Antisemitism, Family Legacy, & Unstoppable Tenacity in the Face of a Dark World with Dr. Robert Wolf

“Most people don’t realize that 95% of prisoners in forced labor (slave labor) camps die.” ~ Dr. Robert Wolf

Episode Overview:

In this episode of The Remarkable People Podcast, host David Pasqualone welcomes Dr. Robert Wolf, who shares the inspiring stories of his and his father's resilience in the face of adversity. Recorded the day after Father’s Day 2025, Dr. Wolf delves into his father’s harrowing experiences as a Holocaust survivor and how he authored a powerful story of determination and redemption. Dr. Wolf discusses the ongoing fight against antisemitism, its deep-seated presence in history, and the importance of education and integrity in combating hate. The conversation touches on personal anecdotes, the importance of never giving up, and the powerful lessons that history offers us—illustrating how these lessons can help forge a better, more compassionate world. The episode is a compelling call to action for unity, education, and love amidst global turmoil.

• 00:00 Introduction to Dr. Robert Wolf
• 01:41 The Fight Against Antisemitism
• 05:27 Rob's Upbringing and Education
• 06:55 The Legacy of Dr. Wolf's Parents
• 09:17 The Importance of Resilience and Integrity
• 13:43 The Power of Determination and Faith
• 18:58 Lessons from History and Personal Growth
• 27:31 The Importance of Love and Unity
• 28:04 Addressing Hatred and Antisemitism
• 29:06 Education and Protests in Universities
• 31:43 Personal Stories of Survival
• 33:33 Reflections on Family and Legacy
• 36:23 The Role of Faith and Truth
• 41:44 Middle East and the Path to Peace
• 46:22 Final Thoughts and Messages

SHOW NOTES & LINKS: 

• Website: http://RobertJWolfMD.com
• X: @RobertJWolfMD
• LinkedIn: RobertJWolf
• Instagram: RobertJWolfMD
• FB (Meta) author page: Not a Real Enemy by Robert J Wolf
• The link to purchase “Not a Real Enemy” book: https://mybook.to/I3hEA5

Transcript

Dr. Robert Wolf on Antisemitism, Family Legacy, & Unstoppable Tenacity in the Face of a Dark World

David Pasqualone: Ladies and gentlemen, we are here today with Dr. Robert Wolf. Dr. Wolf not only has a Remarkable story in life to share with you that's inspirational. I. But he also is going to share with you his father's story. And today we're recording. I don't know when you're going to watch this, but we're recording the day after Father's Day.

So what a better way to honor your father than to have a podcast episode dedicated to him and how you're continuing his legacy. [00:01:00] So Dr. Wolf, thanks for being here today and welcome to The Remarkable People Podcast.

Dr. Robert Wolf: Thank you, Dave. I appreciate it. Please call me Rob if you'd like. I'm, I'm very honored and grateful that you had me, that you had me on your program.

David Pasqualone: 

Thank you. Oh, you are very welcome and we're excited to have you here. So we have some listeners that this is their first episode they've ever heard of the Remarkable podcast. We have a huge community globally of loyal listeners that chime in every week. But for all our listeners around the world, if they listen to your episode and they spend this time together with us today, what's just one truth you guarantee they're going to get by the end of the episode that they can apply to their life and have a better humanity in life?

Dr. Robert Wolf: Well, it's about my, my charge is fighting antisemitism right now. And the, I think that when people hear what I have to say I might be able to to have people realize the, the perils of antisemitism and the perils of the dark world and how am I dead was able to get through all of that with resilience [00:02:00] and redemption, determination, hope.

And, and the quest for freedom. So that's, that's going to be the bottom line and how what happened to my dad could happen to any one of us, and how good we have it in this country. Even though we sometimes we, we bitch and moan sometimes and, and complain about our government and our country, but we have it pretty damn good here relative to what my dad had to go through.

David Pasqualone: Absolutely, and Rob and I are coming at you, ladies and gentlemen, from America, but all over the world, there's pros and cons with all of our countries and after being, you know, in a relationship with God, our identity is our nationalism, right? We have our family, we have where we're from, and that means a lot to most of us.

And we want to have the greatest country in the world, but we also want to. Get along and live in harmony with as many people as we can. And Dr. Wolf, you talked about antisemitism. Most people have heard that term, but there's really a lot of people who are embarrassed to say, I don't even know what that means.

So what is antisemitism? [00:03:00] I. 

Dr. Robert Wolf: Well to me it's a subset of racism. It actually is racism in its own form. But it's a, it's a general hatred against the Jewish people, the Jewish religion, and it extends to Israel. And unfortunately now to me, it extends to the free world, the United States, Canada, Australia, Europe.

The, of course, the Middle East, parts of the Middle East, the antisemitism is, is rising. And, and that's what it is. It's just a unnecessary hatred against a certain race just like Islamophobia, which which reared its ugly head after the 9 1 1 attacks. And it was indiscriminate. And after the October 7th attacks in Israel, the same kind of thing happened.

And there was this hate of Asians even in between after the COVID virus. So it is a subset of hatred. It's a subset of racism, and, and it's an awful, it's an awful phenomenon. Even if we eliminated every Hamas person in the world and, and, and Hezbollah and everybody it would still rear its ugly head.

Somehow, some way it, it tends to re reproduce itself. And we're not just talking about 50 years, we're talking [00:04:00] about hundreds and even thousands of years. 

David Pasqualone: Yes. And ladies and gentlemen, if you're listening to this episode, this is important to you. It doesn't matter if you're Polish, it doesn't matter if you're Chinese.

It doesn't matter if you're Scandinavian. It doesn't matter if you're American. It doesn't matter if you're Jewish. It doesn't matter if you're Russian. I. Yeah, antisemitism affects you. There's a real God and there's a real Satan. And Satan want to run, wants to ruin everything and run discord in our world.

