Paramount+ began streaming this week a documentary in which more than a dozen survivors of the Nova Music Festival massacre on Oct. 7 share their stories about how they managed to survive the deadly Hamas terrorist attack.

The Paramount+ Original documentary “We Will Dance Again” features interviews with various survivors of the Hamas massacre, many of whom recorded their experiences on their cell phones as the terrorist attack unfolded around them in Re’im, near Israel’s border with the Gaza Strip. They talk about the murder and abduction that took place that day, hiding for their lives as terrorists murdered people around them, their friends who were killed and abducted in the attack, and what life is like now after the traumatic experience.

One survivor tells the camera, “I’m never going to be the person that I was before the seventh of October.” Another survivor said, “Every single person that I lost on that day would have made the hell out of this life and for them, I need to continue living.”

The documentary also includes graphically violent footage by Hamas-led terrorists during the attack. The film’s director Yariv Mozer told The Hollywood Reporter such graphic videos were featured in the documentary “to be able to show how enormous the scale of this attack was and the brutality of these atrocities against people who couldn’t defend themselves.” The film’s producer, Susan Zirinsky – who is the former president of CBS News and longtime executive producer of its news magazine 48 Hours – told the publication that “We Will Dance Again” is “not a political film,” just “a record of history.”

During their rampage across southern Israel on Oct. 7, Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists murdered 1,200 people and took over 250 hostages. At the Nova Festival alone, nearly 400 people were killed and approximately 40 others kidnapped.

“We Will Dance Again” is streaming on Paramount+ exclusively. Watch the trailer below.



The post Paramount + Streams Oct. 7 Documentary Featuring Survivors of Hamas Attack at Nova Music Festival first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

New York — the state that boasts the largest Jewish population in the United States — is also home to some of the most antisemitic universities in the country.

Published earlier this year, the Anti-Defamation League’s (ADL)  “Campus Antisemitism Report Card” revealed that of the 14 New York-based schools listed, none had received an “A” rating in their ability to provide a safe environment for Jewish students.

In fact, several State University of New York (SUNY’) institutions were marked an “F’,” for failing to blunt the rise of antisemitic activity. Other schools, such as Columbia University and Cornell University, inched towards a passing grade and were categorized as a “D” rated school.

In recent years, the City University of New York (CUNY) has made headlines for its role as academia’s core of anti-Jewish hate.

CUNY professor and department chair Jeffrey Lax noted last year that for the first time, the University will not have Jewish representation among its senior leadership team.

Now, the antisemites embedded among CUNY’s cadre of employees and enrollees are intensifying their efforts to intimidate Jewish students.

For example, earlier this month, a gathering from the school’s Hillel organization was mocked, bullied, and chased into a kosher deli, as masked anti-Israel agitators hurled antisemitic epithets and blocked the restaurant entrance.

That incident is the latest in what amounts to a lengthy and alarming catalog of antisemitic episodes at CUNY.

To quell concerns, New York Governor Kathy Hochul (D) commissioned a review of “Antisemitism and Antidiscrimination” policies at the University, with the results of the evaluation released last week.

While acknowledging the rise of Jew-hatred at CUNY, the policy suggestions detailed in the report are flawed and filled with progressive undertones, which include providing mandatory training for campus chief diversity officers.

Most troubling, the independent investigation, conducted by ex-New York State Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman, concludes that CUNY need not formally embrace and specify “a definition of antisemitism, let alone any specific definition of antisemitism, in order to ensure that it provides its community with an environment safe from antisemitism and discrimination.”

Expanding on the report’s suggestions, Gov. Hochul recommends using the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) Working Definition of Antisemitism as merely a “tool” when investigating anti-Jewish incidents on campus.

The policy proposals set forth by Judge Lippman and sanctioned by Gov. Hochul convey an attempt to disentangle CUNY from its eroding reputation as a radical center of antisemitic activity. But their unwillingness to clearly define antisemitism grants left-wing “intellectuals,” which — in CUNY’s case — consists of students and professors, the space to collaborate and escalate their intimidation of Jews while rebranding New York’s universities as major theaters of antisemitism.

One of New York’s lone Democratic Congressmen inclined to advocate on behalf of CUNY’s Jewish students is Ritchie Torres, who, in a post last week, correctly condemned CUNY officials for telling Jewish students not to hold upcoming Rosh Hashanah celebrations at the school.

