August 13, 2025 • 25 mins
In this episode, hear how Israel is building the next generation of Jewish leaders through an innovative academic program at Reichman University in Herzliya. Jonathan Davis, Vice President for External Relations and Head of the Raphael Recanati International School, joins us to discuss overcoming challenges as Zionist students abroad to shaping the future of the Jewish community. Watch now to learn how the next generation of Jewish leaders is being trained and how they plan to make an impact globally!
Hosted by Zvika Klein.
Edited and produced by Maayan Alona and Shifra Jacobs.
Hosted by Zvika Klein.
Edited and produced by Maayan Alona and Shifra Jacobs.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is JPO sits down with where we dive into
the heart of as Well's the most important stories. In
this episode, we sit down with Jonathan Davis, Brackman University's
vice president focus Soternal Relations. I'm the head of the
Raphael Reka Nati International School.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Hey, Jonathan, how are you speak of?
Speaker 3 (00:18):
How you doing good?
Speaker 2 (00:20):
You know, it's an interesting historic time to be living
in and to be covering the news, and I'm sure
also to be in higher education.
Speaker 4 (00:29):
It's a huge challenge and I think part of our
best therapy is being able to take care of these
fantastic students, right.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
I think in general, just doing something that you feel
is making a change when there's a crisis, right, helps
you get through it.
Speaker 4 (00:45):
I feel privileged yefully that instead of you having to
go to psychologists every day, we actually get to do things,
you know, on behalf of the state of Israel, right,
And it really by being busy doing all this stuff,
it keeps on mind on the ball.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
So maybe it just we'll start in short. You were
born and raised.
Speaker 4 (01:06):
I was born in London, really was raised never I
nemb in southern California. Next, Okay, went to a high
school called Edgewood High School. Five Jews in the school
sem anti Semitism.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
A few fist fights, okay.
Speaker 4 (01:21):
Even way back then, but they were mainly from white supremacists. Yeah,
but so yeah, I was never embarrassed of my Jewishness
even way back then.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
Right, you could tell. And then we need to make Alia.
Speaker 4 (01:39):
I met Aliya in nineteen sixty nine during the one
year program of the Hebrew University.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
Wow.
Speaker 4 (01:46):
I had been a student at Columbia University, came here
on my junior year abroad. My roommate named Guffney, a
student of geology, was a paratrooper, and every Shabust he
took me to the old city to show me where
they liberated. And at the end of my junior year abroad,
I jumped ship and made Aliyah and completed my ba
(02:09):
at the Hebrew University. And in nineteen seventy one November
joined a small unit called Sayer Sam which is a
paratrooper commando unit. Right, and shal Mafaz ended up being
my menpe, my first menpe Washmamori, a former general of
Blessed Memory in Hmittamori, then shal Mafaz and today shal
(02:31):
Mafaz is my neighbor.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
Oh wow, okay, okay, that's a that's a very quick biography,
but I think it's interesting. So and then you basically established, right,
I think pretty much and have been leading the international
school at IDC in Hurtzelia. How many years there was blessed.
Speaker 4 (02:52):
I was blessed by the fact that Professor Reichman head
hunted me okay out of another major subsidized universe as
opposed to ours, and asked me.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
Like a state like a state funded yea, exactly.
Speaker 4 (03:06):
Where I was working in external relations and Professor Rathman
one day called me in on a Friday.
Speaker 3 (03:11):
He said, bring your wife. I'm going to make you
an offer. He did.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
That is smart, Yeah, because you don't have to like
say away, I have to speak to my wife.
Speaker 4 (03:20):
Right.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
He saved. He stayed at the whole stage.
Speaker 4 (03:22):
That's why he's the academics smart entrepreneur of Israel, the
academic country.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
Right.
Speaker 4 (03:27):
But basically, back in two thousand and two, he gave
me the opportunity of telling me that I have a challenge.
Let's build an international university. We began with thirty students.
We're now twenty four hundred. So we've had a.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
Lot of fun, right, and how many alumni.
Speaker 4 (03:45):
Thousands okay, thousands upon thousands of alumni by now, wow, that's.
Speaker 3 (03:50):
Crazy all over the place.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
So it's very interesting. You know, we're almost two years
into this war. When it began, you know, there were
those Israelis are Jews around the world that felt an
existential threat, you know really you know, so the first
time I think since nineteen forty eight where people were
actually afraid to you know, the state of Israel would
would not it would cease to exist, or situations like that.
(04:16):
And to think that, you know, two years later, this
war was continuing, but it actually caused an interesting counter
effect of people becoming close you know, outside of Israel,
right the aspro juice being closer to Israel more, you know,
feeling that their identity Israel is a larger part of
their identity than we've seen in the past, but also
(04:40):
being closer to Judaism, right. And there's so many research
and studies that show that these young students or young professionals,
some of them for the first time, just you know,
want to be Jewish and want to be Zionists. If
if one if two years ago, you know, the word
(05:01):
Zionist would make them feel uncomfortable. I don't know, you
know nowadays it's so. I think in that sense Hamas
actually that you know caused you know, they didn't mean to,
but they also there was a small side effect that's positive.
Speaker 4 (05:15):
There is a side effect here, I think on especially
on behalf of the youth on campus, students who who
were active on campus and semi Zionist activities would come
to an Israel the dependence kind of thing or some
kind of other activity.
Speaker 3 (05:36):
There's now I.
Speaker 4 (05:38):
Think an encouragement to be more Zionistic. I think this
brought out in people things they might have studied in school,
things they remembered in their past, things that had to
do with even persecution of Jews and how you deal
with these things. And I think it made them more Zionist.
