AVENTURA, FLORIDA (VINnews)-The viral moment that shook the media world began on May 27, 2010, during a White House Jewish Heritage Month celebration. Rabbi David Nesenoff, a Rabbi and founder of RabbiLIVE.com, attended the event with his son and a friend. Armed with a camera, he was casually interviewing people about Israel—mostly lighthearted exchanges—when he spotted Helen Thomas, the legendary White House correspondent who had covered 10 U.S. presidents and was often called the dean of the White House press corps.

Nesenoff approached and asked a simple question: “Any comments on Israel?” What followed was a brief but explosive exchange captured on video.

Thomas responded: “Tell them to get the hell out of Palestine.”

When Nesenoff pressed further, asking for “better comments,” she continued, asserting that the land belonged to the Palestinians and was occupied, not German or Polish. When he asked where the Jews should go, Thomas replied, “They should go home… Poland… Germany.”

The short clip, posted on RabbiLIVE.com days later, exploded online, garnering millions of views almost immediately and sparking widespread outrage and debate. Thomas’s remarks were widely condemned as antisemitic, evoking painful historical echoes—suggesting Jews return to the very countries where millions were murdered during the Holocaust.

Within days, the fallout was swift and severe. Hearst Newspapers, her employer, dropped her column. The White House Correspondents’ Association distanced itself, and Thomas announced her retirement on June 7, 2010. Her front-row seat in the press briefing room was reassigned, and she largely withdrew from public life. She later doubled down on her views in other appearances, but the initial video marked the end of her storied career.

For Nesenoff, the consequences were transformative. He never intended to become a viral sensation or a journalist. A rabbi with a background in counseling youth involved in bias crimes and serving as an anti-bias consultant for the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Monitors Office, his family history was deeply tied to Jewish suffering. Many relatives perished in the Holocaust, including his great-grandmother (for whom he is named David) who was killed and buried in the mass grave at Babi Yar, where tens of thousands of Jews were massacred by Nazis in 1941.

The incident thrust him into the spotlight. He received over 25,000 pieces of hate mail, including death threats, which he later described as revealing the depth of antisemitism in certain circles. Yet the experience also opened new doors. Nesenoff became a publisher and editor-in-chief of The Jewish Star newspaper in New York and The Jerusalem Observer in Israel. His creative, award-winning films have been screened at venues including the Sundance Film Festival. He produced a documentary titled 3,000 Miles, spoke nationally on the episode, antisemitism, and moral clarity, and received an honorary doctorate from the Jewish Theological Seminary.

The viral encounter also propelled Nesenoff into an extraordinary new chapter within the Jewish world. His fame from outing the antisemitic remarks by Helen Thomas led him to speak at over 700 Chabad Houses worldwide. There, he shared his personal Chabad experiences and the remarkable stories he gathered firsthand from shluchim (Chabad emissaries). He has entertained and inspired thousands of audience members with his humor, insight, and reflections on Jewish destiny and resilience.

Now, Nesenoff has distilled these experiences into his acclaimed new book, I Never Met the Rebbe Many Times (published by Shemen Press, 278 pages, paperback). The curiously titled volume—drawing on the idea that while he never met the Lubavitcher Rebbe in person many times (or perhaps at all in the conventional sense), the Rebbe’s influence permeated his life through his emissaries—has been receiving widespread praise. It transports readers on Nesenoff’s global travels, with chapters filled with incredible stories about the Rebbe and shluchim from Chabad Houses and campuses across the U.S., Canada, Europe, Australia, Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, South Africa, India, Morocco, and Israel.

Blending hilarity and poignancy, the book offers a delightful peek into the lives of individual Chabad emissaries and weaves an inspiring account of discovering divine providence and purpose in everyday life. Endorsements highlight its disarming and thought-provoking nature, with one noting it as a “delightfully disarming peek” into Chabad’s impact.

As Nesenoff embarks on his world speaking tour tied to the book, he continues to draw from his multifaceted career as a renowned speaker, rabbi, publisher, journalist, author, musician, and filmmaker. More than a tale of a single viral video, his journey—from confronting antisemitism on the White House lawn to sharing uplifting Chabad stories worldwide—highlights the power of one voice, moral clarity, and the enduring strength of Jewish identity in a world that sometimes seeks to silence it. In the digital age, where a moment can ripple globally, Nesenoff’s story reminds us how personal courage and authentic experiences can inspire across continents and generations.