And antisemitism is a massive way that he does it. And if you read your Bible and you believe the Bible, it says, A friend of Israel is a friend of God. And the converse of that is an enemy of Israel is an enemy of God, so we have to be very careful and really understand what's going on here. Why does so many people just hate Israel?

And is it, where does it come from? I'm going to tell you right now, it's coming from Satan. Rob might frame it differently, but bias is bias. [00:05:00] Bigotry is bigotry. It's wrong. So Rob, I've talked enough. Let's talk about you and your story. Now we're doing kind of a combo episode with you and your dad. So you start where you feel comfortable, but normally we start the show with where are you from, good, bad, or ugly.

What was your upbringing like? And then we walk through step by step to today. And we ask questions on the way, but you start your story, how you feel fit, brother. I appreciate 

Dr. Robert Wolf: that. Well, my parents were both Hungarian refugees and they were both survivors of the Holocaust. My dad was a four-time escape artist.

We can come back to that, but I was fortunate to be born in Detroit. I. I think they waited until they moved to the United States a free country before they decided and settled in did it the right way before they had me in Detroit. I was raised, I was one of three Jewish kids in, in a high school that was 40% African American.

So that was that was definitely a great experience. Never felt antisemitism. Never felt hatred in school. We played a lot of sports. We left it on the field. A lot of trash talks on [00:06:00] bullying. But it was all because of size and age. It wasn't because of religion or race creed or color. I was fortunate to go to Tufts.

I went to Tufts University near your. Your hometown of Boston, your original hometown, great school became a Boston fan in addition to being a Detroit fan in all, all four sports. Big, I'm a big sports guy too. And then I went to University of Michigan Medical School fortunate enough to to, to have that and did my radiology residency at Brown and a neuroradiology fellowship at Yale.

So that's half my life. I'm 30 now at this point, and I'm, my indentured Ry time is over. I just retired from radiology. I've been a radiologist for 35 years. My dad and mom wrote his story in the seventies, didn't think much of at the time. We can go through the history of his story too, but now this is my charge.

The last five, six years I've really pivoted, I've changed my vector into fighting, hate, fighting antisemitism and, and talking about why it is so bad and, and how it rears its ugly head in, in so many different ways. 

David Pasqualone: Yeah, and I know that I personally believe in America. We've had it so good for so [00:07:00] long.

People just make stuff up to complain about. And they have such a shallow, honestly worthless life. They waste their life. It has worth, but they waste it and they find things to complain about. And, oh, you know, I have $10 million, but you know, I, I, I don't have 20 million. Or, you know what I mean? Or it's like, I have nothing to do today.

When you could do anything in the world, you have that freedom. So when you talk about antisemitism and hate and bigotry. Probably knowing your parents' background and probably growing up, like you said, you didn't have any direct instances, like you said in high school if there were, you guys took it on the field.

Right. Today though, as time is progressing and as the environment globally is changing, are you personally seeing in your world in America the hate or is it you're just observing it overall throughout the world? 

Dr. Robert Wolf: Unfortunately it is throughout the world. And you know, you bring [00:08:00] up so many great points into what you just said.

First of all, I'm going to talk about food, shelter, clothing. 'cause we bring that up all the time that there's more to life than food, shelter, clothing. There's, like you said, being with your family, travel, education and, you know, seeing a movie giving back to the community, which I always stress. I think those are important things.

Instead of sitting around and complaining or protesting. If you don't like what you've got, if you don't like your job, change, change jobs, change vectors. Go part-time. Get, like I said, give back to the community. So all, all these things help do something for your neighbor. I mean, love thy neighbors.

They say, not to be corny, but it's true. And if, if we all one at a time kind of bought into that, then the hate would slowly go away. What's going on on the other side of the world? The wars. They're, they're horrible. I mean, I, I detest them but if it's going to help. Reduce the killing and the persecution and the hatred overall, then, then do what you have to do.

I mean, the Israelis and the, the Hebrews going away, had to fight all their lives. [00:09:00] Joshua the, the Battle of Jericho, the, the escape Exodus, my favorite book from the Old Testament exodus. Of course, as you can imagine the escape and the, well, it's not really an escape. The, the exodus and the, the freedom of the Jewish people.

Finally, after 400 years of slavery. Slavery's wrong and my, that's what my dad had to endure. He, he was of slave labor back in World War ii, and he escaped twice from forced labor camps under Nazi Hungary. He was lucky to be a young male and useful during World War ii, otherwise he would've been dead.

And by the way, 95% of forced laborers were, did not survive. So my dad was one of the lucky 5%. And not a lot of people know about these slave labor camps or death marches and other things that were besides. Concentration camps such as Holocaust, which was horrible enough. And his parents were killed or they perished in Auschwitz.

Both my dad's parents, the grandparents I never met. And so that was part of my motivation for doing this too, that the message was clear throughout my dad's story, throughout his life, at least the first half of his life that hatred was out [00:10:00] there. And he, he wanted to purvey that, to continue that message with me.

David Pasqualone: Yeah. And that is so crucial because, you know, if we forget the past, we're bound to relive it. And that's why the liberals and basically saying, want to take history away because they want to be able to repeat this evil. So when you're talking about. Your dad and you're talking about your mom and what they had to go through to get to Detroit.

Right. Talk about their story a little bit, Rob, and what you learned from this. 

Dr. Robert Wolf: I don't get real political. That's that's a dangerous, that's a dangerous thing. But I'm more center. I'm more right of center, and I would like to see people go a little bit more towards center, at least a little bit more cohesive in this country and, and elsewhere.

So I, I don't blame the right or the left. I'm, I'm more, and my mom would used to say, by the way, she said we would not buy, we would not be part of the Nazi party and we would not belong to the Communist Party. So I [00:11:00] belong to no party here. In the United States, we vote for the best candidate. And I'm just, I'm my poor Hungarian accent.

