Fostering Unity and Resilience: An Environmentalist's Journey and Message with Oded Rahav

Di: 0:48

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Episode 32 of Body olic with Di, the science-based Well-Being podcast. I'm your host, Di Katz-Sachar, a public health promoter and fitness trainer, on a mission to bring solid and science-backed information at no cost to the public. Today, we're bringing you another very unique episode broadcasting from Israel during a challenging time as the nation faces the conflict against Hamas. While we continue our commitment to promoting well-being even in the midst of extreme adversity, we'll dive into a discussion about maintaining physical and emotional health during turbulent times. Please join us today for an enlightening conversation as we explore resilience, fitness and mental well-being in the context of these challenging circumstances. Our goal is to provide you with science-based insights to help you stay strong, both mentally and physically, regardless of the circumstances. Thank you so much for tuning in. Please remember to subscribe and share wherever you podcast and on Bodyholic YouTube channel. You'll also find over 100 workouts for anyone and everyone. This podcast is sponsored by the global fitness community Body olic. You can join on BodyHolic. fit and gain access to well over 1,000 workouts and also follow along my exact day-to-day training schedule, even as I navigate through my second pregnancy. Please check out the Body olic attire Right now, all profits from every purchase from the store go straight to relief from the war.

Di: 2:44

My dearest listeners, we have a truly remarkable guest on our show today, Oded Rahav, a long-distance swimmer and passionate environmentalist with a mission that transcends borders. Oded's work is actually not just about swimming in credible distances it's about promoting peace during critical times. He is the founder of the Dead Sea Guardians, an organization fighting to combat the severe shrinking of the Dead Sea, largely due to climate change. Oded had made global headlines by undertaking a perilous swim across the Dead Sea, using this endeavor to draw attention to the urgent environmental crisis facing this unique region. But Oded's mission extends even further.

Di: 3:37

In the midst of the conflict between Hamas and Israel, he's taken on the vital role of explaining this complex situation to the world. His efforts to bridge gaps and promote understanding in a time of tension are truly extraordinary. Moreover, Oded has used his swims as symbols of unity. By bringing together swimmers from different countries, including Israel, palestine and Jordan, he showcases the power of shared causes even in a region marked by conflict. His advocacy isn't limited to a single region. Oded has also swum from California to Mexico to raise awareness about migrants attempting to cross the US-Mexico border. Join us today for a truly enlightening conversation with Oded Rahav, as we explore his incredible journey, his commitment to preserving our planet and his unique perspective on promoting peace and understanding, even during challenging times. Oded Rahav, thank you so much for joining me today.

Oded: 4:55

Thank you, Di. Thank you for hosting me, pleasure.

Di: 4:58

It's really a pleasure mixed with a heavy heart. We are recording this during the Iron Swords War. There's a lot going on, and one of the reasons I feel very privileged that you've decided to show up on this show is because you are so active in everything that's going on. So if you don't mind introducing a little bit of what you are doing right now and what you've been doing for years,

Oded: 5:31

For the last year, I was focusing on saving the Dead Sea. I have established an organization called the Dead Sea Guardians, and I don't know if you know, but the Dead Sea is declining in an alarming rate. It's losing 1 centimeter every three days and I'm very much troubled with this. It has lost 35 meters in just 25 years and we're losing a precious gem, one of the nature's wonders, and I decided that, since nobody is doing it and nobody is saving it, I'll be the one that will save it. And to that conclusion I came when I swam in 2016. I swam across the Dead Sea along with 28 swimmers from 10 different countries. Again, we did so to raise awareness for what's going on in the Dead Sea and hopefully someone will take the baton and make a change, whether it's in Israel or basically in Israel practically, but no one came in. So I followed that calling and decided I'll do so.

Oded: 6:41

Before that, I worked pretty much in agriculture and water-related initiatives, mostly in Africa. In between, I had all kinds of other initiatives. I'm an entrepreneur, so it was related to music and literature. Then I took that technology into agriculture and blended it. Every now and then, I do these flip-flops and understand the urge and the necessities out there, I bring on board people that can help me achieve and fulfill the dream and make a change for the better. This is what I was doing.