(05:58):
I came across on about twenty transfer students over the
last year. Each one went through a certain trauma, one
in Barcelona, one at the University of Washington, one at
the University of Denver, a number from Rutgers, a number
from Ohio State, and a number from NYU. And each
(06:18):
one has their personal story. I won't go into all
of them.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
Give us a taste of what these students have have
I can give you.
Speaker 4 (06:24):
I mean, one of the worst cases that I came
across is a student who had a roommate of another
ethnic background, which was not Jewish, but which was very
let's say pro Palestinian, okay. And this roommate after October seventh,
(06:45):
decided to complain to the security police on campus, accusing
this Jewish girl of wanting to murder her with a
kitchen knife.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
Oh my god, okay.
Speaker 4 (06:54):
And so this young woman found herself interrogated by the
security police and guilty before you know, before proven innocent.
You know, there's organizations like that, people like that, where
you're guilty before proven innocent. We know some of those guys,
and the security police of this specific university were exactly that.
Speaker 3 (07:15):
Oh wow, okay, And so therefore they moved her.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
Into lots of publicity.
Speaker 4 (07:19):
They moved her into a more far away dorm. The
ethnic student shamed her on the internet together with the
Free Palestine movement on that campus. This young woman practically
had to hire a lawyer while she's being interrogated by
these individuals.
Speaker 3 (07:36):
This goes on for months until they closed the case.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
Let alone, I'm sure she was experiencing threats or you know,
abuse from other people.
Speaker 4 (07:45):
She was experiencing threats and abuse, and this young woman
at the in the middle of the year turned to
me together with her dad, and it took me exactly
five seconds to solve her problem because basically we could
act like in biblical times where they had cities of refuge.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
Mm hmm.
Speaker 3 (08:05):
This is a city of academic refuge under.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
Fire, right, wow, And that's that's an interesting uh, you
know exactly. It's it's funny because many times these American
Jews or heads of organizations come to Israel and say, oh,
we feel so safe. And I always say, what I
don't understand, right, But it's it's a mindset I guess, right,
(08:28):
like and I guess those of us. I mean, you
grew up in the US. I grew up in Israel
for most of my life not understanding many Israelis did
not understand what it's like to be a minority. And
after October seventh, understanding that this killing and murder, et
cetera came from a religious and an anti Jewish or
(08:50):
anti Semitic attitude causes Israelis to suddenly be like, wait,
but where Israeli like we may be Jewish Like yeah,
I'm saying like it. And and okay, so there's that
girl who had to literally escape, right and and yeah,
and when you go around the US nowadays, and you've
(09:11):
been doing this for for decades, right, you've been on campuses,
I have a feeling you wear your keeper proudly there.
Speaker 4 (09:19):
Definitely during the institutionalized activities. Right on a subway in
New York.
Speaker 3 (09:28):
I don't wear.
Speaker 5 (09:28):
Keeper now when you're at work, I'm saying, So there
come hamas we see? Yeah, yeah, because you know, in Israel,
I can protect myself. I can legally protect myself right
in Israel, if someone tries to murder me, I can
neutralize them legally. But overseas, I have to be careful
(09:49):
also for my own physical safety. So if I'm in Berlin,
or if I'm in Paris, or if I'm in London,
you have to be careful.
Speaker 3 (09:56):
And you also don't want to pick a.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
Fight, right you know. Okay, so you go to these campuses, right,
or you meet with families. So what are you hearing
now that you weren't hearing ten years ago?
Speaker 3 (10:10):
What I'm hearing now is that.
Speaker 4 (10:14):
Jews who identify themselves as Jews, Jews who don't want
to take off their kipa, Jews who secular, Jews who
are Zionists, graduates of Zionist youth movements, or graduates of
Jewish day schools in the States. They could be secular
Jewish day schools. They could be religious Jewish day schools.
(10:34):
They feel unsafe and insecure being themselves on campus, being
in a position where they could hold a civil debate
with a person who does not agree with them where
in class. By the way, I had this at Columbia University.
I had this one I heard of Columbia.
Speaker 3 (10:52):
I had this one professor in the sixties, okay, who
was a.
Speaker 4 (10:56):
Workshop on Middle Eastern studies, And every single paper I
would hand in systematically had to B minus because my
name was identified with this Zionism and because I identified terrorism
way back then during the days of the FATA movement,
and that was my line. My papers were all on
(11:18):
the FATA.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
It wasn't popular to.
Speaker 4 (11:22):
This Jewish professor penalized me. But then many many years later,
I had a student from a major university in New York.
She happens to be schomersh about frum young she wanted
to do a master's degree at Riifman University, and she
insisted on meeting me with her mom in New York.
And I don't usually meet moms with their daughters in
(11:43):
New York. I usually tell them, look, there's a you
send your transcript in, you're interviewed by.
Speaker 3 (11:47):
The professor, et cetera.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
Mix.
Speaker 4 (11:50):
But here the insisted, so I went. So they came
to see me, and the young woman puts a transcript
out on the table. Everything is an A except one
B minus. And it's exactly what happened to be at Columbia.
I like saying, this is like thirty years later.
Speaker 2 (12:10):
Was this the same? No, it wasn't the same professor.
Speaker 4 (12:12):
As my professor was a Columbia. This guys that I
this was at a place which is known as ny.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
Jew Okay, okay, okay, but I won't mention it very
different nowadays it's not very And.
Speaker 4 (12:22):
This professor, not her, not of her ethnic background, okay,
penalized her.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
Really, So the first thing I know, it is the
same basically the same reason and a sentence. But that's
something further B minus.
Speaker 4 (12:33):
But that's some fun. If we talk about the city
of refuge, and the Zionism. I took out my pen,
I crushed out the B minus I put it in
an A and I said for me, you have an
A in this class, and basically you not have all a's.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
Now I'm not allowed to actually write except academically.