That's the best I can say about my mom. But that was their, their attitude overall. Mom was 11 years younger than my dad. They met when she was a medical student. This was after w the, after the world War ii. My mom was in hiding most of that war farms houses Christians Jewish. She was in hiding with different people, her grandfather, her grandmother, her mother.

So she was scared to death. She was just a kid. A little less harrowing than what my dad had to go through, but nonetheless, still worried about food, shelter, and clothing. My dad was raised sort of a spoiled kid. His dad was a dentist, so I'm a third generation medical field. They did okay. I mean, his parents struggled too.

His dad struggled to, to get a practice going and, and he was actually an officer in World War I, he was a captain on a, on a military, on a, sorry, red Cross ship in the Black Sea during World War I. So his dad, obvious threat to society, you, dentist and, and, and [00:12:00] before that captain in the military.

But anyway, they raised my dad right. Integrity, intelligence. And nonetheless after the, in the twenties and now into the thirties and forties antisemitism on the rise, and they had to, they had limited time that they could be out in the streets shopping. Jews weren't allowed to own a radio for example.

They were scared. They were nervous about what was going on in the future. But for my dad at 21, 22 years old, they hauled him off to a forced labor camp. Late in World War ii, 1943 we're talking. So it was kind of towards the end of the war. So, and Hungary got hit hard soon after that because there was a mass exodus of Jewish people from Hungary to Auschwitz and elsewhere for for instant genocide.

So meanwhile, my dad has no news of this. He escapes once in the middle of nowhere in the middle of mountains with his friend Frank ends up in Budapest, gets they get double crossed. They get they get rounded into what they call the dog pound in Budapest. And because somebody double crossed them.

And so I. They escaped [00:13:00] again from there. So right in front of Nazi headquarters. Amazing stories. They, they just, the split second timing, the, the brains, the courage. I, I can't imagine the fear the fear of being lonely and the fear of being chased around and not knowing where your next, you know, we talk about the light at the end of the tunnel, not knowing where your next meal is going to be, not knowing where you're going to sleep, not knowing if you're going to work again.

And having those ridiculous yellow bands that you had on that that branded you as less, as, less worthy, so people could hunt you down freely or turn you in. So the, a lot on your mind, there's no light at the end of the tunnel for the longest time. But they, they did their best. And, and the, the, but the motivation was in my dad's resilience and my dad's determination just to be free because it wasn't easy.

David Pasqualone: Yeah. And I think that's so crucial and a, a common thread in what I hear in survivor stories. I don't wanna say this in an offensive way to anybody listening, but if you're going to be held in a slave [00:14:00] labor camp, right, you're probably, like Rob said, 95% chance of death. It's a miserable death. So in my mind, again, I have not been in that situation and I know there's a lot of mental warfare that goes on to control people, but like your father chose, I'd rather fight and die than die a slave, and it always did.

My mind has never been able to fully wrap around it, and I think maybe I don't want it to, is the, what kind of mental control do these concentration camps have that break people's will to even try to escape? Did, did your dad and you ever have those conversations, Rob? 

Dr. Robert Wolf: Not in the first half of my life, but later on in life, and especially now that I've read his story a second time very much so there's a learned helplessness that you get and you know, I've seen it in African Americans that, that if you're, you learn that if you're Jewish, you're [00:15:00] no good.

I mean, you're, you're less than you're, you're. Inferior. And if they say that enough to you, you tend to believe it. But my dad wouldn't buy into it, so, and he would overcompensate. You know, if, if a Jewish leader politician or otherwise goes speaks out or does something, some type of malfeasance, my dad will call him out.

On it even more so than anybody else because they'll say that's, that's a that's a hit on me. That's a hit on my race and my religion. You're going to make me look worse and people are going to blame me. So, so he was strong-willed that way. And like I said he just wanted to be a doctor and he just wanted to practice medicine in a free country.

I. He had to do it step by step first by escaping and not everybody gets that. You know, my dad had no sign of PTSD. He became an OB GYN and delivered 10,000 babies in the Detroit area, which is sort of the punchline that's really redemption. It doesn't bring back the 6 million Jews or the 50 to 60 million people killed by during World War ii, not to mention by the communists.

But it does bring back some life and, and certainly my dad's way [00:16:00] of, of, of battling it. Not everybody, not every survivor was able to tell the story. A lot of 'em had PTSD, they wanted to keep it one themselves. And I don't blame them when you hear these horrific stories, we hear about that in Vietnam, you know, PTSD and some people relate and, and some people can't do it.

And then we can talk about the people that didn't survive that had amazing stories. People that died in the ninth inning, you know, right before maybe a day or a week before. They were going to be set free from the, from their labor camps or concentration camps. And those people never got to say the story either.

So I'm fortunate enough that my parents recorded what happened to them and they recorded it. So so astutely like the, the events that happened the previous day that I could not leave the stories on a piece of paper or on a computer or a disc, I had to share it with the world. It was just too important.

David Pasqualone: Yeah. And I'm so thankful you did. And ladies and gentlemen, I want you to kind of just pause a little bit and think about this. What Rob's talking about, that persistence, that strong will, that passion, that just [00:17:00] determination not to quit is the common thread to all great humans. Okay. I mean, I think when you were talking totally different situation, but Churchill, everybody else was rolling over for Hitler and Churchill's like no.

And often the people who are strong-willed and determined are considered arrogant or conceited or cocky, and maybe they are, but those people are the ones that keep going when they have the pure heart to go along with it. They overcome and they live, and now we can sit here and talk to Rob and learn from it.

