0:05

Before we start this episode, I just want to

0:07

wish a very, very happy birthday to Jane Bernstein.

0:09

She's a big fan of the show, or at

0:12

least I hope she is because for her birthday,

0:14

her husband is bringing us down for a very

0:16

special birthday party. So Jane, we hope you have

0:18

a great day and we'll see you in Florida

0:21

soon. I

0:26

put my hand, this is like a touchdown. I'm doing a

0:28

touchdown. What is this called? Goalposts?

0:31

Am I the advertisement for Judaism right now?

0:34

I think right now it's all you. Sports,

0:37

we love them. This is

0:39

Unorthodox, the universe's leading Jewish podcast.

0:41

I am Stephanie Buttnick and I'm

0:43

joined by my two co-hosts, tablet

0:45

editor at large, Lael Levovitz. At

0:48

large and... In charge. At large and not at

0:50

all in charge of anything going on in the

0:52

world these days. Hello. And

0:54

our West Coast West Wing correspondent,

0:56

Joshua Molina. I'm here at medium. He's

1:00

in the West, but his heart is in the

1:02

East. Exactly. That is true. I'm facing

1:04

East as we record this. Today

1:07

on the show, we're sharing an interview with Neta

1:09

Arielle. She's the director of the Mahala Film School

1:11

in Israel and she shares what her students are

1:14

working on these days. We also

1:16

speak with Dr. Phil. That's right, the

1:18

Dr. Phil of daytime television fame. He's

1:20

starting his own TV network and he also has

1:23

a new book out. He talks to us about

1:25

all of that. Plus, today is our 400th episode.

1:29

That's a lot. That's a high number. It's not

1:31

mine, but I'm happy for you guys. It

1:33

counts. It counts. Don't

1:35

worry. Really? Okay. You

1:38

retroactively inherited. I'm sorry. Yes,

1:40

sorry. Look, I ate the cake when the

1:42

West Wing had a 100th episode party and

1:44

I didn't belong there either, but I'll always

1:46

eat the cake. You belong here and we

1:48

love you. I can eat cake, we say.

1:50

Can honor the producers very quickly while we

1:53

do this. Look up for some interesting

1:55

gimatria words that equal 400

1:58

so we could do some stupid gimatria. Hey

2:02

there, J. Crew, it's producer Josh Cross

2:05

with some Gamatria tidbits for episode 400,

2:07

courtesy of gamatrix.org. First

2:10

of all, in the religious sphere,

2:12

400 equals Mario Bergoglio, which is

2:14

the rest of the name of

2:16

Jorge Mario Bergoglio, also known as

2:18

Pope Francis. Interestingly, 400 is

2:21

also Papa Francesco. On the other

2:23

side, it's also Book of Satan

2:25

and Necronomicon. Plus in

2:27

the realm of world politics, 400 is

2:30

also equal to its go time and

2:32

Buckingham Palace. Then, for

2:34

our younger, single, and perhaps lonely

2:36

friends among the crowd, 400 equals

2:39

the following four things, soup, cigarettes,

2:42

fortnight, and Dumbledore. And

2:45

finally, if you're looking to watch a movie

2:47

inspired by our 400th episode,

2:49

you can watch Batman and Robin,

2:52

you can watch Total Recall, or

2:54

even the obscure, weird Justin Long

2:56

movie, Tusk, all

2:58

three of which are equal to 400. Now

3:01

back to the show. I

3:04

have to say, the problem with being Jewish

3:06

is like episode 360 or episode 613, when

3:09

you get

3:11

to just like a solid hundo numeral,

3:13

it doesn't feel as exciting. Like,

3:15

400 is very Goish. You're

3:19

right, Stephanie, that is the one problem

3:21

about being Jewish. That's my one complaint

3:23

right now. There's literally no other setback.

3:26

You know how in some hotels there's no

3:29

13th floor? Yes. Like 12 and

3:31

14, but if you're on the 14th floor, you know what floor

3:33

you're on. I think it's the same thing

3:35

with Jewish podcasts. Just be like, episode 18, episode 36,

3:37

episode 72. Can

3:39

you imagine it's like Jewish pod years, basically, instead

3:41

of dog years? I've always taken that as slightly

3:43

anti-Semitic, as we are a bar mitzvah at 13,

3:46

and it's kind of an auspicious number for us.

3:48

That's the floor they have to get rid of. Oh yes, we

3:50

should bring back 13. No wonder Taylor

3:52

Swift loves 13 so much. It's the year of

3:55

the Bas Mitzvah. Yes. I actually

3:57

had a take that I shared on a call

3:59

earlier. professional work call, which is that

4:01

I think non-Jews who grew up in places where

4:03

they attended bar mitzvahs, you do not turn out

4:06

anti-Semitic. I think you- You love

4:08

the Jews. You love the Jews, because you're like, they're just here to have

4:10

a good time. All these people want is to

4:12

give me Shirley Temples. Yeah. I want to

4:14

play Coke and Pepsi. I want to run across the dance floor. I

4:17

think that everyone should be going to bar mitzvahs when

4:19

they're younger. I got a hoodie. Exactly.

4:22

I danced my pants off, but they were scrubs. I want

4:24

a pair of headphones. Exactly. What do you

4:26

think of this incredibly hot take? Yeah. I

4:28

think we should fashion our B'nai Mitzvah

4:30

receptions to pull people in and win

4:32

their favor. Just

4:34

please like us. Here is a

4:36

DJ, a dance floor, a cheap

4:38

menu. Yeah, exactly. Maybe a little loop

4:40

bag. You might get a temporary tattoo.

4:42

You can take funny pictures. We're fun,

4:44

making me realize I haven't been to

4:46

a bar bump. It's been a long

4:48

time. I'm nearing the age. I

4:51

have to wait now until my friend's grandchildren are going

4:53

to be of the correct age, and then I'll have

4:55

another wave. God willing. After you heard

4:57

it here first, Joshua Molina needs an invite

4:59

to your bar mitzvah. A

5:01

desperate plea from a desperate man.

5:04

Invite him to your semicolon. I

5:07

feel like you should get on the ... You know

5:09

people have NBA stars, JLo at their bar

5:11

mitzvahs now. You should get

5:13

on that list. Yeah, sure. For the kids

5:15

who just love West Wing and that one

5:17

episode of iCarly. No, I'm sorry. It's for

5:20

the kids who love Leopoldstadt. Also, I think

5:22

the iCarly kids have aged way out. Why

5:25

do you do this monologue about assimilation?

5:27

Because all our friends love it. Besides

5:31

turning 400 pods old and trying to

5:33

save the world with bar mitzvahs, what

5:35

else you guys got going on? I

5:37

think we're recording this on a Monday

5:40

as we have barely recovered from

5:42

Super Bowl Sunday. Why is

5:44

this day not a day off? I thought to myself

5:46

as I rolled into preschool, drop off very late. Why

5:49

do we have school today? Yesterday was really Arab Super

5:51

Bowl, but today should be Super Bowl. Yes. Israel

5:53

Chag Super Bowl. I'm also taken on Twitter from a

5:56

person by the name of Elon Altman. Hello,

5:59

Altman. as we call him here on the

6:01

show. He tweeted as follows, so,

6:03

xed as follows, or shared on the social

6:05

media, previously known as Twitter as follows. Religion

6:08

Super Bowl ads, Christianity, join

6:11

us, Scientology, join

6:13

us, Judaism, leave us alone,

6:16

which I think is a very astute

6:19

observation. It is true. I forgot that

6:21

all the religions come out on the

6:23

Super Bowl. The Scientologists are like, here's

6:25

a splashy ad. The Mark Wahlberg helmed

6:27

Hallo. Oh, that was awesome. The Catholic

6:29

app has its own ad. I

6:31

will say, though, props to tablet writer and

6:34

former unorthodox guest Maggie Phillips. She's our religious

6:36

literacy correspondent. She wrote about Hallo like years

6:38

ago. And so when I see this ad,

6:40

I'm like, oh yeah, Hallo. I know about

6:43

that from my favorite Jewish magazine. But yeah,

6:45

I like that ad. Look, I'm not going

6:47

to comment on other religions' ads. Okay. Let's

6:49

stick with internal... Let other irreverent podcasts and

6:51

other faith traditions do that. Are there any?

