I could feel that my family’s trip to the March For Israel rally would be special by the greetings that we received even before we left our Silver Spring hotel on Tuesday morning.
People stopped us in the elevator, in the lobby, and in the parking lot to wish us well on our mission. A uniformed Prince George’s County police officer saw my yarmulke and stopped to say that he supported us 150%. He said that he can’t understand the hate directed at Jews right now. It was a welcome observation. I really got the sense that these random people, Jews and Gentiles, were standing with us.
Minyanim
Every shul in Silver Spring was full of out-of-towners. The parking lots had license plates from New Jersey and New York. Extra minyanim were added to accommodate the crowds. I caught a mincha minyan before the program started at the National Mall with an eclectic group of men, some wearing hats and jackets and others wearing IDF t-shirts or draped in the Israeli flag. There was no shortage of opportunities to daven and say Tehillim, and Chabad had tremendous success in helping Jewish men put on tefillin, some for the very first time.
A Rally, Not a Protest
We traveled on the Metro train with thousands of other attendees. As we neared Washington, D.C., our conductor announced which stop to use and transfer to take, “For those who are going to the protest.” He said it multiple times. I wanted to inform him that no one on his train was going to a protest. We were attending a rally. A rally in support of Israel. In support of the hostages. In opposition to antisemitism.
“Protests” are done by angry people with masks over their faces, waving banners and signs in support of Hamas terrorists, defacing public property, burning flags of Israel and America. They create havoc, damage property, and attack the police.
The rally I attended had none of those things. It was peaceful and organized. One police officer commented that he received more thank yous in one shift than in the rest of his entire career combined. It’s called “making a kiddush Hashem.”
The Speeches
There are two main components to a successful rally: a large crowd and great group of speakers. The March for Israel had an abundance of both. Israel’s President Isaac Herzog, Ambassador Michael Herzog, and several Jewish communal leaders all delivered inspiring messages. The celebrity actors and actresses on the stage hit all the right notes in support of Israel. My former professor at UCLA, Ambassador Deborah Lipstadt, the U.S.’s special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism, powerfully addressed the growing rise of antisemitism. College students from George Washington University and Columbia movingly described the dangerous threat to Jews today on college campuses.
We heard from Democratic and Republican leaders in the House and Senate who each had a distinct message of support. Their segment concluded with Majority Leader Schumer, Senator Ernst, House Speaker Johnson, and Minority Leader Jeffries all joining hands and loudly proclaiming “We Stand With Israel” to the cheering crowd.
One of the most meaningful messages for me was delivered by former Soviet refusenik Natan Sharansky, who likened this moment to the fall of the Soviet Union and subsequent release of their Jewish prisoners. I attended the rally in December of 1987 where he addressed the masses assembled on the National Mall. It was surreal being there and hearing him on the same stage 36 years later.
But nothing was as painful as hearing the speeches given by the family members of some of the 240 hostages, who flew in to Washington to address the crowd and later meet with elected officials. All of them have their lives on hold as they pray for the safe return of their loved ones. They were clearly moved by the show of support and by the thousands who carried posters with the faces of their children in the crowd.
Achdus
What struck me most about the rally, besides the massive turnout, was the amount of achdus displayed. Every type of Jew across the religious spectrum was represented. I saw men with white shirts and black hats, and men with tattoos and piercings. Women with sheitels, and women with purple hair. From babies to seniors, from nearly every state across the country. Every type of Jew stood united for the purpose of supporting Israel at its time of need. That rarely happens today, and it felt good to put aside all political and religious differences, if only for a few hours.
Many were concerned with the list of speakers and the lack of Orthodox representation. I disagree. It’s almost impossible for such a diverse group to get speakers to please everyone. If an Orthodox rabbi would’ve spoken, then rabbis from other streams in Judaism would have been invited up as well. They struck a balance, both politically (with bipartisan elected officials) and religiously, to avoid division, and by finding the common denominator.
Orthodox Jews were some of the most memorable and talented guests on the stage. The Maccabeats, a YU a cappella group, sang numerous songs. Ishay Ribo had the most meaningful moments, singing Tehillim and saying Shema proudly, with his kippah and tzitzis out.
The crowd of 290,000 live and 250,000 online were treated to a beautiful event on a warm autumn day. It was the largest Jewish gathering in American history, and it sent an important message of unity to President Biden and the rest of the world.
May we all take that message long into the future.
Am Yisrael chai!
