Latest / Sid & Friends In The Morning / Rabbi Mark Wildes | Founder & Director of Manhattan Jewish Experience | 05-27-26

Transcript

Rabbi Mark Wildes | Founder & Director of Manhattan Jewish Experience | 05-27-26 · Sid & Friends In The Morning

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  Speaker 1: In a time when silence is everywhere, some voices refuse
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  Speaker 1: to stay quiet. Sid Rosenberg has used his platform to
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  Speaker 1: speak boldly, stand with Israel, and support the Jewish community
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  Speaker 1: when it matters most. At MG's twenty seventh annual Dinner,
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  Speaker 1: we are proud to honor voices like Sid's join us
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  Speaker 1: May twenty seventh at the Museum of Jewish Heritage.
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  Speaker 2: I wear it proudly wherever I am.
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  Speaker 3: I want the world to know I'm Jewish. At the
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  Speaker 3: end of the day, the Jewish people are much bigger
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  Speaker 3: than anyone of USh. I will fight for the Jewish
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  Speaker 3: people until God cross me.
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  Speaker 2: All if you want a very religious household. But I
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  Speaker 2: was still a very proud to you. I'd fight you
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  Speaker 2: in the street. He still will if you're sending negative
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  Speaker 2: about the Jewish people. Not a little bit more proud
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  Speaker 2: to be a Jew.
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  Speaker 3: Never October seventh changed me. I woke up October the
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  Speaker 3: eighth and I cried for about an hour. I said,
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  Speaker 3: for now on, I will be a different Jew that
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  Speaker 3: I've been my whole life.
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  Speaker 2: I'm not scared in New York City, I'm not scared
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  Speaker 2: in France. I'm not scared anymore. You guys. Remember, I
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  Speaker 2: would purposely wear my Israel shirts New York stands with
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  Speaker 2: Israel and all my Jewish shirts f pomas that came later, obviously,
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  Speaker 2: but I would purposely wear those, and it drew the eye,
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  Speaker 2: of course, of my wife and my children. Even you
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  Speaker 2: guys are like, are you not? I took the subway.
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  Speaker 2: I didn't care. I welcomed it. It never happened. I
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  Speaker 2: actually did save one guy, you remember, that gentleman on
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  Speaker 2: his way to Brooklyn on a Friday on Shabbat from
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  Speaker 2: some out of control strap hanger did save them. But
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  Speaker 2: otherwise they've never messed with me because the cowitchs the
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  Speaker 2: wouldn't do that because I'm a pretty big guy and
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  Speaker 2: I look like I can kill you. I probably can't,
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  Speaker 2: but I look like I can. So they pick on
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  Speaker 2: little kids where Yamaka is and kitsus and you know,
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  Speaker 2: the guys that look like they can't defend themselves, And
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  Speaker 2: the truth is they can't because Jewish people in this country,
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  Speaker 2: the dove Hiking's point and mine and Michael Rappaport, they're
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  Speaker 2: not training like the Israelis are Israel. He's eight years old.
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  Speaker 2: I got a gun already, Okay, you try to mess
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  Speaker 2: with a thirteen year old kid in Israel, he'll kick
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  Speaker 2: your ass. Here they take off the amaka, they hide
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  Speaker 2: their Muggan David's. I can't stand that. So tonight I'm
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  Speaker 2: being honored with a bunch of willy, cool people. Aaron Mollin,
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  Speaker 2: big star in Australia, Bruce Pearl, one of the greatest
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  Speaker 2: college basketball coaches ever, most recently Auburn. Now, who else
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  Speaker 2: is tonight? Oh, Emily Austin, our dear friend Emily, and
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  Speaker 2: some guy. Don't know, but he's got a lot of followers.
