Chabad of South Hills welcomes young Israelis for evening of bridge building and support

After visiting northern and southern California, eastern Pennsylvania, Connecticut, New York, Texas and Massachusetts, two Israelis intent on promoting Israel post-Oct. 7 arrived in Upper St. Clair. Speaking before 25 individuals in a private residence on Sept. 24, Moria Azulay and Or Barak implored attendees to follow facts and build bridges.

The event was sponsored by Chabad of the South Hills.

There’s considerable “disinformation and misinformation” about Oct. 7, Azulay, 22, said. “A lot of people have no idea what truly happened on that day, the murder and the rape and the videos.”

Despite a multitude of clips and photos taken by Hamas terrorists, “people don’t want to listen,” which poses a sizable challenge to Israel, Barak, 25, said. “Terrorism seeks to sow chaos and devastation across the world, and it’s our collective duty to stand against it.”

For nearly three months, Barak and Azulay have traversed the U.S. speaking about Israel’s “struggle and conflict.”

The Israel-Hamas war, Barak said, is “not a war against Arabs, not a war against Muslims; it’s a war against terror.”

The responsibility of battle falls on everyone, he said. “The most important thing for us as a community is to stay together, because we’re nothing — nothing — without each other.”

Azulay and Barak told the Chronicle that they are not affiliated with any speaking groups or organizations, and that they decided months ago, after serving in the IDF, to travel the U.S., foot the costs (apart from flights, which host communities front) and speak to anyone who would listen.

The experience hasn’t always been pleasant.

Since arriving in the U.S., Barak said that many people have told him “Israel is committing a genocide.” They have shouted “Free Palestine” and “Intifada revolution,” which, he said, “is a call to massacre the Jewish people.”

The verbal attacks “really get on my nerves, but you cannot fight back ignorance by screaming,” Barak continued. “We need to be smarter.”

For both Barak and Azulay, that means coming together.

Although they witnessed the most horrific event in the state of Israel’s history, “no matter what happened to us, we still keep moving, and we still keep taking actions,” Azulay said. “That’s why I always say that maybe we are victims of terror, but we’re not victims in our mindset.”

Or Barak and Moriah Azulay join members of the Rosenblum family during a Chabad of South Hills event on Sept. 24. (Photo by Adam Reinherz)

The speakers implored listeners to continue promoting Israel by volunteering, speaking with others or contributing to worthy causes.

As for themselves, apart from visiting numerous communities in the U.S., Barak and Azulay have adopted their own projects. Barak, an aspiring filmmaker, documented his journey through stills and clips and hopes to compile and disseminate the footage.

“Capturing the reality — as it is — is the most important thing to do right now,” he said.

Before arriving in the U.S., Azulay oversaw the completion of a Torah scroll after Oct. 7.

Each letter was penned by “soldiers from the field,” she said. “We went to all the bases from Gaza and the north of Israel, and we let every soldier write a letter until we finished the entire Torah scroll.”

Seeing individuals, both secular and religious, participate in the project was humbling and inspiring, she said.

The Torah currently is in Harish, a city in northern Israel.

Azaluy and Barak said they have more places to go before returning to Israel. After leaving Pittsburgh, the Israelis are headed to New York for a conversation with 30 Christian clergy members. It will be a new experience, as their audiences have been largely Jewish, Azulay said, but regardless of the background of those in attendance, the purpose is to build bridges.

“It’s really hard to make conversation with someone who’s not supporting you and [accusing] you of genocide,” she said.

Along with broadening their demographic, Azulay and Barak hope to expand their remarks to include “critical thinking panels” to teach people “how to really ask questions, how to really dig and understand what’s real and what’s not — not just about Israel, but about everything,” she continued. “There’s a lot of conflict all over the world. We will show them the genocide in Sudan, the genocide in other places, the real genocide, and we will show them the differences and the similarity. We will just give them the proof and the facts and maybe we can build something out of that.”

It’s a lofty goal, but worthwhile, attendees of the program told the Chronicle.

“Out of trauma it’s important to be together, have a strong Jewish identity, and support one another,” Upper St. Clair resident Susan Julian said. “We need to put that out there, to the rest of the world, that we are going to be here and we are going to survive.”

Jennifer Bordenstein, also of Upper St. Clair, agreed and said the program was a “really good reminder that we need to be together.”

Batya Rosenblum, co-Director of Chabad of the South Hills, described the Israelis’ message as timely.

“We stand right here, a week before Rosh Hashanah,” she said. “And we are going to hopefully walk out of here with courage, with strength, with infused enthusiasm.” PJC

Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.