Speaker 4 (12:51):
Except I'm telling you right now, just go through the motions,
okay of applying it because you're in Okay, you.
Speaker 3 (12:57):
Didn't hear this from me, Okay.
Speaker 4 (12:59):
Just that was the professor Blas Gnore, who's now the
president of the university.
Speaker 3 (13:03):
This young woman wants to study counter terrorism, so okay.
Speaker 4 (13:06):
He's also my friend, and at the time he was
in charge of the Institute of counter Terrorism and everything else.
So the therapy is the fun of being able to
help Jews and distress. So it's an academic fund of
being able to assist Jews in distress. By the way,
sometimes when students here who are lone soldiers and fought
(13:26):
in combat units or were away from many days in reserves,
they're missing a few points, just a few points. We
do everything we can to push them in because we say,
you know, those few points that you took, that shows
us your character.
Speaker 3 (13:42):
It shows us.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
It could even be by the way it can be
experience in management.
Speaker 4 (13:46):
Right.
Speaker 2 (13:46):
If you're managing a group of one hundred soldiers, right
or thirty soldiers, that that's experience. Right.
Speaker 4 (13:52):
It shows responsibility, It shows independence, It shows that you
have just amazing tenicity. It shows you you have the
guts to be a lone soldier when your parents are overseas.
It gives us something about your profile, and that is
it's beyond words. We have three hundred former loan soldiers
(14:13):
on campus. Wow, we lost two forms at the moment,
at the moment. Wow, we lost, by the way, two
lone soldiers of blessed memory during this during this war.
Speaker 2 (14:24):
So, Jonathan, you've been in this world of higher education
for a while, and I think one interesting thing that
happened in the past two years in the US mainly
is the fact that all these Jewish donors and funders
of Ivy League schools have either decided to step up
(14:46):
and speak. Some of them are engaged Jews, some of
them were not, but felt an urge to be suddenly
to be engaged in Jewish life. Some of them, most
a lot one of them decided to leave, you know,
boards or to stop funding you know, certain institutions, many
(15:08):
big names Bill Ackman, others who who you know who
are alumni of that school who wanted to support where
they went to school, but now no longer believe in it.
And I wonder how you see this because I'm as
you said, you know, even in your previous job, you
did you know, external relations, et cetera, which means fundraising
(15:31):
isome right, So how do you see this and where
do you think this is going?
Speaker 4 (15:39):
I think that the best answer for our own therapy
and for the therapy of those who pulled out of
major universities in the States due to their frustration and
due to the fact that they couldn't live with the
fact that they were supporting universities which were being vehemently
anti Semitic and it just went totally against their mission statement.
(15:59):
I believe that very well to do Jews in the
United States. Billionaires like you mentioned and other people, this
is a great time to step up to the plate
and create scholarship programs for students who want to come
to Israel on a full time academic basis. I don't
(16:20):
mean havann aguilla programs over the summer of folk dancing
or going on god Na or introduction to the Yiddish
language over the summer in some place. I mean full
academic degrees in Israel taught in English. Now at my university,
I have two four hundred students at any given time
from ninety different countries studying for full academic degrees. For
(16:45):
many students in the United States, there are in the
United States people who need financial assistance to come to
Israel to study here on a full time basis.
Speaker 3 (16:53):
This is the opportunity to really.
Speaker 4 (16:58):
Enjoy yourself zionist and set up, okay, academic funding for
those who want to come here. So let's say at
my university the tuition is seventeen thousand dollars, and it
costs ten thousand dollars for a dorm, and you have
to need yourself, so you're gonna need You're gonna need
thirty five thousand dollars, okay, to be able to function.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
And how much would be a year in Columbia or Harvard, like.
Speaker 3 (17:21):
Three times as much, okay, three times as much.
Speaker 4 (17:24):
And here, if someone stepped up to the plate and
decided that we will now have fifteen thousand dollars scholarships.
If someone stepped to the plate and spoke to me
and said to me, tomorrow, I can fund two hundred
people for fifteen thousand dollars each. I can fined individuals
from the United States who would not have come to
(17:46):
Israel otherwise if this scholarship didn't exist, so we could
create an added value of two hundred more people. Now,
out of these two hundred people, out of these twenty
four hundred people who study here, one third come from
the States, one third come from Europe, one come from
other one third come from other countries. Sixty percent end
up making Aliyah. The other forty percent who go home
(18:08):
become ambassadors for Israel.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
They will be the one because you know it's not
a few week program or you're saying camp, right, I
mean it may feel like camp sometimes, but at the
end of the day, right, you have a diploma.
Speaker 4 (18:19):
But it's three years, right, three years to wear depending,
three years to weigh the assets and the liabilities of
the State of Israel and what it is three years
to someone run to sometimes run to a shelter, yeah,
and feel really independent or many times really to us,
or many times but feel responsible and feel independent.
Speaker 3 (18:36):
Three years to.
Speaker 4 (18:37):
Decide that maybe I want to make Aliyah or three
years to decide on where my graduate studies are going
to take me. Some of the graduate studies can take
place at our university or other universities in Israel. Other
graduate studies can take place overseas. But three years to
weigh this stuff. To also learn some Hebrew, by the way,
which you can take as an elective course. And then
(18:59):
and then it's it's boot camp. It's boot camp for
future Jewish leaders. I'll be damned if these people will
not be in Jewish federations afterwards, leaders of their synagogues,
leaders of people who are involved in every single Jewish organization.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
They'll establish their own Jewish organizations I'll.
Speaker 4 (19:19):
Establish, and they'll become donors in the future. I mean,
you know, this area of Silicon Valley has hundreds upon
hundreds of our graduates who establish companies there. I encourage them, okay,
to become philanthropists, and I encourage them to never forget
that they came from the state of Israel where they
(19:40):
came from, and to be very, very active.