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  Speaker 2: James Maslow over two million followers at any rate. The
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  Speaker 2: Manhattan Jewish Experience will hostage twenty seventh annual dinner at
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  Speaker 2: the Museum of Jewish Heritage tonight, and Mark Wilds is
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  Speaker 2: the rabbi that founded the place, going on thirty years
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  Speaker 2: nineteen ninety eight, and he's kind enough to join me
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  Speaker 2: on this big morning. Rabbi Wilds, how are you pound?
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  Speaker 2: Nice to have you?
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  Speaker 4: I'm great, Thank you so much for having me. What
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  Speaker 4: an honor mine.
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  Speaker 2: I love the fact that you're working with twenty and
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  Speaker 2: thirty year olds. I see a lot of old Jewish people, obviously,
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  Speaker 2: but you know, with everything else in life, even with Trump,
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  Speaker 2: I get excited when I talk to a nineteen year
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  Speaker 2: old Trump supporter, the same thing with all people. To
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  Speaker 2: see these kids, their kids in their twenties and thirties,
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  Speaker 2: so enthusiastic about our religion and our future. Not a
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  Speaker 2: testament to the work you're doing at MJE and one
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  Speaker 2: of the reasons why, to be honest, Rabbi, I'm very
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  Speaker 2: excited about tonight.
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  Speaker 4: I really appreciate that. You know, I've been operating with
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  Speaker 4: this population for almost thirty years, as you said, and
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  Speaker 4: it's imperative right now we get to young people because
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  Speaker 4: young people, unfortunately are being brainwashed and are getting sucked
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  Speaker 4: into a very false narrative about Israel, about Jews, and
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  Speaker 4: we really have to get to a lot of the
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  Speaker 4: young people who are unfortunately getting their history from TikTok
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  Speaker 4: and not really learning the facts and what's happening, what's
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  Speaker 4: happened in Israel, what happened in October seventh. So much
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  Speaker 4: falsity and just lies and slander out there. So thank god,
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  Speaker 4: you know, we've got you know, hundreds of young people
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  Speaker 4: coming tonight and all year round were you know, we've
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  Speaker 4: got probably at twenty five thousand attendees at programs each
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  Speaker 4: year at MGE, and it's just been great. People are
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  Speaker 4: really proud to be Jewish. And I've always said this
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  Speaker 4: that if you don't understand something, you can't be proud
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  Speaker 4: of it. You can't ask someone a young person to
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  Speaker 4: be proud of who they are as a Jew or
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  Speaker 4: of the state of Israel if they've never been there,
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  Speaker 4: if they've never visited, if they have no history, if
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  Speaker 4: they have no understanding of it, they're going to have
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  Speaker 4: a very kind of like use the Jewish word SCHLEPPI, yeah,
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  Speaker 4: kind of perspective on things. If they're not knowledgeable.
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  Speaker 2: Now, no, listen, I've made that argument. I'd be so angry.
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  Speaker 2: I have friends here. They'd be commenting about the Palestinians
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  Speaker 2: from Stoaten Island, never been to Disul, They'd be commenting
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  Speaker 2: about the Palestinians from Brooklyn for the war started in
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  Speaker 2: twenty twenty three. Now, to be honest, for fifty six years,
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  Speaker 2: I've never gone to Israel, always wanted to never win. Well,
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  Speaker 2: I'm going back again. On June eighteenth. I've been bestowed
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  Speaker 2: the honor for the second straight year of speaking at
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  Speaker 2: the JNS dot org International Policy Summit. Just so you know,
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  Speaker 2: the speakers that speak there include Bibi Natiyao, Mark Levin,
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  Speaker 2: Mike Huckabee, Ron Dermer. I think you'd agree a pretty
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  Speaker 2: big list, and I speak with those guys now every year.
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  Speaker 2: It'll be my fifth trip to Israel since the war
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  Speaker 2: started in twenty twenty three. And unless you actually see
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  Speaker 2: the dynamic between the Israelis and the Arabs, this lie
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  Speaker 2: about how we're killing innocent Palestinians and the genocide, they're
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  Speaker 2: so stupid and so misinformed. You have to go to
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  Speaker 2: Israel to see it to really know the dynamic. How
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  Speaker 2: about that?