Oded: 7:20

My other head is an activist. I think I've been active. I don't like to work activist. Actually Nowadays it has some kind of a flavor of fighting and struggling. I'm not into fighting and struggling. I'm more into being active, just being aware and seeing that something is broken. Let's fix it. If we broke it, definitely we should fix it. In 2014, I swam from Cyprus to Israel along with five friends from Cyprus to Israel. It took us six days. The idea was to raise awareness for the overuse of plastics that reach our oceans. We did that swim and now we pay for the plastic bags in Israel. I thought to myself this is a nice way, through sports, to raise awareness and to move people to understand that. One, they can do it. Two, they should do it. It's up to us doers to take responsibility and make a change. There's no one out there other than us. Here's the thing there's no one out there other than us. If you see something that doesn't look really appropriate or it's broken, then fix it. Just bend, pick it up, fix it.

Di: 8:44

That's such a strong sentence to say these days if you see something broken. And yeah, so I had a few swims, by the way.

Oded: 8:56

I swam the Indian Ocean to save sharks and we swam from San Diego to Tichana, the Pacific, to alleviate issues with refugees mainly crossing to the US. We raised money and we brought really interesting people on board. Over there it was Sting, and then Dead Sea was Sir Richard Branson, the whole Virgin Company, because these people can move the needle quite fast and bring awareness to the fact that we, the people, have to make a change. We cannot keep our blinds Sorry, blinds. So just a month ago I was starting my fundraising and I was in New York and I was in Virginia and then I was in Washington and in the middle boom, the war here started. That's where I had to change a bit my mindset and my doing.

Di: 10:00

And I've been seeing you very active and trying to raise awareness to what's going on, because there's a lot of information out there that might not be so accurate. Would you want to say a few words?

Oded: 10:17

about that. Okay, so it's not only raising awareness, because raising awareness has its, you know, it's a duration kind of our expiry date. So it's not only raising awareness, it's making a move, telling the people hey, listen, you know, good shall prevail if we all agree on it, if we have this consensus that moral values is something that we have to keep on strong in our hands and make sure and make sure that we understand what are the basic moral values on this planet and what are we as human beings have to make sure that we understand that evil has no place amongst us. And what I did is I created these movies or short clips about people that did good, because I know for myself that one candle can chase away darkness, and the only way to get rid of this unprecedented darkness that is, you know, storm the whole universe. It's stormed us all, every single one of us. So the only way to chase away darkness is to bring more light, and each and every one of us is a candle. So if we know it, we should show it. And if there's people that we lost along the way and we did, unfortunately, in this vicious attack, we've lost many good people, many, some killed, some in captivity. We know nothing about them, people like Ophir Lipstein and Vivian Singer and Shoshan Aran and other leaf sheets and many others.

Oded: 11:56

I won't go into it because I'll get too much emotional, but there's, you know, faces out there and their kids, and all of a sudden boom. And the disappointing thing is that I had expectations, you know, from my tribe, from my people out there in the world and also in this neighborhood that were active in bringing hope through doing, through agriculture, through water, through sports, through arts, through dancing, through, you know, these things that are worth living for. They were silent and silence is consent. Silence is consent Because you say, ah well, it happened, you know, in a faraway land and it doesn't touch us. So here's the thing Whenever something is wrong here in Israel or in our neighborhood, it affects every single one of us out there. I've said it for years I don't know 20 years or more. It's always that. It's always that. It's always when something is wrong here, you will find it in the campuses, whether it's in New York or in Sydney or in Berlin or in London.

Oded: 13:16

I've been here for a while, I've walked a mile. I know that this is our goals and we keep going on that route and I, for myself, for many years, tried to change that route through conversation, through these activities, through sports and through saving, now, the Dead Sea. I'm saving the Dead Sea. Saving the Dead Sea is not a nice to have mission. Okay, this mission is to save this world Basically, because if we will save the Dead Sea and we will, by the way, we will and the mighty Holy Jordan River, just imagine the ripples. It will affect tens of millions Jews, christians, muslims, people in this close vicinity, israelis, palestinians, jordanians, lebanese, syrians. If we all decide that we care about this place and we understand the equation of saving nature, then we shall prevail. We are an organism. Practically, we're an organism. We're one.

Oded: 14:28

It doesn't matter where you're from. It doesn't matter your race, your gender, your passport, it doesn't matter. It's so redundant, this conversation about where we are from and what we are. We just one and we're part of nature. And we became so apart, so detached from nature. And I want to bring us back to this understanding that we are the river, we are that sea, we are that tree. We just have a driving license. That's the only difference.

