Latest / None of Your Business Podcast / From Broadway to Jewish Identity with Jonah Platt

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From Broadway to Jewish Identity with Jonah Platt · None of Your Business Podcast

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  Who wants to be famous for having survived something awful?
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  We are the most persecuted people ever and not we are the
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  most resilient, defiant people ever.
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  You've been to Israel, right? Seven times.
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  That's more than a lot of my friends by the.
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  Way They don't like us when we're too small.
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  They don't like us when we're too big.
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  So we might as well be big. None of your business, Oshi.
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  None of your business, Michael. It's the None of Your Business
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  podcast hosted by Michael and Oshi.
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  Welcome back everybody to another fantastic, amazing,
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  wonderful, incredible episode of the None of Your Business
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  podcast. I'm your host, Michael
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  Greenfield. With me is Co host Oshey
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  Schwartz. And today we have the incredible
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  Do we have another word for it? Venerable, should we try that
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  one? That's a new one.
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  I like that word. It's my thank you.
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  Yeah. Jonah Platt, welcome to the
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  program. First of all, thank you so much
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  for being here all the way from California.
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  That's right. Wow yeah I was wearing a tank
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  top 2 days ago and I'm in a winter coat.
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  Well, you're loving it. It's the tis the season.
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  Yeah, no, it's nice. It's a good change of pace for
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  sure. And I run hot anyways, so this
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  is I feel much more relaxed. So first of all, thank you to
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  all subscribers, our comments, our likes, even our dislikes.
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  We're loving it. We love the feedback, we love
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  the growth and we appreciate everybody being involved.
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  Our numbers are doing great. We're always on the trajectory
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  of growth. We've been growing since the
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  beginning. I look back recently and I saw
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  first podcast had 320 views and I'm like, oh, it's just me and
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  you. Is she?
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  Yeah. That's actually very good for
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  your first one. Yeah.
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  Thank you. 300 out of nowhere. Nothing.
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  I mean like. Thank you.
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  It's more than two people. You know what?
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  That's 320 more people than a lot of other people get.
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  Yeah, it's the first time out. Yeah.
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  I appreciate that. Yeah, I really do.
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  Thank you for that. So, yeah.
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  So thank you to everyone involved.
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  Thank you, of course, to the Prime Source production team for
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  being behind this wonderful project.
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  We appreciate you all and love that you're here today.
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  You know, we, we actually solicit did you through, I think
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  social media. We were looking at Stefan and I
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  and Will and I, we were, we were all talking about who can we get
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  that is in our space in our world, but not like directly, so
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  to speak. And like we, we did, we did some
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  research and we found you and we got very excited and we had to
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  schedule it like a couple of times to figure out, you know,
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  your, your schedule. I have to start in saying why
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  I'm so thankful and excited that you're here.
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  You bring an entire different element to our world in terms
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  of, yeah, we're podcasters and yeah, our listeners, you know,
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  are Jewish and non Jewish. And you know, a lot of the
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  listeners are trying to learn about our world also because we
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  do a lot of business with, you know, all different types of,
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  you know, backgrounds. But you said something off here
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  before a minute ago and I want to talk about that for a second.
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  You mentioned that you were you were speaking at an engagement
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  last night. What was that for?
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  That's for the JDC, the Joint Distribution Committee, one of
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  one of the world's oldest and largest Jewish organizations.
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  And you know, this is exactly why I wanted you to bring it up
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  because I'm, I'm thinking how many of our listeners even know
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  what that is? And I personally, I'm not
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  embarrassed to admit it, but I am embarrassed after knowing
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  what it does to know to, to admit that I, I didn't know what
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  it was. And which is why I'm so glad
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  that you're here because you're out there in the world.
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  And I feel like as an Orthodox Jew, I don't get to see as
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  someone that's, you know, I guess a little bit more closed
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  in, you know, my box is a little bit, it's, it's pretty big,
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  believe me. But there's certain things that
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  I don't see. And when you're talking about
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  speaking at AJDC and you're talking about what they do, just
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  first of all, if you don't mind telling us who they are, what
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  they do, 'cause would love to learn about them.
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  And then I want to know, what else do you know about the
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  Jewish world that I don't know? I'm I'm so excited.
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  Well, the JDCII wish I was an official spokesperson and can
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  give you the entire spiel. But really what they do is they
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  help Jews around the world. They, you know, last night at
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  this event, they showed a couple of different video packages of
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  families who escaped different countries and regimes around the
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  world over decades that the JDC is the one that helped them get
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  out and reestablish their lives. And they've been doing that.
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  They were one of the biggest and only organizations doing that
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  for Jews during the Holocaust. And, and they do it now for Jews
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  everywhere who need help. They help Jews, not just
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  practically, but even just knowing that they're not alone
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  as they're trying to save their lives and, and create a new
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  situation for their families. There is somebody that cares and
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  that is helping them figure out the paperwork and get the
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  funding they need and get to where they need to go to to to
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  be safe. And they're everywhere.
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  They're on the ground. They have programs all over the
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  place. They're really doing amazing
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  work. And you spoke there as though.
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  I did. I spoke there, yeah.
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  What did you say? I was interviewed.
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  It was the the focus was on sort of multigenerational talking
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  because this was for a large donor event.
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  This was honoring something they have called the Shift Society
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  and this is honoring people who over a lifetime of giving have
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  given over $1,000,000 to JDC. And so those tend to obviously
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  be older than my generation folks.
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  So they wanted to know about, you know what, what inspires me
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  to be philanthropic and the kind of conversations they can be
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  having with their children and grandchildren about
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  philanthropy. And just that's sort of the, the
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  general vibe, yeah. Yeah.
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  Was there a highlight that you like remember of something
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  specific? Yeah, I, well, I can tell you
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  the thing that seemed to resonate with people the most
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  was thinking just the word intentionality.
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  I think a lot of times Jews, Jewish grandparents, Jewish
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  parents sort of take for granted that the what what should be
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  explicit is explicit and is not being held implicitly.
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  And you have to really be intentional.
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  As a grandparent or parent of what do I want my kids or
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  grandkids to do in this world and to think about this world?
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  I can't just assume they're going to pick it up.
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  I can't just assume, because giving Jewishly is important to
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  me, that they're going to understand that and understand
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  the why and understand the how. We have to really think about
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  what we want our kids and grandkids to be doing, figure
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  out the outcome, and then be intentional about helping them
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  get there. And that comes through both
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  modeling that behavior and then empowering them to take on that
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  behavior themselves. So it's not enough just to be a
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  leader and a doer and never talk to your kid about it and just
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  hope they're going to see your example and get you also have to
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  say here, let me help you here. How?
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  How can I give you the trading wheels so that you can then be
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  doing that on your own? I guess this is a world also
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  where Jewish is an identity, right?
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  You're Jewish, but the concept doesn't come up that often,
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  meaning the conversation comes up when you're talking about
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  Israel. We have holidays, but it's not
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  on a daily basis, I guess. And it's something that they
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  want people to think about or. No, not it's not about being
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  Jewish. It's about this conversation.
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  This was about being Jewish philanthropists and giving
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  Jewishly and starting to work that muscle first.
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  Just generally of, you know, getting people on between the
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  ages of 20 and 40 to be philanthropists and, and think I
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  don't need to wait till I'm 70 to start giving back and giving
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  money where? You have 10% of something, it's
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  already there now. Exactly.
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  Even if it's, you know, $180 a year, whatever it is, I love
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  that it's, it's a muscle and you just have to get used to it.
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  There's, there's that, there's that wall there at first where
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  you're like, well, I need, I need this money.
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  I, I'm still building my life. I'm building my family.
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  I can't give it away. But of course, when you do the
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  math, you know, if it's 180 bucks, it's like a couple of
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  Door Dashes in your one month, you know, So you just have to
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  get used to it. And so that's what.
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  We're Speaking of this exercise. Have you done these types of
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  events before? Where these large organizations,
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  any other come to mind? Oh.
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  Sure. Yeah.
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  I mean, the one I'm really looking forward to I'm doing
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  next week. I'm.
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  I'm speaking for Maganda Vida Dome in Miami.
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  I've heard of them. Yeah, I'm actually.
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  So I emceed their event in Los Angeles and this one in Miami.
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  I'm going to be interviewing Ellie Sharabi the the released
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  hostage, which I'm really looking forward to getting to
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  sit down with. Him.
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  Wow. Yeah.
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  What's that one question you're going to ask?
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  I know I get half an hour. So I got a bunch of questions.
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  I mean, something that I'm really interested in speaking to
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  him about, you know, spoiler alert.
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  But you know, I, I actually had the chance to sit down with Noah
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  Argamani at a dinner a while ago.
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  And what I, what I was struck by with her is sort of the like
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  desire to, to disappear back into her life.
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  Do you know what I mean? Like, who wants to be famous for
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  having survived something awful? Like you don't, that's, you
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  don't want to walk down the street.
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  It's not like she accomplished something great in her career or
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  whatever. And I, I really got that sense
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  from her of like, I just want to be Noah again.
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  And so I sort of want to understand where where Ellie's
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  at with that of, you know, now he's an author and he has to
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  talk about this and live this. And it really is his identity in
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  a way. And I'm curious, you know,
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  obviously he's doing a lot of good by bringing this story out,
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  but I wonder where he's at in terms of when Does he want to,
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  or does he want to sort of retreat back into his life and
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  be forgotten and just get to be, you know, who he is?
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  Fortunately, I don't know if he's going to have that choice
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  anymore. I mean, he's been put in this
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  position, by the way, I read his book.
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  I read Ellie's book. Phenomenal.
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  Yeah, I mean, I'm in the middle of it right now, prepping for
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  Monday. I couldn't put it down.
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  It took me an entire Friday night to read it.
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  But I read it cover to cover. And what was so different about
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  the book was I knew that this just happened yesterday.
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  Like this literally just happened.
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  So I'm not reading a story of 100 years ago, you know, 200
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  years ago, right? I'm reading a story that I lived
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  through in real time, was following it very close to like
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  everybody else around the world. And then as I'm reading it, like
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  every single page, I'm almost like just a vision to myself,
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  like what I was doing at that moment while this was happening,
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  while this guy is in a tunnel, you know, with it was just, it
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  was just wild. It was crazy wild.
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  And, and you're right, one of the biggest challenges for these
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  people is that they were thrust into the limelight against their
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  will. And here they are.
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  And they have to parade themselves around, you know,
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  talking about it. And, and it's almost like we
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  sort of need that comfort more than they themselves need it.
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  And, you know, try to make ourselves all feel better about
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  it. It's just, it's crazy.
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  I can't imagine what they're going through.
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  It's got to be really difficult. And I really appreciate the fact
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  that, you know, you're like I said that you're here and that
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  you're going to be doing those kind of things.
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  I'm looking forward to it. I got to jump to the ChatGPT
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  says what segment I'm. Excited.
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  All right, so as you're aware, you know, we have a ChatGPT
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  says, what about you? Have you done this ever?
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  No, never. Really.
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  I've never been like, hey, ChatGPT, who is Jonah Plant?
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  No. OK, other people may have done
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  it though, and I totally. Yeah, sure.
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  I I hope so. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
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  I'm, I'm excited about it because I think that our
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  audience heard of who you are. And like me, I've seen you.
