When Dr. Elana Heideman was eight years old, she began writing letters to author Elie Wiesel. It was after she read his book “Night,” which recounts the horrific time he spent as a child in Auschwitz and Buchenwald. She never imagined that one day she would become his protégé — and that she would be the one to organize his annual yahrtzeit in Jerusalem, this year on June 22.

Heideman is a Jewish rights activist, virtual lecturer and motivational speaker. She guides March of the Living trips in Poland for United Nations ambassadors and is an expert in Holocaust and Jewish studies. Born in the U.S., she made Aliyah in 2005, and now lives in Moshav Nes Harim in the Judean Hills outside Jerusalem with her three children.

People familiar with her work and her relationship with Wiesel often ask her what he might have said if he were alive today to witness the events of Oct. 7 and their aftermath.

“I’ll never deign to speak in his voice,” said Heideman. “However, what do I think he would have said? I think that a part of him would have wanted to say, ‘We’ve been shouting this from the rooftops again and again and nobody listens. He said it in 1967, 1973, again and again, that each time a rise in antisemitism happened, with every single war in Israel, it increased the propensity for antisemitism to be allowed under the banner of anti-Zionism.”

Heideman rarely speaks about her relationship with Wiesel, one of the most well-known Holocaust survivors. She’s never been one to namedrop or build her reputation on being “a friend of —,” or in her case, a student of the legendary author and political activist. It’s something she’s always avoided. But now, when asked how the two first met, she shares that it followed years of dreaming of studying with him — a dream that came true when she enrolled at Boston University, where Wiesel was teaching.

 “I went to hear him speak at a public lecture and it was the most profound experience,” she said. “I got the opportunity to ask him a question and as a result of that question, he invited me to do my Ph.D. with him. I laughed, I was like, no way, and he said, ‘Okay, you’ll come back tomorrow.’ I came back the next day, and he said it again, and I laughed. So it was very private and personal. I had known this young Eliezer from ‘Night,’ and here I was sitting with somebody who became the world’s master.”

Heideman said that she felt tremendous honor to be working with the Nobel Peace winner. What she have built since his passing, she said, was her final opportunity to really share with the world what she inherited from him.

“It was a very, very profound experience that I’m honored to carry on. I just had this opportunity to learn with a Tzaddik, to be his protégé. It was a very profound experience that I’m just honored to carry on.”

Her study of antisemitism has enabled her to recognize dangerous patterns repeating themselves — patterns the Jewish community must urgently confront. She warns that extremist movements, from the Nazis to modern-day jihadists, have successfully infiltrated mainstream spaces, especially through social media, by uniting around one idea: blaming the Jews.

“The Nazis could never have imagined this level of success,” she said.

While she acknowledged that it can feel like a lost battle on social media due to the overwhelming volume of anti-Israel content, she emphasized that Jews must remain active — building stronger collaboration between activists and researchers to amplify even the smallest voices.

“The key to effective hasbarah [public diplomacy] is community building,” she said. “Giving people a sense of connection, knowing that they have people they believe in, knowing that there’s somebody for us, a personal friend, and they’re bringing you quality information as opposed to the lies and propaganda that they’re getting. That is where we can make real change.”

Heideman disagrees with the common criticism of Israeli “hasbarah.” She explained that the issue is not with Israel’s messaging itself, but rather with how it is received — or often ignored — by the Jewish Diaspora community. “There is no army among the Jewish world ensuring that Israel’s ‘hasbarah’ is effective,” she said. “Instead of supporting Israel’s efforts, many spend more time criticizing Israel, even while Israel is fighting multiple wars to protect the Jewish people.”

She pointed out that blaming Israel without offering solutions is unproductive. “Snarky videos and humor about Hamas are not a better hasbarah,” she said.

Equally important is uniting efforts and empowering not just high-profile influencers, but also so-called micro-influencers— everyday people with small but loyal followings. In an age of disinformation, people are searching for trusted voices, she said, and it’s up to the Jewish community to become those voices.

Through her platform, Israel Forever, she aims to create a trusted space and build what she calls “virtual citizens” of Israel — connected not just to the nation, but to its destiny.

At one point in the hour-long interview, she warned, “It’s only going to get much worse.” She explained that there is no effective leadership or strategy in place to counter the deep-rooted antisemitic indoctrination already embedded in schools, workplaces, and society at large.

“Let’s say there’s a kid who’s the only Jewish kid in his class,” she said. “We have to think a little bit more realistically about what we can do to protect ourselves, because there’s very little logistical potential for stopping this wave of violence before it will get worse.”

Heideman doesn’t believe that American Jews are prepared to fight the fight that is coming. She urges the community to shift from shock to preparedness. “We have to start realizing that preparation and security are not paranoia.”

While the brutality of the Oct. 7 attacks was horrifying, what shocks her even more is the indifference that followed. “The danger is the indifference — not only from the world toward Jewish suffering, but even from Jews toward other Jews because of differing political opinions,” she said, echoing Wiesel, who often warned against the silence of bystanders.

