Guest Host, Alex McFarland, is joined by Joel Chernoff, Founder of the Joseph Project International, as well as, 92-year-old Holocaust survivor, Jochen “Jack” Wurfl

Transcribed with OpenAI Whisper (base.en). Timestamps are approximate. Lightly cleaned for readability; quotations from on-air callers may include filler words. Use the audio player above for the authoritative recording.

1. 0:00Darkness is not an affirmative force.
2. 0:03It simply reoccupies the space vacated by the light.
3. 0:07This is the Hamilton Corner on American Family Radio.
4. 0:11It should be uncomfortable for a believer to live as a hypocrite.
5. 0:15Delivery people out of the bondage of mainstream media.
6. 0:18And the philosophies of this world.
7. 0:20God has called you and me to be his ambassador.
8. 0:24Even in this dark moment.
9. 0:26Let's not miss our moment.
10. 0:29And now, the Hamilton Corner.
11. 0:31Well, good evening, everyone.
12. 0:34Alex McFarland here, sitting in for Abe Hamilton on the Hamilton Corner.
13. 0:38Very honored to do so.
14. 0:40Very honored that you're listening.
15. 0:42We've got a great show.
16. 0:44You may know this.
17. 0:45I hope you're aware that today is Holocaust Remembrance Day, the world over.
18. 0:51And, you know, this is very important.
19. 0:54I will say I know firsthand some of the lies that are spread on American college campuses.
20. 1:01I've spoken at over 200 American universities, about 50% of which have been secular state universities.
21. 1:08And I've had students say to me that they didn't believe the Holocaust really happened.
22. 1:13And that's just one part of the misinformation that we need to courageously.
23. 1:20And frankly, as a Christian, consistently stand up against the anti-Semitism, and we need to remember.
24. 1:28And so we've got a great show today. Later on in the show, we're going to hear from a 92-year-old Holocaust survivor,
25. 1:37one of the oldest living Holocaust survivors, and we'll talk more about that in just a moment.
26. 1:43But I welcome you to the program, and right now I'm very honored to have with us a gentleman with whom we spoke last fall,
27. 1:49Joel Shurnoff, he is the founder and executive board chairman of the largest
28. 1:54importer of humanitarian aid into Israel. He is the CEO of the largest organization
29. 2:00with authority to speak for the Messianic Jewish community, offering insights into
30. 2:05really what's going on in the Holy Land. And he is a Jewish American follower of
31. 2:10Yeshua, Jesus Christ, and Joel Shurnoff of the Joseph Project International, very
32. 2:18honored to have him on again especially so on this day of Holocaust remembrance. Brother
33. 2:24Shurnoff, thank you for being with us. Thank you and God bless you and Shalom. Shalom to
34. 2:30all of you. Shalom and may God bless and bring peace to Jerusalem Psalm 122 6. But for those
35. 2:42that may be unaware, there are so many things I want to ask you and it really is a privilege
36. 2:46to speak with you today. Tell us about the Joseph Project International and then let's
37. 2:52talk about some national and international affairs related to the Jewish nation and anti-Semitism.
38. 3:02But the Joseph Project International.
39. 3:05Well thank you so much, Alex, appreciate you asking me that. The Joseph Project International
40. 3:10the largest importer. It's the number one importer, if you're not carrying aid in the state of Israel.
41. 3:20We have moved about $170 million worth of aid into Israel. We partner with Christian and Messianic
42. 3:26charities around the world, the US, Europe, the Far East, China, at times. And we ship 40-foot
43. 3:39containers, over a thousand now, 40 foot containers into the state of Israel. We have our own facilities
44. 3:46there. We have warehouse in the Jerusalem region. We have fleet of trucks. We have staffing.
45. 3:54And we are constantly moving aid to the poor and needy of Israel. That has especially been true
46. 4:01since October the 7th, that was an emergency situation.
47. 4:07We had a lot of goods stored up, millions of dollars
48. 4:10worth of goods stored up for just such a crisis.
49. 4:14And we were able to move within 24 hours.
50. 4:16We were at the front line in Gaza,
51. 4:21North, we were all over the country.
52. 4:24We've moved since October the 7th,
53. 4:26about $25 million or more worth of aid
54. 4:31to those displaced families, the victims of terror, the IDF, and the poor and needy of Israel.
55. 4:40It's a very difficult time in Israel, but the Joseph Project, their nationals,
56. 4:44right on the front lines, we've been there for 20 years, and God has really blessed us. I am blessed
57. 4:55to be able to serve the God of Israel, serve the Messiah of Israel and to be a part of God's
58. 5:03prophetic plan there. Absolutely. And we are living in prophetic days, aren't we? I mean,
59. 5:09I would think the entire world would care about the welfare of the nation of Israel,
60. 5:15but especially Christians because this is the miracle nation in world history, isn't it?