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  I've seen that you're out there, you're advocating, you're
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  talking, you're sending a message, interviewing hostages
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  that were in Gaza, like you're really out there making an
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  impact on the world. And I'm like, who is this guy?
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  Where is he from? How did he get here?
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  What's his message like? What does he want for the
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  future? ChatGPT says what Jonah went
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  from Broadway and Hollywood actor to full on Jewish identity
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  hype man like trading spotlights for soul lights.
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  Wow, nice one GPT. I mean, you got to tell us about
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  that. I mean, you know, you have a
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  background of acting. I know that you have an entire
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  family of people in the spotlight, so to speak, right?
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  Dad, brother, sister, etcetera. I, well, I actually, it's most
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  of my family is not in the spotlight, but I do, my dad and
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  my brother are. But I then I have two sisters
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  and another brother and many, you know, cousins and in laws
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  and all the things. So it was really just me and my
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  my brother and my dad are. So what?
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  What was that like for you? I mean, what was your first
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  Hollywood? As an actor, so my, my, my big
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  Broadway thing was I was in Wicked on Broadway.
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  And in 2015, 2016, I played Fiero, the the Prince.
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  That was an unbelievable experience.
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  Got to do the about 350 performances, one of one of the,
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  you know, great accomplishments of my life.
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  Certainly movies like Hollywood. I can't really remember what my
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  first thing was. I'll tell you my first, my first
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  and only big Jewish on camera project is a, is a Hanukkah film
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  called Menorah in the Middle, which you can watch on Hulu.
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  I had, and now there's people who, like every holiday season,
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  are firing up Menorah in the middle on Hulu.
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  Well, Hanukkah's coming up plug. Yeah, we're gonna feature it.
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  We'll we'll put the link down there.
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  It's it's fun, it's cute. It was, you know, it's a movie
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  that's actually was written and directed by Jew who acted in by
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  a bunch of Jews. So it's got, you know, that nice
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  Yiddish guy to it, which is good.
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  I love that, by the way. Wicked.
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  I mean, that is something that's wicked.
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  I mean, it was a big deal. It was incredible.
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  The, the, the fans of that show are unbelievable.
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  They come back again and again and again and that show means so
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  much to so many people and the, the company actually like, you
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  know, the people that run that show on a day-to-day basis are,
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  are fantastic. It's like a great just
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  organization to be a part of. And the show itself is such
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  quality. It's it's always hit or miss.
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  As an actor, it's like you have no control if the materials
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  great or not. But to be in a show that is
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  fantastic, run by the top professionals, full of top
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  talent and beloved by so many, it was just, you know, total.
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  Dream, that's unbelievable. So when you found out that you
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  got the gig, so to speak, I'm Take me there.
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  Oh my gosh, I, I, I was in a, a restaurant that no longer
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  exists, sadly, that my now wife, who at the time was my
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  girlfriend, we frequented all the time.
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  It was called Cabbage patch and they made delicious salmon
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  bowls, you know, RIP And we were having lunch there and I
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  remember getting the call from my agent.
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  I think I like ran into the bathroom so I could like hear
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  it. They had like a, a, a single
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  person bathroom and, and I came out and was like, I got it and,
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  and it was incredible. I mean, I felt really good about
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  it. They they had asked me to
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  audition for the tour before, but never for the Broadway
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  company. But I had just gotten the
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  opportunity to do a musical called Hair from, you know, 19.
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  Well, it takes place in 1969. Is that when it came out?
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  I can't remember, but I did it at the Hollywood Bowl in LA,
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  which is a a huge historic venue, 18,000 people.
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  They do a musical every summer. And I had been a principal role
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  and I gotten great reviews and a lot of people around, you know,
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  in Hollywood had seen me in the thing.
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  And so that's that's when I finally got the opportunity to
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  audition for Broadway. So I felt like the momentum was
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  there and I got the call. It was amazing.
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  And we were going to move to New York.
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  And you know, before we did, I proposed to my then girlfriend
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  so that she would come with me. And the rest is history.
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  Wow, that that is amazing. There's so much I want to talk
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  about with what you just said, but but I I also want to
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  continue at the same time. So I'm going to remember what I
• 14:58
  want to talk about and get back to it in a minute.
• 15:00
  But I really want to get the audience to get to know you as
• 15:03
  well as myself because this was just handed to me by Stefan a
• 15:06
  minute ago. You launched Being Jewish with
• 15:09
  Jonah Platt, almost like a mic drop moment.
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  No more dancing around controversy, just honest
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  conversations about what it means to be Jewish.
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  What happened, where did this idea come from?
• 15:19
  What is going on? You're blowing up as far as your
• 15:22
  podcast is concerned. And it's amazing.
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  I mean, people ask me all the time why podcasts look around.
• 15:27
  This is this is what you need to do it in order to be out there
• 15:31
  from a marketing brand perspective.
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  And if you could do it right and you have a good message and
• 15:34
  people enjoy listening, right? Yeah.
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  And I I think that you've hit the nail on the head and you're
• 15:39
  slamming it out of the park. So thanks, I'm trying, you know,
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  it's funny they call it a mic drop moment.
• 15:43
  I'm like, well, it's really a mic picking up moment.
• 15:46
  I, I really started it in the, in the wake of October 7th, I
• 15:51
  was starring in a play at the Geffen Playhouse in LA, which is
• 15:56
  a a great theater that I actually had always wanted to
• 15:58
  perform at. I grew up like a mile away from
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  it and I found that all day long when you're in a show, you're,
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  when the show is running, your days are free.
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  You just have to show up at the theater at night.
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  So it happened October 7th was a Saturday and I, we were
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  literally running the show. So I would be on my phone or
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  computer just glued all day long making videos, doing Q&A's,
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  trying to help cut through the noise and help people understand
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  things online, which is sort of the space I'd already carved out
• 16:30
  for myself as a Jewish advocate online.
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  And then I'd go do the show at night.
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  And that turned into weeks and months of that and the show
• 16:39
  ended and I still was like only wanting to spend all my time
• 16:42
  engaging in, in this work. And a couple months into that,
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  like February of 2024, I was, I was like, all right, I, I don't
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  want to, I want to stop being sort of reactive and putting out
• 16:55
  the fires and just being in this moment and sort of get back to
• 16:59
  what my Jewish advocacy mission always has been, which is about
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  trying to empower people to lean into their Jewish identity and
• 17:08
  to celebrate Jewish identity. And I thought a podcast would be
• 17:12
  the best way to do that. I, it actually, I had a long
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  list of things I wanted to accomplish with the pod.
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  One was that for myself, just to like get back into doing my
• 17:22
  version of what Jewish advocacy looks like.
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  Everybody has their lane and their thesis, and I wanted to do
• 17:27
  mine. I thought a podcast would be a
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  great format for expanding on the stuff I was already doing
• 17:32
  online where I wouldn't have to spend all day sort of creating
• 17:36
  an off the cuff video. Instead, I could, you know,
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  write a monologue and record that and interview somebody and
• 17:43
  like, have a thing. I wanted to create a space for
• 17:45
  notable guests to feel safe and to go deep about their Jewish
• 17:51
  identity. That's always sort of been
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  intrinsic to what I want to do with the show.
• 17:55
  I have a really awesome network of relationships that I've built
• 17:59
  over my life and career that I've never really tapped into
• 18:02
  for anything. And I thought, OK, now I'm going
• 18:05
  to tap into it. And, and I just knew that
• 18:09
  hearing from people who care about being Jewish, but who you
• 18:12
  don't usually get to hear from about how much they care about
• 18:14
  being Jewish would be really powerful for people and, and
• 18:18
  powerful from the, for the audience and for the guests
• 18:20
  themselves, who, for example, when I have, you know, a big
• 18:24
  movie star on. Jason Alexander.
• 18:26
  I'm going to have a Jason Alexander on like when he's
• 18:28
  doing, you know, press event or something, they're not asking
• 18:30
  him what does it feel like since October 7th for you?
• 18:33
  They're like, tell us about your latest project.
• 18:35
  So and I and I know that just like you and me, like for the
• 18:39
  people that I have on their Jewishness is very important to
• 18:42
  them and they are desperate for a venue to speak about it
• 18:47
  honestly and safely and know that they're I'm not going to
• 18:49
  like catch them in something. I'm not there to do anything but
• 18:52
  let them share their truth. And I also wanted to really
• 18:56
  showcase the diversity of Jewish belonging and experience and
• 19:00
  connection. So my show is super diverse from
• 19:03
  an observance standpoint, from a professional standpoint, from an
• 19:07
  ethnic standpoint. I try to really show non Jews
• 19:11
  and Jews how different being Jewish can look and feel and how
• 19:16
  amazing that is. And so that's what the show's
• 19:18
  all about. Wow, that's amazing.
• 19:20
  I mean it. It goes on to talk about the
• 19:22
  successes of your podcast. I didn't.
• 19:25
  I didn't even know there were awards that could be given out
• 19:27
  for podcasts so. Hey, you got to get in there.
• 19:29
  I'm like, wow, is she? We have.
• 19:30
  We have, you know. There's a lot of them.
• 19:32
  I mean, it's a little bit of a racket because you know, you
• 19:34
  have to pay to be to be like included as an entry.
• 19:38
  So they're they're making, they're making some money.
• 19:40
  But then you know, it's nice. It's a nice accolade you.
• 19:42
  Have award an award or two though.
• 19:43
  Right. I have a couple awards.
• 19:44
  Yeah, I got AI have AW3 award for best host.
• 19:48
  I have a Religious Communicators Council award for best audio
• 19:51
  video program. I have a Webby honoree for best
• 19:54
  independent podcast, and we'll see what 2025 brings.
• 19:57
  That was from season 1. We'll see.
• 19:58
  Well, you. Have to teach us a little about
• 20:00
  this. How do we apply?
• 20:01
  You know, like, what are we alive?
• 20:03
  Webbies. You'll, you'll let me know at
• 20:04
  the end of this podcast if you think we should apply or not.
• 20:07
  Yeah, why not? Well, awards aren't something
• 20:10
  this family here is lacking. I mean, his father, right?
• 20:13
  Mark Platt, Yeah. Has Tony Awards, a Grammy Award,
• 20:16
  right? Oh.
• 20:17
  He's got AI can't keep track. He's got a bunch of stuff.
• 20:20
  Yeah, he's certainly got a, He's got a lot of nominations and A
• 20:22
  and a bunch of wins and yeah. Yeah.
• 20:24
  Well, thank you, Ashley for bringing that up.
• 20:25
  I'm curious about your family and I want to take a little bit
• 20:27
  of a deep dive into that if if that's OK.
• 20:30
  Yeah, just like your history growing up.
• 20:32
  You know, you, we know you're from LA and all, obviously your
• 20:35
  family is, you know, pretty popular in a, in a lot of
• 20:37
  different ways. That was probably, you know,
• 20:40
  good parts, bad parts of growing up in that environment.
• 20:43
  But just walk us through like, you know, some of the
• 20:45
  interesting points of your life as you're growing up, that you
• 20:47
  know what, you're here. Oh, sure.
• 20:48
  So I think what really like the best way to sort of characterize
• 20:52
  my family. I think people people hear LA,
• 20:54
  they hear Hollywood, they see my dad's success and they're like,
• 20:58
  oh, you had this Hollywood upbringing.