So I guess the first talking point that I wanna throw out there is just that never quit attitude, that persistence, that grit, that determination that your dad had. Rob. Talk about that. How did your dad, did he, he definitely lived it, but did he ever verbally express that? No nonsense fight for what's right.

Attitude. How, how did he explain it to you? 

Dr. Robert Wolf: Usually it was in a family fight. I would [00:18:00] say when I was younger it would be, you know, I'm a spoiled kid or whatever, and, you know, I was, I worked hard, but I was, I was lucky. My parents were really, really sweet to me. And no, my dad, the first half of his life was more, they wanted me be educated to see what the world was like, including Hungary.

I, I went back with 'em to visit him. Hungary when it was still under communist rule. It was very depressing, very discouraging. But no, I, I could feel my dad's strength just by seeing how he was just seeing how he got up and went to work every day, seeing how he, he loved delivering babies even in the middle of the night and would've done it till the day he died.

And I guess like the way my dad's parents raised him, they wanted me to be. Educated and, and not have to go through the same kind of things that they did. They may, interestingly, they never taught me Hungarian. They kept Hungarian their secret language. Now, they loved Mother Hungary but they hated Nazi Hung and they hated Communist Hungary.

So it was probably one way of them leaving behind the past while still speaking Hungarian amongst themselves. But on the other hand, later [00:19:00] in my second half of my life, especially, they educated me more so upon about the dark world and, and, and how you get through it. And, you know, my dad had, I guess, little mental games with himself and, and being a radiologist for for 35 years, you have to do the same thing.

Or you're going to go, you know, you're going to get burnout, you're going to go loony. You've gotta, you've gotta be strong mentally and everything else will fall into place. The other thing is integrity was, was a big topic that comes up a lot. Integrity between my dad. And his fellow slave laborers dividing whatever little food they had un you know, unwritten laws, unwritten conditions that they, that they had to follow, like not getting outta line for the fear of, of death or being threatened or beaten.

So they, they really, there's a fine line between fear and, and and hate and and the need and the need to escape the need to. To leave that and not having a choice about it or feeling like you don't. Why people don't try. I mean, can they try to escape from Auschwitz en masse? Probably not. You know, it's a, [00:20:00] it's a certain death march.

A certain death wish to do that. But the way my dad and his friend Frank, it was a calculated risk and, and the strength was there and it's just amazing. It's just such a, it's motivation. I've said that word already today, but it's just amazing how they did it. And, and the other thing I ask myself, and I'll challenge anyone who reads the book that, you know, what, what would you do in this situation?

How would you. Tackle this situation. And, and I don't know if I could, and I don't know if most of us could, maybe our military people in the military you know, first responders you know, that kind of thing. But very, very difficult mentally and physically. I don't, I'm not sure how I could handle it myself.

Yeah. And I wanna talk about that. The name of the book is what, again, Rob. It was called, not a real Enemy, the true story of a Hungarian Jewish man's fight for freedom. And and it's, it's been out for a little while. But not it, it's so poignant. I mean, my dad was not a real enemy but in the end he was.

And if you wanna know about what's behind the title, I can tell you, but it, that's all it was. It was Determination for Freedom and, and [00:21:00] the theme, not a Real Enemy, it's a chapter too in the book, but it, it, it's pervasive throughout the story. 

David Pasqualone: No, and why? Why I was bringing that up is ladies and gentlemen, we can read books for entertainment.

We can read books as history just for knowledge. And it's interesting, and some people love World War I, world War ii, Vietnam. They love that kind of literature. But what I want to point out is. Two thirds of the Bible is Old Testament, and that's probably one of the only things you and I differ on is as a Jew, you believe the Old Testament, but not as much the new.

Is that correct Rob? 

Dr. Robert Wolf: It is, but go to Israel and that changes a little bit. Yeah. I mean, yeah, it's, I, I love Christianity. I think it's a great, I think it's a great religion. I think peaceful Christianity is as important as peaceful Judaism. So I may not disagree with you as much as you think.

David Pasqualone: Yeah, no.

Oh, no. I wasn't bringing up point of contention. I'm just saying. 

Dr. Robert Wolf: You bring up a good point. 'cause people should follow people like Moses and Noah and [00:22:00] Jesus and Gandhi and MLK and Winston Churchill. Great example. Instead of the people that they're following now the, this garbage on social media we see, and especially when it includes hate and, and racism, but not to get the subject, but no being Jewish and being Christian.

My, I have a very, very good friend and I've got a lot of Muslim friends too, by the way. And so did my parents Judeo-Christian values he used to talk about, and and he still does. And I think that's there. And and you know, most Islamic people are peaceful too, and, and Asians. I mean, we're, we're just a step away of, of being such a, such a better world if we just, if everyone just made a little bit of an effort.

David Pasqualone: Yeah, no, what I was bringing up is two thirds of the Bible, like I have my Bible right here. You know, hopefully we're reading it and spend time with God every day. Two thirds of it is the Old Testament. That's the history. Then you have the break to the New Testament is once Jesus is born and then dies and then rises again.

But there's so much history in the Bible 'cause like Rob and his dad's life, you don't just read it. It's an [00:23:00] entertainment source, but you learn from it so you can benefit in the future and not fall, fall into the same traps over and over and over again. So I highly recommend picking up Rob's book, and when you're reading it, like Rob said, think about what would you do because I'm not trying to scare you or be sensational.

But the world's in chaos. We might very well soon be persecuted again and put into slave camps for what we believe. So you, me, Rob, all of us need to know not just what we believe, but why we believe it, and are we willing to die for it. And that's the sad, but also encouraging truth because when you have hope.

You will die for what you believe, like Rob's dad was willing to do, and he's here today, but when hope is deferred, the Bible doesn't make it the heart sick. You know, a broken heart can kill you, Rob. You're a radiologist, right? The people who died were the ones who quit, but the people who fought, I. They, you probably saw a bunch of people of [00:24:00] your career who you like statistically you should be dead.

