RUDY ROCHMAN

communicated here?

26 is Hashem-G-d, and 18 is life.

Then one day as I’m walking down the hall and looking at the doorknobs, I saw Hebrew writing on each door. Ironically, an Israeli company, named Magen (which means shield or protect) had sold them the doors.

And then it dawned on me: HaShem (26), is protecting (Magen) your Life (18) HaShem is protecting your life. There was a reason why we were there; we had to stay strong and we would be able to overcome. There were constant little miracles like that. That's also a mindset that I've always had my whole life for whatever situation.

Cindy: What do you feel is the largest threat to Jewish life in the United States and in Europe today?

Rudy: If we look at Jewish history, every single genocide, massacre, pogrom, inquisition, Holocaust, has happened when we were divided. Even before the destruction of the 1st and 2nd Temple, the Jewish people were divided. And to the contrary, when we look at the opposite, when Jews are united, and empowered, when they know who they are, and are fulfilling their purpose, we overcome.

Every single challenge we have faced, when powerful nations came to destroy us, miracles happen, and we survive. Many say that the creation of the State of Israel was a miracle.

But the miracle only happens when this equation happens; when Jews are united. When Jews are able to empower themselves and fill their purpose, we succeed. We are the variable that changes the outcome of our situation.

Clearly, Jews are not the only minority that have faced hatred.

It's usually one group against another group, not all groups.

What is unique to the Jewish people though, is that the extreme of every hate group believes that we are the problem.

But It's not something we're doing. We're not making these problems.

So I started thinking maybe it's something that we're not doing.

And what are we supposed to do in this world that we're not doing?

What is our mission statement? Tikkun OlamRepairing the world, and being a Light unto other Nations has been our mission statement, our purpose for thousands of years.

We can use the analogy of the immune system in the human body. The immune system’s responsibility is to heal the body and to empower the other organs to function.

If the immune system does not work right, the body becomes sick and all the other organs blame the immune system for the diseases. It’s not because the immune system created the disease. But rather, because subconsciously, the organs recognize that it was the immune system’s responsibility to prevent it. In my opinion, that is why these different groups throughout history conclude that we are the problem. Because deep down inside of them they recognized that we had a responsibility to prevent these problems from happening and we did not.

So now we're being blamed for them.

And that's something that many Jews are not yet ready to hear because we're too comfortable, we're too traumatized, and we're too victimized.

And we think that the way to succeed is by getting the rest of the world to save us.

It’s also a process of decolonization. We've been through mental, psychological, spiritual, and physical colonization for 2000 years and we need to undo those things and figure out who we really are and figure out as a generation where and how we move forward.

The problem is that we're not even conscious of what our responsibility and abilities are. These things are happening, not caused by us, but could potentially be prevented by us.

For thousands of years, our ancestors have been saying our responsibility is to heal this world and to enlighten and free the other nations from whatever slavery, mentally or physically, that they're living in. So that's our goal and our responsibility.

Cindy: How do you make this relevant today, especially for students facing antisemitism on college campuses?

Rudy: It's still relevant to fight on campuses and to debate and to shift the pop culture narrative.

Rudy Rochman at Columbia University.

Following Rochman's discharge from the IDF (where he served as a paratrooper) he enrolled at UCLA. However, after reading that Columbia University was considered the most antisemitic university in North America, he transferred there and founded a chapter of Students

Supporting Israel.