6:54

Oh, are friends... Just vertical. We're looking at

6:56

you. Exactly. You know what you got to

6:58

do. But I have to say,

7:00

those Stop Antisemitism ads really kind of

7:03

totally rubbed me the wrong way. That is

7:05

100% not the message that I want to

7:07

send to the world at this point in

7:09

time. Say more. Well, I never

7:11

thought I'd say this, but say more. First of

7:13

all, I don't know how many of them were

7:15

actually run on the actual show because, you know,

7:17

nowadays people do the thing where they share like

7:19

special Super Bowl ads on the internet without having

7:21

to pay the $7 million for 30

7:23

seconds. But I know at least some of

7:26

them did. One of them was, you know,

7:28

this woman coming home and seeing Swastika

7:31

on her garage door. And

7:33

she's very troubled and there's sad music and

7:36

her non-Jewish neighbor is looking on. And

7:38

then when she returns home in the

7:40

afternoon, the garage door has been painted white.

7:43

And then he kind of camera pans over

7:45

to the neighbor and you just see like

7:47

specks of white paint on his shoe. And

7:49

you understand this good Samaritan did a good

7:51

thing. He helped the helpless Jew. I

7:54

would like for this woman to click

7:56

the garage door. Garage door opens. Adam

7:58

Sadler as the Zohan comes out. out,

8:00

grabs the person who does this, says, you will

8:02

not like this, and then does a crazy kick

8:05

while having a fizzy bubach. This

8:08

is the vibe that I feel I need right

8:10

now. I will say, I was kind

8:12

of moved by that ad. I liked it. Although

8:14

I did want there

8:16

also to be one more beat where the

8:18

woman looked at the door and then complained

8:21

about the shade of white that the neighbor

8:23

had chosen. This is

8:25

an egg shell. You called it twice. I

8:28

appreciate the gesture, but... By the way, here's

8:30

what I should have said. The set graffiti

8:33

on the garage door was swastika and

8:35

then the words, no Jews. I was

8:37

like, is that what I would say? No

8:39

Jews? I think you usually see F

8:42

Jews, which I understand you didn't want to put that word

8:44

on the broadcast. I was like, who would

8:46

write that? Or is the idea that these people are just so

8:48

dumb when they get the swastika wrong? At

8:51

least this one got the swastika right. Yeah, the swastika.

8:53

It's a very hard thing to... Unless it's the right direction.

8:56

Unless it's the right direction. I know, we're like, well done.

8:58

Yeah. But once again, how hard is

9:00

it, in a serious note, forget Israel and the

9:02

matzah of, as we say, the situation, how

9:05

hard is it to do an

9:07

ad for Judaism? The Christians

9:09

could do the sort of like, ah,

9:11

Jesus's love. Here are people who disagree

9:13

with each other, watching each other's feed.

9:15

Scientology only had to show its frickin'

9:18

gnarly real estate that it has all

9:20

over the world. What

9:22

would we do? Do you like hearing? Do

9:25

you like a lot of like, text

9:27

to study? Do you like this agreement?

9:29

Well, you know, we're the best. We're

9:33

okay. I love the whole thing, it's

9:35

like, we don't proselytize. And it's like, do you

9:37

ever think about why? Yeah,

9:40

our ads would be as good. Here's the

9:42

deal with us. We're like the A-team. You

9:44

could only find us if you're like, really

9:47

need us. The J-team, yes. We don't advertise.

9:49

The J-team is a good name for a

9:51

podcast. Someone else wants to come at us.

9:53

Right. And we're literally small enough

9:55

to fit in one van. Josh and Melina. Yes. Pitch

9:58

Judaism. 30 seconds. Go.

10:01

Oh. But why?

10:03

Don't we want to discourage people

10:05

from taking on the yoke of the Torah?

10:07

Judaism. Enter at your own peril. I know

10:09

I did it before, but I do feel like we

10:11

play on this like the, why would you want to

10:13

join us? Because like, actually, we are freaking awesome. And

10:16

being Jewish is really cool. Maybe not right

10:18

now, but in the moment especially right now,

10:20

it's the best. But I'm saying, I'm saying in

10:23

these moments when it seems like being Jewish

10:25

is a liability in so many situations, like

10:27

we need to double down and we need

10:29

to be proud. And it's like the ad

10:31

I actually want is like proud Jews. Well

10:33

maybe we open on Allie Raisman when

10:35

the gold medal for her floor exercise

10:37

to the tune of Hava Nagila. That's

10:39

inspiring. I think it's these moments

10:41

where we do need to see Jewish role models,

10:43

right? We do need to see people who are

10:46

proudly Jewish in all sorts of places, right? Not

10:48

just like the stereotypical places we imagine Jews to

10:50

be. But I mean, I just, I think we

10:52

want to see the diversity of Jewish life. I

10:54

think we want to see the richness of Jewish

10:56

life. That's why I'm pitching sports, which I don't think is

10:59

where you, which is the go

11:01

to touchstone for Jewish accomplishment. I mean, the

11:03

richness maybe is there. I'm all about this.

11:05

Let's take out this billboard. Go Jewish. But

11:08

Josh and Melina, a lot of dramatic things

11:10

happened during the Super Bowl. But

11:12

one really dramatic thing happened during

11:14

the Super Bowl. The rescue of

11:16

two hostages? Bochasseh. Someone clever on

11:18

Twitter said the only touchdown that

11:20

matters was that playing touching down.

11:22

Yes. This was thrilling news that

11:24

two hostages, two older gentlemen of

11:27

Argentinian birth were rescued from Rafah and

11:29

brought home and apparently in good health.

11:31

Thank God. And the

11:33

funniest thing is that immediately as

11:35

soon as the news started, every

11:38

Israeli instinctively went to

11:41

the computer and played the theme song

11:43

from Operation Thunderbolt. The Entebbe

11:45

movie. Entebbe raid. Like, oh

11:47

God, we needed this. Let's

11:57

turn on Jewish movie club. I want our listeners to write

11:59

in. like with on-screen portrayals of just

12:01

like badass Jews. To me, the definitive kick-ass

12:03

Jew on screen will always be the Zohan.

12:06

I'm sorry. Let's put them at the top

12:08

of the list. That is really the greatest

12:10

of all Jewish heroes. J.Crew, J.Team, write

12:12

in on orthostatabamag.com. Tell us, where should

12:14

we be going for bold, badass portrayals

12:16

of Jews in all walks of life?

12:20

Send them to us, we'll start watching. You'll start watching, it'll

12:22

be great. News of

12:25

the Jews. Oh yeah. N-O-T-J

12:29

news of the Jews.

12:34

All right, time for some News of

12:36

the Jews. Here is one of those

12:38

stories that isn't actually a Jewish story,

12:40

but maybe could be drawn into our

12:42

universe. This is from Eater Los Angeles.

12:44

The headline reads, the hottest new accessory

12:46

in LA restaurants? Your takeout

12:48

containers from home. People bring

12:51

their own bags to grocery stores and metal

12:53

water bottles everywhere, so why not apply that

12:55

line of thinking to dining out? If

12:57

it involves leftovers, it is automatically

12:59

a Jewish story. No questions asked.