But they had the right mindset, right? 

Dr. Robert Wolf: Absolutely. No great mind power. The, the power of the mind, the heart, the soul, and the power of God. I mean, a lot of people, a lot of things in medicine happen because they just, they happen. You know, we, we can treat so much, but the grace of God is definitely in integrated in that.

And you know, one of the, the titles, one of the early. Thoughts about the title for the book was the sixth Book of Moses because of the 20 Miracles in the book. And my co-author talked me out of it. But that was one of my I thought the sixth book of Moses would've been, but it's history.

And, you know, people, first of all, people shouldn't pick and choose what history is accurate and what history it isn't. I, I mean, I believe the Old Testament and the New Testament is somebody wrote it, somebody saw some miracles, somebody was there so. And then just carry it forward. World War I, world War ii, Vietnam, the Hungarian Revolution that not a lot of people know about.

That all those things that people need to know about it. And please don't change history, learn about it. And this, this is my job too, is, is educating that, that [00:25:00] my book is being taught. I'm talk about the, the, the perils of the dark world in classrooms, museums, libraries, and, and that's where ethic education is the big key.

And, and understanding each other, understanding what's, what's been going on. And the other thing is that you mentioned that what happened to my dad could happen to any one of us, like he just said, could be a bad neighbor, bad business deal, local government, federal government, foreign government, natural disaster, whatever.

You could find yourself homeless and on the run and not knowing where your meal's coming from let alone a job and just in a heartbeat. God forbid. I wouldn't wish that on anybody what my dad had to go through. Yeah, no, 

David Pasqualone: absolutely. So we've covered a lot of ground. We've kind of jumped, but we talked about lazy gentlemen.

First off, knowing what you believe and why, and then we talk about how we need to be resilient and. Just determined and not quit. And I believe, and you've heard me say, if you listen to the show, I'd rather die doing what's right than compromise. You know what I mean? Why live 50 years and compromise and be in [00:26:00] shame where, yeah, I might die today, but I'm going to go with my Lord for eternity.

So Rob, pick up in your life from your birth to today, anything else we missed that we haven't covered yet that you want to talk or share with our audience that they can glean from? 

Dr. Robert Wolf: I, I did mention this a little bit. Give back to the community. Be a team player. I always think that's an important concept.

There's no substitute for experience that, that's that I still believe in, that you can, in radiology, we used to say you can learn something from every case. I. But you know, a case is a person, so it's not, or you can learn something from every professor or, or everybody that you meet. And it's true.

I mean, you, you definitely can. So, but, but those messages are there. The messages of determination, of course. The the message of changing vectors pivoting because life is short. It really is our only commodity. We have, you know, we have. Gold and silver and real estate, crypto, stocks, bonds, but those aren't commodities.

Life and time, time is really our only [00:27:00] commodity, and we should remember that and we should use it wisely. Not protest, but volunteer somewhere. Go volunteer to hospital or library. Like I said, change jobs, change vectors, and and then you'll be, and, you know, spend time with your family and other people's families and and stay educated.

It's a lot, but yeah, no substitute for experience and being a team player. They really are two big two of the biggies. And, and that that goes across the board. And that's not just in medicine, that's in life for sure. 

David Pasqualone: I, I agree with everything you said. Couldn't agree more. And I think the Bible supports it all.

Love God, love thy neighbor. Everything we're doing, you know, it matters in eternity. And you know when people are listening though. There's people from all over the world, and there's people who have grown up. This culture is evil. It doesn't matter what it is. There's quote unquote, you know, everybody's tanned.

There's one race, the human race. [00:28:00] I believe that with all my heart. I actually literally own the domain, one world, one race. But there's, if someone was to say, I am white and I hate black people, or if someone would say, I'm black and I hate white people, or I'm Greek and I hate, you know, it doesn't matter.

People hate. And like you said before, sadly, people always hate 'cause it's sinful human nature that Satan feeds. Right. But right now people hear about Hamas and Israel and the antisemitism going on, and these, you know. These universities that are honestly fueling the fire. So someone's raised anti-Israel, someone's raised anti Hamas.

What do you say to bring them to the middle? To try to maybe say, Hey, before we pick a side, let's look at the facts through history. And let's kind of, even if we disagree, we don't have to kill each other and disagree. [00:29:00] And where would you take that person who's actually willing to think through what do I believe and why?

Dr. Robert Wolf: We're back to the education thing. Education starts at home for one thing, but it, it does belong in, you know, now at this point, maybe late fifth, sixth grade, junior high school, high school obviously colleges with the protests. One thing I wanna mention is it, it is really disgusting to me when famous African Americans like Kanye and Kyrie talk out against the Jews because and, and, and our pro Hamas, our pro.

Militant because you, you guys are next. And you know, when they, they allowed Hitler. I mean, you, you guys were next and you weren't, it wasn't just it, it was also the Muslims. It wasn't just the Jewish people and Christians too. You guys were next. So same with the L-G-B-T-Q that talk, that talk against the Jewish crowd.

I mean, you guys tho those people were, were persecuted and murdered in World War II as well. Definitely shunned under, under the communists who were no better the Jews, by the way. But we educate about it. We, and like somebody asked me a couple weeks ago about what would you be, what would you do if you're the Dean of Harvard?

And that was a great [00:30:00] question. I, you know, I, I don't know. First of all, I wouldn't want to be a dean of university right now that's undergoing protest. But the first thing I would do is call my governor, ask for some support, military, local police powwow with other deans, powwow with other universities.

Especially these ivy leaguers that that just doesn't seem to go away. And then when you've done that and admit accountability, apologize to the community. Pray that you don't get lawsuits sent after you left and right. 'cause if I had a kid in one of those schools, I'd pull 'em right out and I'd be in the lawyer's office the next day.