61. 5:21Yes, it is. It is an absolute miracle. First of all, that Israel was quote-unquote born
62. 5:30again in 1940. Yeah, this has been a long process, Alex. This is actually Jewish people
63. 5:38started to come back to their homeland in the mid to late 1800s. And they began trickling
64. 5:48into the country, many of them were socialists out of Eastern Europe and just kept building
65. 5:55and building and building all the way up to 1948 when miraculously the UN, which you
66. 6:05know they would never do that now.
67. 6:08But the voted the modern state of Israel into existence, which was a miracle.
68. 6:13It's never happened before that a people group has been dispersed widely out of their original
69. 6:22place land and then re-established on that same land grant.
70. 6:29So that was an absolute miracle historically.
71. 6:33And since 1948, it's even a bigger miracle that Israel has continued to survive and prosper
72. 6:41in a very tough neighborhood in the Middle East, very tough, 350 million
73. 6:50Muslims, Arabs, who have had one goal, which is to destroy the nation of Israel. God's land grant
74. 7:00to our forefathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God's been faithful to the sons of Ishmael,
75. 7:06And they have prospered in many ways, but they would also like to acquire the land of Israel,
76. 7:16the Holy Land.
77. 7:18But God is preventing that.
78. 7:21Yeah.
79. 7:22Do many of the citizens of Israel, and I've been to Israel and we're going back in March
80. 7:28of 26, and it really is just something unforgettable if you ever go to the Holy Land, folks.
81. 7:36It will change you forever.
82. 7:40But do the average citizens in Israel believe that they are part of something miraculous,
83. 7:47Joan?
84. 7:49Well, I think it just depends.
85. 7:52I think that the nation as a whole understands, has an understanding that the state of Israel
86. 8:01really is a miracle.
87. 8:04Of course, you have a wide range of people.
88. 8:06You have totally secular people.
89. 8:08A lot of, most of the country is secular, really.
90. 8:12And they have various religious streams of our people.
91. 8:18And of course, the Orthodox are the most biblically based.
92. 8:23So they have a higher understanding,
93. 8:26although not all of the Orthodox do,
94. 8:28but the vast majority do.
95. 8:31But really the second, you can't live in Israel
96. 8:34not have some understanding that it's a miracle that the country not only has
97. 8:42survived but it has prospered in the face of such opposition. Yeah, yeah, you know,
98. 8:50I was doing this study last fall, in fact shortly before you and I had an on-air
99. 8:55conversation, I was doing some research and just amazing the technology, the
100. 9:01accomplishments in software and really 25 years ago the whole world experienced
101. 9:10the internet for the first time with software written in Jerusalem and Jerusalem
102. 9:16has a subway system. Jerusalem has art museums. Jerusalem is huge in pharmaceuticals and
103. 9:25medicine and what's so interesting to me because I have this conversation I
104. 9:31a lot Joel with friends that are in academia.
105. 9:35And I've said to so many professors and intellectuals
106. 9:40that I know, will you stand against anti-Semitism?
107. 9:44And they're like, well, why?
108. 9:46They're always fighting.
109. 9:47I said, look, the rights of indigenous people
110. 9:52are such a cause of the social justice people.
111. 9:56I mean, there is no more indigenous people
112. 9:59in an indigenous land on earth,
113. 10:01then a Jewish people in the state of Israel.
114. 10:05But here's the thing that I've said,
115. 10:07and I've tried to urge many professors and educators
116. 10:11to talk to young people about their students.
117. 10:15You cannot understand world history
118. 10:18unless you understand Ishmael and Isaac.
119. 10:22You can't understand the present moment, the 20th century,
120. 10:27unless you go all the way back to Abraham, Isaac, really the exodus out of Egypt, the Babylonian
121. 10:37captivity.
122. 10:39Israel is the key, spiritual considerations aside, Israel is the key to understanding world
123. 10:46history I would say.
124. 10:48Well, I mean according to the scripture that is absolutely true.
125. 10:53I find it amazing that the scriptural narrative is what is a dominant narrative in the entire
126. 11:01world.
127. 11:03It is in fact, Alex, in my opinion, the only cogent presentation of how we got here, how
128. 11:15How did man get on this planet?
129. 11:19How did we, how were we created?
130. 11:24How did we fall into sin?
131. 11:27What the effect of sin is?
132. 11:29I mean, it's the only cogent record that we have.
133. 11:35There is no other reasonable record in any people group, in any religion.
134. 11:43And frankly, that includes science, which is so garbled over this issue because it rejects
135. 11:50the premise of a higher intelligence or God as a creative force.
136. 11:58So I am amazed that the biblical narrative, that is a miracle in and of itself, is held
137. 12:04in such high esteem and is followed by billions of people because it rings true.