While pressure placed by the lawmaker ultimately led CUNY’s Baruch College to put out a statement claiming that the allegations were false, the episode underscores the inclination of administrators to align with terrorist sympathizers who continue to rise in the school’s professional and student ranks.

And the leadership at New York-based schools such as CUNY, Columbia, and Cornell do not punish Jew-hating perpetrators when there’s little impetus from state executives directing them to do so.

Among the pro-Hamas protestors (many of whom advocate for a genocide of Israelis and Zionists), many wear masks and have their identities concealed when harassing or assaulting Jewish students.

Over the summer, New York Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman signed a law making it illegal for anyone over the age of 16 to wear a mask or face covering, with exceptions outlined for health or religious reasons. Unsurprisingly, the Republican-led County was listed as “America’s Safest County” in a US News and World Report ranking published last month.

For her part, Governor Hochul has softened her initial lackluster support for a partial mask ban, and currently seems settled on the position that criminals committing crimes while masked should simply face stiffer penalties.

Furthermore, the absence of a severe response to antisemitism at New York’s schools extends beyond the aesthetic, with Governor Hochul, to date, also opposing levying any financial penalties on the offending institutions.

Cornell University’s Rusell Rickford took a “voluntary leave” of absence last year after a video surfaced in which he proclaimed that the October 7 massacre in Israel was “exhilarating” and “energizing.”

Despite his odious and completely unacceptable comments, Rickford is now back teaching at the school. The Ivy League institution receives $127 million from the state of New York to help fund the four SUNY schools it operates, according to an analysis conducted by The New York Post.

If Rickford had made those comments about any other group, he clearly would have been fired, and never allowed to work in the state again.

Columbia University, an epicenter of antisemitic activism, is also gifted millions of dollars in New York state and city grants. Still, Governor Hochul, along with other liberal policymakers, has shied away from threatening to withhold financial assistance and use it as leverage against schools plagued by antisemitic violence.

It has to be mentioned that the top 10 US campuses with the highest incidents of anti-Israel activism are in states run by a Democratic governor. Moreover, the FBI’s newly released 2023 Hate Crimes Statistics revealed that American Jews are the most targeted of any religious group, with hate crimes against Jews reaching the highest level “ever recorded by the FBI since it began collecting data in 1991.”

It’s time for New York state officials to use their executive powers and reorient New York’s academic establishments to places committed to upholding safety and civic dialogue.

As home to the highest population of Jews in America, New York’s higher education institutions should be beacons in leading the fight against antisemitism, rather than acting as the gravitational pull towards its growth.

Irit Tratt is an independent writer residing in New York.

The post Fighting Antisemitism on New York Campuses Requires Sound Policies, Not Empty Platitudes first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

In 1966, Richard Rubenstein, a theologian grappling with the existential aftermath of the Holocaust, shocked the Jewish world with his groundbreaking work, After Auschwitz. Casting the Holocaust as an anomaly that defied religious faith, Rubenstein challenged the very foundation of traditional Jewish belief, declaring that “God is dead.”

This provocative notion was a radical reinterpretation of the 19th-century philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche’s declaration that “God is dead,” a statement Nietzsche used to express the collapse of traditional values and the erosion of absolute moral certainties in the modern world, resulting from an unprecedented crisis of faith.

For Rubenstein, however, the overwhelming horrors and brutality of the Holocaust — where six million Jews, including one million children, were brutally murdered — made it impossible to believe in an all-powerful, benevolent God who intervenes in history.

Rubenstein argued that if God truly controlled the course of human events, then He must have willed the atrocities of the Holocaust — a concept Rubenstein found morally repugnant. In confronting this terrifying possibility, Rubenstein aimed to expose what he saw as the hidden, darker implications of classical Jewish theology. He believed he was stripping away comforting illusions and forcing a confrontation with the unsettling truth that, at best, God is not as we have traditionally understood Him to be.

Although, despite his radical rejection of the traditional God of history, Rubenstein, a paradoxical figure in post-Holocaust theology, never entirely abandoned the concept of the divine. He continued to wrestle with a profound sense of loss as he searched for meaning in the very mystery he had declared dead.

