Terminator of Helen Thomas’ Career Speaks at Chabad

Rabbi David Nesenoff recently spoke at Chabad House of Miami Beach and the Chabad Lubavitch’s National Retreat in Weston, Florida about spirituality, media bias and the aftermath of the Helen Thomas incident.

Two years ago, Nesenoff, who now lives in Boca Raton, was with his son and a friend at the White House for a Jewish Heritage Celebration when they approached the 89-year-old Thomas, then a long-time White House correspondent, for an interview where he asked her if she had any comments about Israel. Thomas responded with anti-Semitic and anti-Israel comments, which Nesenoff posted on his website, RabbiLIVE.com.

Following his discussion at Chabad House, Nesenoff discussed his three goals for the presentation.

“My goals are to let people know that no.1, the Jew is strongly connected to the Land of Israel by virtue of God giving it to us, no.2, there is anti-Semitism in the world and no. 3, there is a divine providence to our world.”

One of the things Nesenoff discussed was media bias, which he said is very dangerous because of its educational impact on the public.

“I think there’s bias in every field,” he said following the discussion at Chabad House. “There is bias in the Olympic committee. There is bias in certain governments in Europe and the U.S. There is bias in certain industries and certainly the media didn’t invent it but its part of the parcel of the bias so no one is singling them out but they are biased.”

Nesenoff also discussed the aftermath of the Thomas incident.

“Some people said it was 10 minutes of popularity and it’ll go away. However, when it comes to Israel and anti-Semitism, it’s not a 10-minute story,” Nesenoff said in the interview. “It has legs and Israel has always been the ‘it’ girl. It’s on the front page of every paper every day and the Land of Israel has been around for thousands of years so two years is probably a blip on the screen as far as this story is concerned.”

Rabbi Zev Katz, director for Chabad House, said Nesenoff was the best speaker he ever hosted at the synagogue.

“He had an entertaining, educational, and great inspirational message,” Katz added.