Speaker 3 (19:43):
In their Jewish communities.
Speaker 4 (19:45):
There's in a time, by the way, when when the
Jewish community feels abused by many of many of the
people who thought were their friends, they thought were their friends.
This is a great time for graduates of my university
who live in the United States to step up to
the plate and spend more time strengthening the Jewish community.
Speaker 3 (20:06):
And I mean it really seriously great.
Speaker 2 (20:08):
A lot of them have done it already, I think,
you know, and some have done it.
Speaker 3 (20:11):
More need to do it.
Speaker 4 (20:12):
And the ones who stayed in Israel and the ones
who stayed in Israel. You know, every year of my graduates,
in addition to the three hundred former land soldiers who
already study on campus, hundreds more makhalia end up joining
idea for units of different kinds.
Speaker 3 (20:30):
So they become very.
Speaker 4 (20:32):
Imbued whether what's going on around here and if there's
anyone that I'm upsetting overseas, okay by saying what did
you say?
Speaker 2 (20:40):
What Aliyah? What what are you say to upset people?
Speaker 4 (20:43):
Well, sometimes these some of the universities overseas are saying,
tone down on your Zionism, toned down on being an Israeli,
keep a lott profile. We're not trying to poke anyone
in the part of your mission statement, as part of
our mission statement, but we're just saying, just be a
mention just don't be an at touchemny. Just don't take
(21:04):
Katari money and tell us what the results of your
research are before you actually do the research.
Speaker 2 (21:12):
Okay, Yeah, that's okay.
Speaker 4 (21:13):
And don't tell us about academic freedom. If your academic
freedom is we accept your point of view, okay, and
that's our academic freedom.
Speaker 2 (21:21):
But why why shouldn't they continue donating to campuses Ivy
League campuses but instead of you know, I mean the
criticism really is, there's a bunch of buildings in these
campuses with name Jewish names on them, these donors, but
you know, other forces, as you mentioned, Katara or others whatever,
invested in the content that is being taught in these
(21:44):
you know, campuses, on these university schools, faculties, et cetera.
So maybe they should just shift in stay in the
United States.
Speaker 4 (21:54):
It's not for me to tell them where to donate
their money, but they need to feel very comfortable about
where they don't their money.
Speaker 2 (22:00):
And I wish it was know what the ROI will
be right, A lot of them want impact.
Speaker 4 (22:05):
Look, I wish it was only to buildings. I know
a number of Jews in the United States who also
donated the content content at ivy A Universities, thinking that
they're being nice guys and thinking that they're coexisting now
and people will respect them, and uh.
Speaker 2 (22:26):
They're part of the big I don't know the club,
they're exact club that we were not allowed today and
they were in the club.
Speaker 4 (22:35):
And then I remember always what that comedian used to say,
if it's that club, I don't want to be part
of that club, or don't invite me to that club
that we.
Speaker 2 (22:43):
Have a deep down inside a lot of people want
to name.
Speaker 4 (22:47):
But anyway, to come back to what you were saying,
I think this is an unbelievable time to create. Years
ago people created Birthright, which was a great organization. Years
ago people created massa great organization.
Speaker 2 (23:00):
Long term program.
Speaker 4 (23:02):
It is now is the time to create scholarships for
academic programs in Israel, which are full time academic programs
for degrees.
Speaker 2 (23:12):
Not a semester. That's what you're saying, right, because I'm.
Speaker 4 (23:16):
Saying full I'm saying full time studies. Okay, I'm saying
full time studies. I think I think that to come
for a semester or for a year is a good idea,
but there are some scholarships for those kinds of things
that take place.
Speaker 3 (23:28):
But not enough.
Speaker 2 (23:29):
It's not like organized and now's the time.
Speaker 4 (23:33):
I'd be happy to advise free of charge, Okay, anyone
who wants to seek my advice on the exact added
value that we could find from establishing such a fund
that added value, by the way, I.
Speaker 2 (23:47):
Think most people would understand it. You know, you wouldn't
need a lot of explanation. By the way, is the
Israeli government involved in any sort of weeks I think
I may have heard of maybe the Alia Ministry or
some other you know maybe or the Diasper Ministry investing
in these vouchers or something for young Jews to come
to Israel. I don't know if it was for a
(24:10):
full you know, a full.
Speaker 4 (24:11):
Academical ministries who are doing a great job subsidizing certain things.
Speaker 3 (24:16):
M h bud.
Speaker 4 (24:17):
I'm talking about tackling this thing big time in a
very very focused way, where there's where there's a beginning
and an end of the process.
Speaker 2 (24:26):
And when one stop shop that gives you all the
stop shops, and whoever's a funding and whoever.
Speaker 4 (24:31):
Donated those funds will follow, will specifically follow the student
they supported. They will see how that student's doing after
the first year, after the second year, after the third year,
if that student decided to make Aliah, great, if the
student decided to go back to the States, great, They'll
know who that person is and maybe.
Speaker 2 (24:49):
Decided to work for the philanthropists. Even better, maybe they'll
come to in Israel and Israel.
Speaker 3 (24:53):
Though they could represent the philanthropists in Israel.
Speaker 2 (24:54):
Amazing, okay, hook that we found we found them a
job perfect. So Jonathan, this is fascinating and I always
enjoy speaking to you. Thank you so much for doing
what you do. And let's see if anything any of
these ideas picks up and speaker.
Speaker 4 (25:10):
Thanks for being who you are, because you exemplify the
Anglo ole who comes to Israel and made it here
and made it here big time in journalism, and you
serve as a model to many of my students who
study communications and government and political science.
Speaker 3 (25:29):
And we need more people like you in this country.
