> 00:24:22.890 the communication gets tough. But it's a great 00:24:22.890 --> 00:24:25.990 place for Jewish students. More and more, they 00:24:25.990 --> 00:24:29.559 are deciding to stay here. I think that because 00:24:29.559 --> 00:24:31.859 the price is right, you can work and intern in 00:24:31.859 --> 00:24:34.380 a great city like Miami while you're working. 00:24:35.000 --> 00:24:37.920 And then FIU keeps climbing the ranks educationally. 00:24:38.079 --> 00:24:40.740 And so it really is a win -win. And then we see 00:24:40.740 --> 00:24:42.140 that with the law school, medical school, all 00:24:42.140 --> 00:24:45.119 those things as well. So it's really a great 00:24:45.119 --> 00:24:48.140 place. And, you know, University of Miami might 00:24:48.140 --> 00:24:50.200 have won a couple of football championships in 00:24:50.200 --> 00:24:53.450 the 80s or whatever, but, you know. It's a long 00:24:53.450 --> 00:24:56.289 time ago. I think it's our time here at FIU. 00:24:56.369 --> 00:25:00.369 Okay, that's wonderful. I guess looking forward 00:25:00.369 --> 00:25:03.410 to the next couple of years, what are the major 00:25:03.410 --> 00:25:05.250 challenges and opportunities you see as director 00:25:05.250 --> 00:25:09.589 of FIU? Well, certainly we've outgrown our space. 00:25:10.509 --> 00:25:13.490 I would love a larger space, create a larger 00:25:13.490 --> 00:25:16.950 home for Jewish life here on campus. And space 00:25:16.950 --> 00:25:20.690 is very limited, as it is everywhere, but certainly 00:25:20.690 --> 00:25:23.269 here. There's like new buildings going up every 00:25:23.269 --> 00:25:27.470 day that certainly take precedent over a Jewish 00:25:27.470 --> 00:25:33.210 student organization. And so, yeah, the growth, 00:25:33.369 --> 00:25:36.230 it's a good challenge to have, but it is a challenge. 00:25:37.130 --> 00:25:40.450 And then also, yeah, connecting students more 00:25:40.450 --> 00:25:42.950 and more to campus life in general, I think is 00:25:42.950 --> 00:25:46.730 very beneficial. If you start to see the football 00:25:46.730 --> 00:25:48.910 games packed and the basketball games packed. 00:25:49.390 --> 00:25:52.829 you'll see more action at Hillel because of that. 00:25:52.970 --> 00:25:57.109 People need a reason to stay on campus. And yeah, 00:25:57.390 --> 00:25:58.869 we do well on social media, but there's still 00:25:58.869 --> 00:26:01.309 so many people who don't even know we exist, 00:26:01.509 --> 00:26:03.009 which you would think would be impossible because 00:26:03.009 --> 00:26:05.930 Hillel internationally has been around over 100 00:26:05.930 --> 00:26:09.049 years. And so you would think parents, grandparents, 00:26:09.210 --> 00:26:11.250 somebody would say, oh, is there a Hillel? And 00:26:11.250 --> 00:26:13.509 then they would go look it up. But so often, 00:26:13.630 --> 00:26:16.150 especially when you think of first generation 00:26:16.150 --> 00:26:19.980 American students, they... they're just not aware 00:26:19.980 --> 00:26:23.259 of what it is that they have here. And so that's 00:26:23.259 --> 00:26:24.599 always the challenge is getting the word out. 00:26:26.140 --> 00:26:29.039 But again, the growth is exciting. You know, 00:26:29.059 --> 00:26:31.640 I see us doing more and more for those who live 00:26:31.640 --> 00:26:36.019 on or around campus and, you know, growing that 00:26:36.019 --> 00:26:39.180 way. And plus, and continue to connect people 00:26:39.180 --> 00:26:41.460 to the community. As students graduate and I 00:26:41.460 --> 00:26:43.960 see them involved in other things, that's always 00:26:43.960 --> 00:26:45.920 exciting for me. So the more of that we can do, 00:26:45.940 --> 00:26:49.740 the better. Okay. And what's your final message 00:26:49.740 --> 00:26:56.099 to your pitch for Hillel? Final pitch. I think 00:26:56.099 --> 00:27:00.299 it is for students to not just give it a chance, 00:27:00.359 --> 00:27:02.180 but to really try to understand the work we're 00:27:02.180 --> 00:27:07.299 doing. Because, again, they might see Shabbat 00:27:07.299 --> 00:27:08.819 dinner and say, well, I have Shabbat dinner with 00:27:08.819 --> 00:27:11.569 my family, so I don't need Hillel. But we offer 00:27:11.569 --> 00:27:14.349 so many programs, so many ways to grow, so many 00:27:14.349 --> 00:27:16.430 ways to connect to Israel, so many ways to connect 00:27:16.430 --> 00:27:19.970 with other students or academically or through 00:27:19.970 --> 00:27:22.069 their careers or connect to the community at 00:27:22.069 --> 00:27:23.970 large. There are so many things that we can do. 00:27:24.069 --> 00:27:26.569 And by the way, if we're not doing