13:02

And this is basically by a writer

13:04

who says she started to bring her

13:06

own takeout containers to restaurants, and she

13:08

said she grew up in a multi-generational

13:10

Vietnamese household in Southern California, and she

13:13

says, my grandma's commitment to reusing plastic

13:15

containers trickled down to my mother, and eventually

13:17

to me. But yeah, I feel like this could

13:19

be a Jewish story too. Although if you were

13:21

to take your own containers, your own

13:23

to-go containers to a glott kosher restaurant, they

13:25

wouldn't allow it, would they? I'm

13:28

always, I love when I order from a kosher

13:30

restaurant, like delivery, and it comes, and it's almost

13:32

impossible to get to the food because it's so

13:34

sealed. Yes, like an escape route. The integrity of

13:36

the seal is very important. I would say in

13:38

one of our live shows, I believe in Chicago,

13:41

we met a wonderful woman. We were at

13:43

a restaurant, and we had a nice meal,

13:46

and she took leftovers container, and then she

13:48

was giving us a ride to our event.

13:50

She popped the trunk, and in the trunk,

13:52

she had a cooler. And I asked, do you

13:54

always keep a cooler in the trunk? And she

13:56

says, yes, because that way, if I

13:59

want leftovers. which is always I just pop

14:01

them in the cooler and then I don't have to

14:03

rush home and put them in the fridge. That is

14:06

a great Jew. That is baller. That is

14:08

smart. That is thoughtful. I would like to

14:10

share a new story that is

14:13

fascinating. May I? Please. OK,

14:15

this is a headline you don't hear every day. Government

14:18

failure to arrange circumcisions

14:21

delays conversion to Judaism for 98 men.

14:24

This is from the Times of Israel.

14:26

At least 98 Israeli men who

14:28

completed their Orthodox conversion to Judaism

14:30

have been waiting since April for

14:33

a government funded circumcision that would

14:35

finalize the process official said citing

14:37

bureaucratic complications and funding issues. First

14:39

of all, government funded circumcision

14:42

is an amazing name for a band. I'll

14:44

put it right out there. Second of all, really, why

14:46

do you need a government funded? Like, why would the

14:48

government be funding the circumcision if you really want to

14:51

do it? Can you not fund your

14:53

own mohel? Plus, I'm sorry, is

14:55

it really that hard? I mean, it's

14:57

not like there's a shortage of morals in

14:59

Israel. And like, what is the moral

15:02

cost in Israel? And this is since April, like what,

15:04

almost a year? My favorite is a word that emerges

15:06

in this article that I don't know for some reason

15:08

is very funny to me. I'll just read this. This

15:10

is from the acting director of

15:13

the Conversion Authority, Rabbi Yehuda Amichai.

15:15

Not the poet, Yodamichai. Where

15:18

do you go from here? Yodamichai. He

15:20

has the skills too. No need to look down

15:23

on that, Yodamichai. That's

15:25

sharp prose. To arrange circumcisions,

15:27

Amichai said, the authority is legally required to issue

15:30

a tender, which has to be approved by an

15:32

external committee for hospitals. A new tender is needed

15:34

because the rabbinate's previous tender expired, and its contractor

15:36

won't renew the contract. And I'm just like, I

15:38

love it when I was reading this article, I'm

15:41

like, what am I, like, the tender is needed

15:43

for the circumcision? I don't know, it just made

15:45

me uncomfortable. Careful extender. Yeah, that's- Love

15:47

me tender. And that's all I have

15:49

to say about that. Just love me

15:51

tender. It's been a rough day. Won't

15:54

some intrepid American memorial to Amitzvah and

15:57

fly to Israel for a work trip?

15:59

That is- One way to discourage, as

16:01

we discussed earlier, to discourage conversion is to

16:04

give people more and more time to think

16:06

about their impending circumcision. That's right. Why don't

16:08

you sit right here and contemplate the fact

16:11

that at some point, someone with

16:13

a knife is going to come knocking on

16:15

the door. You may not know when. Stephanie,

16:17

what else is new in the medicinal Jewish

16:19

field this week? We got one more headline

16:21

for you. This is from the New York

16:23

Jewish Week. Why this Upper East Side doctor

16:26

is offering free plastic surgery to victims of

16:28

anti-Semitism. That's actually a nice segue from you

16:30

can't get a circumcision over there. You can

16:32

get... The tradition is your nose,

16:34

I could cut. In

16:37

the three months since he started offering free plastic

16:39

surgery to victims of anti-Semitic hate crimes or anyone

16:41

affected by Hamas's deadly October 7th attack on

16:44

Israel, Upper East Side plastic surgeon Iris Savitsky

16:46

has performed one nose job as an ass

16:48

to remove a tattoo and counsel the victim

16:50

of an anti-Semitic assault in New York. And

16:53

while these aren't quite the kinds of cases

16:55

he anticipated after making the offer in November,

16:57

the Jewish doctor who boasts a significant social

16:59

media following said he hasn't regretted his offer.

17:02

So let's, for context here, this is Iris

17:04

Savitsky. He's married to Lizzie Savitsky, who I

17:06

think a lot of people probably follow. She's a

17:09

very, very active advocate for Israel and Jewish people

17:11

on Instagram. So am I

17:13

to understand that this is for people

17:15

who have been beaten badly, who have

17:18

suffered physical hate crimes? Yes. I

17:20

think this all started when Dr. Savitsky met

17:22

someone who had been sort of attacked in

17:24

an anti-Semitic context. And so this

17:27

guy gets punched in the face a bunch. And

17:30

what do you do in that case? So the answer

17:32

is like, you know what? You get punched in the

17:34

face for obvious reasons. Here, let me help you look

17:36

less submitted. No, I think it was more like, let

17:38

me fix it. But you know, this is actually really

17:41

sad someone reached out to him about getting a Hebrew

17:43

high tattoo removed, just fearing that it

17:45

might make this person more identifiably Jewish. That

17:48

is so depressing. I

17:50

need like a face off like the

17:52

Travolta Nicolas Cage movie type of like

17:54

face transplant to localize Jewish.

17:56

Like, honestly, how much work would I need done

17:58

to not look like the world's biggest

18:01

trip. Like, so we can replace

18:03

your nose, cheeks, ears, like everything

18:05

about you. And even then- But

18:07

we can't tamp down that nashama. Because

18:09

I try. Yeah, I guess if

18:11

anyone needs rhinoplasty stemming from any kind

18:14

of trauma, Dr. Iris Sovetsky is here

18:16

for you. Well, he's a good man, but that's a sad

18:18

story. That has a

18:20

tinge of sadness there for me. So

18:22

there you have it, takeout containers, government-funded

18:24

circumcisions, and de-juifying

18:27

people via plastic surgery.

18:30

It is 2024, everybody. Ha

18:32

ha ha. I'm

18:40

packing the book. The

19:00

series I host each spring with the

19:02

Jewish Book Council and the Jewish Museum

19:04

is starting back up, and I could

19:06

not be more excited. On March 28th,

19:08

I'll be talking Mizrahi and Sephardic diaspora

19:11

journeys with authors Jordan Salama and Elizabeth

19:13

Graver. On April 18th, I'll be joined

19:15

by former unorthodox guest Rabbi Diana Fersko

19:17

and author Maurice Samuels to talk about

19:19

the continued rise of antisemitism from Dreyfus

19:21

to today. Those are both in person

19:23

at the Jewish Museum in Manhattan. And

19:25

for those of you who are not

19:27

in the Tri-State area, virtually on May

19:29

16th, I'll be in conversation with Rabbi

19:31

Sharon Braus and Shai Held about

19:34

their new books. You can find all of

19:36

that info and how to register for each

19:38

of those events at tabletmag.com/unorthodox live. Also,

19:40

our second beautifully Jewish craft-along is

19:42

starting up next week. To join

19:45

our growing community, head to tabletm.ag

19:47

slash beautiful. All right, let's get back to the

19:49

show. Maxine.