138. 12:13rings through. Yeah, you know, I came across a quote when I was in grad school, not only
139. 12:21does it ring true, but it's been verified time and again by archaeological discoveries and
140. 12:26historical discoveries. And William F. Albright was called the Dean of Archaeologists. And he
141. 12:35said with every turn of the archaeologists spade, another page of scripture has been verified.
142. 12:43And that's really true.
143. 12:45It's just, I mean, we read the Bible, you're right, it is the cogent explanation of where
144. 12:51did we come from, why are we here, what is the problem of humanity, what would be the solution,
145. 12:57but here's the beautiful thing about it.
146. 13:00It's real.
147. 13:01I mean, this is true.
148. 13:03I mean, from Ashkelon, where David fought Goliath, to the tomb of Samuel, to Capernaum, by the
149. 13:11see and the amount of Beatitudes where Jesus preached, you can go there and see the Bible
150. 13:20come alive where it actually happened.
151. 13:22And that's true.
152. 13:26Not only is it historically and archaeologically accurate and increasingly so proven to be,
153. 13:36but also it is supernatural.
154. 13:38The Bible is supernatural.
155. 13:40God's Spirit dwells upon it,
156. 13:42but there's prophetic passages
157. 13:45that predict the future,
158. 13:46that have been proven true, time and time again.
159. 13:51And I love this scripture.
160. 13:53I love it because it is supernatural.
161. 13:57I tell my children that,
162. 13:59I tell everybody I can't read that scripture
163. 14:02because God's Spirit infuses it
164. 14:05with supernatural wisdom and knowledge and brings it alive.
165. 14:11It is an unbelievable book.
166. 14:15Nothing like it in the entire world, not even close.
167. 14:20We're talking with Joe Chernoff,
168. 14:22of the director of the Joseph Project International,
169. 14:27the largest humanitarian aid, individual organization
170. 14:32and so honored to have him on it.
171. 14:34We're gonna continue after this brief break.
172. 14:36The website, by the way, JosephProjectInternational.org.
173. 14:40Alex McFarland here on the Hamilton corner,
174. 14:43the American Family Radio Network.
175. 14:44Stay tuned, we've got a brief break,
176. 14:46more with Joe Turnoff and a Holocaust survivor in segment three
177. 14:51and talking about standing up for Israel in these times.
178. 14:54Don't go away.
179. 15:00A discipleship minute with Joseph Parker.
180. 15:03Psalm 118 verse 105 tells us your word is a lamp to my feet
181. 15:07and a life to my path.
182. 15:10In all of life,
183. 15:10one of the single most fruitful habits
184. 15:12is that of reading God's word every single day.
185. 15:15And I like to encourage believers to set a goal
186. 15:17of reading at least three chapters in your Bible every day.
187. 15:21It might be three different chapters,
188. 15:23it might be the same chapter three times over,
189. 15:25but spending time in God's word will bless your life
190. 15:28in ways you don't fully comprehend.
191. 15:30God's word aminuses to your mind, body, and spirit
192. 15:33in a way that no one else or nothing else can.
193. 15:35And remember, the Word of God is pregnant with the ability to bless you.
194. 15:39It's full of light, full of grace, full of peace, power, and joy.
195. 15:43I would challenge and encourage you to start the habit of reading three chapters a day
196. 15:47today.
197. 15:48And also, parents, I would encourage you to start the habit of having your children, each
198. 15:52of them to read three chapters in their Bible every day as well.
199. 15:55It's a habit that will bless your whole family.
200. 16:04Shiting light into the darkness.
201. 16:07This is the Hamilton Corner, on American Family Radio.
202. 16:12Welcome back to the program, Alex McFarland here today on Holocaust Remembrance Day.
203. 16:18In 2014, I went to Israel for the first time with Focus on the Family.
204. 16:23And among the things we saw, it's unforgettable.
205. 16:26And folks, if you've never been to Israel, please go.
206. 16:32Tim Weilman, the president of the American Family Radio Network, president of AFA, is leading
207. 16:38a trip to Israel in March of 26.
208. 16:41So you know, we're talking 14 months.
209. 16:43I'll be going.
210. 16:44Bird Harper, my co-host, unexploring the word.
211. 16:47Bird and I will be on this trip and we'll be speaking.
212. 16:51And you, it will change your life.
213. 16:54I just cannot overstate what a trip to God's land, the Holy Land will do.
214. 17:00But when I was there in 2014, we went to so many sites.
215. 17:05Actually, I was there for 11 days and we saw 72 sites in 11 days, but we went to the Holocaust
216. 17:12Museum.
217. 17:14And that's why whenever I'm in America, like at a secular campus, and we did a major event
218. 17:22at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, and we did a major event at West Texas A&M,
219. 17:29and we've been all over.