• 21:01
  It's actually not the case at all.
• 21:03
  So my dads from Baltimore, my mom is from Pikesville.
• 21:05
  Pikesville, nice. My mom is from Wichita, KS and
• 21:09
  they're just like really down to earth, very unassuming, very
• 21:13
  salt of the earth kind of people.
• 21:15
  I'm the first plat born in Los Angeles, so that.
• 21:17
  November 17th, 1986. Whoa, OK, we're getting freaky
• 21:21
  here. Look creepy right?
• 21:22
  Yeah, I know that because I'm November 5th, 1986.
• 21:25
  Nice. So we're like 2 weeks apart.
• 21:27
  Are you a Scorpio or do you? I'm a Scorpio.
• 21:29
  All the way, my man. Alright.
• 21:30
  Yeah, and I despise anybody that's not a Scorpio so.
• 21:34
  I wouldn't go that far. That's very Scorpio it is for
• 21:36
  sure. So that you know, when I and
• 21:38
  also people don't realize, like my dad didn't produce his first
• 21:42
  film until I was in high school. So my childhood was very normal.
• 21:46
  What was he doing? He was a studio executive, so he
• 21:49
  he would, you know, go to the office every day.
• 21:52
  So he would wake up in the morning, he'd go to the office.
• 21:53
  He'd put, you know, in those days, you know, he had a
• 21:55
  briefcase. He put on a suit.
• 21:56
  Now he doesn't, he get to wear AT shirt and jeans.
• 21:58
  But you know, back then he was doing his thing.
• 22:00
  And then I'd, you know, wait to hear the keys jangling in the
• 22:03
  door, you know, around dinnertime and he would come
• 22:05
  home. The the the perk was every so
• 22:07
  often I got to go to like a Disney movie premiere, which was
• 22:10
  awesome. So like I was at the Aladdin
• 22:12
  premiere and The Lion King premiere.
• 22:14
  But when you're a kid, you know, you know, that was just like a
• 22:16
  cool, fun thing to do. I didn't really think much of
• 22:18
  it. And I got to go to a couple film
• 22:19
  sets, which again is cool. But it's like if your dad is a
• 22:22
  plumber and he brings you on a job and I go cool.
• 22:24
  That's what dad does. It's like there was nothing.
• 22:26
  They never made it like that. We're we're anything because of
• 22:31
  it. Just like this is what dad does.
• 22:32
  And this would be fun for you to see.
• 22:35
  Oh yeah, I mean. He was, he was, you know, very
• 22:39
  well regarded. He was, he ran a couple of
• 22:41
  different studios. He was head of Tristar and head
• 22:43
  of Universal and Orion. Middle class plus yeah.
• 22:48
  For sure. Jewish day school, Jewish
• 22:51
  sleepaway camp. I went to Camp Vermont in
• 22:55
  California that my mother had also gone to with all of her
• 22:58
  cousins. I got to go with my siblings and
• 23:00
  my cousins. That was a super formative part
• 23:03
  of my upbringing and why my cousins and I are all still so
• 23:06
  close to this day's adults, which is a beautiful thing.
• 23:08
  After this, I'm actually going to lunch with one of my cousins
• 23:10
  in the city. Shout out to Will.
• 23:13
  Of of camps, of course, tremendous bonding experience.
• 23:16
  Tremendous bonding experience and, you know, as the data
• 23:18
  proves, actually one of the number one indicators of having
• 23:22
  a strong Jewish identity as an adult.
• 23:24
  As if you've gone to Jewish summer camp and been through
• 23:26
  that immersive experience of being, you know, full Jew from
• 23:31
  sun up to sundown for a month at a time.
• 23:34
  Yeah, sleep break camps is a very Jewish thing.
• 23:37
  Yeah, like every Orthodox Jewish kid at some point in their life
• 23:39
  went to sleep break camp. I don't know, like in the non
• 23:42
  Jewish world, how common it is for kids to go to sleep break
• 23:45
  camp. Very.
• 23:46
  It's very common. Yeah, there's still, I mean not
• 23:47
  as common like so how do I? So yes, it's common, but like
• 23:52
  the ratio for the Jews is much. Higher.
• 23:54
  Yeah. Yeah, like a 90 percentage.
• 23:55
  Right, all. Yeah, all the Jews are.
• 23:56
  Going on a camp at some point, you know?
• 23:58
  But there's still lots of non Jews who go to tripway camp.
• 24:00
  They go to, you know the but. If it gets more ritualistic by
• 24:03
  us, like it's like you have to like you, you're weird if you
• 24:06
  didn't go to sleepway camp like. My, my, my wife converted to
• 24:09
  Judaism when we got married. And at the wait, I brought it up
• 24:12
  on our first date. We actually just talked about, I
• 24:14
  had her on my, she was my last guest on my podcast and we
• 24:16
  talked about this whole story. The we were serious right away.
• 24:21
  And I said to her on our first date, we were actually sort of
• 24:23
  like we were connected before we even had dinner.
• 24:26
  So we sat down and I said, you're really serious chick.
• 24:29
  I'm a serious guy. Like I think we both hope this
• 24:31
  is going to go all the way. If it does, would you be open to
• 24:34
  talking about converting? And like if yes, also you should
• 24:39
  know like our kids have to go to camper Ma like that that like
• 24:42
  came up all of the 1st. Day very early on stipulation.
• 24:45
  Literally the first first day, literally the first day.
• 24:47
  And she, you know, she really appreciated that actually, that
• 24:50
  I made it known how important those things were to me and she.
• 24:53
  That's very bold, right? You know, so early talk about
• 24:55
  religion in that way and that, you know you're gonna be the one
• 24:59
  to convert. Yeah, that's asking a lot, you
• 25:01
  know, for some. People, I mean, I was careful.
• 25:03
  I didn't say will you convert? I said, would you be open to
• 25:06
  talking about it if we go the distance?
• 25:09
  Because I didn't want, you know, I didn't I, it is a big deal.
• 25:11
  And I I wouldn't, I wouldn't make that ultimatum, right?
• 25:13
  Like if you won't convert today, before we've even gone on three
• 25:16
  dates, you're out. But it's if you tell me today, I
• 25:19
  will never even talk about it or consider it ever, then we should
• 25:22
  stop here. And you know, to her credit, she
• 25:25
  said, as long as I see it's actually important to you in
• 25:28
  your life, and this isn't like your grandparents saying you
• 25:30
  better marry a Jewish lady, then I'm totally open to talking
• 25:33
  about it. We'll see your.
• 25:34
  Values were set from a young age.
• 25:36
  That's pretty fascinating. Very strong minded about your
• 25:39
  Jewish identity and you know, not breaking the chain so to
• 25:41
  speak. For sure, yeah, I mean it's it's
• 25:44
  so much a part of who I am and and how I move through the world
• 25:47
  and and my day-to-day. You know, being Jewish is a is a
• 25:51
  way of life. It's it's you you do everything
• 25:54
  Jewishly. It's not just something you pick
• 25:55
  up and put down. And very, very important to me
• 25:58
  to to raise a Jewish family. And yeah.
• 26:01
  That's really it's a Netflix show that was actually came out
• 26:04
  the the I think last year or two years ago called nobody wants
• 26:06
  this. Oh yeah.
• 26:07
  And that's the same basically story.
• 26:08
  He the rabbi, one of the started going out with the non Jewish
• 26:12
  girl on the 1st on the first date.
• 26:13
  He's like you. Know well I mean he's a rabbi,
• 26:15
  you know, like. Steph, there is a little bit of
• 26:17
  expectation that comes along with marrying a rabbi.
• 26:20
  That's a good show, actually. It's a great show.
• 26:22
  I haven't finished Season 2, but I loved Season 1 and I spoke
• 26:25
  about, I've spoken about a lot on my podcast because there's
• 26:28
  like controversy about it. But I'm a big, I'm a big
• 26:30
  supporter of it and I have one of the actresses on.
• 26:32
  Oh really? Which one?
• 26:33
  Jackie Tone, who plays the like the sister-in-law?
• 26:36
  Yeah. Yeah, that's great.
• 26:38
  Yeah. It's a good, energetic show.
• 26:39
  It goes in a bunch of different directions.
• 26:41
  You don't know what's gonna happen.
• 26:42
  Yeah, I find that a lot of shows that I'm watching, though, that,
• 26:45
  you know, I fly a lot. So I'll try to like, you know,
• 26:47
  download a series. And I never make it to the
• 26:50
  second season of anything anymore, Like I don't know why.
• 26:52
  Is it? Well, that means they're not.
• 26:54
  They're not capturing. I don't know, is there a show
• 26:55
  that that you're into like something that you you
• 26:58
  appreciate lately? I'm just curious.
• 26:59
  I, I honestly, I have zero time to watch television.
• 27:03
  I used to, I used to watch so much TV and movie and
• 27:06
  everything. I had a, I had a blog called the
• 27:08
  Media Maven, Media Mavens musings and I wrote about
• 27:12
  everything and, and like, it was doing really well.
• 27:14
  I had like a really big blog. I mean, this was in the mid
• 27:17
  2000s when blogs were like a really big thing.
• 27:19
  But now I, I've gone from that to, I literally have no time to
• 27:23
  watch any television at all, which is why like nobody wants
• 27:26
  this has been out. I don't know, two months.
• 27:28
  The episode's only half an hour and I'm still halfway through
• 27:30
  season 2. I don't even have like 1/2 an
• 27:31
  hour here and there to watch show.
• 27:32
  I'm just, I got three young kids.
• 27:34
  I'm traveling around, I'm doing the show.
• 27:36
  I'm it's busy time. Compliments to them if you're
• 27:39
  putting in that much time watching it.
• 27:40
  So that's a good thing, yeah. I'm trying to get through that
• 27:42
  one, and then the next one I'm gonna watch that I hear is
• 27:45
  fantastic is called Long story short, which is an animated
• 27:49
  series from the creator of Bojack Horseman, which is one of
• 27:53
  the best shows ever big. Fan of Bojack?
• 27:55
  Oh yeah, So Raphael Bob Waksberg, who created that,
• 27:57
  wrote a show about a Jewish family called Long story short,
• 28:00
  And everyone who has watched it has told me this is the best
• 28:03
  portrayal of like, real Jewishness on.
• 28:06
  My son showed me this show and I loved it.
• 28:09
  Yeah, it's amazing. That's why I'm looking forward
• 28:11
  to having. It I only made it also similar
• 28:13
  to you with timing wise. I made it through 1 episode.
• 28:15
  It was it was fun. You know you see a lot of Jewish
• 28:17
  things being infused into television and movies here and
• 28:20
  there. You know throughout different
• 28:21
  shows that. Not enough, but it's starting.
• 28:23
  It's we're getting there. It's the it's, it's starting to
• 28:26
  crank up just a little bit. I think since October 7th, the
• 28:30
  engaged Jews of Hollywood are really feeling the urgency of
• 28:35
  needing to tell our story better and and more ubiquitously.
• 28:40
  And I hope within the next five years you'll start to see a lot
• 28:44
  more of. That kind of, by the way, great
• 28:46
  word. Which one ubiquitous
• 28:48
  ubiquitously? Michael, I don't know if you've
• 28:51
  been picking up on it, but this is like the 7th good word I've
• 28:53
  heard him use. Yeah, you know, you have a
• 28:55
  great. Demand there's a reason why he
• 28:56
  won the Webby Award or the best communicator award, something
• 29:00
  like that. But I could you're a true
• 29:02
  podcaster and something for us to.
