A veteran Israeli diplomat, Shahar Azani noticed a strange phenomenon in the wake of Oct. 7: how do you answer the seemingly simple greeting of “how are you?”
“Can we really ask, and how do we answer that?” Azani said. “And the way we answer that, how should we consider ourselves when we look around us and we see so much heroism, but pain and suffering and people who got kidnapped and their families and fallen soldiers and heroes? How are we? That’s a good question.”
Azani, who served 16 years in Israel’s Foreign Ministry and was the former senior vice president of the Jewish Broadcasting Service, will be the featured speaker at the Jewish National Fund USA Breakfast for Israel in the Twin Cities on May 22 in Hopkins. The breakfast starts at 8 a.m. and the location will be provided after registration. Pre-registration is required.
Azani said he’s done about 20 events for JNF USA and others since Oct. 7, from sitting with a student who has reached out for support, to larger speaking engagements.
“We want to be there for everyone,” he said. “Because [whether] we talk to students or to [the broader] community, there is a great sense of the need to be together.”
Jason Rose, the Midwest director for JNF USA, said the idea behind the breakfast is to bring a speaker who gives an inspirational, uplifting message. Sometimes those speakers are connected to JNF projects in Israel, other times it’s to offer a broader perspective on what’s happening in Israel.
“We want to give a positive, pro-Israel opportunity for people to come together,” he said. “My hope is that someone can walk away hearing an inspirational, inspirational, Zionist message and learn more about the mission and work of JNF-USA.”
Azani said that talking with students is incredibly fulfilling.
“You see Jewish kids who, prior to Oct. 7, were Jew-ish, and suddenly, once they are being [called] ‘kike’ on campus, or they come into close contact with their identity, they even embrace it even more,” he said. “Their level of involvement, of care, of passion; I see great future for our community and for the State of Israel. That’s the baggage I come to the JNF event with.”
Azani said that Jews shouldn’t have to hide their Zionism in the face of anti-Zionist protestors.
“[Their] objection is to our very existence, and that, to me, is why we need to carry it with pride,” he said.