Oded: 15:00

Probably we should take care of nature that takes care of us. It's actually the first time in the history of mankind that nature depends on us. Up until now, we depended on nature Will there be rain, will there be drought, will there be fish and so on but now we dominate, we decide. So, if we decide, why not decide and make it a better place for generations to come? So this is my calling. This is what I do for a living. I have many people who joined me and became Dead Sea Guardians. That's how we call them.

Oded: 15:41

I'm looking from people from all over the world to join us in create a better place where you can simply live, just live. We're here for a very short time. Boom, we're just a speck, we're just a dust, and this war amplifies it so much that we're like a piece of nothing and we're worth nothing if we don't do now something for the sake of our humanity. So I can be ashamed of what's going on in university and all these shouting, but I walked a mile. I've worked with Palestinians. I will work with Palestinians as long as they want to, as long as they will love their children more than they hate Jews, and I will stay optimistic.

Di: 16:45

Which I need to hear. So thank you for that. I really do, and you and I are very aligned in our values. I have Palestinian friends. I live in Jaffa, which is a very, very mixed city. My neighbor, who's my friend, is Muslim Arab. I have friends across the way who are Christian Arab, and we all. What you said very much resonates with conversations that I've had with them that we're here for a lickety split second and what is all this and I mean it's really when you think about it about how short our time on this planet is and how not worth it it is, and we're all the same. So, on that note, and the fact that you know everybody around us, you and I are both in Israel Everybody's very shaken. So how, how do you keep your emotional resilience? How does your emotional resilience help you maintain mental, physical fitness as we experience this war? Maybe say a few words on that.

Oded: 18:19

Yeah, that's a good question. I think, as an Israeli, it comes with probably your DNA, because every now and then we have this occurrence. But I think, as long as you try, and there's two things I think. First, and this is you have to force yourself. Don't take it personal. I know it sounds kind of you know wrong or it doesn't sound really, you don't understand it at first, but then you have to protect yourself. Okay, you're this body and you're this soul that came here for a certain reason. We're souls that came to this planet for a certain reason. So you have to do the utmost to take care of it. So once you take it too personal, you will be paralyzed. So try to make this even a facade to force yourself. Don't take it personal and act and do something which is good. And now there's a range. I can give you a whole list of what I'm saying of doing good. That's one, I'll give you a list.

Oded: 19:31

And the other thing is try to create some sort of a routine. You wake up in the morning, you know all these routines, maintain them and even go a bit further. If you go out to the sun, yeah, go a few minutes to the sun If you can swim, if you can jog, if you can run, if you can pick up that phone and ask a friend how is he, how is she? You know that someone you didn't speak for a long time start a conversation, keep that chain going on. We say perpeto mobile in Latin keep it moving, keep it moving. You know, motion is lotion. It has to always keep it moving. Keep it moving because you're just part of that chain and you have a duty to keep it alive. Okay, literally, literally. So you call friends five each day, friends that you weren't in touch for many years and say now it's an opportunity. Because here's the thing and I know it's a cliche, because we use it often but now it's real. You know, a crisis is definitely an opportunity. I see this crisis, this unperceivable crisis, war, as an opportunity for humanity, as an opportunity for us Israelis, as an opportunity for the Palestinians to get rid of Hamas, as the opportunity for the you know, modern kind of world to say hey, enough. I mean the funny thing, you know it's physical. If we have 40 years with no war, 40 years with no war, it'll be out of our system of humanity. We need 40 years with no conflicts in order to take it out of our system. So let's say tomorrow morning we start with it. In 40 years we wouldn't understand that word that is called war, and I think it's about time Now. I was walking that route and now we're back to like square one, but I will continue. So, taking it back to my, what I mentioned is try to do these. Try to force yourself to be on the good side of things and think positive. I worked with farmers yesterday. Tomorrow I will work with farmers again. I'm helping them.

Oded: 21:55

You go barefoot, you work in the cucumbers, you help someone and then he helps you in another way, because you breathe, you do some exercise, you're not on the computer, you're not on the phone, so you're not part of that conversation, which is so poisonous. You know these poisonous narratives that are all over. We are covered, but if you work in the farm, you work in the farm, you don't have your mobile, so that's part of the healing process. And then you breathe and then you drink and then you laugh. You have to laugh, you have to.