• 29:03
  I do want to tell you there are. You know how difficult it is so
• 29:06
  you know, but yeah. I rely, I don't see you.
• 29:08
  There are shows. I want you to know that there
• 29:11
  are television programs like Netflix, right?
• 29:14
  There's the Netflix of Israel and there's a lot of television
• 29:17
  shows now that belong. There's actually something
• 29:19
  called Kugel that came out. Yes.
• 29:20
  You're talking about Izzy, Yes. Yeah, my show.
• 29:23
  My show's on Izzy. No way.
• 29:24
  OK, so now I'll be able to watch it because someone just told me
• 29:27
  about Google and I'm like, I got to download it.
• 29:28
  Yeah, Yeah. And there's like 2 platforms
• 29:30
  that are pushing a lot of Israeli.
• 29:32
  I know, I know. Stream Israel or Izzy What's?
• 29:35
  The other one, I don't remember the name.
• 29:37
  I don't know, maybe Steph can ChatGPT that for us.
• 29:40
  But that's a good thing. That's like pushing good.
• 29:42
  They're trying to show and it's it's for a non Israeli audience.
• 29:46
  Right. Yeah, exactly.
• 29:48
  You know, if you can watch a show like, you know, Narcos and
• 29:51
  you could watch like, you know, the English subtitles and get
• 29:54
  entertained. You can watch any show and watch
• 29:55
  subtitles and absolutely be entertained and also learn
• 29:58
  something from it about the culture, etcetera, which is so
• 30:00
  important. Take me back to when you were a
• 30:02
  kid and you realize that this is something that you want to do.
• 30:06
  Like at what point as your childhood, like you know, kids
• 30:10
  play basketball, kids go to the gym, kids love acting and
• 30:13
  playing. Like how was that journey for
• 30:16
  you as a kid? It was not even a journey.
• 30:18
  I mean, it's like from day one, you've got videos of me at 2
• 30:21
  years old singing My Fair Lady. My family, my parents love the
• 30:26
  performing arts. They love musical theater
• 30:28
  especially. It's one of the things they
• 30:30
  bonded over when they in college, they were both in the
• 30:33
  performing arts. My dad directed my mom in a show
• 30:37
  and they raised me and all my siblings on it.
• 30:39
  So there's five of us and we all grew up singing, doing musical
• 30:43
  theater. All my siblings have amazing
• 30:46
  voices and are great musicians and great performers.
• 30:49
  And so it was always around us and always what we did.
• 30:53
  So we were always putting on shows in the backyard and with
• 30:56
  our cousins. And, you know, my first creative
• 30:59
  enterprise was when I was in kindergarten.
• 31:02
  I wrote and choreographed an original song.
• 31:05
  I, I made the whole class do it, a tribute to my teachers.
• 31:10
  And we performed it for them. And they, you know, took a
• 31:13
  picture of it and put the lyrics in the yearbook and this whole
• 31:15
  thing. So that was when I was 5 or 6.
• 31:17
  Wow. I must see that if you.
• 31:18
  Yeah, I, I, I bet we have the yearbook somewhere.
• 31:21
  There's a picture of us like in formation with the, with the
• 31:23
  words. So I was always, you know, all
• 31:25
  my school projects, anytime they were like, you can make a
• 31:28
  diorama. You can be like, can I just like
• 31:30
  make a show? Can I just make a, a play?
• 31:32
  And I would direct it and write it and make the program and do
• 31:35
  all that stuff. So I've always been a creator
• 31:38
  and a maker of stuff. And then we all started doing
• 31:41
  these after School Musical theater programs.
• 31:43
  I started when I was 8 between 8:00 and 18.
• 31:45
  I did, you know, 20 musicals. And when I was in high school, I
• 31:49
  then was teaching there and teaching younger kids how to do
• 31:53
  musicals. And it's just always, always
• 31:56
  been there. So I always knew I was going to
• 31:58
  do something in entertainment. I never knew quite what my, my
• 32:02
  ADHD prevented me from picking one lane and sticking to it.
• 32:06
  So I tried to do 10 things at the same time.
• 32:08
  So my, my career was very a mosaic of entertainment, if you
• 32:14
  will, from 20 to now where I'm on Broadway, I'm writing for
• 32:19
  animated TV comedy. I'm doing improvised musicals,
• 32:24
  I'm directing plays. I'm just doing all these
• 32:27
  different creative things. Wow.
• 32:30
  You know, I'm sorry I have to get this in.
• 32:33
  I've said it on this podcast multiple times.
• 32:36
  I am just waiting for someone to sit in that chair that I could
• 32:40
  finally have like some gateway into Hollywood.
• 32:42
  Like, I want to be one step removed from Hollywood.
• 32:45
  And I feel like I'm finally here.
• 32:46
  Let's get you. I feel the day has arrived, OK.
• 32:48
  We're talking to someone who has a lot of notoriety, your family,
• 32:53
  your father has credits to some of, you know, biggest
• 32:56
  productions, which you're talking about Wicked, right?
• 32:59
  Cruella and and some others. I'm not remembering all the
• 33:02
  names, but like 40 or 50 films over his career.
• 33:06
  Your brother is currently pretty active in the Hollywood scene.
• 33:11
  Oh yeah. I think if I remember correctly
• 33:13
  he performed at like the Grammys or he's.
• 33:16
  Definitely performed at the Grammys.
• 33:18
  But like he actually. Won a Grammy.
• 33:19
  He had like a solo act, like it was just him on stage and he was
• 33:22
  like big, like his family, like you guys are a big deal.
• 33:27
  And I'm just, I guess I'm very shallow.
• 33:29
  So like for me, I'm like envisioning myself having your
• 33:31
  life and growing up the way, you know, the way you did.
• 33:34
  And here you are talking about, you know, all your work that
• 33:37
  you're doing on behalf of, you know, Jewish people and
• 33:40
  promoting, you know, self Jewish identity, being Jewish pride and
• 33:43
  all that. Like, why are you not, you know,
• 33:46
  trying to go meet Brad Pitt tomorrow?
• 33:48
  What why are you not more saturated?
• 33:50
  Like you're taking almost like a different, a different journey
• 33:53
  than your brother, right? And, and you're like doing your
• 33:56
  own thing. And I'm impressed by it, but a
• 33:59
  part of me almost feels like you're missing an opportunity.
• 34:01
  Like, you know, not everybody gets this chance.
• 34:03
  And you're already halfway there.
• 34:04
  Like you have a lot of accomplishments under your belt.
• 34:06
  Like you could just get started. Like there's a whole world of
• 34:09
  Hollywood that's waiting for you and you're squandering it.
• 34:13
  And I'm like, I'm upset. I'm like, what, what are you?
• 34:15
  But like, I have to respect, I have to respect, you know, where
• 34:18
  your passions are and what you're doing.
• 34:19
  And it seems like I heard a little bit of the answer after
• 34:22
  October 7th, like a little bit of an awakening.
• 34:24
  And, you know, you became more passionate about it.
• 34:26
  But tell me, what am I? What am I missing?
• 34:27
  Like, tell us about the real Jonah that's driving you to do
• 34:31
  what you're doing today. I'll say I'll answer that in a
• 34:33
  couple ways. One is, you know, my mom, if my
• 34:37
  dad is the, you know, entertainment part of my
• 34:40
  personality, my mom is the Jewish leadership part.
• 34:43
  Although, you know, that's also no shade on my dad, who has done
• 34:46
  a lot Jewishly as well. But my mom, you know, she's the
• 34:49
  most recent past president of Jewish Federations of North
• 34:51
  America or chairwoman, I should say, and has been an incredible
• 34:56
  Jewish communal leader for her entire life.
• 35:00
  So she's, she's been modeling sort of that path.
• 35:02
  And I've, you know, funny enough, sort of found myself in,
• 35:06
  in the middle of both my, my mom and my dad.
• 35:09
  So that's always, it was as much a part of my upbringing as the
• 35:12
  Hollywood piece was the moms going to, you know, run this
• 35:15
  federation event and they're having an event in the backyard
• 35:18
  for this Jewish cause and we're doing this and that.
• 35:20
  So they were equally a part of, of how I was raised.
• 35:24
  And look, even the way you're talking about it, like you could
• 35:26
  go meet Brad Pitt or I'm like, who cares?
• 35:28
  Like what, what what I'm doing now is so much more important
• 35:33
  and certainly more fulfilling for me.
• 35:35
  And anybody who's pursuing a career in Hollywood of any kind.
• 35:39
  Let's be honest, for the most part, it's a selfish pursuit.
• 35:41
  And I don't say that in a judgmental way.
• 35:43
  It's just a, a fact of the matter.
• 35:44
  You're, you're not getting into acting because you want to heal
• 35:47
  the world. You're getting into acting
• 35:49
  because you love doing it and it's something that you want to
• 35:51
  do and you have you feel you have a gift and you want to
• 35:54
  share that gift or, or it's you or you want the glamour or
• 35:57
  whatever it is you want, whatever, why, whatever reason
• 35:59
  you're there, it's for you. And what I'm doing now is, is
• 36:03
  not so much for me, it's for, for a service I'm hoping to
• 36:07
  provide for people. And the, the impact that it can
• 36:11
  have on people and is having is so much more meaningful and
• 36:14
  fulfilling and gratifying for me than applause, You know, and,
• 36:21
  and also, to be fair, you know, Hollywood is really brutal.
• 36:26
  And I, I worked really hard at it for a long time and I had
• 36:31
  some great achievements, but there's no guarantees.
• 36:33
  And I could work just as hard as I had been working for another
• 36:37
  20 years and maybe nothing would change and maybe I'd get some
• 36:41
  big breakout role or maybe I wouldn't.
• 36:43
  And that would just be, you know, it's a, it's a rat race
• 36:47
  and you're just stuck on that wheel and it's a grind.
• 36:49
  And it's, it is mentally so challenging and taxing.
• 36:53
  You basically spend 99% of your time hoping someone will give
• 36:57
  you the opportunity to do the work that you want to be doing
• 37:00
  and 1% of the time actually getting to do the work.
• 37:03
  And it's, it's really difficult. And it, it, it this, this pivot
• 37:10
  that I made sort of came at a time where naturally I was sort
• 37:14
  of already feeling like I maybe wanted to get off that hamster
• 37:20
  wheel. And then I found I didn't even
• 37:23
  have to think about it. I wasn't even really a choice.
• 37:25
  This happened. I got pulled in this other
• 37:26
  direction and it was like, well, should I go back to the hamster
• 37:29
  wheel or should I stay on this new path I'm on?
• 37:31
  It's like, of course I'm going to stay on this path that I'm
• 37:33
  on. It's so much more impactful and
• 37:36
  meaningful. I you know, and funny enough,
• 37:38
  and for sure, this is not why I do it, but like I'm, I'm way
• 37:42
  more, you know, quote UN quote famous now for doing what I'm
• 37:45
  doing now than I was as a in in Hollywood.
• 37:49
  I I like to say I'm AJ list celebrity.