I mean, that's, it's so ridiculous that a Jewish kid or Jewish professor can't go into the classroom. So, and I, I wouldn't go to protest, but I would go to do lectures. I. And, and please let, let me do lectures at your place. Let me talk about what this is about because we have a really well received speech a pre book presentation, and it's not long.

But what the important part is the question and answer afterwards. Just like what we're doing here and now. So, yeah, I mean, bring it to the center. We try, there's always going to be somebody we can't change. But my, my idea is to get the 99.9% of [00:31:00] us around the few haters and, and say, look, you, this has gotta stop.

Or, you know, you're going to jail or you're going to be forced to be educated about racism and antisemitism. Or in the worst case scenario, we we're bombing each other's cities. And you know, that's something that I. That's not what I want to teach. But if that's what it takes for now, I mean, it's very sad, but it's better.

I don't, I I don't wanna be killed neither do you. If I don't have to be, and I wanna be free in that, this very short period of time we have. So and it's important. Everything we just talked about is what I would teach in, in general, in the classroom. Not a protest where everybody's screaming over each other's ears, but go to the dean's office, call them up, and I'm still doing it.

I'm, I'm reaching out to universities all the time. Holocaust museums, all kinds of, all kinds of places. 

David Pasqualone: Yeah. Now let's talk about, so between your birth and today, there's nothing else you want to talk about. Let's pick one story from your dad's life in honor of him and Father's Day, and ultimately God, right?

What's one story you're always like, man, I [00:32:00] can't believe this happened, and let's talk about that quickly. 

Dr. Robert Wolf: Okay. The one is his first escape. That's the only thing. When I first read his manuscript, maybe 30 years ago, that I remembered, and it, it, it was balls out. I mean Chris Berman stumbling, bumbling, fumbling.

They were in the middle of nowhere in the Carpathian Mountains. They had about a two or three day window to decide when they were going to escape. They thought they were on a death march. Him and he and his friend Frank. And by day two at dusk, they took off and I, I can't imagine the fear they end up running for who knows, half a mile, a mile, backpack's on board, hiding in the, in the wintry thicket.

Scared about not, and, and thinking it's double, double guessing. What they, why they did that and, and now we've really done it and we're in trouble. A third guy chased them escaped with them, not planned with him. And he got caught and they heard all this while they were in hiding. And I can't imagine being more scared, getting beaten and, and having them drag the guy back.

And he survived, by the way. So that's a great story too. But no, that, that first story about hiding in the [00:33:00] thicket first escape and, and getting the hell out of there thinking that they were on the death march and not knowing what, whether the war was going to end badly or, or well. Who's going to pro occupy Hungary or Austria.

They didn't even know where to end up going back to the light of the end of the tunnel. But that story to me, I is the most memorable. And also the story about what happened at Auschwitz with his parents. And he even missed an escape. That was another, it's another great story. So, yeah. We'll, but yeah, he missed an escape and the luck on this guy for missing that escape.

But the, the consequences were horrible for those that that did to make an escape. Wrong train. 

David Pasqualone: Yeah. It's crazy how God works things out and it seems so. Small, but it's a huge, my grandfather not even close to the same scenario, but there was a typo in the military of how they spelled our last name, and while he was trying to get the paperwork fixed with the clerics, everybody else deployed and died in war.

He survived, and now obviously my [00:34:00] family survived because of a clerical mistake. That's unbelievable. 

Dr. Robert Wolf: Yeah, it's, that's an amazing story. I had to look at your last name admittedly five, 10 times before I made sure I had it spelled right in the calendar. But can you imagine that, I mean, I. Yeah. Split second.

Split second timing. In some cases, that's, yeah, I 

David Pasqualone: don't, I don't know if I've ever shared that publicly, but if you ever see my signature, i.my e, my name is Pasqualone with an E at the end. Yeah. But that's what happened. There was an I at the end instead of an e and, and after it happened, my grandfather was like, forget that.

We're keeping it an eye. So in some places in history it's an eye in some places an E, but I, just to make sure I honor, I put the dog and thank you God. So God bless, 

Dr. Robert Wolf: God bless your fa. Is your father still around or? My 

David Pasqualone: grandfather. It was my grandfather and he passed. Oh, this was 

Dr. Robert Wolf: your grandfather? Yeah, yeah, it was my grandfather.

David Pasqualone: Your father still around or No? My father's still alive. Yes. 

Dr. Robert Wolf: God bless him. God bless 

David Pasqualone: him. You know? Yep. That was my mother's side, my grandfather on my mother's side, so my [00:35:00] mom and dad are still around, but I never met my grandfather. He died in his fifties from a heart attack. Wow. 

Dr. Robert Wolf: So I got to meet some, I mean, on my mom's side for sure.

And step, so that was fortunate. My mom's grandfather was a rabbi and he perished at Auschwitz as well. So another threat to society, right? A, a rabbi. But the humiliation too is, is incredible, but just how they get through all of it, you know, it's self-explanatory. I mean, I don't, I don't have to be doing this.

I, I could still be practicing medicine or retired chasing bikinis and golf balls around. And, and enjoying life. But I enjoy doing this and, and there's burnout in this too because I'm trying to, I'm trying to query and pitch the idea against fighting hate and fighting antisemitism. And in my own little corner of doing it, which is through my dad's story and, and my family's story, I.

Yeah, and it's well received. That's all you can do. And, and I, oh, one other thing, everybody has a book in them, so if you have a story and you write, write a book, why not? Everybody's got a story. It's not just me. I, I, I've got a couple more in the back of my head to write, but you know, there's, [00:36:00] everybody's got a good story.

Just the thing you just said right. There would be a couple of chapters and, and I think sounds like you've got a good one right there. I mean, that's yeah. Very amazing. 