it and it's 00:27:26.569 --> 00:27:28.549 something you want to do, we can make that happen 00:27:28.549 --> 00:27:31.730 also. So we really are a space where anything 00:27:31.730 --> 00:27:33.789 can happen. And we want everybody to realize 00:27:33.789 --> 00:27:35.829 that. And also for the non -Jewish students that, 00:27:35.869 --> 00:27:38.750 you know. Come find us. Don't be afraid. If you 00:27:38.750 --> 00:27:41.150 have a student group out there and you want to 00:27:41.150 --> 00:27:42.750 do something with the Jewish students and we 00:27:42.750 --> 00:27:44.609 can work on something together, we love that. 00:27:45.210 --> 00:27:47.089 But again, it's hard to like communicate a lot 00:27:47.089 --> 00:27:50.109 of times. They don't understand that we also 00:27:50.109 --> 00:27:53.190 have, you know, outside funding to bring to the 00:27:53.190 --> 00:27:54.990 table. So, you know, you need a nice meal at 00:27:54.990 --> 00:27:56.869 this event. You know, you count on Hillel to 00:27:56.869 --> 00:27:58.990 make it happen. And so there's there's ways to 00:27:58.990 --> 00:28:01.490 make it work. And, you know, we'd be thrilled 00:28:01.490 --> 00:28:03.430 to do any of it. Well, I'm very grateful for 00:28:03.430 --> 00:28:06.369 your partnership and for really sort of, you 00:28:06.369 --> 00:28:08.269 know, working with us in terms of trying to develop 00:28:08.269 --> 00:28:11.069 this dialogue and connecting sort of Muslim and 00:28:11.069 --> 00:28:13.470 Jewish students and just generally the students, 00:28:13.490 --> 00:28:16.130 I think, at large to sort of get to know more 00:28:16.130 --> 00:28:18.829 about the Jewish community and Jewish students. 00:28:18.910 --> 00:28:22.109 And I think that connection and sort of greater 00:28:22.109 --> 00:28:25.589 understanding will lead to, you know, a much 00:28:25.589 --> 00:28:28.490 better relationship among faith communities and 00:28:28.490 --> 00:28:30.789 particularly for Jewish students. They're very 00:28:30.789 --> 00:28:33.640 difficult. difficult time yeah yeah absolutely 00:28:33.640 --> 00:28:35.900 one of the big takeaways from from the course 00:28:35.900 --> 00:28:39.519 is this reminder that we're both about two percent 00:28:39.519 --> 00:28:42.279 of the population in america and when if you 00:28:42.279 --> 00:28:44.180 read the articles and you see what's on social 00:28:44.180 --> 00:28:47.220 media you would think that it was much more yeah 00:28:47.220 --> 00:28:50.539 so i think when we focus on that four percent 00:28:50.539 --> 00:28:52.680 we can we can do a lot of great yeah no it's 00:28:52.680 --> 00:28:54.099 crazy because like on the jewish side they're 00:28:54.099 --> 00:28:56.259 like okay well the jews control the world and 00:28:56.259 --> 00:28:59.160 then muslim side muslims want to impose sharia 00:28:59.160 --> 00:29:00.940 law on everybody and like they're about to like 00:29:00.940 --> 00:29:04.059 take over america and you're like you're barely 00:29:04.059 --> 00:29:07.319 anything in the population so it's unfortunately 00:29:07.319 --> 00:29:11.420 there's this um you know this the scaremongering 00:29:11.420 --> 00:29:13.700 that politicians use and sort of ideologues use 00:29:13.700 --> 00:29:16.640 and just kind of also the media media ecosystem 00:29:16.640 --> 00:29:19.980 has become so fragmented that it really takes 00:29:19.980 --> 00:29:24.339 a lot of effort and time um to put positive images 00:29:24.339 --> 00:29:26.970 and narratives out there and i feel like what 00:29:26.970 --> 00:29:28.690 we're doing in terms of literally just getting 00:29:28.690 --> 00:29:31.390 people together is one of the strongest ways 00:29:31.390 --> 00:29:33.589 to be able to combat that, you know? Yeah. I 00:29:33.589 --> 00:29:36.869 remember, Jewish people have never decided an 00:29:36.869 --> 00:29:38.710 election in the history of the United States. 00:29:38.829 --> 00:29:43.009 And so it doesn't matter to the masses how the 00:29:43.009 --> 00:29:46.309 Jews are voting on anything, like in any major 00:29:46.309 --> 00:29:50.089 city, nationally especially. And yet you hear 00:29:50.089 --> 00:29:53.549 that conversation so often. And yeah, that's 00:29:53.549 --> 00:29:56.039 the kind of stuff we... We have to change the 00:29:56.039 --> 00:29:58.480 narrative. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Well, John, thank 00:29:58.480 --> 00:30:00.559 you so much for taking the time to talk to us 00:30:00.559 --> 00:30:03.160 and looking forward to our work together and 00:30:03.160 --> 00:30:05.380 our dinner later this evening. All right. Thank 00:30:05.380 --> 00:30:06.259 you. Thanks a lot, John.