As she prepares for the upcoming yahrzeit, Heideman reflects on the urgency of preserving Wiesel’s legacy in a world that seems to be forgetting his voice.

“The challenge is how to carry forward Elie’s legacy, how to inherit his message, and how to draw guidance from a figure whose name is increasingly forgotten. We have a responsibility to ensure that the full breadth of his 70 years of voice is not lost to time,” said his student. “It must be honored with the same passion and strength as the voices of the parents and families of hostages, and the survivors of Oct. 7.”

When asked about her most cherished memory of Wiesel, she paused thoughtfully, reflecting on the many moments they shared over the years. Then she said, “Escorting him arm-in-arm to and from class for six years every week and hearing his voice, and I just hope I can carry that on.”

The yahrzeit for Elie Wiesel will include survivors of Oct. 7 and a Holocaust survivor. The memorial service will take place in Jerusalem on June 22, with plans to include Oct. 7 survivors in the service.

To participate in the event, click here: https://israelforever.org/events/intersection-memory-pain-purpose-october-7-elie-wiesel/

On Oct. 26, 2024, Jonathan Hirsch went to Jerusalem Coffee House in Oakland, California to get a latte for his wife. He was wearing a vintage baseball cap with a Star of David on it. Shortly after, as he and his five-year-old son were playing chess while waiting for the order, the shop’s co-owner, Abdulrahim Harara, demanded to know: “Are you a Zionist?”

It was pretty clear that if the answer had been “yes,” Hirsch would have been asked to leave. But nonetheless, when the Jewish man declined to answer, Harara declared that his hat was “violent” and asked him to leave. He then proceeded to call the police to help him kick out the unwelcome Jew from his coffee shop and didn’t forget to yell after Hirsch’s little boy, “Your dad’s a b—.”

The female police officer who was called to the scene told Hirsch that Harara had the right to refuse service based on religion or sexual orientation.

Fast forward to June 9, 2025. The Justice Department announced that it would file a lawsuit against Harara and Native Grounds LLC, the owners of the Jerusalem Coffee House. According to the lawsuit, the defendants discriminated against Jewish customers. Hirsch wasn’t the only Jew who wasn’t welcomed at the place. The female officer was wrong, of course.

“It is illegal, intolerable, and reprehensible for any American business open to the public to refuse to serve Jewish customers,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “Through our vigorous enforcement of Title II of the Civil Rights Act and other laws prohibiting race and religious discrimination, the Justice Department is committed to combatting antisemitism and discrimination and protecting the civil rights of all Americans.”

Hirsch himself heard the news like everyone else — from the news. In a phone conversation with The Journal from his home in Oakland, he said he was shocked by the lack of reaction from the Oakland community to the incident. “The reaction was like, ‘oh, this is a political disagreement,’ but I didn’t disagree with anyone. The city didn’t respond, the state didn’t respond. There were very nice quotes by (Sen.) Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and the governor’s office, but the quotes didn’t do anything.”

Hirsch grew up in Los Angeles and moved to Oakland about four years ago. “My wife and I lived in a lot of places and chose to raise a family in Oakland because we felt it’s an accepting place,” he said. “We knew that there is a longstanding Jewish community here that has great relations with the rest of the community.”

According to Hirsch, there wasn’t much of a response from Oakland. The Jewish community was supportive, but outside of that, not much was said locally. Some wonder what the reaction would have been if it were the other way around — if a Muslim had been refused service by a Jewish store owner just for wearing a keffiyeh. There’s a good chance people wouldn’t have stood quietly and kept mum about it.

Hirsch, as it happened, wasn’t the only victim of harassment by Jerusalem Coffee House. In another incident, an employee told a Jewish customer wearing a baseball cap with a Star of David: “You’re the guy with the hat. You’re the Jew. You’re the Zionist. We don’t want you in our coffee shop. Get out.”

Needless to say, none of these Jewish customers said anything about their political views to Harara or anyone else at the coffee house.

The lawsuit also alleges that on the one-year anniversary of the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas terrorist attacks on Israel, the Jerusalem Coffee House announced two new drinks: “Iced In Tea Fada,” an apparent reference to “intifada,” and “Sweet Sinwar,” an apparent reference to Yahya Sinwar, the former leader of Hamas who orchestrated the attacks on Israel. The lawsuit further alleges that the coffee house’s exterior side wall displays inverted red triangles, a symbol of violence against Jews that has been spray-painted on Jewish homes and synagogues in anti-Semitic attacks.

While talking with Hirsch, he sounded concerned but also relieved that the U.S. Justice Department has taken this case seriously.

“I’m the guy who was denied a cup of coffee. It’s not a slippery slope anymore. There are two steps from me to the two poor people in front of the museum,” said Hirsch, referencing the Israeli embassy employees, Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim, who were shot to death on May 21 in Washington, D.C.