• 37:54
  So, you know, keep that. Yeah, you know, people be like,
• 37:56
  yo, you're famous. I'm like, I'm so not famous, but
• 37:59
  like maybe in your synagogue. I'm famous, you know.
• 38:02
  And the Orthodox crew and your family, are they supportive of
• 38:06
  this? Like, you know.
• 38:07
  They couldn't be prouder. I mean, it's, it's, it's it's so
• 38:10
  nice. Like, and I'm so much more proud
• 38:12
  of myself. Like, you know, I certainly I
• 38:15
  love being on stage and performing and getting that that
• 38:19
  pride for my folks. But you know, when I'm able to
• 38:22
  forward them an e-mail from somebody who says, you know,
• 38:26
  your show has, has done XYZ for me or I've made this change in
• 38:31
  my life because of your show, or, you know, I'm now able to
• 38:35
  have this conversation because of your show, whatever.
• 38:37
  And I, I shared that with my parents.
• 38:39
  You know, they're just bursting with pride and, and my wife is
• 38:43
  so supportive. I mean, the fact that I'm here
• 38:45
  right now, she, she, she understands the work and, and
• 38:49
  supports it. And I'm on the road a lot and
• 38:50
  she's holding it down at home. But she's she's the first one to
• 38:53
  to be like, no, you got to go do that.
• 38:55
  Wow, amazing. You know his mark of his father
• 39:00
  just recently had an award. I don't know him personally, but
• 39:03
  for the production team for La La Land was a big Hollywood
• 39:07
  movie, right? Was that your?
• 39:08
  Father. Yeah, yeah.
• 39:08
  I mean, that was a well he saw recently, but.
• 39:10
  On stage he was taking a picture with everybody, so he was
• 39:13
  definitely. Was oh, no, no, he produced it.
• 39:15
  Yeah, yeah. We just said recently I was like
• 39:16
  that's. Four years ago, five years.
• 39:18
  So something like that, Yeah. Yeah.
• 39:19
  He's the one who who won the Oscar for like 40 seconds and
• 39:22
  then they took it away. Yes.
• 39:23
  Yeah. So I was getting it, Yeah.
• 39:25
  What do you know the story? I I you got to you have to say
• 39:28
  your version where. I'm going to tell you briefly
• 39:30
  because it's, it's very painful for our family.
• 39:33
  Oh, really? Oh, yeah.
• 39:34
  My dad. They, they the God love them.
• 39:37
  The Who was it? It was Faye Dunaway and Warren
• 39:40
  Beatty. Warren Beatty, there you.
• 39:42
  Go and they read the wrong film title for the winner of best
• 39:45
  picture. They, they, it, they, I guess
• 39:47
  they were holding the thing that had the nominees in it instead
• 39:49
  of who the winner was. And they just.
• 39:51
  We need to build this up a little bit more, Jonah.
• 39:53
  OK, this is Hollywood's most elite.
• 39:56
  Yes, the Academy Awards this. Is the Academy Awards where
• 39:59
  they're celebrating the best? Of the best pause for a second
• 40:02
  is it true that everyone in Hollywood takes it as seriously
• 40:04
  meaning like it's not just the outside looking no no no this is
• 40:08
  the. This is Hollywood's biggest.
• 40:09
  Night, this is primetime, primetime, all right the biggest
• 40:12
  award of the night goes to movie of the year, the best movie of
• 40:16
  that year. So you're talking 4 hours into
• 40:19
  the night at the very end, last one, everybody's waiting for
• 40:22
  this. Like, that's the biggest award.
• 40:23
  Like who made the best movie, right?
• 40:24
  That it's a this, this moment. OK.
• 40:26
  And everybody with a bated breath, a big anticipation in
• 40:30
  the room. These two presenters walk on
• 40:31
  stage, Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway to present the award.
• 40:35
  And they list all the nominees of all the movies that are in
• 40:37
  contention. And then they announce the
• 40:39
  winner. And they announce it very
• 40:41
  clearly for the world to hear. La La Land is movie of the year.
• 40:46
  And everybody from the La La Land production team comes on
• 40:48
  stage and they're starting to, you know, celebrate.
• 40:55
  No, it was one of the one of the producers of La La Land,
• 40:57
  somebody like us. I don't know if it was a stage,
• 41:00
  like somebody from the production team goes on, talks
• 41:02
  to the producer and the producer's like stop, stop,
• 41:06
  stop. We didn't win basically, no, but
• 41:08
  this, there's been a mistake like Moonlight one.
• 41:11
  And this was already after like my dad is already holding an
• 41:14
  Academy Award and like giving his acceptance speech and they
• 41:17
  gave it to Moonlight and that's. Crazy.
• 41:20
  But how do they read the rule and how does that happen?
• 41:22
  I mean, I think. I think because they're they,
• 41:25
  they didn't have the right card. I don't think she opened the
• 41:29
  winner envelope. I think she was still holding
• 41:31
  the nominee envelope. And I think the first one on
• 41:33
  there was just Lala land, and she just read it and she was
• 41:36
  just, you know, old. And where?
• 41:38
  Where? Were you at home with my
• 41:40
  siblings, watching on TV, celebrating then?
• 41:43
  Have you ever been to any of these award shows?
• 41:45
  I've been to the Grammys and I've been to the MTV Movie
• 41:49
  Awards. I've been to the Tonys.
• 41:52
  I think that's it. I don't think.
• 41:53
  That's it. Just those three, just those
• 41:56
  three, you understand that you're living the life of
• 41:59
  millions of people that are like just with, with envy, just
• 42:02
  listening to this. It's not all that, man.
• 42:05
  I could tell Jonah, he's, he's downplaying a lot of this,
• 42:07
  Michael. He is embedded in a big part of
• 42:11
  this, of this Hollywood setting. And I'm so impressed that you're
• 42:14
  just so down to earth that, you know, you grew up in this, in
• 42:17
  this life and it just did not only not get to your head, but
• 42:20
  you're doing good. You're actually doing something
• 42:23
  that's meaningful and something that's impactful in other
• 42:26
  people's lives. And you didn't pursue this
• 42:28
  selfish dream like like you said, a lot of people I did.
• 42:31
  For a long time. Yeah, but that's not where you
• 42:33
  landed, right? It's, it's about where you're
• 42:35
  going and the work that you're doing and the podcasts that you
• 42:38
  have and the guests that you're bringing on, which by the way, I
• 42:40
  wanted to tell you when you were reading it on the ChatGPT, I
• 42:42
  actually followed your podcast, I guess, before this even came.
• 42:45
  Up. Nicely done.
• 42:46
  I've I've seen you and I've I've tuned in for, you know, some of
• 42:50
  the episodes. I think it was Jason Alexander,
• 42:52
  the one that like popped up. We think I watched pretty much
• 42:54
  the whole the whole episode, by the way, George Costanza
• 42:58
  unsigned for one of the greatest characters.
• 42:59
  Oh yeah, of TV of all time, for sure.
• 43:02
  Right. One of the greatest characters
• 43:03
  just and he portrayed that role. I mean, he could never get away
• 43:07
  from it. He is George Costanza totally.
• 43:09
  I wonder if he ever had any other acting opportunities.
• 43:12
  For sure. He's a name.
• 43:13
  He's a Tony winner. Yeah.
• 43:14
  I mean, he's Broadway. He he started actually on
• 43:16
  Broadway. He's been on Broadway a ton.
• 43:18
  That's his like first love is theatre.
• 43:20
  And he has a Tony for being on Broadway and Jerome Robbins
• 43:23
  Broadway and, you know, he was in Pretty Woman, which is a
• 43:26
  pretty iconic film. OK.
• 43:28
  And he's got another opportunities for sure.
• 43:30
  But if you think about, you know, Jason Alexander, you think
• 43:33
  about George Costello of. Course it's.
• 43:35
  That's his entire It's a. Cultural touch point.
• 43:36
  What a great show. And you had him on.
• 43:38
  Yeah. What?
• 43:39
  How did you get him? Like what was your connection?
• 43:41
  I know him personally. I, I, I, we know him in a couple
• 43:44
  of different ways. You know, he obviously he knows
• 43:48
  my dad and my brother through the business.
• 43:50
  So like, we weren't strangers to each other.
• 43:53
  And then we actually met very shortly after October 7th, we
• 43:57
  met for the first time. We were We were both called
• 43:59
  together in a room by Daniel Lubetzky.
• 44:03
  The the founder. Of the founder of Kind Bars and
• 44:05
  and many other things who is an unbelievable bridge builder and
• 44:10
  is really devoting his life to try to bring bridge building to
• 44:13
  the Middle East and around the. World on Shark Tank, correct?
• 44:16
  Daniel Lubetzky. But, you know, and as amazing as
• 44:18
  a businessman he is, his real passion is, you know, the Jewish
• 44:21
  people in bridge building around the world.
• 44:23
  He always talks about his father going through the Holocaust.
• 44:25
  Yeah, he he talks about, he's very open about it.
• 44:28
  Yeah, Yeah. I've heard him speak about it
• 44:30
  multiple times. He gets very emotional every
• 44:31
  single time. He's so appreciative for his
• 44:33
  past and, you know, for the the ones that came before him.
• 44:36
  And he's very humble. He's just, he's a great dude.
• 44:39
  Yeah, and he's really paying it forward.
• 44:41
  So he called together a group in LA to just sort of brainstorm
• 44:45
  about what's going on. And I was in there and Jason was
• 44:48
  in there. And so we connected just like
• 44:51
  let's connect because, you know, we both know of each other, but
• 44:53
  we've never really been in the same room.
• 44:55
  And then I actually had the opportunity to take a, an acting
• 44:58
  master class from him, which I only took because it was him.
• 45:02
  And I thought that be cool. And so we got to hang out for, I
• 45:05
  don't know, it was like 6 weeks in a row and, but because we
• 45:09
  knew each other from the Jewish stuff 1st and from outside, you
• 45:12
  know, we had a relationship. It wasn't just the teacher
• 45:15
  student relationship. And so we were in touch and I
• 45:18
  had sort of been poking him for a little bit about doing the
• 45:21
  pod, but he was working, he was in Chicago doing a play.
• 45:24
  He was like all around. And I really wanted him to be my
• 45:28
  season premiere for season 2. So I poked him again and found a
• 45:32
  little window where he was in town and available, and he
• 45:36
  graciously agreed to come out. I couldn't help but smile
• 45:40
  throughout the podcast. I just, I couldn't help like he,
• 45:42
  he's just everything he says. He's not intending to be funny
• 45:45
  all the time, but he's just like, he's just good energy, you
• 45:48
  know? And there's A and I didn't even
• 45:50
  know he was Jewish. I did not know, Jason.
• 45:52
  You didn't. Know Jason Greenspan was Jewish.
• 45:54
  Well, now I know Greenspan. I didn't even know his name was
• 45:56
  Greenspan. I think most people didn't know
• 45:58
  that, but I had no idea. And you actually, you know, are
• 46:01
  emboldening people, empowering people to be proud of you know
• 46:04
  who? There's so many people that are
• 46:05
  out there that I feel like maybe are in the shadows, like
• 46:08
  they're, you know, till now they were almost like embarrassed to
• 46:10
  come out with a lot of things going on in the world, you know?
