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Shabbat Shalom from BGU President - joining a new club

Dear Friends,

This week, I pause my usual reflections for a moment of deeply personal joy. Yesterday, I joined a new club, one that many of you are already members of: the Grandfather Club.

My daughter-in-law gave birth to a healthy baby boy who, to my amazement, looks eerily like his father did at birth. As a geneticist, I shouldn’t be surprised. But holding this precious baby in my arms reminded me just how powerful the continuity of generations can be. He doesn’t yet have a name (we’ll wait for the bris), but he has already captured my heart.

I was ready to fall in love with him. What I wasn’t ready for was the overwhelming sense of connection to my father, my grandfather, and to generations of Chamovitz men and women before me. This newborn carries with him not only our DNA, but our stories, our hopes, and our dreams.

When my son was born in 1991, I promised him that he would not have to go to war. That we would bring peace and prosperity. That promise, of course, went unfulfilled. So what can I promise this child? That we will achieve "ultimate victory"? That we will eradicate antisemitism? These are dreams, but they are not guarantees.

What I can promise him, and this gives me hope, is that I will not give up. That my son, after more than 350 days in reserves, brought him into the world is an act of defiant optimism. That I can feel this optimism in the same week that BGU buried another student, Alon Farkas z”l, killed in action in Gaza, and on the same day that one of my daughter’s close friends was wounded in battle, is the ultimate expression of being both strong and broken.

I promise this child that I will never stop believing in our capacity for good. And I promise to help build a society that is worthy of him. Institutions like BGU, rooted in resilience, committed to justice, and sustained by hope, are the best tools we have for shaping a better future.

I pray that he will never have to carry a gun. I trust that he will, like his parents, have an infinite capacity for love and fulfillment. And I pledge to fight for a world worthy of my grandson’s innocent potential.

Tonight I will bless him for the first time: May you be blessed as God blessed Efrayim and Menasheh.  May God bless you and keep you. May God cause the spirit to shine upon you and be gracious unto you. May God turn this spirit unto you and grant you peace.

With hope, Shabbat Shalom,
Danny

Dear Friends, This week, I pause my usual reflections for a moment of deeply personal joy. Yesterday, I joined a new club, one that many of you are already members of: the Grandfather Club. My daughter-in-law gave birth to a healthy baby boy who, to my amazement, looks eerily like his father did at birth. As a geneticist, I shouldn’t be surprised. But holding this precious baby in my arms reminded me just how powerful the continuity of generations can be. He doesn’t yet have a name (we’ll wait for the bris), but he has already captured my heart. I was ready to fall in love with him. What I wasn’t ready for was the overwhelming sense of connection to my father, my grandfather, and to generations of Chamovitz men and women before me. This newborn carries with him not only our DNA, but our stories, our hopes, and our dreams. When my son
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