20:02

Our Jewish guest is Neta Arielle, she's

20:04

the director of the Mahala School of

20:06

Film and Television in Jerusalem. She

20:09

joins us to talk about how film students

20:11

at Mahala are shifting their focus to bring

20:13

attention to the hostages still held in Gaza.

20:23

Neta Arielle, welcome to Unorthodox. Thank

20:26

you. Thank you. We're the director of the Mahala

20:29

Film School in Jerusalem. A lot of people know exactly

20:31

what that is, but for our listeners who have not

20:33

yet heard of it, will you tell us a little

20:35

bit about the school? So Mahala is

20:37

a film school located in the center of

20:39

Jerusalem. If you heard

20:41

about Stichel, Shabbab, Nikim, Frugim and

20:43

a lot of other films, so

20:46

Mahala graduates made them. Mahala

20:49

has kind of an Israel

20:51

and Jewish agenda. A lot

20:53

of our students come from

20:55

many Orthodox communities and education, but

20:58

it's open to everybody. So we

21:00

have all kinds of population from the

21:02

Orthodox to the secular, and

21:04

it's a very unique and special film school. And

21:07

you're being modest. It is the film school.

21:10

Yes. So we have been in conversation for

21:12

a while about these amazing programs that you

21:14

do. One, in particular, these

21:16

video therapy workshops that you've been doing.

21:19

Of course, in the post-October 7th world,

21:21

your focus as a film school has

21:23

shifted. So will you tell us

21:25

a little bit about what happens after October 7th

21:27

for the school and how you guys pivoted

21:29

to serve the broader community? After

21:32

a week or two of a little bit

21:34

shock and sadness, you know, everything was closed

21:36

in Israel. We were not allowed to open

21:39

the school. I must say that a lot

21:41

of our students are in the army, so

21:43

not all of them can come to study.

21:46

After two weeks, we start to say, okay, what

21:48

we can do to contribute

21:50

our tools and abilities to

21:52

the Jewish society and to

21:54

the world efforts. We

21:57

start to do three projects. One, we

21:59

have a project. We immediately offered

22:01

the people that was evacuated from their home,

22:03

from the south and from the north to

22:05

a lot of hotels in Jerusalem, in the

22:08

Dead Sea, in Tel Aviv, etc. Events,

22:11

screening our films, come

22:13

to them and make workshops, how

22:16

to use writing or filmmaking to

22:18

express themselves, tell their stories, make

22:20

documentary films. It was

22:22

amazing, once to see so many people help

22:25

them and come to make them happy and

22:27

to do a lot of things. And we

22:29

have our tools that give them some

22:32

ability to tell the story and

22:34

to do with it something artistic.

22:36

So this is one thing that

22:38

we are doing still. The

22:40

second thing we saw that it's very

22:43

important to walk in the social media,

22:45

especially not for the Israelis, but here

22:47

in America and in Europe, to bring

22:49

the voices of those who was held

22:52

as hostages and now still

22:54

in Gaza, you know, women and

22:56

men that stuck there. And

22:58

we want to be part

23:00

of this effort. So my

23:02

filmmakers graduate making short videos

23:05

on each one of them that the family wants

23:08

to bring their voice and it's

23:10

on our website and Instagram and

23:12

Facebook. And we want that people

23:15

will watch them and help us

23:18

to push and to bring them

23:20

home. This is our one

23:22

of our main goals. This

23:24

is what we can do. So we talked a

23:26

little bit about these video therapy workshops, which as

23:28

we mentioned, you have been doing for quite some

23:30

time. How did those come about and what are

23:32

they? OK, so I think that the story starts

23:34

around 20 years ago. We are

23:37

a very small film school, so we

23:39

know every student and especially

23:41

when they started to write their graduate

23:43

films, they studied for four years. And

23:46

we found ourselves every year or

23:48

two reading the script and understand

23:51

that these stories that they wrote

23:53

based on a trauma, a secret

23:55

and unfinished business. And

23:58

they are not even aware that they are. choosing

24:00

this opportunity to make a

24:02

film and to write it,

24:04

maybe change the end, maybe

24:06

change the character, whatever. And

24:10

you know, there are adults coming when

24:12

they're 20 something after serving in the

24:14

Israeli army or national service. So

24:16

we're not asking them is

24:18

it your story? It's how do you know,

24:21

I can tell you that one of our

24:24

students wrote in the past a script

24:26

about the post trauma in the army.

24:28

So one of our teachers that help

24:30

him say, you know, I think

24:32

that you have to make a research because

24:35

it's not reasonable that the husband hit his

24:37

wife during the night when he's sleeping and

24:39

he has a nightmare. I don't think so.

24:41

So the student tell, I don't need their

24:44

research. It's my story. It's happened to me.

24:46

I never share it with anyone. And this

24:48

is the first time that they want to

24:50

tell what happened to me that people will

24:53

know even my parents doesn't know. So

24:55

we understood that it's amazing tool because

24:57

to make a film, it's a long

24:59

process. Therapy is also must be

25:01

a long process. It's not like to take a

25:04

picture, a still picture, and that's

25:06

it. So this is one thing that just

25:08

came to me that we have to do

25:10

this tool. And other things that

25:12

happened in more or less in the same

25:15

time that we had opportunity to raise scholarship

25:17

for students, but the foundation that give us

25:19

the money say, but they have to contribute

25:22

to this society. So it's okay. Now students

25:24

are filmmaking. So maybe

25:26

they will walk with youth at

25:28

risk or disables and do some

25:30

workshop with them. So my students

25:33

did what their teachers does. They

25:35

tell them, let's write your story and let's make

25:37

a movie about it. And when they did it,

25:40

suddenly we saw that their kids or

25:42

the youth that were part of it

25:45

had an amazing process. And their

25:47

guide said, listen, the first

25:49

time that they have a positive experience and

25:51

they did something successful and they tell their

25:54

story and then their parents come to see

25:56

a friend. So we said, there is something

25:58

here. So. So we

26:00

did tens of groups in the last two

26:02

decades. And I think

26:04

that it's about time that we prepare ourselves

26:07

to the next step, unfortunately.

26:09

We have so many people now in Israel with

26:12

a trauma that were helped. And we

26:14

now prepare the ground to start to

26:16

walk with them in a few months.

26:20

It's amazing to really think about the

26:22

way film and these creative projects allow

26:24

you to process all sorts of trauma.

26:26

We've talked a lot on the show

26:28

about why Israeli TV, why Israeli film

26:31

is so good, right? Why all around

26:33

the world we're importing it, we're trying

26:35

to sort of distill that for our

26:37

own cultures. And part of

26:39

it does seem to be the high

26:41

stakes nature of Israeli life, right? Just

26:43

the sort of volatility that at any

26:45

moment, as we've sadly seen, can erupt.