Speaker 2 (25:33):
Thank you so okay. Now I also have a job
as a teacher at IDC. Thank you, Jonathan anytime, mamen.
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (25:42):
This episode was hosted by Japers editor in chief Speak
a Client editing and production with John by Mayana Alon
and Shipper Jacobs. For more information on Japer's podcast, check
the description of this episode.
This is JPO sits down with where we dive into
the heart of as Well's the most important stories. In
this episode, we sit down with Jonathan Davis, Brackman University's
vice president focus Soternal Relations. I'm the head of the
Raphael Reka Nati International School.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Hey, Jonathan, how are you speak of?
Speaker 3 (00:18):
How you doing good?
Speaker 2 (00:20):
You know, it's an interesting historic time to be living
in and to be covering the news, and I'm sure
also to be in higher education.
Speaker 4 (00:29):
It's a huge challenge and I think part of our
best therapy is being able to take care of these
fantastic students, right.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
I think in general, just doing something that you feel
is making a change when there's a crisis, right, helps
you get through it.
Speaker 4 (00:45):
I feel privileged yefully that instead of you having to
go to psychologists every day, we actually get to do things,
you know, on behalf of the state of Israel, right,
And it really by being busy doing all this stuff,
it keeps on mind on the ball.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
So maybe it just we'll start in short. You were
born and raised.
Speaker 4 (01:06):
I was born in London, really was raised never I
nemb in southern California. Next, Okay, went to a high
school called Edgewood High School. Five Jews in the school
sem anti Semitism.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
A few fist fights, okay.
Speaker 4 (01:21):
Even way back then, but they were mainly from white supremacists. Yeah,
but so yeah, I was never embarrassed of my Jewishness
even way back then.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
Right, you could tell. And then we need to make Alia.
Speaker 4 (01:39):
I met Aliya in nineteen sixty nine during the one
year program of the Hebrew University.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
Wow.
Speaker 4 (01:46):
I had been a student at Columbia University, came here
on my junior year abroad. My roommate named Guffney, a
student of geology, was a paratrooper, and every Shabust he
took me to the old city to show me where
they liberated. And at the end of my junior year abroad,
I jumped ship and made Aliyah and completed my ba
(02:09):
at the Hebrew University. And in nineteen seventy one November
joined a small unit called Sayer Sam which is a
paratrooper commando unit. Right, and shal Mafaz ended up being
my menpe, my first menpe Washmamori, a former general of
Blessed Memory in Hmittamori, then shal Mafaz and today shal
(02:31):
Mafaz is my neighbor.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
Oh wow, okay, okay, that's a that's a very quick biography,
but I think it's interesting. So and then you basically established, right,
I think pretty much and have been leading the international
school at IDC in Hurtzelia. How many years there was blessed.
Speaker 4 (02:52):
I was blessed by the fact that Professor Reichman head
hunted me okay out of another major subsidized universe as
opposed to ours, and asked me.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
Like a state like a state funded yea, exactly.
Speaker 4 (03:06):
Where I was working in external relations and Professor Rathman
one day called me in on a Friday.
Speaker 3 (03:11):
He said, bring your wife. I'm going to make you
an offer. He did.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
That is smart, Yeah, because you don't have to like
say away, I have to speak to my wife.
Speaker 4 (03:20):
Right.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
He saved. He stayed at the whole stage.
Speaker 4 (03:22):
That's why he's the academics smart entrepreneur of Israel, the
academic country.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
Right.
Speaker 4 (03:27):
But basically, back in two thousand and two, he gave
me the opportunity of telling me that I have a challenge.
Let's build an international university. We began with thirty students.
We're now twenty four hundred. So we've had a.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
Lot of fun, right, and how many alumni.
Speaker 4 (03:45):
Thousands okay, thousands upon thousands of alumni by now, wow, that's.
Speaker 3 (03:50):
Crazy all over the place.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
So it's very interesting. You know, we're almost two years
into this war. When it began, you know, there were
those Israelis are Jews around the world that felt an
existential threat, you know really you know, so the first
time I think since nineteen forty eight where people were
actually afraid to you know, the state of Israel would
would not it would cease to exist, or situations like that.
(04:16):
And to think that, you know, two years later, this
war was continuing, but it actually caused an interesting counter
effect of people becoming close you know, outside of Israel,
right the aspro juice being closer to Israel more, you know,
feeling that their identity Israel is a larger part of
their identity than we've seen in the past, but also
(04:40):
being closer to Judaism, right. And there's so many research
and studies that show that these young students or young professionals,
some of them for the first time, just you know,
want to be Jewish and want to be Zionists. If
if one if two years ago, you know, the word
(05:01):
Zionist would make them feel uncomfortable. I don't know, you
know nowadays it's so. I think in that sense Hamas
actually that you know caused you know, they didn't mean to,
but they also there was a small side effect that's positive.
Speaker 4 (05:15):
There is a side effect here, I think on especially
on behalf of the youth on campus, students who who
were active on campus and semi Zionist activities would come
to an Israel the dependence kind of thing or some
kind of other activity.
Speaker 3 (05:36):
There's now I.
Speaker 4 (05:38):
Think an encouragement to be more Zionistic. I think this
brought out in people things they might have studied in school,
things they remembered in their past, things that had to
do with even persecution of Jews and how you deal
with these things. And I think it made them more Zionist.
(05:58):
I came across on about twenty transfer students over the
last year. Each one went through a certain trauma, one
in Barcelona, one at the University of Washington, one at
the University of Denver, a number from Rutgers, a number
from Ohio State, and a number from NYU. And each
(06:18):
one has their personal story. I won't go into all
of them.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
Give us a taste of what these students have have
I can give you.
