My father was a child in the Budapest ghetto in the basement.

And, you know, my father had this bermitsvah in the ghetto.

His mother called him and she said, you don't remember this, but today's your bermitsva.

Dad is not going to come because my grandfather was murdered in the Mounthaus and concentration camp.

And she said, I cannot bake a cake. They lived out of

the mostly the meat of dead horses they found on the street. And she said, there's only one thing I can

do. And she pulls out a very small bottle of Chanel 5, which is the perfume, elegant ladies used to

use. And she broke it on the floor.

And for a second there, there was in the basement

the smell of flowers and spring.

And she said, at least it's not gonna stink

in my son's pomitzv.

So I'm looking at my daughter and I'm telling myself, now what? My life is just this road between

those two basements. And ever since this morning, my only goal is to get out of the basement.

Emotionally, spiritually, this is the society we wanted to build in this country is the society that says no to living in

basements.

It's 12.30 p.m. on Sunday, March 9 here in New York City. It is 6.30 p.m. on Sunday, March 9th here in New York City. It is 6.30 p.m. on Sunday, March 9th in Israel.

In the immediate aftermath of October 7th, 2020, many Israelis expected a political reckoning for the failures of its government going back a number of years, but especially on October 7,

the greatest catastrophe in Israeli history. For the past 17 months, political polls in Israel have

consistently shown that a majority of Israelis believe that the Netanyahu-led government

should take responsibility for those failures.

And yet, despite all of that, no strong alternative to Natanyahu or the political right for that matter has emerged from that opposition.

...