Dirshu’s Nasi, Rav Dovid Hofstedter Meets With Senior Trump Administration Officials at State Dept Regarding Rampant Antisemitism

By Chaim Gold

“I would say it is absolutely critical that you not only call or write to your congressman, but that you actually come down to his office and meet with him or one of the leading members of his staff and express your feelings about the rise in antisemitism. Emails and phone calls are very good but even if it might cost resources, the fact that you’re taking the time to come to Washington DC to visit your member of Congress or a member on his team to be able to run these issues has an impact unlike any other aspect of communication.”

Those were the words of Ambassador Mark Walker, Principal Advisor on Global Religious Freedom at the U.S. State Department, in a fascinating conversation with Rav Dovid Hofstedter, Nasi of Dirshu, held not long before Pesach.

Rav Hofstedter’s visit to Capitol Hill in Washington, which is just one aspect of the shtadlanus that Rav Hofstedter and Dirshu has been doing for Klal Yisrael, included a comprehensive and productive meeting with Ambassador Walker. The primary focus of their meeting was the rising climate of antisemitism and tolerance for Jew hatred that is evident in the United States and in many other places throughout the world.

During the course of his visit to Washington, Rav Hofstedter met with prominent legislators such as House Majority  Leader, Rep. Steve Scalise, a very important representative who was very receptive to the concerns of the Jewish people as presented by Rav Hofstedter. Rav Hofstedter also met with Rep. Randy Fine of Florida, a rising star in the Republican party, Rep. August Pfluger (R-TX), Chairman of the Republican Study Committee (RSC) — one of the largest conservative caucuses in Congress and also Chairman of the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Counterterrorism and Intelligence.

His visit concluded with a meeting at the office of Senator James Langford of Oklahoma, Chairman of the Subcommittee on Border Management, Federal Workforce, and Regulatory Affairs.

“A Ticking Time Bomb” – a Firsthand Report

What was the purpose of Rav Hofstedter’s visit to Washington? Dirshu is of course primarily a global Torah organization with offices and programs all over the world in tens of cities and on six continents. As an organization with a global footprint, Dirshu has seen and heard firsthand reports from its tens of thousands of lomdim all over the world about the deeply concerning uptick in antisemitism in their respective communities. 

Indeed, antisemitism has gone mainstream. It is no longer necessary to hide one’s antisemitism. Comments that just a few years ago could have ended one’s career are now considered normal in America. In Canada, Europe and Australia, it is even worse!

Rav Hofstedter, who is both a son and son-in-law of Holocaust survivors, is especially sensitive to this terrible scourge of antisemitic resurgence.

He came to Washington baring a painstakingly compiled special report on antisemitism entitled “A Ticking Time Bomb.”

It was a comprehensive report from the field based on the research that Dirshu has done from its worldwide constituency. Rav Hofstedter felt that the voices of Yidden who are out there in centers of Jewish life around the world were not being heard. He felt that b’makom she’ein ish, Dirshu must come forth and raise the alarm.

The report, given to Ambassador Walker who would be sharing it with secretary of State Rubio and many others on Capitol Hill, offers firsthand testimony and statistics about the uptick in rabidly antisemitic conduct, attacks etc. in North America, Europe, Canada, Australia and South Africa.

Ambassador Walker Reaches Out To the Frum Community

The meeting that Rav Hofstedter had with Ambassador Walker was particularly fruitful and instructive. There seemed to be great chemistry between Rav Dovid and the ambassador and it was clear that the ambassador, himself a former congressman from South Carolina who sat on the influential foreign affairs committee, and has the ear of Secretary of State Rubio and President Trump, is determined to use every lever of American power at his disposal to tackle the issue of antisemitism both in America and worldwide.

In fact, Ambassador Walker clearly feels a kinship with the frum community and the Torah community. He recently attended the Dirshu Kinnus Olam HaTorah where he addressed the Melava Malka and participated in a panel regarding antisemitism. He also visited Eretz Yisrael a few months ago accompanied by Rav Hofstedter where he had a private meeting with Rav Moshe Hillel Hirsch, Rosh Yeshiva of Slabodka.

At the most recent pre-Pesach meeting between Rav Hofstedter and Ambassador Walker, held in the Grand Lobby of the United States State Department, where flags of virtually every country in the world are displayed, one couldn’t but feel the historic nature of what was happening. Here, in the very State Department where eighty years ago, the many antisemitic civil servants did everything in their power to suppress and downplay the news of the extermination of the Jewish people while frustrating attempts at intervention, a meeting was taking place with a sympathetic ambassador who is working for an administration that deeply cares about antisemitism and wants to help.

“Does the Leadership Really Comprehend the Gravity of the Situation?”

Rav Hofstedter asked the ambassador, “How do we address the global rise in antisemitism and attacks against Jews? It seems to be an epidemic, it seems to be a plague, and it seems to be increasing. I want to ask you – do you feel that the leadership really comprehends the gravity of this situation?”

Ambassador Walker responded, “Two answers come to mind. The first answer regarding how to address it, is boldly!
“The root of this antisemitism is very spiritual in its foundation, and I think you cannot exhibit timidity when you’re dealing with this kind of cancer, so it very much needs to be pushed back in a very bold, loud manner.

“Any kind of antisemitic behavior needs to be addressed by our leadership, and we have some great leaders including Secretary Rubio and others who have taken strong positions on this. Our ambassador from America to Israel, my good friend Ambassador Mike Huckabee, is not bashful at being bold and calling this out for what it is.

“The second thing I would say beyond just being bold is that we have to work together collectively. When lawmakers and government are united in pushing back on this, whether it’s in Europe, whether it’s in our country, I think it can have a much greater effect.”

Ambassador Walker’s Message to the Jewish People

Rav Hofstedter also related a personal story to the ambassador, “You know when I was a kid, I was very lucky to have one grandparent, my grandfather. My wife has no grandparents. My mother lost both parents and my father lost his mother in the Holocaust, but I had a grandfather. Many times, on the Sabbath we would go visit him and we would talk. I remember he many times opened his heart and with such acute pain, he told me that he could not understand, ‘What was the world doing, what were the Jews in America doing when six million of their brethren were being exterminated, murdered in cold blood. Were they going to the ball game?’”

Ambassador Walker responded, “That is exactly why we must respond to this behavior and stand up to this. Iran’s motto for the last few years has been death to Israel, death to America and we pay attention to those things and now together with Israel we are removing that threat.” Rav Hofstedter replied, “So the message to the Jewish people is don’t be in a position where you are going to have to explain to your grandchildren or great grandchildren why you didn’t do anything when you could have. We must be proactive. You can pay a small price now or a greater price later…”