220. 17:32And whenever I hear someone make disparaging remarks against the Jewish people or deny
221. 17:37the Holocaust, I have kind of a mixture of frustration, anger, and just a broken heart.
222. 17:45Because when I was in Jerusalem and I went to the Holocaust Museum, I mean I don't cry
223. 17:50easily and yet you see the artifacts and even some film clips of the unspeakably wicked
224. 17:57things that the Third Reich did to Jewish people, you can't help but weep.
225. 18:04And we realize that the solution to the sin of the human heart, the solution to racism,
226. 18:11the solution to Jew hatred, that's what antisemitism is.
227. 18:15Antisemitism is really kind of a term that was coined by the Nazis to soften the really
228. 18:26blunt force of the term Jew hatred. But that's what anti-Semitism is. And so I'm calling
229. 18:33on the listeners to, as Psalm 122.6, as pray for the peace of Jerusalem. But be courageous
230. 18:41and say I support Israel. And one person who's given his life to this is our colleague and
231. 18:48guest Joel Chernoff of the Joseph Project International. And I would assume on the website, Joel
232. 18:56people can learn all about the humanitarian work you do and you yourself are a messianic believer, but
233. 19:03people can give and be involved.
234. 19:07Joel, tell us about what people will find at the website, then I've got a follow-up question, but welcome back. Sure. Sure. Thank you.
235. 19:15They will see all of the
236. 19:19projects
237. 19:20many videos they can they they can access the videos they can
238. 19:25read the Jewish War updates, emergency Jewish War updates back over the past year and see
239. 19:35what the Joseph Project International's role is and was and the ways in which we're touching
240. 19:44the lives of hundreds of thousands of people, all for the honor and glory of the God of Israel
241. 19:49the Messiah of Israel. It's a tremendous opportunity to show the Messiah's compassionate heart to our
242. 19:58people and very difficult and dark hour. We are there to bring comfort and to bring aid to our
243. 20:08people. You can go there, you can read, you can support us. It's very, very, everything is very
244. 20:17detailed and you can educate yourself there. We just invite you to partner with us. We are
245. 20:25a messianic Jewish charity in a sense, and we partner with Christians all over the world to bless
246. 20:34our people now during this difficult period and over the over the last 20 or so years. It has been
247. 20:43privilege to stand with our people, love our people in these difficult times.
248. 20:50With, you know, now we are one week into the Trump presidency. I rejoice in that. You know,
249. 20:58I will happily be on record saying that I'm as an individual, I'm not speaking for anyone
250. 21:03but myself, but I thank God that Donald Trump's life was spared July 13, 2024. And I think
251. 21:11that he's doing great things for the country and for the cause of free speech and the rights
252. 21:18of people.
253. 21:21If contrast if you would Joel, the difference toward Israel, relations with Israel and frankly
254. 21:29standing against terrorism, the previous administration that just went out a week ago versus the
255. 21:36one that's just in, what do you think is going to be different regarding the Jewish people
256. 21:42and our relationship with Israel?
257. 21:45Well, you can see that in the Biden-Harris years, there was an undertone always starting
258. 21:56with Barack Obama who was probably running the government.
259. 22:01I think that that will come out here eventually from across the street, offices across the
260. 22:09street, he and his cabal.
261. 22:11But there was an undercurrent of hostility towards the nation of Israel.
262. 22:19There was a desire within the administration to prop up the Iranian government and they
263. 22:27They gave them hundreds of billions of dollars in cash with which they armed all of their
264. 22:33proxy armies to come against Israel.
265. 22:38I mean, it was a terrible situation.
266. 22:41You'd have to same time politically, they couldn't desert Israel entirely without suffering
267. 22:48at the ballot box, which they did anyway, but they tried to walk that line.
268. 22:57You saw it with slow walking weapons systems.
269. 23:00I mean, you're talking about a nation of 9 million people
270. 23:05against 350 million plus the nation of Iran.
271. 23:14It's impossible situation, yet Israel prevails,
272. 23:18even though it was very difficult after October the 7th.
273. 23:23Now, now you have the president in
274. 23:26that is very, very pro-Israel.
275. 23:28He has surrounded him with strong believers.
276. 23:32We would say that they're strong believers.
277. 23:34I was very interested to hear Marco Rubio,
278. 23:39who is the new Secretary of State,
279. 23:41come out very strongly as a believer,
280. 23:44not only as a believer, but as pro-Israel believer.