Speaker 4 (06:24):
I mean, one of the worst cases that I came
across is a student who had a roommate of another
ethnic background, which was not Jewish, but which was very
let's say pro Palestinian, okay. And this roommate after October seventh,
(06:45):
decided to complain to the security police on campus, accusing
this Jewish girl of wanting to murder her with a
kitchen knife.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
Oh my god, okay.
Speaker 4 (06:54):
And so this young woman found herself interrogated by the
security police and guilty before you know, before proven innocent.
You know, there's organizations like that, people like that, where
you're guilty before proven innocent. We know some of those guys,
and the security police of this specific university were exactly that.
Speaker 3 (07:15):
Oh wow, okay, And so therefore they moved her.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
Into lots of publicity.
Speaker 4 (07:19):
They moved her into a more far away dorm. The
ethnic student shamed her on the internet together with the
Free Palestine movement on that campus. This young woman practically
had to hire a lawyer while she's being interrogated by
these individuals.
Speaker 3 (07:36):
This goes on for months until they closed the case.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
Let alone, I'm sure she was experiencing threats or you know,
abuse from other people.
Speaker 4 (07:45):
She was experiencing threats and abuse, and this young woman
at the in the middle of the year turned to
me together with her dad, and it took me exactly
five seconds to solve her problem because basically we could
act like in biblical times where they had cities of refuge.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
Mm hmm.
Speaker 3 (08:05):
This is a city of academic refuge under.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
Fire, right, wow, And that's that's an interesting uh, you
know exactly. It's it's funny because many times these American
Jews or heads of organizations come to Israel and say, oh,
we feel so safe. And I always say, what I
don't understand, right, But it's it's a mindset I guess, right,
(08:28):
like and I guess those of us. I mean, you
grew up in the US. I grew up in Israel
for most of my life not understanding many Israelis did
not understand what it's like to be a minority. And
after October seventh, understanding that this killing and murder, et
cetera came from a religious and an anti Jewish or
(08:50):
anti Semitic attitude causes Israelis to suddenly be like, wait,
but where Israeli like we may be Jewish Like yeah,
I'm saying like it. And and okay, so there's that
girl who had to literally escape, right and and yeah,
and when you go around the US nowadays, and you've
(09:11):
been doing this for for decades, right, you've been on campuses,
I have a feeling you wear your keeper proudly there.
Speaker 4 (09:19):
Definitely during the institutionalized activities. Right on a subway in
New York.
Speaker 3 (09:28):
I don't wear.
Speaker 5 (09:28):
Keeper now when you're at work, I'm saying, So there
come hamas we see? Yeah, yeah, because you know, in Israel,
I can protect myself. I can legally protect myself right
in Israel, if someone tries to murder me, I can
neutralize them legally. But overseas, I have to be careful
(09:49):
also for my own physical safety. So if I'm in Berlin,
or if I'm in Paris, or if I'm in London,
you have to be careful.
Speaker 3 (09:56):
And you also don't want to pick a.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
Fight, right you know. Okay, so you go to these campuses, right,
or you meet with families. So what are you hearing
now that you weren't hearing ten years ago?
Speaker 3 (10:10):
What I'm hearing now is that.
Speaker 4 (10:14):
Jews who identify themselves as Jews, Jews who don't want
to take off their kipa, Jews who secular, Jews who
are Zionists, graduates of Zionist youth movements, or graduates of
Jewish day schools in the States. They could be secular
Jewish day schools. They could be religious Jewish day schools.
(10:34):
They feel unsafe and insecure being themselves on campus, being
in a position where they could hold a civil debate
with a person who does not agree with them where
in class. By the way, I had this at Columbia University.
I had this one I heard of Columbia.
Speaker 3 (10:52):
I had this one professor in the sixties, okay, who
was a.
Speaker 4 (10:56):
Workshop on Middle Eastern studies, And every single paper I
would hand in systematically had to B minus because my
name was identified with this Zionism and because I identified terrorism
way back then during the days of the FATA movement,
and that was my line. My papers were all on
(11:18):
the FATA.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
It wasn't popular to.
Speaker 4 (11:22):
This Jewish professor penalized me. But then many many years later,
I had a student from a major university in New York.
She happens to be schomersh about frum young she wanted
to do a master's degree at Riifman University, and she
insisted on meeting me with her mom in New York.
And I don't usually meet moms with their daughters in
(11:43):
New York. I usually tell them, look, there's a you
send your transcript in, you're interviewed by.
Speaker 3 (11:47):
The professor, et cetera.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
Mix.
Speaker 4 (11:50):
But here the insisted, so I went. So they came
to see me, and the young woman puts a transcript
out on the table. Everything is an A except one
B minus. And it's exactly what happened to be at Columbia.
I like saying, this is like thirty years later.
Speaker 2 (12:10):
Was this the same? No, it wasn't the same professor.
Speaker 4 (12:12):
As my professor was a Columbia. This guys that I
this was at a place which is known as ny.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
Jew Okay, okay, okay, but I won't mention it very
different nowadays it's not very And.
Speaker 4 (12:22):
This professor, not her, not of her ethnic background, okay,
penalized her.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
Really, So the first thing I know, it is the
same basically the same reason and a sentence. But that's
something further B minus.
Speaker 4 (12:33):
But that's some fun. If we talk about the city
of refuge, and the Zionism. I took out my pen,
I crushed out the B minus I put it in
an A and I said for me, you have an
A in this class, and basically you not have all a's.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
Now I'm not allowed to actually write except academically.
Speaker 4 (12:51):
Except I'm telling you right now, just go through the motions,
okay of applying it because you're in Okay, you.
Speaker 3 (12:57):
Didn't hear this from me, Okay.
Speaker 4 (12:59):
Just that was the professor Blas Gnore, who's now the
president of the university.