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, first of all, I'm I'm so happy
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  Speaker 4: you're going to be there because I'll see you there.
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  Speaker 4: Oh great, I'm actually I'm actually one of the speakers
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  Speaker 4: at JMS. Also, they're an amazing organization, And kudos to you,
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  Speaker 4: Koloko voter miyamaka is off whatever language you want to use,
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  Speaker 4: anyone who goes to Israel now, I mean, it's so
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  Speaker 4: important to go. And that's the common denominator of all
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  Speaker 4: the people that we're honoring at the dinner tonight. These
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  Speaker 4: are all people who have stood up for Israel, Jew
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  Speaker 4: and non Jew alike. These are individuals that you mentioned before.
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  Speaker 4: James Maslow is a performer. He's a musician from Nashville, Tennessee.
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  Speaker 4: He lost over a million followers on his Instagram because
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  Speaker 4: he went to Israel after October seventh to show his
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  Speaker 4: support to the Jewish state. And that's someone I wanted
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  Speaker 4: to honor at the dinner because he took a bit
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  Speaker 4: of a hit and we should be there to support him.
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  Speaker 4: And he's getting other great followers now. And as he
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  Speaker 4: said in one of his videos, in one of his
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  Speaker 4: music videos, that now he can tell people who exactly
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  Speaker 4: he is. And I think it's important for everyone to
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  Speaker 4: know where people stand on this issue today. And if
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  Speaker 4: you go to Israel and you support Israel and you're
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  Speaker 4: and you know, that's, you know, a simple, an easy
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  Speaker 4: way of knowing what sad you're up here now.
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  Speaker 2: I remember I was there literally three months after the
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  Speaker 2: war started January twenty twenty four. I was talking to
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  Speaker 2: Rozanna Scato, you know from John ol five and Mother Instant.
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  Speaker 2: They said, what are you nuts? They're still killing people there?
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  Speaker 2: I said, exactly, And I remember walking the streets with
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  Speaker 2: my wife Danielle beautiful boy in Jerusalem, wah far from home,
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  Speaker 2: rabbi seven thousand miles and somebody stopped me and said
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  Speaker 2: thanks for coming. I said, you know, I am, of
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  Speaker 2: course I do. I listen every day, now, you know,
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  Speaker 2: said I listen every day. And now that trip my
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  Speaker 2: first trip and again went back again in two and
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  Speaker 2: a half weeks. That was one of many that stopped
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  Speaker 2: me in the streets of Jerusalem Tel Aviv and said
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  Speaker 2: thank you. So they are aware over there of the
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  Speaker 2: Americans who come over to support them. See, my big
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  Speaker 2: issue is I'm less concerned about the bad guys and
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  Speaker 2: more concerned about our own people. For example, For example,
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  Speaker 2: when I see this mayor who is an, he's a
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  Speaker 2: flat out anti Semi. I don't care how much he smiles,
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  Speaker 2: but he says about protecting every New Yorker, including the Jews.
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  Speaker 2: He shows his true colors. He's not coming Sunday to
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  Speaker 2: his Joa did parade. I don't want him, and it's
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  Speaker 2: not because he just doesn't like Zionists in Israel.
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  Speaker 4: He doesn't like us.
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  Speaker 2: Great, I don't like him. I hate him, okay, But
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  Speaker 2: when I see rabbis from the Satmar community like Mosha
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  Speaker 2: Indig and these others tweeting about what a great guy
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  Speaker 2: Mamdanni is or this moron reform rabbi saying yesterday, thank
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  Speaker 2: God for Mamdannie and his twenty six million against hate crimes. Well,
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  Speaker 2: yesterday when we have a rally outside of Gracie Mansion
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  Speaker 2: and across the street a both of Orthodox Jews saying
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  Speaker 2: on ABC and CBS last night that Madonnie's not the
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  Speaker 2: bad guy. I'm sorry, Rabbi Wilds, but if we can't
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  Speaker 2: fix our own community, how will Jews would be safe?