281. 23:48And just a few weeks ago,
282. 23:53would have seemed impossible. But here they are calling the West Bank Judea and Samaria,
283. 24:01Governor Huckabee is now ambassador to Israel, Rubio, and so many others are just so outspokenly
284. 24:11pro-Israel. Just in the last couple of days, President Trump has released all the held back
285. 24:20back 2000 bomb bunker buster bombs. They were being held back. He has released them just
286. 24:28within the last day a day or two. And listen, Alex, I mean, I heard something yesterday from
287. 24:36his mouth that I was just astounded at as he said to the world, well, you know, the citizens
288. 24:45of Gaza are going to have to go to another country to live, either Egypt or Jordan.
289. 24:52Now I have felt that since the 7th war started, there's no way Israel is going to trust any
290. 25:01government there, even the Gaza people in Gaza.
291. 25:06Forget it, the army of Gaza, the government of Gaza and the people of Gaza are all one.
292. 25:14And to this moment, 70 to 80% of the Gosin community supports the massacre of October
293. 25:23the 7th.
294. 25:24So there's no way.
295. 25:25But now you have a president that understands that, that that's the reality, forget the
296. 25:33two states, if it's not going to happen, and they're going to have to go to a friendly
297. 25:39country.
298. 25:41And it was taken so seriously, Alex, that Egypt and Jordan had to make a statement to
299. 25:49the world.
300. 25:50We reject that.
301. 25:52Now they rejected it because they believe he means it.
302. 25:56He isn't just mouthing words.
303. 25:59President Trump, whatever he says verbally, out loud, he intends to do.
304. 26:06And everybody knows it.
305. 26:08That's why he's almost feared in the world and to the enemies of the United States.
306. 26:16They actually believe him when he says something.
307. 26:20I think that you're going to see some amazing things happening concerning Israel, whether
308. 26:26it's in Gaza or it's in Judea and Samaria or it is in Syria or Lebanon or even Iran.
309. 26:37And by the way for this just tuning in we're talking with Joel Turnoff of the Joseph Project International.org
310. 26:45And later on in the program we'll have
311. 26:48Yokem
312. 26:50Jack
313. 26:51Whorful if I'm pronouncing his name correctly and he is a 92 year old Holocaust survivor
314. 26:56That we'll have in the next segment and you won't want to miss that conversation, but Joel
315. 27:04Let me ask you this. What do you think?
316. 27:06I think for the average American citizen that is maybe only moderately familiar with the dynamics of the Middle East,
317. 27:14the political and just safety issues of Israel, what are the things that you as a person on the ground in the Middle East helping Jewish people?
318. 27:30What do you wish the American people knew that maybe they are unaware of?
319. 27:36I think that our country, I mean, it's difficult.
320. 27:41We live in a large landmass.
321. 27:47United States is big.
322. 27:49And it's hard to conceptualize if you've never been to Israel.
323. 27:55It's hard to conceptualize how small Israel is.
324. 28:00And politicians talk so glibly about a two-state solution.
325. 28:06The fact is that you can't carve up the nation of Israel.
326. 28:11It's too small, it's indefensible.
327. 28:15It's almost indefensible now.
328. 28:19And to start carving it up
329. 28:20and making a two-state solution is just impossible.
330. 28:25It's, I think it's about the size of New Jersey.
331. 28:30And you think of the entire United States
332. 28:33warring against New Jersey.
333. 28:37United States is about 350 million people or so,
334. 28:40330 million.
335. 28:41It would be the equivalent of what's going on in the Middle East.
336. 28:45You have a little state the size of Jersey,
337. 28:49and then you've got 350 million hostile Arab countries
338. 28:53for the last 75 years trying to destroy that one nation.
339. 28:59And you would think that they would be able to do it
340. 29:02out of just sheer volume and persistent attacks,
341. 29:06but it hasn't happened because God has preserved it.
342. 29:09I think it'd be wonderful if the people
343. 29:12of the United States had a better idea, a realistic idea
344. 29:17of exactly how small the country of Israel is
345. 29:20and how ridiculous it is to talk about carving it up.
346. 29:24It's just not possible.
347. 29:26That would be very, very helpful in understanding
348. 29:30the dynamic and the situation that Israel finds itself in, geo-linnically.
349. 29:39What about the way that so many evangelical Christian Americans have advocated for Israel
350. 29:47donated?
351. 29:50The Jewish, let's talk about the Orthodox, Jewish people that are not Christian and maybe
352. 29:57even anti-Christian. But yet it's Christians that advocate so passionately for Israel.
353. 30:07Certainly that's got to make a statement to them. And if so, what is that statement?
354. 30:15Well, I think that our people have felt for the last 1700 years that Christians are against us.
355. 30:25Yes, our people are not stupid.
356. 30:28We understand that Jesus was Jewish.
357. 30:32We understand that the Bible is written by Jews.
358. 30:37We understand that.