Speaker 3 (13:03):
This young woman wants to study counter terrorism, so okay.
Speaker 4 (13:06):
He's also my friend, and at the time he was
in charge of the Institute of counter Terrorism and everything else.
So the therapy is the fun of being able to
help Jews and distress. So it's an academic fund of
being able to assist Jews in distress. By the way,
sometimes when students here who are lone soldiers and fought
(13:26):
in combat units or were away from many days in reserves,
they're missing a few points, just a few points. We
do everything we can to push them in because we say,
you know, those few points that you took, that shows
us your character.
Speaker 3 (13:42):
It shows us.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
It could even be by the way it can be
experience in management.
Speaker 4 (13:46):
Right.
Speaker 2 (13:46):
If you're managing a group of one hundred soldiers, right
or thirty soldiers, that that's experience. Right.
Speaker 4 (13:52):
It shows responsibility, It shows independence, It shows that you
have just amazing tenicity. It shows you you have the
guts to be a lone soldier when your parents are overseas.
It gives us something about your profile, and that is
it's beyond words. We have three hundred former loan soldiers
(14:13):
on campus. Wow, we lost two forms at the moment,
at the moment. Wow, we lost, by the way, two
lone soldiers of blessed memory during this during this war.
Speaker 2 (14:24):
So, Jonathan, you've been in this world of higher education
for a while, and I think one interesting thing that
happened in the past two years in the US mainly
is the fact that all these Jewish donors and funders
of Ivy League schools have either decided to step up
(14:46):
and speak. Some of them are engaged Jews, some of
them were not, but felt an urge to be suddenly
to be engaged in Jewish life. Some of them, most
a lot one of them decided to leave, you know,
boards or to stop funding you know, certain institutions, many
(15:08):
big names Bill Ackman, others who who you know who
are alumni of that school who wanted to support where
they went to school, but now no longer believe in it.
And I wonder how you see this because I'm as
you said, you know, even in your previous job, you
did you know, external relations, et cetera, which means fundraising
(15:31):
isome right, So how do you see this and where
do you think this is going?
Speaker 4 (15:39):
I think that the best answer for our own therapy
and for the therapy of those who pulled out of
major universities in the States due to their frustration and
due to the fact that they couldn't live with the
fact that they were supporting universities which were being vehemently
anti Semitic and it just went totally against their mission statement.
(15:59):
I believe that very well to do Jews in the
United States. Billionaires like you mentioned and other people, this
is a great time to step up to the plate
and create scholarship programs for students who want to come
to Israel on a full time academic basis. I don't
(16:20):
mean havann aguilla programs over the summer of folk dancing
or going on god Na or introduction to the Yiddish
language over the summer in some place. I mean full
academic degrees in Israel taught in English. Now at my university,
I have two four hundred students at any given time
from ninety different countries studying for full academic degrees. For
(16:45):
many students in the United States, there are in the
United States people who need financial assistance to come to
Israel to study here on a full time basis.
Speaker 3 (16:53):
This is the opportunity to really.
Speaker 4 (16:58):
Enjoy yourself zionist and set up, okay, academic funding for
those who want to come here. So let's say at
my university the tuition is seventeen thousand dollars, and it
costs ten thousand dollars for a dorm, and you have
to need yourself, so you're gonna need You're gonna need
thirty five thousand dollars, okay, to be able to function.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
And how much would be a year in Columbia or Harvard, like.
Speaker 3 (17:21):
Three times as much, okay, three times as much.
Speaker 4 (17:24):
And here, if someone stepped up to the plate and
decided that we will now have fifteen thousand dollars scholarships.
If someone stepped to the plate and spoke to me
and said to me, tomorrow, I can fund two hundred
people for fifteen thousand dollars each. I can fined individuals
from the United States who would not have come to
(17:46):
Israel otherwise if this scholarship didn't exist, so we could
create an added value of two hundred more people. Now,
out of these two hundred people, out of these twenty
four hundred people who study here, one third come from
the States, one third come from Europe, one come from
other one third come from other countries. Sixty percent end
up making Aliyah. The other forty percent who go home
(18:08):
become ambassadors for Israel.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
They will be the one because you know it's not
a few week program or you're saying camp, right, I
mean it may feel like camp sometimes, but at the
end of the day, right, you have a diploma.
Speaker 4 (18:19):
But it's three years, right, three years to wear depending,
three years to weigh the assets and the liabilities of
the State of Israel and what it is three years
to someone run to sometimes run to a shelter, yeah,
and feel really independent or many times really to us,
or many times but feel responsible and feel independent.
Speaker 3 (18:36):
Three years to.
Speaker 4 (18:37):
Decide that maybe I want to make Aliyah or three
years to decide on where my graduate studies are going
to take me. Some of the graduate studies can take
place at our university or other universities in Israel. Other
graduate studies can take place overseas. But three years to
weigh this stuff. To also learn some Hebrew, by the way,
which you can take as an elective course. And then
(18:59):
and then it's it's boot camp. It's boot camp for
future Jewish leaders. I'll be damned if these people will
not be in Jewish federations afterwards, leaders of their synagogues,
leaders of people who are involved in every single Jewish organization.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
They'll establish their own Jewish organizations I'll.
Speaker 4 (19:19):
Establish, and they'll become donors in the future. I mean,
you know, this area of Silicon Valley has hundreds upon
hundreds of our graduates who establish companies there. I encourage them, okay,
to become philanthropists, and I encourage them to never forget
that they came from the state of Israel where they
(19:40):
came from, and to be very, very active.
Speaker 3 (19:43):
In their Jewish communities.
Speaker 4 (19:45):
There's in a time, by the way, when when the
Jewish community feels abused by many of many of the
people who thought were their friends, they thought were their friends.