These incidents explain why many Jews believe they can’t identify as one in public without being rendered a political entity and being judged and attacked based solely on their religious affiliation. But Hirsch sees the good that came out of his experience.

“I feel so much closer with so many Jews who came up to me on the street or in the shul. It means a lot to me. The whole Jewish community has been amazing.”

Last Thursday night in Tel Aviv, Josh Goldberg was partying on a rooftop bar, celebrating his friend turning 31-years-old at midnight.

But around 3 a.m. on Friday morning, the celebration came to abrupt halt.

“We got a red alert while on the rooftop,” Goldberg said.

After finding shelter in the bunker of a nearby corporate office building, Goldberg and his friends furiously scanned their phones to figure out what was happening. The headlines explained Israel had struck Iran and was expecting Iran to retaliate.

The days that followed saw Goldberg, a former Angeleno and current cantor at a Reform congregation in Tennessee, hurrying in and out of safe rooms in Tel Aviv as a barrage of missiles rained down on Israel, which he was visiting as part of a Birthright Israel Volunteer program.

The experience culminated with an unexpected departure out of Israel on June 17.

In what’s being described as a “remarkable and unprecedented emergency operation,” Birthright Israel chartered a luxury Israeli cruise ship that evacuated more than 1,500 program participants, including Goldberg, from Israel to Cyprus, on Tuesday.

The ship, operated by Mano Maritime, a Haifa-based company that offers holiday cruises, departed from Israel’s Ashdod port in Israel and set sail to Larnaca, Cyprus—an approximately 13-hour voyage that was “conducted under the close protection of the Israeli Navy, which escorted the vessel across the Mediterranean to ensure the participants’ safety amid ongoing regional tensions,” according to a Birthright Israel statement.

Birthright Israel secured the cruise ship as part of a “strategic effort to begin repatriating nearly 2,800 international participants—the majority of whom are young adults from the United States—who have been stranded in Israel due to the escalating conflict with Iran,” the organization said.

Priority was given to those who were nearing the end of their 10-day Birthright trip.

Upon arrival in Cyprus, the participants were being flown to Tampa, Florida on four wide-body planes chartered by the State of Florida in an effort being led by Florida Governor Ron Desantis.

From there, the participants will continue to their respective hometowns, Birthright’s statement said.

Birthright fully covered all transportation costs, including sea and air travel.

Goldberg, a cantor at Congregation Micah in Nashville, Tennessee, was among those onboard the ship. At the time of Israel’s attack on Iran, the Jewish musician was in Israel for a Birthright Israel Volunteer program held in partnership with tour provider Israel Outdoors.

He spoke with me via email as he prepared to board the cruise ship that would begin his journey back to Nashville.

Goldberg described the several preceding days as both harrowing and unforgettable, an experience that affirmed his support for Israel in the face of neighbors that would like to see the world’s only Jewish state eradicated.

“We came to Israel to volunteer, little did we know we were volunteering to witness an historic turning point in the war,” Goldberg said. “Despite how terrifying it was to be under attack from hundreds of rockets, drones, and ballistic missiles from both Iran and Yemen during what we expected to be a routine trip, nobody in our cohort was upset or remorseful about coming—rather we are all filled with pride for our homeland having the courage to stand up to the Iranian regime.”

At the time of Israel’s attack on Iran, Goldberg was staying at a youth hostel in Tel Aviv while spending his days volunteering at sites in Israel’s south, including at an agriculture center in Netivot, an Israeli village just a short drive from Gaza. There, he and his fellow volunteers spent hours “cutting twine used to grow cucumbers,” Goldberg explains on an online blog published on his synagogue’s website, which documents his time in Israel.

Goldberg’s group also toured sites attacked by Hamas on Oct. 7, including Sderot, Kibbutz Re’im and the Nova music festival site.

Following Israel’s attack on Iran, Goldberg and his friends spent a lot of their waking hours in bomb shelters. On Friday night, after a Kabbalat Shabbat service in their Tel Aviv youth hostel, an alert from Israel’s Home Front Command sent Goldberg and the 200 other hostel guests hurrying to the hostel’s safe rooms. More missile barrages occurred throughout the night.

Saturday, he said, was a relatively quiet day.

On Sunday, Birthright moved all its trip participants to the Royal Hotel in Ein Bokek, a seaside resort on the Dead Sea. The thinking was this was a more secure location for the trip participants, Goldberg said.

“Birthright felt this would be a safer and more remote location to keep us all together,” he said. “We still had rocket alerts while we were there, but significantly less firepower was directed to the area than in Tel Aviv where many rockets sadly made contact.”

Born and raised in Dallas, Goldberg moved to Los Angeles to study music at USC before completing a Master of Sacred Music and receiving cantor ordination from Academy of Jewish Religion, CA. While in Los Angeles, he served as a cantorial intern at Temple Akiba and Stephen Wise Temple. At Congregation Micah, a Reform community in Nashville, he teaches religious school and bar and bat mitzvah students, among other duties. He’s released four full-length albums of Jewish music.