359. 30:38And it doesn't make sense to us why would Christians who follow the God of Israel, who
360. 30:43follow the Scriptures, who follow a Jewish Messiah and Savior, why would that be to our
361. 30:51discredit, why would that not be to our credit and why would they persecute us and try to kill us?
362. 31:00That is a historical conundrum that is very difficult for our people to understand. What has
363. 31:08changed is that the evangelical Christian world that is not replacement theology but is,
364. 31:16But takes the Word of God in its context and understands the role of Israel and the role of the land of Israel
365. 31:27and that the Messiah is coming back to Israel and to Jerusalem and his feet are going to be planted on the Mount of Olives, etc.
366. 31:36They understand that so there is a love there as there should be within
367. 31:43large portions of the evangelical world and now the state of Israel
368. 31:49Has over the past 20 30 years really?
369. 31:53Experienced that that love coming out of the evangelical world and now our people are able to kind of parse
370. 32:01Well, there's the evangelical world who is pro-Israel and then you have the liberal
371. 32:06Christian world, like the mainline Christian denominations and Catholicism and so forth,
372. 32:13which has oftentimes taken a very hostile view towards and try to replace the nation of Israel
373. 32:19and its role in scripture. We are now able to kind of parse that, whereas in the past,
374. 32:28I think that our people looked at all of Christianity as being kind of all under the pope.
375. 32:35and there are some good Christians and some back Christians, but it's all one thing.
376. 32:43Now I think our people are seeing difference.
377. 32:46Forgive me, we're almost out of time Joel, Joel Turnoff of the Joseph Project International.
378. 32:51May God bless the work you're doing.
379. 32:53Thanks for being on.
380. 32:54Stay tuned, folks.
381. 32:55We're back after this.
382. 33:00As a nurse, I primarily work with children who are abused and exploited and trafficking,
383. 33:05I frequently see very unfair situations.
384. 33:10We must talk about the issue of abuse.
385. 33:13We can't base our actions on fear.
386. 33:16We have to be faith informed in what we do.
387. 33:19The Dr. Nurse Mama Show.
388. 33:21For more from Dr. Jessica Peck, tune in at 2PM Central on American Family Radio or on
389. 33:26the podcast page at AFR.net.
390. 33:29The Hamilton Quarter Podcast and One-Minute Commentaries are available at AFR.net.
391. 33:40Back to the Hamilton Quarter on American Family Radio.
392. 33:43Welcome back to the program.
393. 33:46Alex McFarland here is so honored to be on the American Family Radio Network and we have
394. 33:51got a very, very special segment in just a moment.
395. 33:54I do want to ask all of you to pray for our ministries.
396. 33:58I'm on Exploring the Word Live five days a week with Bert Harper and we are today just
397. 34:05by God's providence.
398. 34:06We started teaching through the book of Exodus on Holocaust Remembrance Day.
399. 34:12It was an amazing coincidence but exploring the word.
400. 34:17And then my own website which is AlexMcFarlane.com.
401. 34:20We have seven youth camps this summer.
402. 34:22We'll have 1,200 teenagers in seven youth camps.
403. 34:27And then also the Billy Graham Training Center in Western North Carolina.
404. 34:30I'll be teaching there in August and July.
405. 34:34And then we've got a speaker series we're doing.
406. 34:37We'll be bringing in Dinesh D'Souza and Charlie Kirk and a lot of great speakers.
407. 34:42So keep us in prayer and we appreciate the ability to interact with people everywhere via
408. 34:48the American Family Radio Network.
409. 34:50Well, what an honor.
410. 34:52I've interviewed a lot of people.
411. 34:54I've interviewed vice presidents.
412. 34:57I've interviewed a lot of people from a lot of walks of life.
413. 35:01But today we are very privileged on Holocaust Remembrance Day
414. 35:05to have a conversation with Yoken Wurful Jack.
415. 35:10He survived Nazi-Germanies World War II Holocaust,
416. 35:13the murder of 6 million Jewish people.
417. 35:16And Mr. Wurful is a 92-year-old Holocaust survivor.
418. 35:21He and his brother Peter were in World War II.
419. 35:26Their mother tried to hide their Jewish roots
420. 35:30by several means, and so his mother was seized
421. 35:35by the Nazis and taken to Auschwitz where she died.
422. 35:39A lot to this man's story, and Mr. Worful,
423. 35:43I wanna say, may God bless you,
424. 35:45and thank you so much for being with us tonight
425. 35:47on the American Family Radio Network.
426. 35:51Thank you. Thank you for letting me be on your network.
427. 35:54Oh, well, and this is the fourth of several speaking engagements today. And for one thing, 92 years old, I admire your strength and resilience. Let me ask you this. Is it hard to talk about this, what you and your family went through the Holocaust?