This is a great time for graduates of my university
who live in the United States to step up to
the plate and spend more time strengthening the Jewish community.
Speaker 3 (20:06):
And I mean it really seriously great.
Speaker 2 (20:08):
A lot of them have done it already, I think,
you know, and some have done it.
Speaker 3 (20:11):
More need to do it.
Speaker 4 (20:12):
And the ones who stayed in Israel and the ones
who stayed in Israel. You know, every year of my graduates,
in addition to the three hundred former land soldiers who
already study on campus, hundreds more makhalia end up joining
idea for units of different kinds.
Speaker 3 (20:30):
So they become very.
Speaker 4 (20:32):
Imbued whether what's going on around here and if there's
anyone that I'm upsetting overseas, okay by saying what did
you say?
Speaker 2 (20:40):
What Aliyah? What what are you say to upset people?
Speaker 4 (20:43):
Well, sometimes these some of the universities overseas are saying,
tone down on your Zionism, toned down on being an Israeli,
keep a lott profile. We're not trying to poke anyone
in the part of your mission statement, as part of
our mission statement, but we're just saying, just be a
mention just don't be an at touchemny. Just don't take
(21:04):
Katari money and tell us what the results of your
research are before you actually do the research.
Speaker 2 (21:12):
Okay, Yeah, that's okay.
Speaker 4 (21:13):
And don't tell us about academic freedom. If your academic
freedom is we accept your point of view, okay, and
that's our academic freedom.
Speaker 2 (21:21):
But why why shouldn't they continue donating to campuses Ivy
League campuses but instead of you know, I mean the
criticism really is, there's a bunch of buildings in these
campuses with name Jewish names on them, these donors, but
you know, other forces, as you mentioned, Katara or others whatever,
invested in the content that is being taught in these
(21:44):
you know, campuses, on these university schools, faculties, et cetera.
So maybe they should just shift in stay in the
United States.
Speaker 4 (21:54):
It's not for me to tell them where to donate
their money, but they need to feel very comfortable about
where they don't their money.
Speaker 2 (22:00):
And I wish it was know what the ROI will
be right, A lot of them want impact.
Speaker 4 (22:05):
Look, I wish it was only to buildings. I know
a number of Jews in the United States who also
donated the content content at ivy A Universities, thinking that
they're being nice guys and thinking that they're coexisting now
and people will respect them, and uh.
Speaker 2 (22:26):
They're part of the big I don't know the club,
they're exact club that we were not allowed today and
they were in the club.
Speaker 4 (22:35):
And then I remember always what that comedian used to say,
if it's that club, I don't want to be part
of that club, or don't invite me to that club
that we.
Speaker 2 (22:43):
Have a deep down inside a lot of people want
to name.
Speaker 4 (22:47):
But anyway, to come back to what you were saying,
I think this is an unbelievable time to create. Years
ago people created Birthright, which was a great organization. Years
ago people created massa great organization.
Speaker 2 (23:00):
Long term program.
Speaker 4 (23:02):
It is now is the time to create scholarships for
academic programs in Israel, which are full time academic programs
for degrees.
Speaker 2 (23:12):
Not a semester. That's what you're saying, right, because I'm.
Speaker 4 (23:16):
Saying full I'm saying full time studies. Okay, I'm saying
full time studies. I think I think that to come
for a semester or for a year is a good idea,
but there are some scholarships for those kinds of things
that take place.
Speaker 3 (23:28):
But not enough.
Speaker 2 (23:29):
It's not like organized and now's the time.
Speaker 4 (23:33):
I'd be happy to advise free of charge, Okay, anyone
who wants to seek my advice on the exact added
value that we could find from establishing such a fund
that added value, by the way, I.
Speaker 2 (23:47):
Think most people would understand it. You know, you wouldn't
need a lot of explanation. By the way, is the
Israeli government involved in any sort of weeks I think
I may have heard of maybe the Alia Ministry or
some other you know maybe or the Diasper Ministry investing
in these vouchers or something for young Jews to come
to Israel. I don't know if it was for a
(24:10):
full you know, a full.
Speaker 4 (24:11):
Academical ministries who are doing a great job subsidizing certain things.
Speaker 3 (24:16):
M h bud.
Speaker 4 (24:17):
I'm talking about tackling this thing big time in a
very very focused way, where there's where there's a beginning
and an end of the process.
Speaker 2 (24:26):
And when one stop shop that gives you all the
stop shops, and whoever's a funding and whoever.
Speaker 4 (24:31):
Donated those funds will follow, will specifically follow the student
they supported. They will see how that student's doing after
the first year, after the second year, after the third year,
if that student decided to make Aliah, great, if the
student decided to go back to the States, great, They'll
know who that person is and maybe.
Speaker 2 (24:49):
Decided to work for the philanthropists. Even better, maybe they'll
come to in Israel and Israel.
Speaker 3 (24:53):
Though they could represent the philanthropists in Israel.
Speaker 2 (24:54):
Amazing, okay, hook that we found we found them a
job perfect. So Jonathan, this is fascinating and I always
enjoy speaking to you. Thank you so much for doing
what you do. And let's see if anything any of
these ideas picks up and speaker.
Speaker 4 (25:10):
Thanks for being who you are, because you exemplify the
Anglo ole who comes to Israel and made it here
and made it here big time in journalism, and you
serve as a model to many of my students who
study communications and government and political science.
Speaker 3 (25:29):
And we need more people like you in this country.
Speaker 2 (25:33):
Thank you so okay. Now I also have a job
as a teacher at IDC. Thank you, Jonathan anytime, mamen.
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (25:42):
This episode was hosted by Japers editor in chief Speak
a Client editing and production with John by Mayana Alon
and Shipper Jacobs. For more information on Japer's podcast, check
the description of this episode.
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