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Dan Rather was the keynote speaker at the annual Hilda Lubcher and Ronald Ginsberg Memorial Lecture, held at Congregation B’nai Israel in Toms River May 16.
Credit: Alexander Traum



In a wide-ranging talk that spanned from the Iranian nuclear threat to the American mid-term elections to the state of journalism today, veteran journalist Dan Rather delivered the keynote address at this year’s Hilda Lubcher and Ronald Ginsberg Memorial Lecture.
On May 16, Rather spoke at Congregation B’nai Israel in Toms River for the annual program that raises scholarship funds for the Jersey Shore Jewish Academy in Howell.
Starting with a “wide shot of the world as it exists today,” Rather spanned the globe to detail what he considered the underreported stories of the day.
On our own continent, Rather cited Canada’s “tremendous future” given its relatively sparse population in proportion to its natural resources of not only oil and natural gas, but also timber and water. South of our country is another story, Rather noted, where Mexico faces “a real and present danger of becoming a ‘narco-state’ on our border.”
Further south in Venezuela, the Chavez government has increased its contacts with Iran, the latter suspected of scouting for uranium deposits in the South American nation. Brazil, on the other hand, “long been talked about as a country of the future is beginning to fulfill that prophecy,” Rather said of the developments in our hemisphere that we should pay closer attention to.
In Asia, China is on its way toward becoming a “true world-class superpower,” Rather said of the country’s efforts to be both a major economic and military power. Though China plays an important global role, Rather told the audience not to underestimate the other massive country in that part of the world, India.
“In Asia … we Americans have been for some time, understandably so and legitimately so, China-optic,” he said.
India, which will soon surpass China as the world’s most populous country, Rather said has a potentially promising “medium- and long-term future” since, unlike China, it is a democratic state with a robust civil service and rule of law, conditions conducive to continued economic growth.
In the Middle East, Rather stated that he does not foresee a resolution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict in the near future.
“Do I think that there is going to be some significant progress made towards an Israeli-Palestinian peace? I’d love to say to you, I’m optimistic about it. I’m not,” he said, adding, “By any reasonable analysis, any objective analysis, there’s not progress being made.”
How to deal with Iran and its thinly disguised effort at acquiring a nuclear weapon is the foreign policy question of the moment, Rather said.
“What to do about Iran? If you know, call me collect,” he said, noting that any tangible steps taken with regards to Iran will need to include Russia and to a lesser extent Turkey. The Chinese, another major player in curbing Iran’s behavior, “are not prepared to do very much in relation to the Iranians.”

Dr. Ira Haimowitz, lecture committee chair, speaks with guests before the Hilda Lubcher and Ronald Ginsberg Memorial Lecture featuring veteran journalist Dan Rather.

With regard to Iraq, Rather said he sees more “realistic reasons for hope now” than ever before since the 2003 invasion.
However, given the inter-ethnic strife and growing Iranian influence, “it’s hard to tell what the future of Iraq will be until we get our troop levels down or when we leave,” Rather said.
“I’m an optimist by experience and by nature, and I want to be optimistic about the future of Iraq, but you can put me down right now as an agnostic,” he said.
Turning to American politics, Rather told the audience a popular refrain among reporters: “Overnight is a long time in politics, a week is forever.”
While journalists and pundits focus obsessively on elections months and even years before they occur, most campaigns do not really take off until after Labor Day, according to Rather.
“It’s become true in American politics, that in most campaigns — congress, the senate, or president — that an increasing number of people don’t make up their minds until the weekend before the election,” he said.
In this election year there is “a lot of anger and a lot of hostility in the country,” which Rather said creates “a very volatile political situation.”
He predicted that unless the unemployment rate goes down, Democrats will endure significant losses in the mid-term elections.
“Since we’re in a house of worship, I’m not going to talk about gambling, but if you wanted to make an assessment, it’s unlikely but by no means impossible for the Republicans to get control of one of the houses (of Congress),” he said.
Rather also spoke about the field of journalism, which he described as being in a state of “interregnum,” a reference to the Catholic concept “when the old order is gone, but the new order is not yet in place.”
“If it isn’t already, the Internet will become the dominant source of news for most people,” Rather said, adding that that does not mean television, radio, and print media will disappear.
However, the news industry has yet to create a successful business model to support “core coverage of the news” online, he said.
“The Internet is a system for which the potential is enormous, but we do not yet have a business model that will pay for the content that the distribution system needs,” he said.
Since 1970, the preschool through 8th grade Jersey Shore Jewish Academy (formerly known as the Solomon Schechter Academy of Ocean and Monmouth Counties) has provided an integrated Judaic studies and secular studies curriculum for children throughout central and southern New Jersey.
Dr. Ira Haimowitz, the lecture committee chair and who already has had three of his children pass through the school with his youngest two currently enrolled, praised the school’s ability to strengthen the students’ Jewish identity and commitment.
The school, he said, “teaches them to be true mensches and leaders in the community. They learn what it means to be Jewish, develop love for Israel, and many graduates become presidents of USY, and spend time in Israel after high school.”
“It’s a great nurturing environment,” Doug Collier, a Toms River resident who hosted a pre-speech dinner and whose two children previously attended the school, told The Jewish Journal. “It’s a family environment. The kids get a sense of their Jewish identity and the secular education is second to none.”