26:47

And it's really fascinating

26:50

to think that like out of this

26:52

horrible thing that happened on October 7th

26:54

and is continuing to happen, great art

26:56

eventually might come out of it. Unfortunately,

26:58

I must say that all the Israeli

27:00

society in all kinds of fields, not

27:02

only in art and culture and filmmaking,

27:04

but you would see how

27:06

everybody thinks what is the best things that

27:08

I can do with my abilities

27:11

with my talent, whatever. And

27:13

people volunteer and amazing things

27:15

happened. It is all said

27:17

that it's because of the war, but it

27:19

still shows the strength of the

27:22

Israeli society. And I'm so happy to be

27:24

part of it. We have our small area

27:26

in the filmmaking tool,

27:28

but yes, in the

27:30

end of the day, if we can help people

27:32

and give them ability to take care of themselves,

27:35

give them tools and give them a voice. And

27:38

I can tell you a very nice

27:40

story that I had after Operation Protective

27:42

Age in 2014. We

27:46

also had a war in Gaza. We

27:49

opened a group for a brave mother. And

27:52

I just knew someone that years before

27:54

used to work in Malay, one of

27:56

our economic department, and she left. And

27:59

her son, passed away in Gaza war in

28:01

2014. So of course I went to the

28:03

funeral in the Shiva and when we opened

28:05

the group I called her Mercedes and I

28:07

want to invite you and I want you

28:10

to know that we are going to have

28:12

a video therapy for this mother and

28:14

maybe come you live in Jerusalem it's going

28:16

to be in Jerusalem. So she said thank

28:18

you so much for thinking about me and

28:20

invite me but I don't I

28:23

will not come I don't want to belong

28:25

to this group I don't allow myself I

28:27

don't want to meet other mother like this

28:29

I can't I can't

28:32

so I said okay no problem I just want you

28:34

to know that we are going to do there will

28:36

be women like you but so she said no thank

28:38

you it was and before we

28:40

open the group most of them don't know

28:43

what is video therapy so we invite them

28:45

just to introduction come to the school we

28:47

are doing something cool we explain the what

28:49

we are going to do we show them

28:51

examples what we did in the past so

28:54

I sent her invitation only to the

28:56

introductions meeting and I saw what

28:59

will be will be and she came and she said

29:01

I just came because you honor me and

29:03

you invite me but I'm not going to be part

29:05

of this group I said fine just

29:08

thank you for coming and then was

29:10

the first meeting and she came and then the second

29:12

and all the time every time I say hi how

29:14

are you and she said I'm fine but I'm not

29:17

part of this group and

29:19

then just before Pesach one

29:22

of the the tools was that

29:24

they have to choose an item

29:26

that used to belong to the

29:28

killed son and to

29:30

make a voice over so they told them go

29:33

home find something that was belong to the your

29:36

son and you have to to

29:38

write it and then to film it and bring

29:40

it next day away so this woman

29:42

that didn't want to come in to be part

29:44

of this group she bought one

29:47

of the most amazing kind of

29:49

an exercise she shoot

29:51

the kiss brush of

29:54

her son in a glass and

29:56

the voice over was you know

29:58

it's almost Pesach in In Pesach, our

30:00

family saw up to the garbage hall

30:02

and we changed, we have new. But

30:05

I belong to, she said the

30:07

name of her son, and I want to

30:09

ask you not to follow me up and leave

30:12

me here. I even agreed to

30:14

clean coronels, but just let me

30:16

stay. It was so

30:18

touching. The other also was amazing. But this

30:21

is an example of how people

30:23

in this terrible situation that you are

30:25

in the morning and you lost your

30:27

son or someone from your family and

30:29

you have no tools to deal with

30:31

it. And it's not enough

30:33

to hug them and you have to give them,

30:36

first of all, they were together. They come, they

30:38

laugh, they cry, they tell stories. The

30:41

gathering together every week was amazing. There

30:43

were women that come, two hours, they

30:45

come from the other area of Israel.

30:47

They say, we don't care, we drive,

30:49

we need quite time, we can cry, we

30:52

can sing. So I

30:54

know from inside that there is

30:56

a sentence in Hebrew, everybody that saves only one

30:58

soul, it's

31:04

like you save all day. So I feel that even

31:07

a group of 12, 15

31:09

women, men, youth, all

31:12

people who can help them, they're

31:14

going to do it. Dr. Ariel, it

31:16

is such an honor to talk with

31:18

you and our listeners can learn more

31:20

about Maale at maale.co.il. That's

31:25

M-A-A-L-E-H.CO.IL. And

31:27

if you want to see these amazing

31:30

social media films featuring small portraits of

31:32

the hostages, you can get on Instagram

31:34

and follow them at MALE underscore film

31:37

underscore school. Thank you so

31:39

much for joining us. Thank you for having me. We'll

31:55

see you next time. mailbox

32:01

mailbox. All

32:06

right, let's get to the mailbox. We've got a

32:09

lot of letters coming in and we are loving

32:11

it. This one comes in from Rachel. She says,

32:13

Hi podcast crew. I just wanted to say thanks.

32:15

My mom recommended unorthodox to me after October 7th

32:17

and it's honestly been a lifeline. I'm a little

32:19

behind, but I loved your reporting from Israel. I

32:22

just listened to the Moshe Kasha interview and related

32:24

to so many things he said. This podcast offers

32:27

me a little laughter with my tears. Thanks for

32:29

helping me feel less alone. Rachel, thank

32:31

you for listening and making us part of

32:33

your world. What a sweet email. Our next

32:35

letter came in as a voicemail to our

32:38

listener line. As a reminder, we have a

32:40

listener line. You can leave us messages there

32:42

as well. Hey guys, catch up in the

32:44

back catalog. I am a conservative Jew. So

32:47

is my wife. We're both converts, but that's not

32:49

really what I called. We're getting back into our

32:51

face and we've never

32:53

been as observant as we are right

32:55

now. And we're really getting into kosher,

32:57

but my wife does not want to

32:59

replace our fiesta where and we recently

33:01

unpackaged our wedding flatware, which we never

33:03

used for 20 years. And

33:06

we're using that and we're not replacing that order.

33:09

So we fully replaced all our

33:11

cooking where we're using eating glock kosher

33:13

meats and we're trying to follow

33:15

the hectures. We're not really replaced with dinnerware.

33:17

And my question to you guys is where

33:19

do you draw the line as far as

33:22

the Jewish life goes? Where is your OJ

33:24

as I call it when you're overdue and

33:27

how do you not over Jew it or should

33:29

you just sort of cautious the wind and just

33:32

cram all the mitzvah you possibly can just go, just

33:34

go mature. You're going to with it. Where do you

33:36

draw that work life balance and let

33:38

the secular world in? Let me

33:40

hear where the starting point is from Orthodox

33:42

people, especially. Love you guys

33:44

show. It's been a godsend. First of

33:47

all, I will never not think

33:49

of OJ Simpson. As over Jew

33:51

Simpson, which is a

33:53

wonderful thing. So yeah,

33:55

nameless caller. You're asking an

33:58

amazing, amazing question that. I

34:01

myself spend a lot of time thinking

34:03

about as I embarked on my own

34:05

Jewish journey, just as we're on our

34:08

own Jewish journeys, but I'm

34:10

kind of going to answer it by first kind

34:12

of rejecting the last sentence

34:14

or two. It's not

34:16

about keeping the secular world out or

34:18

letting the secular world in. There's no

34:20

such thing as the secular world. This

34:22

is all Hashem's world. Everything here is

34:24

Hashem's creation, and simply it's a matter

34:26

of your decision of how

34:29

you want to bring Jewish meaning

34:31

and practice into your life. Honestly,

34:33

the possibilities are sort of endless

34:35

because I know people in the

34:37

Orthodox community who would gladly step

34:40

into a non-Kosha restaurant and eat a

34:43

salad or something that they're fairly certain

34:46

will not have been exposed to

34:48

any non-Kosha materials. I know

34:50

people who would only eat in very

34:52

glot Kosha restaurants. I know people who

34:54

would be very careful and observant about

34:57

only drinking Kosha wine or pasta cereal,

34:59

the Kosha bread. It's really

35:01

a matter of where you

35:04

feel comfortable, which I

35:06

think is not a journey to be approached

35:09

with a sense of censorship,

35:11

interpretation. Don't think about it as like,

35:13

oh, there are rules and I must

35:15

obey some and reject some. Just

35:17

think about it in terms of like, okay, well, I want to do this

35:19

thing. Clearly, something

35:22

in your soul led you to say, I want to

35:24

do this. I want to keep more Kosha. Go with

35:26

that feeling. Say like, okay, why am I thinking like

35:28

this? Why am I feeling this? What is it that

35:30

I really want to do? Let's just try it

35:33

out. Let's just go on this journey and see where it takes us.

35:36

If you feel very comfortable, like

35:38

our family, for example, eating

35:40

out in our Kosha restaurants

35:42

and assiduously avoiding non-Kosha

35:45

foods in said restaurants, that's great.