• 46:13
  So I want to ask you a question. I don't know, you come from
• 46:16
  this. You know, Michael and I, we're
• 46:18
  Orthodox, right? We grew up religious and you
• 46:21
  know, we're not so sheltered. You know, there's a lot of
• 46:23
  people even more Orthodox than us that even way more sheltered,
• 46:26
  right? We were pretty open minded.
• 46:28
  We grew up, you know, exposed to the world and to the cultures
• 46:31
  and to everything. But then there's that other side
• 46:34
  that people like you grew up, you know, not religious at all,
• 46:37
  but Jewish, but very Jewish, right.
• 46:39
  And in a way almost like more proud of your identity than than
• 46:42
  I am in a. So, yeah, you have like, like
• 46:44
  the staunchiness about how you're talking about and you're
• 46:47
  making a podcast, you know, to deliver that message, which
• 46:49
  which was fascinating. I'm very curious.
• 46:51
  There's a lot of people like that.
• 46:53
  What are your thought? What is your perspective?
• 46:55
  And like Jason Alexander's and other people like that about the
• 46:59
  religious side of the Jews, right?
• 47:01
  Like I'm talking about, you know, not ultra Orthodox, but
• 47:05
  like the Orthodox crew, like growing up, like, what did you
• 47:08
  think of them? Like, like they're like a little
• 47:10
  weirder. They're extreme, you know, be
• 47:14
  candid here. Like, yeah, sure.
• 47:15
  I'm curious because like I, I have somebody in front of me
• 47:18
  where, you know, I, I think that, you know, you, you, you've
• 47:20
  seen a lot, right. So what is your perspective on
• 47:24
  that growing up and like how did that shape it?
• 47:26
  Is that changing? Do you see it more now
• 47:28
  differently than you used to see it?
• 47:30
  Tell me a little bit about that. So there's a spectrum, you know,
• 47:34
  as you, as you rightly just said, you know, there's, there's
• 47:37
  even within the Orthodox community, there's a lot of
• 47:39
  different ways to be Orthodox. And I grew up like it's like I
• 47:43
  grew up with no religion, right? I mean, I grew up, I went to
• 47:45
  Jewish day school. I celebrate, my family kept
• 47:48
  kosher. We celebrate every holiday.
• 47:50
  And my cousins, a lot of my cousins are more observant than
• 47:53
  I am. I'd say some would probably
• 47:57
  categorize themselves as modern Orthodox.
• 47:59
  So I've been exposed to a lot of different types of Jews kind of
• 48:03
  my whole life. And as as with all religions, I
• 48:06
  think the people who are the most religious, the most
• 48:10
  observant are feel extreme to me.
• 48:14
  I think it's tough, you know, when it it I, I totally
• 48:18
  understand and respect of any religion, certainly the Jewish
• 48:22
  one. When you, this is what you care
• 48:24
  about, this is what you want to adhere to.
• 48:25
  Sort of this is what the meaning of life is for you.
• 48:29
  And it is 2025 and you do live as a part of a fabric of a wider
• 48:35
  local, countrywide global community of people.
• 48:39
  And I think it's important to recognize that and that sort of,
• 48:43
  you know, the, you don't exist in a vacuum.
• 48:47
  But I've always found, you know, I've only had good experiences
• 48:51
  for the most part with, with more observant folks.
• 48:56
  Yeah, I mean, it, it, it's I, I, I certainly see for some people,
• 49:00
  there's, there's definitely an intimidation factor.
• 49:03
  There is, there's definitely I I've, I have not myself been on
• 49:07
  the receiving end, but there's definitely a a shared experience
• 49:13
  of being on the receiving end of judgement.
• 49:16
  And you don't count as Jewish. You're not Jewish enough, You
• 49:21
  know, condescension for more observant people.
• 49:23
  I get it on my comments a lot, especially I'd say on like
• 49:27
  YouTube from like more Orthodox Jews who will pop on and say
• 49:31
  like, you know, try to correct or diminish or say, well, that
• 49:36
  that person's not a real Jew or whatever, which I find really
• 49:40
  frustrating. And, you know, I, I think
• 49:44
  because the Orthodox community, especially the more observant
• 49:47
  Orthodox community is so insular, they really are, for
• 49:51
  lack of a better word, ignorant to sort of how the world is
• 49:54
  working around them. And that we're in a moment where
• 49:59
  we as Jews really need to be united.
• 50:01
  And, you know, they're, they're the, the world is not so happy
• 50:06
  with us right now. And if they're, if we are
• 50:07
  fragmented internally, it's going to be a lot harder to deal
• 50:10
  with what we're dealing with externally.
• 50:12
  And unfortunately, some parts of the community are just totally
• 50:17
  oblivious to that and living their own focused lives, which,
• 50:21
  again, I understand and I respect where that comes from.
• 50:23
  But you don't live in a vacuum. You're not on your own planet.
• 50:26
  You're on a planet with a bunch of other people.
• 50:28
  If you want to go live on a, you know, deserted island and make
• 50:32
  your own thing there, go right ahead, please.
• 50:34
  But as long as you're going to be part of this world like you,
• 50:37
  you got to look outside the window.
• 50:39
  Yeah for sure. You know, Adolf Hitler was the
• 50:42
  least anti-Semitic person. He taught us one thing, which is
• 50:46
  he hates all Jews through all the same.
• 50:49
  Didn't matter how religious you were, how irreligious you were.
• 50:52
  Like he considered, and that's like one thing, you know, to
• 50:55
  learn that a self hating Jew is, you know, one of the worst forms
• 50:59
  of of anti-Semitism. And I'm guilty of this
• 51:02
  sometimes. Like I look at an ultra orthodox
• 51:04
  person and I sort of like judge them in a way of like they're
• 51:07
  embarrassing me a little bit. Like, I don't want the world to
• 51:09
  think like this is what, you know, Jewish people are, are
• 51:12
  like. But meanwhile, there is a part
• 51:14
  of me that respects them because I feel like they're, you know,
• 51:17
  connected more to the roots through the traditions, you
• 51:20
  know, and they're, you know, they're much more in tune on a
• 51:24
  day-to-day about being Jewish where I live a life also
• 51:27
  materialism as well. I'm not just focused on my Jews.
• 51:29
  And I got to get better at it. I got work to do.
• 51:32
  We got to grow. So a part of me like respects it
• 51:34
  and a part of me like almost I want to distance myself from it
• 51:37
  a little bit. I think a lot of people.
• 51:39
  That's what I'm wondering about on the non religious side.
• 51:41
  Someone like me, I'm or does an element where they sort of want
• 51:44
  to distance themselves from it and say, Nah, that's not what
• 51:47
  real Jews are like or, or am I am I, you know?
• 51:51
  No, I think you're absolutely right, especially, you know,
• 51:55
  sort of like the more patriarchal elements of, of the
• 51:58
  ultra Orthodox, certainly more contemporary Jews that want to
• 52:04
  distance themselves from that, you know, like, you know, you're
• 52:08
  telling me women have to wear a wig, women Can't Sing in public.
• 52:12
  Like all of that stuff feels very archaic and patriarchal.
• 52:16
  And please don't judge me by, you know, that extreme position.
• 52:21
  I think it's, it's, it's really just about extreme and
• 52:23
  moderation, right? Like as with anything, I, I and
• 52:28
  most people on Earth generally like try to live somewhere more
• 52:33
  in the middle where it's a little of this, a little of
• 52:35
  that, not too much of this, not too much of that.
• 52:36
  Anytime you go to any extreme of anything, it's extreme.
• 52:39
  That's what we call it extreme. And it's, it can be alienating
• 52:42
  and it can be, you know, something you don't you, you
• 52:45
  nobody wants to be judged by the most extreme element of whatever
• 52:49
  their community is. So I, I think there's
• 52:51
  definitely. We need to be united at the end
• 52:54
  of the day. We really need to be united
• 52:55
  because if we stand the chairman, the world right now
• 52:58
  isn't exactly elevating Jewish people, you know, in a, in a
• 53:01
  high pedestal, you know, and the the outlook, the perception
• 53:04
  isn't great. So we have to bond together and
• 53:08
  we, you know, we're we're all representing a common cause at
• 53:10
  the end of the day. And if we could reach a point,
• 53:13
  Michael, we're, we can have all respect for each other and just,
• 53:17
  you know, really protect each other.
• 53:21
  I think we'll be so much better off.
• 53:23
  I think. Once we become fragmented and
• 53:25
  once, you know, you live in America and you live in Israel,
• 53:28
  you live in Australia and we happen to all be Jewish.
• 53:30
  And that's about the only commonality we have.
• 53:32
  We've lost something. We've lost something.
• 53:34
  And it's so nice to see voices, you know, of a demographic that
• 53:38
  you're representing and a podcast like you know what we
• 53:41
  have, you know, and, and all of us, you know, collaborate,
• 53:44
  operating and colliding. We need more of that.
• 53:46
  Yeah, for sure. We have to, we have to talk to
• 53:48
  each other a lot more across the spectrum of observance.
• 53:52
  And I think it's important also to to think about, you know,
• 53:57
  what does it mean to be quote, like more Jewish?
• 54:00
  Like who says necessarily that the more laws you follow that
• 54:07
  makes you more Jewish than the more mitzvot you might do, You
• 54:12
  know, like, why is the person who keeps kosher the strictest
• 54:18
  but is a jerk? Why is that person more Jewish
• 54:21
  than somebody who doesn't keep kosher but is doing acts of
• 54:24
  loving kindness all over the world all the time?
• 54:27
  Right. Like to me, it's the values of
• 54:30
  Judaism and and the putting those values into action that
• 54:34
  are much more important to me and much more how I like to
• 54:37
  think about myself as a Jew. Then how many of these rules am
• 54:40
  I following today? Can you clarify something for me
• 54:42
  because you're coming from that world so you can help me better
• 54:44
  understand it or say the right word, The word religion and the
• 54:49
  word observance. I've heard you say more
• 54:52
  observant. I've heard him say more
• 54:53
  religion. Curious where that collides?
• 54:56
  Like what? What's your when someone says
• 54:57
  religious as a Jew, What does that mean when someone says
• 55:00
  observant? Like what's what's the right
• 55:01
  frame of, of putting it, you know, in terms of not having any
• 55:06
  negative connotation? Right, So like I'll say like
• 55:09
  when, when, when Oshi said like, well, you grew up not religious.
• 55:13
  Like to me, I'm like, well, no, that's not true.
• 55:15
  I did grow up with religion very much so.
• 55:17
  I mean, I, I in my Jewish day school, I wrapped fill in every
• 55:20
  morning when after my bar mitzvah and we pray every day
• 55:23
  and my camp pray three times a day.
• 55:25
  And I mean like every holiday family kosher, like all that
• 55:29
  stuff. So, but I was, am I as reservant
• 55:34
  with that religion as an Orthodox person?
• 55:36
  No, they they're doing more stuff than I am.
• 55:39
  So I guess that's that's sort of the.
• 55:41
  Different way to frame it. What's the?
• 55:45
  I think observant is probably a better word to.
• 55:48
  Use following more of the traditional things that you know
• 55:51
  used to be done and continuing that on is more observant.
• 55:53
  I think observant speaks to basically like if there's a list
• 55:57
  of laws that you're following, the more observant people are
• 56:00
  following more of them than the less.