One traditional theologian who challenged Rubenstein’s view was Rabbi Yitzchak Hutner, a leading Orthodox thinker, who offered an entirely different perspective. Rabbi Hutner acknowledged the profound mystery of the Holocaust but insisted that it was unequivocally part of the divine plan, which we, as limited human beings, cannot fully grasp.

Rabbi Hutner spoke of the Holocaust as a form of Chevlei Mashiach — the birth pangs of the Messiah — emphasizing that Jewish suffering has always preceded periods of redemption. For him, the Holocaust was a call for Jews to deepen their faith and commitment to the Torah, even when confronted with such overwhelming tragedy, in the belief that “in the concealment itself lies the pathway to redemption.”

This contrast between Rubenstein’s and Rabbi Hutner’s approaches to the Holocaust highlights the profound tension between what is hidden and what is revealed — a theme central to Parshat Nitzavim, where Moses declares, “The hidden things (nistarot) belong to God, but the revealed (niglot) things belong to us and to our children forever” (Deut. 29:28).

This critically important statement of faith underscores the duality that defines our relationship with the divine: certain aspects of God’s will and the workings of the universe remain concealed, always beyond human comprehension, while others are revealed to us, guiding our actions and responsibilities.

This tension between the hidden and the revealed becomes even more complex when we consider that what we think of as hidden may one day be revealed, and what we perceive as revealed may ultimately prove to be beyond our understanding — hidden in a more profound sense.

In the unfolding of history, certain events or truths that seem clear and understood at one moment can later become obscured by new revelations or more profound mysteries. Conversely, the hidden may reveal itself suddenly — and when that rock is lifted, what we find underneath may shock us to the core.

This dynamic has been playing out in stark relief over the past year as we consider the events of October 7th and what has happened since. One horrific day and its aftermath have brought to light the deeply entrenched hatred against Jews and Israel that was somehow previously hidden from — or ignored by — much of the world. We simply did not know the breadth and depth of Jew hatred, and now we know.

At the same time, the full extent of how the events of that terrible day came to pass and the forces at play that allowed it to happen remain shrouded in mystery, leaving us grappling with the limits of our understanding as we try to make sense of what has been revealed and what remains concealed.

Some might react to the revelations of deep-seated animosity and antipathy towards Jews and Israel, particularly by those we thought to be considered and intelligent, in much the same way Rubenstein responded to the horrors of the Holocaust — with a profound sense of despair and disillusionment.

When the spotlight catches these dreadful sentiments and their cheerleaders, it is easy to feel overwhelmed, as if the very foundations of our moral understanding have been shaken. We could succumb to the darkness of these revelations, questioning the trust and values we once held dear.

Or, we could take a different approach and say that God has done us a great favor by arming us with previously hidden information that we now need to effectively navigate the complexities of our world. Though painful and disturbing, this knowledge is crucial if we are to find a path forward. The nistarot have evolved into niglot, and can serve as a guiding light, helping us to better understand the challenges we face so that we respond with greater clarity and purpose.

Most importantly, in the face of these revelations, we must not retreat into despair, but rather, we must rise to the challenge that these newfound niglot present. The exposure of hitherto hidden hatred and animosity is both a warning and a call to action. It reminds us that while nistarot belong to God and may remain beyond our grasp, niglot are ours, and we must confront and address them.

Let us thank God that we have been given the clarity to see the world as it truly is, without the comforting illusions that once shielded us from harsh realities. This clarity, painful as it may be, should not be seen as a burden—but rather as a source of empowerment, equipping us to act with purpose and determination. It demands that we respond—not with fear, but with faith; not with resignation, but with resolve.

As we move forward, guided by what has been revealed to us over the past few months, let us deepen our commitment to our values, strengthen our communities and Jewish identity like never before, and work untiringly to ensure that the lessons of the past and the truths of the present propel us towards a future that is better for us all.

In this way, we will transform the darkness of recent revelations into a beacon of hope, ensuring that the path we forge for ourselves is illuminated by truth, faith, and a commitment to God’s purpose that still guides us — even through the most difficult of times. God is not dead. He is very much alive.

The author is a rabbi in Beverly Hills, California. 

The post This Year Proves That God Exists Even in the Darkest of Times first appeared on Algemeiner.com.