Oded: 22:30

I know these are terrible times, but you have to find a moment during the day that you have to force yourself to laugh and to smile Like you have to smile because once you smile, something within says to you hey, you're smiling, so you're alive, so everything is okay. Okay, it has to do with chemistry. Now you can believe it or not, but I say, try it at home. You have nothing to lose. So you have to keep yourself in that statement when you understand that, hey, first of all, I'm alive. I'm alive. Thank you, gratitude, show gratitude. You have food. Thank you, appreciate it, say thank you. Your kids are with you. Thank you, although my kid now went to volunteer in the south with farmers. That's my elder one. The one in the middle went to the north helping in a kibbutz with animals that came from the war zone from kibbutz berri.

Oded: 23:33

basically, they're animals. They took the animals and now they're treating them. So that's my 18-year-old son, and the young one is just keeping us happy. So, yes, try to be on good terms with yourself, because you are the vessel. Okay, you're the vehicle that has to shine on, not in a like. In a genuine way, don't fake it. In a genuine way, be in good terms with yourself.

Di: 24:10

On a personal note, I am almost 32 weeks pregnant and I think I put on like a really good facade for about four weeks, and then I have these moments where I just completely break down. And what I noticed the last two days? Because I'm very, very active on Instagram, I'm LinkedIn, my feelings get hurt too much. So everything you're saying is so pertinent to me on a personal level, so I can only imagine how many people will benefit from what you're saying. So I go into LinkedIn every once in a long while and on Instagram I'm having conversations, a lot of conversations, and then yesterday I picked up the practice to have a morning conversation on Instagram and then I actually I've never done this before I delete all of my and now we're on this curve.

Oded: 25:15

Now it's interesting because I have many conversations, like today. I think I had conversations with friends from Australia, india, the US, canada I don't know how come they Canada, because it's midnight there. So people call me and they share with me their thoughts. But in the meantime I have conversations here in Israel and we're going through this curve that the adrenaline went to sports and well-being. So adrenaline has its thing. So now the adrenaline went down a little bit and that's where you have to be strong, because when the adrenaline is here, it's kind of easy to be effective and yeah, let's do this and let's draw.

Oded: 25:59

The thing is what happens when the adrenaline goes down? What do you do then? Do you breathe? I say, yeah, breathe, today more than ever, because you know the thing is, when you inhale and exhale, the trauma that we're experiencing, that trauma is in that gap between the inhale and exhale, because all of a sudden, people like that's where the trauma sneaks in. Breathe. Practice yourself in breathing, constant, constant. So it's physical but it's definitely mental.

Oded: 26:43

So all these things that we know for so long, now is the time to implement, to apply them Now. We should practice them Absolutely and we should say thank you more and more. For example, we should say thank you for the cucumber we'll have later today. Why? Because I knew how long it takes to plant it, to seed it, to plant it, to take care of it. I've been working in cucumbers, so now you won't dare to throw the cucumber because it will go back into you know. It will reflect somewhere in your memory that, wow, I've worked really hard for that cucumber and so that's the opportunity. That's the lesson. We're in such a lesson now that we should not miss one chapter in that lesson. No, like, as opposed to what I did in high school, now I stay in all classes. Right, I'm not missing classes now. Right, I'm full, you know all in.

Di: 27:45

What I was going to say before Richie disturbed us was that, speaking of you know being present in those classes, is that I started yesterday to delete all my social media for the rest of the day Because I can't. I noticed that, otherwise I go in. I go in while I'm walking and talking and I go in Unlike I've ever done before. This is so extreme for me. It's toxic, right, it is very it's very, very hot.

Di: 28:22

And then I get to disconnect and sit down and have a conversation with you, and you know you bring so much positivity and you have been able to turn the situation we're seeing and we're experiencing into, like you said, a lesson which has that positive twist to it and the things that we can do during a crisis that we don't do normally. Okay, thank you. Does this the chain of things that you do for your emotional resilience and your mental fitness? Does this also include working out? Oh yeah, definitely, definitely.

Oded: 29:08

So I never stopped swimming. I mean, maybe I had a day or two that I did not go to the sea or to the swimming pool, but you know, I had. There were times where I was in sea and I actually saw the rockets flying above us. So, um, yeah, it's frightening, but I knew I was on this mission of doing something for me that will then affect others. So, okay, so I'm this kind of, I would say, like a pipe that things will go through me, and I feel very much humble to say so and very much confident to say that this is my duty and I have to make sure that I, as myself, I have to take care of myself because I know it will. It will affect others. I know so, I can see from my eyes, but I know so that once you're on the positive side, actually we don't have any other alternative.