• 56:02
  But you may not necessarily consider yourself less
• 56:04
  religious. I mean, like, I know many
• 56:07
  Reformed Jews who would probably consider themselves religious,
• 56:09
  who think about being Jewish everyday, who are involved in
• 56:12
  Jewish organizations and raising Jewish kids, and they just
• 56:16
  don't. They just eat shrimp, you know?
• 56:18
  Yeah, my rabbi always says Hasidim.
• 56:21
  Right? Like there's a difference
• 56:22
  between being Hasidic and being religious.
• 56:26
  Like you could be a city, like you wear the garb.
• 56:28
  You can, you know, do a lot of the things that you know, but
• 56:30
  you actually not Even so religious because you're not
• 56:32
  connected to God. You're not even, you know, proud
• 56:34
  of because there is a distinction between the two.
• 56:37
  And I think I, I made that error when I sort of surmise you
• 56:41
  growing up not religious. I should have said not observant
• 56:44
  because not as observant, right? Not as observant as a big
• 56:47
  difference. And, and I apologize for that
• 56:50
  because it could very well be in his household.
• 56:52
  The the religious aspect of Jewish was highlighted even more
• 56:56
  then then when I grew up and it was more embellished in your
• 56:59
  house than it was. Like there is a far cry between,
• 57:01
  you know, being religious and being Jew and being spiritual,
• 57:04
  right? Then there isn't.
• 57:05
  And being an observant. It's very nice.
• 57:07
  I'm not diminishing that. I think there's a lot to say by
• 57:09
  being traditional and keeping this, you have more of a chance
• 57:12
  of sustaining that long term if you're keeping it guarded, right
• 57:15
  And you're putting, you know, measures in place that you know,
• 57:18
  no one should, you know, fall off, you know, but there's a
• 57:20
  very big this and I'm happy you. There's also.
• 57:23
  I think there needs to be more of a balance between the the
• 57:27
  gatekeeping out of the fear of losing, which is important, but
• 57:31
  also the opening out of a fear of losing because I think it's
• 57:35
  too much. Gatekeeping is having the
• 57:37
  opposite effect where you have people who are showing up and
• 57:40
  they want to come in, but you're saying, well, if you're not
• 57:42
  meeting every criteria on my list, you're not welcome here.
• 57:46
  And so we're losing people who do want to be there but feel
• 57:49
  like they don't have a place or they're not good enough for how
• 57:51
  to do it. And so it's having the opposite
• 57:53
  effect. Yes, yes, We had someone on our
• 57:55
  podcast, it's a while back. I'm curious if you heard his
• 57:57
  name before. It's Yossi Farrow.
• 57:59
  He's the filling guy. Oh yes, I rapped with him like
• 58:03
  the young guy. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 58:05
  We wrapped the last time I was in New York he like came and met
• 58:08
  me in a coffee shop which randomly I walked into because
• 58:11
  it had good reviews and was near me but happened to be Israeli
• 58:14
  owned and was an Israeli coffee shop and and Yossi met me there
• 58:17
  and we. Wrapped up.
• 58:18
  Been there. No, no, he was like, where are
• 58:19
  you? I want.
• 58:20
  To come. I'm, I'm just, it's just coming
• 58:23
  to me now. I think he's the one that gave
• 58:24
  me your number. There you go, that makes sense.
• 58:26
  Right. I think so.
• 58:27
  Does that, does that make sense somehow?
• 58:29
  I think you reached out on Instagram or something, right?
• 58:31
  I I don't. I don't know.
• 58:32
  I don't know if we got it from Jessie, but anyway, yeah.
• 58:36
  You know, I like I like to give credit where credit is due and
• 58:38
  I'm going to look it up in a minute.
• 58:39
  But what's what, you know, when you see that happening around
• 58:42
  you, the putting on of filling right.
• 58:45
  So there I have a real one. I have a favorite, one of my
• 58:48
  favorite Hollywood Jews is you of course and Michael Rappaport
• 58:56
  and he has joined recently a fill in chat with a few hundred
• 59:02
  of us that share putting on fill in every day with one another.
• 59:06
  What, just like photos? Just photos and he goes on I'm
• 59:10
  talking about at least 2-3 times a week and he puts his picture
• 59:13
  of him putting on fill in and he empowers all of us.
• 59:16
  I'm talking about myself included and I've sent him
• 59:18
  videos and he sent me back and we've been schmoozing back and
• 59:21
  forth over the past few weeks and I'm loving what he's doing.
• 59:25
  I'm curious how it looks. Is that something like we're
• 59:28
  talking about what we can do and how what else we can do to
• 59:31
  further this message in this unity?
• 59:33
  How is it looking from your side and from the people around you
• 59:37
  in terms of this objective? Like is it annoying people?
• 59:39
  Is it like oh just? What the the to Phil and things
• 59:42
  the puppy. I mean, obviously I did it right
• 59:45
  and I have friends now who are rapping to Phil and who hadn't
• 59:48
  been doing it because I think there's this desire right now,
• 59:52
  especially to lean into Jewish identity.
• 59:55
  I call it on my show. I say go full Jew.
• 59:58
  Like what? What's that thing that you know
• 1:00:01
  would feel good if you tried it, but for whatever reason you're
• 1:00:04
  the voice in your head is saying, Oh, that's too Jewy or
• 1:00:07
  it's too weird or it's too assimilated or unassimilated.
• 1:00:10
  It's too othery. But when you do it, it feels
• 1:00:12
  good. I, I've been thinking about.
• 1:00:14
  So I, I had lost my to fill in somewhere over the years and I,
• 1:00:18
  I was doing a speaking event in Long Island and the woman who
• 1:00:21
  interviewed me there named Moji Pomerati, great, great lady.
• 1:00:27
  I told her I'd lost my to fill in.
• 1:00:29
  She's like, I'm buying you to fill in.
• 1:00:30
  So she bought me to fill in before I left.
• 1:00:32
  And then I just got a beautiful new to fill in back.
• 1:00:33
  So now I have it. And then I was talking to my
• 1:00:35
  buddy from elementary school who is now a dad.
• 1:00:37
  We're both dads at the day school where our kids go.
• 1:00:40
  We, we both went and he's like, I've started rapping fill in
• 1:00:43
  every morning. It's just like a meditation.
• 1:00:44
  It's a connection. It's a thing.
• 1:00:46
  So I've been thinking about it and I, I want to do it, but
• 1:00:48
  again, it's like I don't have time to watch TV.
• 1:00:50
  It's like I, I don't have time to wrap the fill in, but I know
• 1:00:53
  it takes like 2 minutes. So like maybe I'll get there.
• 1:00:56
  But I think people are just looking for more ways to feel
• 1:00:58
  more Jewish to, to exhibit their Jewish Jewishness more.
• 1:01:03
  I think it's not annoying. I think people are as you, I
• 1:01:06
  mean, you're even being inspired by it.
• 1:01:08
  I think people are being inspired by it.
• 1:01:10
  I think people are waking up to the fact that A, Judaism gives
• 1:01:16
  you so much meaning in life. I mean, like what a way to
• 1:01:19
  sanctify 5 minutes in your morning and then and B, that
• 1:01:22
  like we need to be taking up space publicly as Jews and being
• 1:01:26
  really visible as Jews because you know, it doesn't work.
• 1:01:31
  Being quiet and having your head down.
• 1:01:33
  That doesn't make things better for us.
• 1:01:35
  Being visible and having dignity and self respect that will work
• 1:01:40
  for us and and people are just looking to get more in tune with
• 1:01:44
  what's spiritual and meaningful about Judas and for.
• 1:01:47
  Absolutely. You know, he was on he he, he
• 1:01:49
  strapped someone or wrapped someone that he got.
• 1:01:52
  Michael or Yossi? Yossi that that people were
• 1:01:55
  telling him he's not Jewish and like and I was thinking.
• 1:01:57
  Logan Paul. He did.
• 1:01:59
  Logan. Yeah, ohh, right.
• 1:02:00
  That that. Box and I was like, what you
• 1:02:01
  doing? Like he's not really Jewish.
• 1:02:02
  Like you just you'll rap anybody apparently.
• 1:02:04
  Like, what's what's the deal? But we asked him that question.
• 1:02:07
  We had him on our podcast. Yes.
• 1:02:09
  We asked like, why did you rap Logan Paul?
• 1:02:10
  Yeah. What you trying to get at that
• 1:02:12
  he's like just in case for that little slight chance he's
• 1:02:15
  Jewish, it's worth the rap and doesn't.
• 1:02:17
  OK, I hear you know, he's making a decent point, but I don't
• 1:02:20
  know, I found the whole thing to be a little excessive, like I
• 1:02:22
  think. You're saying so I don't.
• 1:02:24
  I love it. I mean, if you have an inkling
• 1:02:26
  of Judaism, put on that villain, get connected.
• 1:02:29
  Let's say even if you didn't have any like, think about like,
• 1:02:32
  like yoga. Like yoga is a Hindi practice,
• 1:02:35
  right? But it has so much to offer
• 1:02:38
  everybody. And so if by wrapping to fill in
• 1:02:43
  it, it brings you some sort of spirituality or connection or,
• 1:02:46
  or brings you to a higher place, I think that's a that's a good
• 1:02:50
  thing. That's such a pure thought.
• 1:02:52
  But see, in a lot of ways he's more religious than me at the
• 1:02:55
  end of the day. And that's why I feel bad how I
• 1:02:57
  phrased it originally, because it really is not.
• 1:03:00
  It's a shit I I, I never he's a better Jew than I am.
• 1:03:02
  I never do. I never do this.
• 1:03:04
  There's no such thing as a better Jew or not better.
• 1:03:06
  Isn't there though? Isn't there?
• 1:03:07
  I mean only in terms of the the quality of human being you are,
• 1:03:11
  I mean, I think. That's, that's the moral compass
• 1:03:13
  of just a person. I don't know, that's exclusive
• 1:03:15
  to just Judaism in any religion. Like you have to have certain,
• 1:03:18
  you know, basics, you know, of, of, of living, you know, and
• 1:03:20
  your code of conduct. But I'm saying as far as like
• 1:03:22
  the Jewish traditions and laws and customs, right?
• 1:03:25
  Like we've been taught at least that that's sort of what makes
• 1:03:28
  someone a better and better Jew. So I, I, and you're coming from
• 1:03:31
  a different world and different perspective and I, I love it.
• 1:03:34
  I, I don't think there's, I, I hate the phrase like bad Jew or
• 1:03:37
  better Jew or anything like that.
• 1:03:39
  I think that's what I love about Judaism is that it, it looks and
• 1:03:43
  feels so different for so many people.
• 1:03:45
  And that's what my show is all about.
• 1:03:47
  And I think wherever you are engaging is, is good enough.
• 1:03:51
  There's always room for growth. You can be a more engaged Jew,
• 1:03:56
  but I don't think being more or less engaged makes you better or
• 1:03:59
  worse. Well put, by the way, I really
• 1:04:01
  like the way you just said that. Thank you.
• 1:04:02
  That's I was going to say a minute ago that and I usually
• 1:04:05
  never do this. It's okay or she you didn't make
• 1:04:06
  any major mistake. And the reason why I'm saying
• 1:04:09
  that is because I think it's a common thing that us more
• 1:04:13
  observant or Orthodox Jews say a lot less religious, less
• 1:04:16
  religious and observant. I think that we need to be a
• 1:04:18
  little bit more sensitive to it. That's all I'm saying.