428. 36:13Are you saying is it hard? No, I'm used to it now. I wrote a book two and a half years
429. 36:26ago, My Two Life, which is my life in Europe and my life over here. And I'm pretty much
430. 36:34used to it right now to talk about it and to write about it.
431. 36:40yourself, how many Jewish Holocaust survivors are still living?
432. 36:46I read somewhere that it's close to 60,000. I don't know if that number is correct or not
433. 36:57when I read it somewhere.
434. 37:00Do you ever interact with other Holocaust survivors?
435. 37:05Yes, with one. And he happened to read my book and he called me one day and he said,
436. 37:15the world. I read your book and I just found out that your father and my father were in
437. 37:20the same concentration camp together.
438. 37:24Really?
439. 37:25Wow.
440. 37:26Yeah.
441. 37:27So, and he lived two blocks from Burya, that's the strange thing about it.
442. 37:34Amazing.
443. 37:35Amazing.
444. 37:36And we've become very good friends.
445. 37:39Now you and your brother survived.
446. 37:43How did that happen?
447. 37:45Well, there's several things that have a number one.
448. 37:49When my parents moved us from Austria, where we originally lived and where we were, that's
449. 37:57where my family was from.
450. 38:01When they moved us to Berlin to my grandparents, they had us baptized Catholic in the Catholic
451. 38:07Church in Berlin.
452. 38:10And this is when I was about six years old.
453. 38:18That was one thing.
454. 38:19The other thing is my grandfather then sent us to a summer camp which was under North Sea
455. 38:27in Germany called Dungust.
456. 38:30And while we were there, the lady who took care of us, she knew who we were.
457. 38:38He also had two children of her own and she said,
458. 38:41you two must join the Hitler youth.
459. 38:45Because if you don't, people will ask,
460. 38:47what is the matter with these two boys?
461. 38:49Everybody else belongs.
462. 38:51Why don't they belong to the Hitler youth?
463. 38:54So we did.
464. 38:55So that also helped me.
465. 38:57And then the lady who ran the summer camp,
466. 39:01whom my grandfather knew from years ago,
467. 39:04She also knew who we were and many times she was questioned by the SS and by the Gestapo
468. 39:15and somehow she always talked away out and more than that she had adopted us and we were
469. 39:23lucky enough to make it.
470. 39:27Praise God.
471. 39:29Do you recall just as the Third Reich took over Germany and Europe and Austria and all
472. 39:40these places?
473. 39:41Do you recall the fear that must have been just in the air, the mood and the temperature
474. 39:52if you will?
475. 39:53What was that like?
476. 39:54Do you remember that?
477. 39:55Well, I remember some of it, especially because of my parents, my father worked for the Austrian
478. 40:03government.
479. 40:04He worked for Mr. Schuichnik, who was the president of Austria.
480. 40:09So I always knew pretty much what was going on.
481. 40:14I can't speak for everybody in Austria how they felt.
482. 40:19But we were told that it was not going to be a good idea if Hitler would march into Austria
483. 40:28and annex Austria into Germany.
484. 40:32Now my father was Catholic as you told me before and he had four brothers who decided
485. 40:39they were going to leave and they left Austria because they knew the problem that was going
486. 40:44to come up.
487. 40:45He also had two sisters who became Catholic nuns.
488. 40:50And my mother, yeah, she was Jewish,
489. 40:55and she was eventually taken by the SS and by the Gestapo.
490. 41:02They were sent, she was sent to Auschwitz
491. 41:05and she was Kiddo-Tah.
492. 41:07Do you recall the last conversation you had with your mother?
493. 41:12Yes, I do.
494. 41:14It was after my mother was imprisoned.
495. 41:20My brother and I, we decided that we were gonna find out
496. 41:26where my mother was being imprisoned.
497. 41:30And we spent three days and we found out
498. 41:33which present she was in.
499. 41:37And we were by that time just little boys.
500. 41:39And so we ran into the present.
501. 41:42We just went in and eventually, yeah, we found where my mother was and which in which place
502. 41:52in the prison.
503. 41:54And we walked up to her and we took to her cell and she said, oh my God, boys, what are
504. 42:00you doing here?
505. 42:01And while we're looking for you, Mom, well, listen, I love you so much and I know you love
506. 42:08me so much.
507. 42:09But we are in a very bad situation here right now and you boys should not come here.
508. 42:16The only advice I can give you is study, study, study.
509. 42:20Make sure that you always go to your teachers and learn a lot.
510. 42:25And at this point, please leave because if you get arrested here, you're going to be in
511. 42:33the same place that I'm in.
512. 42:37And they're not going to let you go.
513. 42:40So we immediately left and right at the door,
514. 42:44right at the door at the exit as we were running out,
515. 42:46we were caught by an assessment.
516. 42:48We finally woke up and said, who are these two kids?