Oded: 30:12

We have to be on the positive side and, going back to what you mentioned, you know, going into your Instagram or or TikTok or whatever, if you cannot contribute on the good side, don't be there, like, don't answer, don't, don't do something that, if you cannot contribute on the good side, don't be part of that game. If you're part of the game, boom, you're on the wrong side. If you have something good to say, speak out. Don't bash anyone. Don't bash anyone, it's it doesn't help. You like saying I'll have to puke it out. No, you don't say something nice, you know. Say something nice. You know there's nice avocado now all in the market.

Oded: 31:00

Say something nice about the stink of something that will not put the other side no matter who he is, who she is In a way that now you fight, you're opening another battle. It's worthless. It's worthless, and when you feed your brain and your embryo with vicious images, it affects you. Maybe you don't feel it. In some you actually do feel when you see a picture of something that is completely evil and wrong. It's not good for you, basic. And so I don't.

Oded: 31:42

I don't watch all these atrocities because I knew for the first day what they're capable of doing. I didn't need the graphic images to understand it. I didn't. I'm intelligent enough to understand that they did After crimes. And now what? What do I do now? Okay, what do I do now?

Oded: 32:08

Because when I was in the US a few weeks ago and I was there, I've won this prize there was this film festival, an international film festival, where my, the film about me, dead Sea Guardians that's the film was showing on that festival and won the first prize, a pioneer award, and they called me to give a speech. And you know the people the best script and the best this and the best this. And eventually they called me the fish to say a few words and I told them about the Dead Sea and how we will fix the Dead Sea. And you're all my guests, let's all go and you know, just get your bathing suit and let's do it. And it was fantastic. And now opportunity allowed me to speak about the Dead Sea and how we interact with our neighbors and hopefully will bring hope to this place. And and Saturday, boom. And then I was in this hotel and Times Square and said okay, okay, so what do I do now? What do I do now? Nobody will listen about the Dead Sea. That is vanishing. No one has the attention. What do I do? What do I do with the fact that I'm here? I have connections. I know a few people that know new people, know a few people, and so I've opened a cat, you know a work cabinet in my room arranging stuff, calling people doing something, meaning someone from the CBS telling the story and saying, hey, what's going on? And how can I, how can I immediately be part of the doing, and the doing for good, not just now starting to bash others. No, no, be effective in doing good.

Oded: 34:01

Take care of your tribe, wherever the tribe is. I belong to many tribes. I'm a Jewish, israeli tribe. I'm a tribe of peace builders, I'm a tribe of environmental people, which now are disappointing.

Oded: 34:17

I would expect it from people from this tribe to be more allowed in terms of hey, we saw that and we're taking care of you, people like you know, greta, and all these disappointing. So what do we do with it? We light another candle and another candle and we educate and show people that we care that's the only thing and take care of us, of us, of us, this, this nice piece of art that we sometimes forget. We take care of us and what we have with us and with the children, and we build a new, robust, healthy humanity. And all the elders will vanish. You know these Putin kind of people and all these. We know that we're in a transition phase. They will vanish and we will create a wonderful planet for all. That's it. And if you, if you keep it in mind and you know that in a few hours, in a few months, we'll have a fantastic place, then once you, you can imagine it, and once you talk to this kind of image, then it becomes alive and you can't argue with this. You can't argue with this, because when you talk to that image and you actually imagine it, it'll be there. Just create the reality you want to live in Period.

Oded: 35:51

And if you need techniques, go outside and jog. Do some sit ups, have yourself a nice salad. Go to the grocery store. Talk to the guys there over there, try a new recipe, you know, talk to people, have discussions. Don't bash Face to face. We're all the same. Face to face, we're all the same, we're all just. You know, imported all kinds of titles he's Christians, he's Muslims, he's Jews. He's tall, he's fat, he's from Sweden, he's a redundant.

Di: 36:30

I know that you have to go because you have taken time from your very busy day to talk with me and I'm so appreciative. I could listen to you for a lot longer because you really just brought in all that light, so I'm hugely appreciative. Thank you so much.

Oded: 36:51

Thank you. Thank you D. I appreciate it. Good luck to all.