David Pasqualone: Yeah. And one thing too, ladies, like always, we'll put a link to the book in the show notes. You can just check it out whether you're on your favorite podcast player, whether you're on our website or rumble, just click the link, check out Rob's book about his dad and what he went through.

But I really challenge everybody to think about what they believe and why. And there's some things that, you know, okay, we have a pre a preference. Who cares? Just let that stuff go. You can talk about it. You can have heated debates, no problem. But don't go crazy and get violent. And then there's other things that are foundational to who we are and what we believe.

Don't compromise those ever. Never. That's who you are. Talk about 'em and I bet if Rob and I are going to room, there's always going to be one of three outcomes. Rob's right? And I'm wrong. I'm right [00:37:00] and Rob's wrong, or we're both wrong, but God's always right. So make sure you're seeking for truth and not your, your personal opinion.

Right? And when all this is going on, and we're talking about the hate, and we're talking about what's happening at these riots, like in America, there's violent riots going on, not peaceful protests. Look at the people. They're all the same. They got purple and green hair. They got nothing going on in their life, so they literally jump in.

I would honestly say 90% of these people at these riots are just trying to stir crap because they have an empty heart that's evil. They need Jesus. They need God. They need to change a life, but they're so empty and shallow. They're just blowing stuff up and breaking stuff and looting because they see opportunity to be out loud who they are.

An empty, evil shell of a human. That's my [00:38:00] opinion. So why would you join them? Right? Why would you join into that evil? Rob, you? I might be totally, you're like, Dave, you're wrong. You can say it. What are your thoughts on that? People at these rallies, I. 

Dr. Robert Wolf: I'm a bunker buster. You know, first of all, nobody cares.

You know, nobody cares. I mean, a lot of people don't care about what I'm talking about, and that's part of the back of a burn of burnout is saying, you know, nobody gives a crap about antisemitism. And I feel that way sometimes. I. So these people that are pro, I mean, I don't know, purple and green hair. I, I, I'm not surprised, but yeah, no, I 

David Pasqualone: drove by, this is a true story this week.

Oh yeah. I live in Pensacola. Super conservative community, right? Yeah, of course. Course I'm driving by and there's like a hundred people near a state college, and there was all these people, I'm going to be blunt, a bunch of. Oh man, I gotta be careful 'cause not everybody's like this, but at this rally there was a bunch of people with purple and green hair.

They look like a freak show. And I'm like, did Black Lives [00:39:00] Matter? Get rebooted? And then I found out it's a stupid kings movement. Like no kings, when it's like, are are you retarded? What are you thinking? You're not protesting illegals coming in. You're not protesting people sending America on fire. You're not protesting these politicians lying, stealing, cheating, but you're protesting people who are trying to fix the country.

It's mind blowing. So that's where I was going with that, but yeah, no, finish your thought. 

Dr. Robert Wolf: Yeah, no, I'm with you. No, I, I think, i, I'd rather finish the, the argument, like you said, with the handshake rather than the bullet. And that's, that, that's what we're trying to do. But yeah, if I were a student, you know, I'd get in the weight room and, and I would be in the middle of that.

Just get outta my way, you know, nobody cares and I don't care if you're going to try to beat me up, it's not going to work. 'cause I got five or six friends that are tougher than me. And I'm, and they're going to protect, we're going to protect each other and we're not going to be in that fight. We're going to protect each other with a good defense.

And, no, I, I, I, it's horrible. I mean, and. You know, remember in Florida about a year or two ago, [00:40:00] there was this there was a. Protest against Jewish people. And I think a lot of the guys were gay. I, you know, I, if I'm not mistaken, they, they squelched it pretty quickly. And DeSantis here in Florida has been pretty good about, I guess on our college campuses, you know, that you're not allowed to to commandeer you know, personal, private property.

And, and what else did he say that universities. Are not babysit school, we're not babysitters. They're so, and I, I would say the thing and what are you kid, what are you kids? Go get a job. Go work at McDonald's, dunking Donuts, whatever. Do a you know this, spend time with your kid's sister or your mom and dad and, and start over again.

I mean, this is. It is crazy. And, and take a bath. 

David Pasqualone: Yeah. And there's not Jewish people slaughtering, gay, lesbian, homosexual, transgender, all the alphabet that they label themselves with. But these people are fighting for Homa, Hamas in general. And it's like, do you pay attention? If you were in their country, they would be killing you next.

Right? I mean, am I wrong? It just is mind blowing. No. Any infidel. 

Dr. Robert Wolf: [00:41:00] Yeah, any infidel that's, you know, and that's 

David Pasqualone: their thinking. I mean, no, they're not thinking. They're obviously mentally retarded, and I don't care if that offends somebody because a retarded child, I feel bad for them. They're doing their best.

They're amazing. They're a joy to the Lord. But you're acting stupid, knowing the facts and still supporting the people, they're going to murder you. It makes no sense. Yeah, no doubt about 

Dr. Robert Wolf: it. No doubt about it. Well, in Gaza, those, the people were very, very. Brainwashed. And, you know, fear is a big part of it. I think poverty is a big part of it.

Religion, of course. The want, the need for territory. The need for space. Those are all a part of what's, what's going on. But I I, right, you're right. I mean, they don't empathize with somebody who's going to really be your enemy because they, they are your enemy. You just don't realize it. I mean, yeah.

But, but again, 

David Pasqualone: me and you and ladies and gentlemen all over the world, we have a huge listenership in the Middle East. I don't hate you. God doesn't hate you. Rob doesn't hate you. And if I grew up hearing every day, this is evil. This is evil. Like, you know, I'm going to pick people from [00:42:00] Antarctica are evil.