35:47

If you feel like taking all of your dishes and

35:50

costuring them, that's not very hard to do. And

35:52

if you say like, hey, man, I put them in the dishwasher

35:55

and I'm only eating kosher meat. And

35:58

so that's kind of good enough for me. That's fine, Tim. I

36:00

think the most important thing, and some

36:02

rabbis I assume will disagree with me, the

36:04

most important thing is to really focus on

36:07

the joy and the pleasure and the meaning

36:09

that this practice and these mitzvot bring

36:11

you. Not to think of them as

36:14

strictures because they're never meant to be

36:16

that. They're paths to get closer to

36:18

Hashem, closer to our Missouri, to

36:20

our tradition, closer to what it is that

36:22

you're already feeling because it led you back

36:24

home to Judaism and it led you to

36:26

want to keep kashrut. So just go with

36:28

that. Here, here. Also, we're

36:30

talking about fiesta ware. Those are

36:33

those amazing, brightly colored dishes. I

36:35

don't want you giving up on them. No,

36:37

kashr them. Yeah, like- It's very easy to

36:40

kashr them. Like, honestly- Really, I was on

36:42

a list- Supremely easy to do. There are

36:44

actually like internet discussions about how to

36:46

kashr fiesta ware. We'll help

36:48

you. We'll give you our non-rabbinic ordination to

36:50

kashr them. We can make up a ceremony

36:52

and help you. Those dishes bring me joy.

36:54

They bring you joy. I think you want

36:56

to keep them in your life. That

36:59

was a very good answer, by the

37:01

way, Liel. I found that moving and

37:03

awesome and open-minded and big-hearted. Thank

37:05

you. You're so much better than everyone says.

37:07

I don't know about that. I'm just kidding.

37:09

I aim to disappoint. No, I'm always

37:12

inspired and refreshed to hear you answer that

37:14

way because I think that really is, that

37:16

gets the ruach of it all. I'm glad

37:19

that you're not somebody who is mired down

37:21

in the minutia or can't see the forest

37:23

for the trees. The ruach of it all

37:25

is all we got. Keep those

37:27

letters. Keep those voicemails coming. Email us

37:30

at unorthodox at tabletmag.com or leave us

37:32

a message on our listener line, 914-570-4869.

37:47

Our Gentile of the Week is Dr. Phil.

37:49

He's starting his own TV network and

37:51

he also has a new book out called,

37:53

We've Got Issues, How You Can Stand Strong

37:56

for America's Soul and Sanity.

38:06

Dr. Phil, welcome to an

38:08

Orthodox. Well thanks so much. I appreciate you

38:10

having me. So it is an absolute

38:13

pleasure to have you. There is a lot to

38:15

talk about, mainly your new book,

38:17

We've Got Issues. We'll get there in

38:19

a second. But I want to start

38:21

with a video that I've seen recently,

38:23

very shortly after the October 7th attacks.

38:25

You produced, I think, a five or

38:27

six minute long video. And

38:30

when a lot of other people were, you know, giving

38:32

statements that were sometimes, you know,

38:34

far shall we say from my

38:36

deal, you delivered a very stark

38:39

reminder of right versus wrong.

38:41

This is days after the

38:43

attack. How did it come about? Tell

38:46

me, where were you on October 7th? What did you feel? What

38:48

did you decide to make this video?

38:50

Well, Ben, I love the way

38:52

you framed that question in right

38:55

versus wrong. And

38:57

I think I said in the video, I don't

39:00

remember, I said, if I didn't say,

39:02

I should have said, I'm

39:04

not a political animal. I'm certainly not

39:07

steeped in geopolitics. And

39:11

I would fail a history lesson on

39:14

all the history of that part of the

39:16

world. But I don't need to

39:18

be a geopolitical expert

39:20

to know right from wrong. I

39:23

don't need a degree in geopolitics

39:25

to know murderers

39:28

and assassins when I see them.

39:32

And this was not an act

39:34

of war. This

39:36

was someone hitting

39:38

soft targets, elderly

39:41

women and children. These

39:45

were unconscionable assassins. And

39:49

I've been criticized. I've been

39:51

attacked by bot farms. I've

39:53

had death threats. And

39:55

I just double down because look, there's right

39:57

and there's wrong. You know what chopped into

39:59

book? called deprogram yourself

40:02

or devoted to this idea, which I

40:04

love, the notion of like, okay, you know, maybe

40:06

one of these people who are fed

40:09

a great deal of the sort of, you

40:11

know, gunk on

40:14

the internet or on campus, but it's time

40:16

to get back to basics. Give us, give

40:19

us some, some baby steps here. What, what

40:21

can we do? Well, I

40:23

think the first thing we've got to

40:25

start doing is, is teaching critical thinking.

40:27

I think that's what happened. That's

40:30

what upset me so much about what I

40:32

saw after October 7th, when

40:34

you see Harvard

40:37

and Columbia

40:39

and, and others

40:41

where you see these,

40:43

these young people out there

40:45

in these organizations that

40:48

are pro-Palestinian. And then pretty soon

40:50

that kind of got dropped and

40:52

they're just pro-Hamas. I

40:54

saw one picture where

40:57

it was gays for Palestinians.

41:00

Really? You wouldn't want

41:02

to march that banner into the Gaza

41:04

strip. You wouldn't get very far. Is

41:07

anyone not teaching them critical thinking

41:10

about how is this going

41:12

to play with these people that I'm cheering

41:15

on here, these people I'm putting in

41:17

a hero role? They would

41:19

kill you where you stand.

41:21

They don't tolerate you and

41:24

you're over here cheering them on.

41:26

Are you kidding me? And

41:29

people say, well, this

41:31

was resistance. I had

41:33

the Israeli consulate arranged for the

41:35

IDF to bring me data

41:39

footage that

41:41

has not been released because I said, look, if

41:43

I'm going to speak on this, I

41:46

can't be hearsay. I can't just listen

41:48

to what people say they saw. I

41:51

don't want to see it, but I need to see it. And

41:55

I looked at body cams. I

41:57

looked at video on

41:59

phones. that were recovered

42:01

from people that were murdered. I

42:04

saw these people celebrating and

42:07

doing unmentionable

42:10

sort of things. Phone calls

42:12

back home, celebrating things they had done

42:14

in their own voice. And

42:17

these are not things that are

42:20

subjective. This is factual information and

42:22

they're celebrating this. Nobody's

42:24

teaching them critical thinking. Nobody's teaching them to

42:27

say, wait a minute, let's

42:30

compare this to basic humanity.

42:33

And it's just unbelievable

42:36

that we're supposedly educating

42:39

these kids, these young people, but

42:41

we're not teaching them how to

42:43

evaluate things against any kind of

42:45

moral compass. And what should we

42:48

do, those of us who are paying attention

42:50

to all of this, right? I remember in the immediate

42:52

wake of October 7th, a lot

42:54

of us were just watching all the videos we could,

42:56

right, trying to understand what was happening. We felt like

42:58

we needed to see everything. It

43:01

did seem like for me at least, there was a

43:03

point at which I had to turn it off. I had

43:05

to say, like, I cannot watch another

43:07

horrible video because I

43:09

don't know what I'm gonna do. So when things

43:11

like this happen, how

43:14

do we protect ourselves while also

43:16

trying to stay informed and also

43:18

trying to be a good

43:20

person? I care about what's happening. I care about the people

43:22

who are suffering, but I also need to sort of protect

43:25

myself. Well, that's

43:28

a great question, Stephanie, and I think

43:30

the answer is you

43:32

go to a point where you say, okay, I

43:35

get it. I don't need to

43:38

see every single atrocity.