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  Speaker 4: Yeah? I one hundred percent agree. I mean we have
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  Speaker 4: to start with our own. If we can't understand and
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  Speaker 4: know who we are ourselves as Jews, and we can't
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  Speaker 4: stand up for ourselves, and then we can't expect anyone
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  Speaker 4: else to come to our aid. And by the way,
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  Speaker 4: I was at the rally last night against Mandani and
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  Speaker 4: I walked by that group of Hassidim, and I honestly
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  Speaker 4: don't even consider them Hassidim. It's been the tour cars.
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  Speaker 4: They're a group of fringe. I don't I wonder who's
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  Speaker 4: paying them. Honestly, they stand out there at all. These
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  Speaker 4: rallies have been there for years. They're really not representative.
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  Speaker 4: I happen to have friends, you know, and colleagues who
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  Speaker 4: are in the Hasidic world, and they're embarrassed about them.
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  Speaker 4: They're really not a good representative representation. And then now
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  Speaker 4: on the far left, you have some excuse me, I
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  Speaker 4: have some crazies also on the far left. What we
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  Speaker 4: have to go after really is the silent majority of
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  Speaker 4: young Jewish people that have not been educated and have
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  Speaker 4: not been inspired to who they are and what Israel means.
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  Speaker 4: And we have to inspire and we have to educate.
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  Speaker 4: That's what Mjay's doing. And I really want to thank
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  Speaker 4: you Sid for coming tonight because you're going to be
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  Speaker 4: adding just a lot of enthusiasm, a lot of encouragement
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  Speaker 4: to a lot of young people who really need that.
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  Speaker 4: What we call it hibrew hiza, which is important straight,
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  Speaker 4: that's right.
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  Speaker 2: And you know what I bring to the table, And
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  Speaker 2: I mentioned this all the time. I'm not orthodox. I'm
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  Speaker 2: not religious. Sorry, I don't keep kosher, I don't go
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  Speaker 2: to shule on Shabbah, I don't wrap the fill in
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  Speaker 2: every day. I'm not proud of any of this. I'm
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  Speaker 2: just telling you the way it is and I'm telling you,
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  Speaker 2: Rabbi that there's a lot more sid Rosenberg's out there
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  Speaker 2: than Rabbi Wilds. There's a lot more of Jewish people.
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  Speaker 4: You know.
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  Speaker 2: They'll go to Shule on Young Kipper like I do
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  Speaker 2: on Rosha Shanna. They'll have their paysox sators for two
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  Speaker 2: nights and the rest of the year. They're very proud
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  Speaker 2: to be Jewish, but they're not rapping to fill in
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  Speaker 2: every day. And those are the ones in mass numbers
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  Speaker 2: that I represent, and I'm proud to represent them and
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  Speaker 2: tell them it doesn't matter. Like I've gotten tweets from
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  Speaker 2: people who say, oh, mister big mouth, you're mister Jew.
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  Speaker 2: Now all of a sudden, you're king of the Jews.
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  Speaker 2: Where's your yamaka? I'm like, doesn't mean anything. Yamaka. I
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  Speaker 2: don't wear one. If you do, great, if you wear
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  Speaker 2: sits as great. I don't. But I'll tell you this.
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  Speaker 2: You attack a Jewish person, I'll be the first to
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  Speaker 2: punch you across the face on the street. I want
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  Speaker 2: that guy more than the guy who wears a yamaga.
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  Speaker 2: How about that?
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, you know what, I want them both. That's fair.
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  Speaker 5: Thanks for listening to sit in Friends in the Morning.
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  Speaker 5: You can hear Sit in Friends in the Morning weekday
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  Speaker 5: mornings at six. If you like the podcast, share it
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  Speaker 5: social on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and X see you next
• 11:55
  Speaker 5: time for a new episode so you never have to wonder.
• 11:58
  Speaker 4: What the heck is going on. I'm here, I