People from Antarctica are evil. If I heard that every day. You're definitely, definitely going to lean towards the side of hating people from Antarctica, so you have to make a conscious choice to say what is truth? I'm not upset with anybody that grew up in that culture. What I'm talking about is the privileged people who really have no problems, they really have nothing to do with it, and they're protesting against the good for the bad.

And those are the people that would kill them in a private room. It's just mind 

Dr. Robert Wolf: blowing. I agree. I mean, I couldn't say that better myself. I'm glad to see that the trend, though, in the Middle East, hopefully is toward peace. Syria hopefully there's, there, you know, it's, it takes a little bit of a military nudge, but Syria, may, maybe Iran in the near future, we'll see.

And the Middle East could be a really booming amazing area. And I was in Israel a couple years ago and I, I implore, I implore anybody to go. They say every Jew should go, every Jewish person should go to Israel. But I say everybody should go to Israel [00:43:00] because it, it's, it's very. Enlightening. It's, it's, it's just, it's so amazing.

It's un indescribable, the integration and the tolerance of the people. And our tours, we, they took us to we met an imam, we went to mosque, we went to multiple churches, learned all about Jesus life. And, and multiple Jewish sites too. The whaling wall, the western wall. I, I cried there because I remember being there as a kid with my dad.

And my, and my grandfather and them explaining what the western wall, the whaling wall was about. And so I said my prayer and the, the guide had to literally pull me out of there. So it was but no, I, I think it is just, and I wish every place in, in middle East would like Israel because Arabs are allowed to study.

Arabs are allowed to be themselves and practice the religion in Israel. But in some other, other countries, hopefully less over the years Jewish people have been persecuted and including in Iran. The stories we hear from people that have escaped or or have departed Iran. They, they, and that's not the only country, of course.

David Pasqualone: No, 

Dr. Robert Wolf: no, I 

David Pasqualone: don't, I have [00:44:00] so many good friends from the Middle East, and I'm sure you do too. And I'm a Christian and they're Muslim, and we talk and we laugh and sometimes we get hot, but we're always about what's truth and finding truth. But we love each other. We'll have holidays together. You know what I mean?

It's, it's not about hate and I, I personally think like if you had an organization, you were a doctor, but you still saw the business side to medicine, right? If you have production and sales getting along, I. Your company's going to crumble. You need sales to be selling and tell production to move faster, and you need production to be moving faster and telling sales to keep selling.

You need that conflict to grow just like working out. You need that, that resistance to grow and to be healthy. So it's like, what is it? Pressure is good. Stress is bad, you know? 

Dr. Robert Wolf: No doubt. 

David Pasqualone: No doubt. Resist. Resistance is good. Conflict, not so much, but, but that's it. So 

Dr. Robert Wolf: you're right. And have fun. You know, it's something I, I don't do just this for my life.

Like, I like to have fun, you know? I like to go to [00:45:00] concerts and ball games and watch a good movie and spend a little time with the ladies. I mean, I like to enjoy life too, because. What, what I'm doing makes it pre and then also being ill last year, as I told you before, the, before our chat here, that I was a little bit ill last year and that, that's another eye opener.

Besides what my, what my dad went through. Oh, by the way, my dad had two open heart surgeries that he survived too. Besides, besides everything else, I mean, bad back foot infection, you know food poisoning, body lace. All the other stuff that we don't talk about, the illnesses and death and malnutrition we don't talk about.

And and women slave laborers, that's come up in my journey that I didn't realize. So, I mean, we knew that they put the women and children to work in some of these concentration camps, but I'm talking about just a separate forced labor camp for women, Hungarian women. So. Gangrene. I just, it's, I may, it's disgusting.

We don't, the people that survived that were so lucky and, you know, and maybe death was a, like you said you'd rather die than, than compromise your, your, your thoughts. And and maybe the people that died immediately were, were [00:46:00] relatively lucky. Like you said, they got went to the hands of God. 

David Pasqualone: Yeah.

And, and, and that's just it. It's not like nobody knows what you're going to do till you're in that situation. But if you believe something, you're going to stay firm. And that's, that's what it's all about. So, anything else in your life, your dad's life, or any final thoughts you wanna leave with our listeners before we wrap this episode up?

Rob? 

Dr. Robert Wolf: Well, my dad used to say with a, again, forgive my Hungarian accent. Enjoy every moment. Enjoy every moment. He used to say, and that is so true. And when he used to say that to me as a kid I didn't really always understand it, but aging as a part of life and what he went through. He was right.

So and don't do it for the money. He today. Don't do it for the money. And you start talk about medicine and, and believe me, I'm not doing this for the money at, at all. So but yeah, he's right about that Money is, is too stressed and and I think it shouldn't be such a, such a big motivator in our behaviors for sure.

Love, peace, friendship. Again, team play. And [00:47:00] my dad was, was just, I guess I'm just like my dad, I guess I'm his messenger and keep the message going, keep the love going. And I, you know, much appreciated. My dad, mom, dad, looking down from the heavens, I hope appreciate you and, and many, many people like you.

Another great part of this journey, by the way, is meeting great people like you hosts and, and fellow guests and people that, that give a crap, you know, and that that's what counts. That's what's, that's why I'm doing this. 

David Pasqualone: Man. Well, we're thankful you're here, Rob. It's an honor for all our listeners. I know you're thankful for Rob, and I'm thankful for you.

Take this episode, ladies and gentlemen. Share it with your friends and family. We're not trying to be big and famous, but we do want to truly help people grow and glorify God and help you and your family and friends have a better, more fulfilled life of joy and peace and love. So Rob, thank you again for being here, my friend.

Dr. Robert Wolf: Thanks Dave. Much appreciated. It was a great chat. Thank you so much.

David Pasqualone: Oh, you're very welcome. And ladies and gentlemen, we'll see you in the next episode, [00:48:00] ciao.