43:41

I don't have to have the detail. I

43:44

get it. I get the extent

43:47

to which this happened. I understand

43:50

how unconscionable this was, and

43:54

I'm not gonna go down that black

43:56

rabbit hole any further. and

44:00

lose myself in that. But

44:03

I've, I've gone down far enough to know what

44:06

we're dealing with because

44:10

that's when you, the reality

44:12

comes home that we've

44:15

got these millions of

44:17

people living across a chain link

44:19

fence from people

44:21

that want them dead. And

44:24

so that informs you when

44:26

you start saying, okay, how

44:28

do we negotiate a settlement here when they're

44:31

beginning and ending places, they

44:34

want you wiped off the face of the earth.

44:37

And you have to have that

44:39

reality check to understand what

44:42

you're dealing with. And what I've seen

44:45

in terms of, of

44:47

the human evaluation of this

44:49

is people have begun

44:52

to forget that as you've

44:54

seen the PR turn on

44:56

Israel and people start getting critical and

44:58

saying, there's a

45:01

moral equivalent between what was done

45:03

there and collateral damage in

45:06

acts of war. There is no moral equivalent to

45:08

what was done. I mean, it's

45:10

terrible that people are getting

45:12

killed if a bomb is dropped and

45:15

and there's collateral damage. That's

45:17

not the moral equivalent of

45:20

someone going in, baiting someone's

45:22

a non-combatants house and

45:24

murdering unarmed non-combatants in

45:28

their homes. Those things are

45:30

not the same and you

45:32

have to be informed enough to realize

45:34

what you're dealing with. And,

45:37

you know, once you're there, you don't have to,

45:40

you don't have to have a hundred more

45:42

examples of that. You've

45:44

embraced that reality. Say,

45:46

okay, I got it. I don't

45:48

need to keep beating myself over the head with it.

45:51

And at some point you've got

45:54

to compartmentalize that and say, I understand

45:56

this in concept, I don't need to

45:58

deal with this with examples. example

46:00

after example after example, because

46:02

it truly will get

46:04

you so depressed and so

46:06

downtrodden that you just really can't see a light

46:08

at the end of the tunnel. And

46:11

there is light. I mean, truly,

46:13

these people are outliers. This is

46:15

not human nature. This is not

46:18

people in the

46:20

mainstream. These are

46:22

radicals that don't belong in

46:24

society. Something has to happen

46:27

to marginalize these people

46:29

where they can't do what they do.

46:31

So, Dr. Phil, you have some changes

46:33

of your own coming up. You've been with

46:35

CBS forever. We've seen you on TV for

46:37

years and years. And you're actually putting out

46:40

your own shingle. You're starting your own television

46:42

network. Can you tell us a little bit

46:44

about Merritt Street? I didn't

46:46

name this network by accident.

46:48

I didn't just throw it dark

46:50

and pick Merritt. It is based

46:53

on the very strong belief in

46:55

us all working hard. But yeah, it's a 24-7 network.

46:59

I think we're going to launch off in

47:02

a very huge way. I think

47:05

we'll be in over 70 million

47:07

homes day one. It's probably the biggest

47:09

launch since Fox, which

47:12

was the fourth network of course. Dr.

47:14

Phil Primetime is the anchor show

47:17

that we'll be on in the

47:19

evenings. We have four

47:21

hours of news a day. And then

47:24

we've got a lot of other original programs

47:26

we're going to be announcing. And then we

47:28

have some legacy programs. We'll have Dr. Phil

47:30

reruns of course. I've

47:32

got a 21-year library with over 3,500 episodes.

47:34

So we'll have

47:37

a lot of that going on. We'll have

47:39

true crime episodes, things like that. But

47:42

it's a network that I've

47:44

designed to be television you can

47:46

use. I remember the first time

47:48

I ever did an interview about Dr. Phil,

47:50

somebody said, what's this going to

47:52

be about? And I

47:55

said, I want to talk about things that

47:57

matter to people who care. My

48:00

thinking was if I can deliver

48:02

usable common sense information to people's

48:04

homes every day for free, how

48:07

can you miss? I

48:11

think I was right. I mean, I'm

48:13

here 25 years later and

48:16

that's my goal. If I'm

48:19

talking about psychological challenges, I've

48:22

stuck to evidence-based therapies, things

48:25

that are proven to

48:27

work. I've

48:30

relied a lot on common sense. I know a

48:32

lot of 75-cent words. I just try

48:34

not to use them. I try to explain things

48:36

in ways people can understand. We've

48:39

been doing this show for eight years and

48:41

really hope to have some longevity here. Give

48:44

us tips. 25 years into

48:46

it and it doesn't seem like you're

48:48

bored or tired in the least. It

48:51

seems like you're just as into it

48:53

as you are when we first saw you on the screen.

48:56

Give us some pro tips here. How do

48:59

we keep the passion going? You

49:03

got to change with your audience. That's the

49:05

best advice I can give you is when

49:08

I started in 2002, think about this. The

49:12

first text message had never been

49:14

sent. There were

49:16

no text messages and

49:19

then as things changed, I had to start

49:21

dealing with things like

49:24

cyberbullying. Those words had

49:26

never been used in the same sentence

49:28

together, cyberbullying. That wasn't a

49:30

thing. Then in like 08, 09,

49:33

it's like these big airplanes flew

49:36

over the United States and dropped

49:38

smartphones on America.

49:41

The whole world changed at that point.

49:43

We were walking around with computers in

49:45

our hands. We got a

49:47

whole new set of challenges. I

49:49

had to evolve with that and not being

49:51

very tech savvy. If I can't

49:54

fix it by tapping on the top of it, I

49:57

need to call somebody. I

49:59

had to figure out. out what

50:01

people were dealing with and evolve

50:03

with that. And then

50:05

online predators and romance

50:07

scams and all of that sort of thing.

