The Great Conversations Series Continues With Naftali Bennett

On Tuesday Nov. 10, the Heights Lounge was yet again packed with students and faculty for the second installment of YU’s Great Conversations Series. The room was set up with dozens of rows of blue folding chairs and two gray armchairs at the front platform where President Ari Berman and former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett sat. 

Vice Provost and Director of the Sacks-Herenstein Center, Erica Brown, started the evening by inviting Bennett to say the Misheberach l’Chayalim, the prayer for soldiers’ safety. Brown then shared a teaching from Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, in commemoration of his fifth yahrzeit. The evening also included a book giveaway of 300 copies of Rabbi Sacks’s most recent book “The Eternal Conversation,” a compilation of his writings and ideas. 

Brown then introduced Berman and Bennett, following which Berman asked his first question of the night: “What is it like to sit in the prime minister’s seat?” Bennett responded by describing the weight he felt of decision-making on behalf of the country. “In Israel, the margin of error does not exist because we are always under existential threat,” Bennett told the crowd. For Bennett, “Shabbat is the biggest gift in the world.” In regards to dealing with the pressure of his job, it is keeping shabbat and being with his family that grounds him. 

Throughout the evening, Berman asked Bennett a handful of questions about his experience in office. Bennett, gunning for another shot at prime minister, didn’t speak to his specific political stances or policies. Rather, he emphasized broader values, such as the importance of action. For Bennett, looking back at Jewish history shows that “we don’t have an insurance policy that everything will be fine.” Instead, it is up to individuals to put in the work and effect change. 

Berman and Bennett also spoke about antisemitism on campus and around the world. Bennett drew a distinction between American Jewry when he was growing up versus now. “By and large, American Jews felt good,” Bennett said. “Now there is real, full-fledged antisemitism.” He emphasized the need for people to stand up and fight back, to never be silent, “even if it’s not in vogue to support Israel.”

In one particularly impassioned moment, Berman told Bennett and the crowd that “If there was a reason for Yeshiva University to exist in New York it is for right now … each of these students are ambassadors for Israel.” 

Bennett views the prime minister as the leader of all Israelis and the Jewish people in total. He criticized the “myopic view” of some ministers and government officials who don’t consider the ramifications of their choices across diaspora Jewry. Bennett said, “When a particular Israeli minister does stupid things, so the stupidity reverberates across the world.” 

There were several moments of laughter from the crowd during Bennett and Berman’s conversation, such as when Bennett called Teaneck an extraterritorial place and jokingly encouraged Berman to explain the political landscape in Israel to him. 

Following Berman’s questions, there were four questions from students in the audience. 

“Prime Minister Bennett presented a vision of progress and resolve at a time where the reality often feels bleak,” Rachel Hirt (SCW ‘28) told The Commentator. “When I had the opportunity to ask him about the deep division within Israeli society, he answered that disagreement is both healthy and essential for a just society, that we must look at one another favorably, as comrades working toward a shared purpose rather than adversaries.” 

At the end of the conversation Berman asked Bennett what advice he would give to the students in the room, to which Bennett gave a threefold answer: Make sure to visit Israel a lot and make it part of your life, do not be silent and take time to read and learn. “Less TikTok, more books,” Bennett advised the crowd. 

“Having the privilege of hosting a conversation with Naftali Bennett, really shows how YU is a flagship symbol of both Zionism and Judaism, and that YU is at the forefront of the great conversations of our generation,” Noam Schechter (YC ‘27) told The Commentator. 

Bennett’s mission statement, “Be strong, do good,” was particularly meaningful to Schechter. “That moment really made me proud to be a part of this incredible nation,” he said.

Photo Caption: Student asks question at Great Conversations event with President Ari Berman and Naftali Bennett

Photo Credit: Ruben Prawer