517. 42:52But we tore ourselves loose and we ran out of the prison.
518. 42:56We followed us for quite a while.
519. 42:59But at our age, we were a little bit faster than the assessment.
520. 43:06So we got away from her.
521. 43:08And so you and your brother ran, you escaped.
522. 43:13Did you find some place to hide out until it was safe to?
523. 43:17Yes.
524. 43:18Yes, my mother before this happened,
525. 43:21my mother had told us, anything terrible should ever happen.
526. 43:26And anything should happen to me.
527. 43:30And I want you to go and call this attorney
528. 43:33our first season friend of mine and he would tell you what to do. And we did that after my mother was
529. 43:42imprisoned and recalled him and he made us, gave us a place to sleep for a few days and then he sent
530. 43:51us back to Germany, to the camp where we were before the summer camp up on the north sea called
531. 44:03dungust and believe it or not but if we lived there for the next 17 years until I came to this country.
532. 44:13Mr. Worfel, what was your mother's name?
533. 44:18Gretto. I wanted her name to go.
534. 44:22A. E. E. E. E. Gretto.
535. 44:25Gretto. May God bless the sacred memory. You know, her life was taken. Her name is remembered
536. 44:36Let me ask you this, and for those just tuning in, Alex McFarland here, we're talking with
537. 44:42Jack Worful, Yochen Jack Worful.
538. 44:47His book came out in 2023, My Two Lives, Holocaust Survivor, An Amazing Life, 92 Years Old Now.
539. 44:57You recently made a statement about Harvard University adopting the definition of antisemitism by the
540. 45:08international Holocaust Remembrance Alliance.
541. 45:12This is a good step, isn't it?
542. 45:15So much of American academia antisemitism has gone unchallenged, very heartbreaking.
543. 45:21But finally, Harvard has agreed to adopt stricter language to crack down on anti-Jewish anti-Israel
544. 45:29behavior.
545. 45:31And so the courage they have to stand against anti-Semitism finally, I mean, this is a good
546. 45:38step, isn't it?
547. 45:39It is a good step, but you know, there are so many other universities and I just hope that
548. 45:45they follow suit.
549. 45:49Why do you think on American campuses where tolerance and diversity is so many people pride
550. 45:56themselves on that?
551. 45:58And yet, after October of 23, it blew my mind the way that hatred of the Jewish people and
552. 46:08vandalism and even physical violence against Jewish students, attacks on synagogues and
553. 46:15just hatred of Israel.
554. 46:19And that surprised you.
555. 46:21Oh, absolutely.
556. 46:23You know, absolutely I had no idea.
557. 46:26I came to this country when I was 17,
558. 46:29and I came to a country that was free,
559. 46:32and that what you could do, what you wanted to do,
560. 46:36and speak out what you had to say.
561. 46:40I was so happy to be in this country.
562. 46:42And I admire the American people, and I love this country.
563. 46:47And when this happened, it just blew my mind.
564. 46:51I couldn't believe it.
565. 46:52I could not believe it at first, you know,
566. 46:56that so many of the students really were not with Israel.
567. 47:04And all I can say is it's a lack of education
568. 47:09in this country, I think, number one in the universities,
569. 47:13but not only there,
570. 47:14but in the very, in the school of first grade on, why don't children get taught in the past?
571. 47:31I mean, when you teach the future, tell me one thing that happened that was worse, that
572. 47:39worse than those four or five years going Hitler where they killed six
573. 47:44middle-men or seven million Jews. Folks I want to read the definition of the
574. 47:50International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance. They define the definition of
575. 47:56antisemitism is this quote, anti-Semitism is a certain perception of Jews which
576. 48:02may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Retorical and physical manifestations
577. 48:08of anti-Semitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and their property
578. 48:14toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities.
579. 48:19But animosity and hatred of the Jewish people just not only denial of Israel's right to
580. 48:25exist but I've heard it almost denial of the humanity of Jewish people.
581. 48:31We must stand against it.
582. 48:32Mr. Whirl, I am so honored to speak with you.
583. 48:36Godspeed my dear friend.
584. 48:38May God bless you and may God bless Israel.
585. 48:43I want to thank you for being on with us today.
586. 48:45Absolutely.
587. 48:46Thank you, and may God bless you too for doing this, for talking about this, and for understanding
588. 48:53this.
589. 48:54And thank you very much for having me on your show.
590. 48:57Well, I look forward to when we can speak again very courageously at 92 still talking about
591. 49:03his time.
592. 49:04He and his brothers survived the Holocaust.
593. 49:06God bless you folks.
594. 49:07Thank you for listening.
595. 49:08Pray for Israel.
596. 49:10The views and opinions expressed in this broadcast may not necessarily reflect those of the American
597. 49:15Family Association or American Family Radio.