50:10

And then all the positive things that you

50:12

come up with. Kids today, you

50:14

say library to them. It's like, what? I know it's

50:16

a big building with books in it. You can go

50:18

in there and look. It's

50:21

Google, it's search engines to them. I mean,

50:23

it's a whole different world. Now we've got

50:25

AI. I

50:27

saw an ad the other day with

50:29

me selling a product and I'm holding

50:31

the product and talking. Never

50:34

did the ad. It's all

50:36

a deep fake. It's not me, but

50:38

it is. It's my voice. It's me

50:41

speaking. And it's my, I

50:43

look better than I look in real life, but it

50:45

was a deep fake of me. That's

50:49

a whole new challenge that people are gonna

50:51

have to face. So you've got

50:53

to evolve with your audience and they'll tell you

50:55

what's important to them. And I listened to that

50:57

and try to meet the audience where

50:59

they are. So I've really tried to pay attention to

51:02

that. Dr. Phil, as the

51:04

world's universe is leading Jewish podcasts,

51:06

we welcome Gentiles on our show

51:08

every now and then. And we'd like to offer

51:10

them the opportunity to ask us

51:12

a question about Judaism, something they've always

51:14

wondered, but never knew. So

51:17

I don't know if you have any questions,

51:19

but I wanted to extend to

51:21

you the opportunity as a Gentile minority

51:23

on this here show. Well,

51:26

I'll take that opportunity actually, because

51:28

you guys were asking me what

51:32

my reaction has been. And

51:34

I'm really curious how you

51:36

guys are dealing with

51:39

watching the

51:41

shift in the world position

51:44

since October 7th. And

51:47

we've got issues, how you can

51:50

stand strong for America's soul and

51:52

sanity. I

51:54

talk about the fact that we have to

51:56

be who we are on purpose. And

51:59

I'm just curious, seeing Israel right now

52:02

being who they are on

52:05

purpose. They're not caving,

52:07

it seems, to the

52:10

shift in world

52:12

sentiment and calls for ceasefires and

52:14

all this type thing. But I'm

52:17

wondering how you guys react

52:19

when you see the

52:22

ADD that takes over when at

52:24

first everybody is outraged at what

52:26

happened, but then they seem

52:28

to be caving to

52:30

the PR machine that

52:34

starts being critical of the

52:36

toll the war is taking on Palestinians. You

52:38

know, I'll kick us off. I think that's

52:40

something that's been hard for a lot of

52:42

us is seeing how the world has

52:45

reacted, right? I think that realizing that

52:47

the people you are friends with, the

52:49

people you admire from the

52:51

very beginning before any sort of counter

52:53

offensive started really just didn't care

52:55

about this the way they've been trained to care

52:57

about all the other conflicts, all the other sort

52:59

of like causes du jour. And

53:02

I think that it's been very painful for

53:04

a lot of Jews, I know myself included

53:06

to just see, to be let down,

53:08

I would say, by the realization, the

53:10

dawning realization, maybe not a new phenomenon,

53:12

that people just don't really care

53:14

about Jews the same way. Or they say, Oh, no,

53:17

no, it's Israel, Israel is bad, it doesn't matter. Like,

53:19

there's a way in which there's this caveat that's been

53:21

attached to this place, that

53:24

people just don't seem to be as horrified

53:26

by what happened on October 7, as

53:28

as they would if it were somewhere else. And

53:30

I think that that's been a really, really painful

53:33

realization for a lot of people. And

53:35

in an amazing way, it's allowed them to

53:37

double down, right? It's about how important it is

53:39

to be Jewish, and how important is to be

53:41

proudly Jewish and loudly Jewish. But I think a

53:43

lot of people, there's like a heartbreak, I think,

53:46

of just realizing that from the get

53:48

go, this wasn't going to get

53:50

the same kind of attention, or care

53:52

that every other conflict has. I

53:56

would say I would just part of my

53:58

response is to attempt to respond

54:00

with balance and nuance to people who

54:03

aren't showing the same and to

54:06

not be monolithic. It's very easy to get

54:08

backed up in your positions when

54:11

you are faced with monolithic hatred

54:13

and anti-Semitism. I think it's

54:15

possible to be anti-Hamas and pro-Palestinian and

54:17

pro-Israel at the same time and

54:20

so I try to respond with

54:22

balance where I don't see any.

54:25

So I sadly lack much

54:27

of my friend's magnanimity

54:29

here though I admire him for

54:31

it and aspire to it certainly.

54:34

Look I'll be honest here I was

54:36

not surprised as the sort of resident

54:39

bearded zealot. This has

54:41

been confirming and affirming some things that

54:43

I've been seeing kind of percolate under

54:46

the surface for a long time but the

54:48

one thing that it did kind of bring to the surface

54:50

is that this attack wasn't just in Israel the

54:53

country. To me it was

54:55

much much bigger than that. Israel if

54:57

anything represents to me this perfect combination

55:00

of faith, family and nation.

55:02

It's the embodiment of these three things

55:04

and I think the people attacking it

55:07

did so not just because of geopolitical

55:09

reasons but also because they

55:11

hate these very concepts and I think

55:13

the response has to be precisely

55:15

doubling down on all three. To

55:18

double down on your family, to double down on

55:20

your nation whether it's Israel or America and to

55:22

double down on your faith because there's no other

55:24

path for us against this because

55:26

really as yourself said a few minutes ago

55:29

this is not Israel versus Hamas or

55:31

America versus Iran or anything like this

55:33

to me it is as simple as

55:35

good versus evil. That's really helpful to

55:37

hear from all y'all and I just again

55:39

thank you so much for letting me be

55:42

one of the Gentiles that you've had on

55:44

your podcast today. I really

55:47

thank you so much it's been it's been

55:49

fun it's been great and and

55:51

enlightening as well so I hope we can do

55:53

it again sometime. Dr. Phil what a pleasure. We

55:56

would love that and really thank you for your staunch support

55:58

I mean hearing you come out so The vociferously

56:00

and so uncomplicated Li is is

56:02

unusual to us were like just

56:04

always happy to have people especially

56:06

non jews. Say nice things about

56:08

us and to us So thank you Dr.

56:11

Phil! Affect the zebra being late for

56:13

money to get. His

56:25

whatever on that going on. I'm pretty

56:27

excited next weekend and going to

56:29

be B Y O as International

56:31

Conference in Orlando celebrating their one

56:33

hundredth anniversary and I'm excited to

56:35

be part of that because I've

56:37

I went I think years ago

56:39

when it was in New Orleans

56:41

and I found it very refreshing

56:43

and heartening to see young Jews

56:45

who care about being jews which

56:47

may be our greatest resource as

56:49

p both and so I'm excited

56:51

to me though, the kids and

56:54

the A young people there next

56:56

weekend. Other elements: At one hundred

56:58

years old speedway, it was officially the

57:00

oldest teenager ever exactly muzzled of Muslims.

57:02

Have to be beware. And and

57:04

the all the speedy that I will be

57:06

why I will be Y O B B

57:08

B Wire and is it oh so I

57:10

have a taste of Disney next door. I

57:12

have a double barreled muscles of first of

57:14

all. To our beloved

57:17

Sam singer. Son. Of

57:19

our very own also very beloved

57:22

tiny singer who graduated. We.

57:24

Don't mean to bows by the lot of

57:26

nos. Has graduated summa cum laude a and

57:28

just suit a half years since the University

57:30

of Pennsylvania like it's hard to and a

57:32

half years sooner, half years kids as sick

57:34

as showing off. At this point it's a

57:36

fucking genius. Honestly could have done it in

57:38

a yes, Ah, But much more important than

57:41

that. Graduated. With you

57:43

know, his Jewish. The summer on

57:45

fire. With. A great. Rediscovered

57:48

reinvigorated love for all things

57:50

Jewish humor saw, happy and

57:52

proud of him. And speaking

57:54

of love, And. Passion for

57:56

all things Jewish. The. Biggest

57:58

mazel Tov. To. My

58:01

dear friend Amber Allen. Who.

58:03

Just last Thursday joined us

58:05

by returning home. To.

58:07

The Jewish People. So. Amber

58:10

Bill Harbor Welcome Home. And

58:12

a thrill to have young boy. I

58:15

love that that that is amazing. I have

58:17

a shoutout to super listener Gary Ways We

58:19

met at Are So in Scottsdale years back

58:21

Am yes he gave us his his badge

58:24

was the Board Chairman of the the Valley

58:26

of the Sunday. C C. When as a

58:28

gay rights as much as a super was nice I give us he

58:30

got out of the South Asia. He gave a he

58:32

was how ballet and he gave us his

58:34

his own name tag. We have it up

58:37

in our office anyway. getting ice is headed

58:39

to Israel Ansari with his brother. I'm on

58:41

David Klein on a volunteer and solidary mission

58:43

with the Minneapolis Federation. So they're twenty eight

58:46

frozen chosen as the Jews of Minneapolis call

58:48

themselves and and he says they're the to

58:50

desert tag along with the Twenty Eight Frozen

58:52

shows in our members of the Minneapolis Federation

58:54

that be volunteering and working every day and

58:57

he so excited and can't wait we are

58:59

so excited for you Carry. On determined to

59:01

hear all about it. If anyone could fix

59:03

all the problems in Israel Day right, it's

59:05

him. You you the man. Salary.

59:10

And resources person's habits, studios, the services of a

59:12

nice of you that make with Leah leave minutes

59:14

and as well Molina were produced in As it

59:16

adjusts, class or skirmishes had won alibi or or

59:18

team includes missing her for years and rather stay

59:20

with help from some. have her and her down.

59:22

The Rosa or Episode Our Best. Are worded are

59:25

a little as I didn't rise by a team is

59:27

is like all on and our new that mailbox seems

59:29

I see the Spartans we love to hear from You

59:31

email us at a north Us have like I can't

59:33

for the the message or listener line Now on for

59:36

by seven out for a six nine until next week

59:38

so I'm veins. A sushi. The fiesta.