Inbox: Thank You Chabad, Thank You Ambassador Erdan
by Ronn Torossian
It’s a crazy time to be a Jew.
As the grandson of Holocaust survivors I was raised in a home where the concept of Jews being in danger was a constant. Following a massacre of our people on October 7th, we face a brutal war where our people are being held hostage, where our soldiers are forced to fight a war against a terrorist region and worldwide, there’s brutal Anti-Semitism.
We live against a backdrop when University Presidents refuse to condemn genocide of Jews. Yet, today we have a Jewish state and we have a strong Jewish community. We are strong. Theres a Jewish state and the world wont kill us again without understanding theres a price to be paid – as witnessed with our great work against Hamas.
Yet, Anti-Semites are something which we knew existed. Today, we know that much of the world is against us. And yet, we march forward.
This week, I sat in amazement at the United Nations that I had to listen to speaker after speaker explain how rape should be condemned. I sat simply in amazement. That’s how its always been for our people. We are Jewish.
Philanthropist and author Sheryl Sandberg said there was nowhere else she’d rather be, standing up for the Israeli women who were killed, raped, abused and kidnapped by Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7. And thankfully she was there to speak truth to power as have so many others.
And at the United Nations, Israel’s Ambassador Gilad Erdan has been a beacon of leadership since the war started, reminding me of the importance of speaking truth to power. Erdan has simply stood up again and again and again – in the UN, in the media, in our community and led. Speaking truth to power.
Sitting at the UN I was reminded of the story Rabbi Schneerson of Chabad once told of the UN. He is once remarked to have referred to the UN as a “house of lies”, noting that “Remember that in a hall of perfect darkness, if you light one small candle, its precious light will be seen from afar, by everyone. Your mission is to light a candle for truth and for the Jewish people.”
This program indeed was a light among darkness.
So too this week was the program hosted by Chabad of Harvard together with Erdan, where the film, “Bearing Witness,” was screened for more than 100 people which showed roughly 45 minutes of intensely explicit GoPro, cell phone, and CCTV footage depicting acts of murder, mutilation, and other violence from the attacks. As Erdan noted, the movie shows “barbarity and cruelty — the likes of which you have never seen before.”
Rabbi Hirschy Zarchi, the founder and president of Harvard Chabad rightfully said its necessary to show the movie as he was “Reflecting on what I would describe as Holocaust-like denial of the atrocities of October 7th — a film that I thought no one should ever have to see — increasingly seems like one that everyone must see.”
From the UN to college campuses to Israel we face enemies the likes of which we haven’t seen since the Holocaust. And yet, through it all we hold our head high with a strong belief in Hashem, with a strong belief in our people knowing that we will win, knowing that indeed Am Israel Chai.
The simple answer to Hamas, to University Presidents, to the United Nations is we will keep building, We will keep our traditions we will keep our people, and as this Hanukkah approaches, we will believe even stronger.
And we will say thank you to Chabad for the great work done worldwide. We will say thank you to Ambassador Erdan and others like him doing valiant work to speak truth to power.
Am Israel Chai. The Jewish people live.
Ronn Torossian is an Israeli-American philanthropist, author and entrepreneur.
