Nachum Segal, the host of The Nachum Segal Network, spoke with Arutz Sheva - Israel National News about his new book, '1.8 Million Minutes and Counting,' about his 40-plus years in Jewish broadcasting.
When Segal started in 1983, broadcasting was entirely through the radio. With the rise of the internet and podcasting, it has largely moved online. "In the 80s and 90s, I was depended on to actually be a true source of information for the Jewish community," he said, recounting how the majority of Jews in the tristate area first learned of the passing of Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach in 1994 from his program. "Today, you know what would happen? Minutes after his demise, the entire world would know because of social media."
"Instead of being a real source for primary information, we've become more of a place to gather, to share joyous occasions and, God forbid, mournful occasions, together, to analyze news together, to present people who can discuss what's really happening out there," he said.
The fact that listeners are themselves more knowledgeable now about the issues and the news Segal discusses creates opportunities to delve deeper into the essence of the stories and issues. "I think, in general, people want to know the why. Why are things happening and is what I'm hearing actually true? Is it accurate? Does it make sense? Who from Israel, who from the United States, or who from anywhere in the world, can give me a direction to head to where I'll be able to determine if this is actually an authentic news story or something that must be dealt with or not? There's so many intricacies to analyzing every situation," he said.
Segal believes that he has "a unique point of view" in presenting the news as a religious Jew. "I don't trash anybody, I don't pan anybody. It's a very positive radio existence, much to the frustration of a lot of people who wish I would tell everything that I know about the Jewish world," he said, adding that this outlook "does have the ability to, I believe, Mekadesh Shem Shamayim (sanctification of God's name), to be a beacon of truth and light for general people as a Jewish person."
The events of October 7, 2023, led to an epilogue being added to the book dealing with the massacre, war, and the outbreak of antisemitism in support of Hamas. "I think that we had been heading before the war to a point where Israel was starting to take care of the Diaspora Jews."
"The war starts, and all of a sudden, soldiers that are living in the United States and other parts of the world are heading back to Israel. Money that is needed for organizations and for causes in the United States and other parts of the world is heading to Israel. I think that's one of the major shifts we saw, that as we were on this road which I have witnessed to Israel being the leader and starting to care for the Jews in the Diaspora to the greatest level that they could - all of a sudden, because of the peril that our brothers and sisters were in, it started to shift to the other way," he said.
When asked about the recent outbreak of antisemitism, he responded, "As everyone who listens to me knows, I've been calling for everyone to make Aliyah for years, including ourselves, and at some point, we will. One of the mantras of my career and of all my broadcasts is that the future of the Jewish people is in the State of Israel. You either believe that or you don't believe that. If you don't believe it, and you do think that there is going to be a future in the United States, and I am an advocate to do what's necessary to fight for Jewish rights and to fight for Jewish safety, and certainly to fight what's happening on the college campuses in the United States. But one has to make a determination for themselves: Where is their future going to be?"
"If it's going to be in the US, I do believe there're steps that can be taken: Public officials who are reliable, public safety that can be spoken to and dealt with. But these efforts take a lot of effort," he said.
After 40 years, what is next for Segal? "That's a pretty good question. One of the most important things for us, as our children have started to move to Israel, is to make that a major family priority to get to Israel on a permanent basis as soon as possible. And the other one is a project that I have been touting and speaking about since we had the fire, which you can read about, in our studio in Manhattan. One of the only things to survive the fire was my 20-volume scrapbook of my career. While a lot of that went into this book, I think even more of it can go into some really nice video project or some kind of online digital project [with] digital pictures, etc. That would, again, be very interesting to the average person who wants to learn more about the American Jewish community at the end of the last century and the beginning of this one. I'm hoping that that somehow stays on the table and that we move forward with it."
The book can be purchased in paperback form on Amazon and in hardcover in bookstores throughout the US.