• 1:04:20
  I think also something that you're sort of pointing to, if I
• 1:04:23
  may, is, and this is what you see a lot in Israel actually is
• 1:04:27
  because you, you were raised in a more Orthodox observant
• 1:04:31
  environment. You're able to take it more for
• 1:04:34
  granted, which, you know, is why I think so many Israelis end up
• 1:04:37
  being, it's sort of the opposite.
• 1:04:39
  They end up being so secular because like they don't have to
• 1:04:41
  think about their Judaism because it's all around them.
• 1:04:43
  So they don't actually have to be intentional with it or, or
• 1:04:46
  think deeply about it because it's, you know, that that shop's
• 1:04:49
  going to be closed on Shabbat, whether I keep Shabbat or not.
• 1:04:52
  And that's sort of the same, I think for more observant
• 1:04:54
  communities. You don't have to really contend
• 1:04:57
  so much with your Jewish identity and, and be super
• 1:05:00
  intentional with it because it's kind of a given.
• 1:05:03
  You get to take it for granted growing up.
• 1:05:06
  So, you know, whereas we have to sort of, you know, less
• 1:05:09
  observant, You have to really be intentional and think about more
• 1:05:12
  how do I want to engage? What am I going to, what kind of
• 1:05:14
  Jewish life am I going to build for myself?
• 1:05:16
  Because if I don't do it myself, the the scaffolding isn't
• 1:05:19
  necessarily. All I do just have to interject
• 1:05:20
  and I checked and Yossi did ask you directly and there it is.
• 1:05:24
  Yes, you would love it. And we connected through e-mail
• 1:05:27
  on there and I know that Stefan also connected with you on
• 1:05:29
  Instagram. So I really appreciate that and
• 1:05:32
  I appreciate you, Yossi. See.
• 1:05:33
  Yeah. You know.
• 1:05:34
  Yossi. When we had Yossi on our
• 1:05:35
  podcast, we actually joked with him afterwards, like let's just
• 1:05:38
  follow everyone you're strapping and just get them on the
• 1:05:40
  podcast. There you go.
• 1:05:41
  You know, So he gave me Gary VS number and he's like, let's get
• 1:05:44
  them together. But that didn't have Gary VI.
• 1:05:46
  Don't think he did him yet or I don't know.
• 1:05:49
  I think he did, actually. Would you ever have on your
• 1:05:50
  podcast somebody like Ana Kasparian or Dave Smith or
• 1:05:55
  Because a lot of times I see them debating, you know, people,
• 1:05:58
  and I'm not happy. Sorry, who are these people?
• 1:06:01
  These are just very radical anti Israel I see, but ultimately
• 1:06:06
  anti Jewish really. That's so interesting to me that
• 1:06:08
  you don't know who Dave Smith and Anna Kasparian are.
• 1:06:10
  So they are hugely, hugely well known pundits, talking heads who
• 1:06:17
  are extremely anti Israel and have enormous audiences and
• 1:06:22
  followings and are on every talk show and every.
• 1:06:24
  I have to be honest with you. Just so you know, five years ago
• 1:06:26
  I limited social media for my life.
• 1:06:28
  So I have a podcast. I don't have personally social
• 1:06:31
  media, so I don't have you. God bless, I get it.
• 1:06:33
  I'm I'm sure your quality of life is higher.
• 1:06:36
  Oh my God, I'm tremendously. Yeah.
• 1:06:37
  And it's it's. If it wasn't like a career thing
• 1:06:40
  for me, I would be. I would be as off of it as much
• 1:06:43
  as humanly. Honestly, thank God I have
• 1:06:45
  Stefan, right, You know, because he's on it and he's responding
• 1:06:47
  and he's, you know, engaging with the social media part of it
• 1:06:50
  and. By the way, my life is terrible
• 1:06:52
  now. But I, I mean, it's, it creates
• 1:06:55
  a good point. So like, on the one hand, should
• 1:06:58
  you know who those people are? Maybe, but on the other hand, do
• 1:07:01
  you really need to know who they are?
• 1:07:03
  Maybe not Like it's important to know.
• 1:07:05
  I think sort of generally what's going on that like there are
• 1:07:08
  talking heads that are out there, you know, spreading
• 1:07:12
  libels about Jews and knowing that that's important, but
• 1:07:15
  knowing who these individuals are has no material impact on
• 1:07:19
  your life. We have to be aware of this
• 1:07:20
  because they're out there on the world stage and and have.
• 1:07:23
  What would you say? Would you bring them?
• 1:07:24
  On but I wouldn't bring them on for for two reasons 1 is my show
• 1:07:29
  is about loving Judaism, right? And Dave Smith is only Jewish in
• 1:07:36
  as much as he's allowed to use it to help him, you know, talk
• 1:07:40
  trash about Israel. He's never on there talking
• 1:07:42
  about how much he loves being Jewish or any, or, you know,
• 1:07:44
  what his, you know, religious connections are anything like
• 1:07:47
  that. It's just about how wrong Israel
• 1:07:49
  is. And I don't know if Anis
• 1:07:51
  Kasparian's Jewish at all, I don't think.
• 1:07:52
  She is. No, she's not.
• 1:07:53
  She's she's Algerian, something like that.
• 1:07:57
  Armenian. Armenian.
• 1:07:58
  Armenian, yes. So probably Armenian Christian.
• 1:08:02
  So like I have non Jews on but only non Jewish allies who who
• 1:08:06
  have some connection to our community.
• 1:08:07
  So it's not that there's anything wrong with debate.
• 1:08:10
  In fact, it's very important. That's just what my show is for.
• 1:08:13
  My show is actually like the breath of air that people come
• 1:08:17
  to when they're getting stressed out by all the debating and the
• 1:08:21
  and the negativity and stuff. They can come to my show and be
• 1:08:24
  like, oh, yeah, This is why I love being Jewish.
• 1:08:27
  And oh, here's somebody who I didn't even maybe realize was
• 1:08:29
  Jewish, or didn't know was an ally talking about how great
• 1:08:31
  being Jewish is. We talk a lot about the fear of
• 1:08:37
  publicly being Jewish in places like New York City today.
• 1:08:42
  We had recently in a magazine reporter of the White House
• 1:08:45
  Correspondent that tells us that he's more comfortable wearing
• 1:08:48
  his garb, his Jewish garb in Abu Dhabi than he is in New York
• 1:08:51
  City. Yeah, and not so much, which was
• 1:08:54
  interesting about that discussion.
• 1:08:55
  It's not so much about the anti-Semitism that he would feel
• 1:08:58
  in New York City, it's more about what would happen to
• 1:09:01
  someone if they acted on the anti-Semitism in New York.
• 1:09:04
  Whereas in Abu Dhabi they would go to jail for a year.
• 1:09:06
  Right? And in New York City, not even a
• 1:09:09
  slap on the wrist. Yep, you know, compliments to
• 1:09:12
  you, you don't really look that Jewish, you know, meaning in
• 1:09:15
  terms of you have, you don't have that Jewish Punim that I
• 1:09:18
  have, you know, you have a little bit of it.
• 1:09:21
  But so I'm curious if you've experienced, you know, that fear
• 1:09:25
  or that thought, you know, because I do think about it and
• 1:09:30
  it's been part of my life and a lot of our listeners life in
• 1:09:32
  terms of do I put on my keeper? It's a huge discussion.
• 1:09:35
  And since October 7th, I have to tell you, I've never removed it.
• 1:09:39
  And I'm proud, to be honest with you.
• 1:09:41
  I used to remove it because I was like, I don't know, I'm
• 1:09:43
  gonna, I don't wanna like what she was saying earlier, you
• 1:09:45
  know, I don't wanna give a name to the Jews.
• 1:09:47
  I'm in a, I'm in a place and I'm misbehaving or I'm, you know,
• 1:09:50
  making a lot of noise. Now I just make a little less
• 1:09:52
  noise and I, I, it's more important for me to keep it on.
• 1:09:55
  But I'm curious in your experience.
• 1:09:56
  And I know Hollywood has a lot of hate out there.
• 1:09:58
  And we talk about always fighting hate with love.
• 1:10:01
  And it's a nice sentiment, but the reality is that it exists
• 1:10:05
  and we're hearing it and we're seeing it.
• 1:10:07
  And actors that I grew up with and like I'll never forget,
• 1:10:10
  like, you know, I'm listening to a Phil Collins song and I'm
• 1:10:12
  like, you can listen to that guy.
• 1:10:13
  He's an anti Semite. I'm like, is he really an anti
• 1:10:15
  Semite? I don't know.
• 1:10:16
  And but but then you you hear Robert De Niro or people that
• 1:10:20
  just go out there and you're like, what are they saying?
• 1:10:22
  Who are these like, should I stop watching these movies?
• 1:10:25
  Like what's your thoughts on that?
• 1:10:26
  How has that been in your life? Like where do you feel it?
• 1:10:29
  You know, that's a good question, Michael.
• 1:10:30
  I'm I'm so curious. And and you're you're bringing
• 1:10:33
  up this major point. Yeah.
• 1:10:34
  Like Hollywood is infested with a lot of these people that for
• 1:10:37
  some reason it's not Even so much pro Palestine.
• 1:10:40
  It's almost like anti Jew, right.
• 1:10:42
  And it's like they're getting more bolded now more than ever
• 1:10:43
  to say things. And, and, you know, people are
• 1:10:45
  being backed by it. And then it's crazy what's going
• 1:10:48
  on out there. And, and people that we grew up
• 1:10:49
  with that we love and adore, like, Oh my God, who can I
• 1:10:51
  listen to these days? Like, why does everybody hate
• 1:10:53
  me? What the heck is going on over
• 1:10:54
  here? Right, great question and I love
• 1:10:56
  Robert De Niro, but like can I do I can I not watch the movies
• 1:11:00
  anymore like. What's crazy, Hollywood is run
• 1:11:03
  by a lot of Jewish people. They have a lot of clout.
• 1:11:05
  A lot of, you know, legitimate. I know it's a sensitive topic,
• 1:11:08
  so I'm just gonna let you talk. To hear your thoughts.
• 1:11:10
  So there's a lot to unpack there.
• 1:11:12
  Yeah, please. So let's where to start.
• 1:11:14
  So let's I'll go backwards. Jews running Hollywood.
• 1:11:17
  First of all, Jews don't run Hollywood.
• 1:11:19
  There are Jews in Hollywood. There's also a whole lot of non
• 1:11:22
  Jews in Hollywood and they're all equally positioned.
• 1:11:25
  And more importantly, the majority of the Jews in
• 1:11:30
  Hollywood are not engaged Jews. So that may as well not be Jews.
• 1:11:35
  You know, just if you're a Jew by birth who doesn't care about
• 1:11:38
  being Jewish and does nothing for the Jewish people, in fact
• 1:11:41
  probably goes out of their way to not do things for the Jewish
• 1:11:43
  people. It, it almost has the opposite
• 1:11:45
  effect. So, you know, the, the Jews that
• 1:11:49
  are engaged with their Judaism that are in Hollywood are all or
• 1:11:53
  for the most part, switched on in the post October 7th world in
• 1:11:56
  a way they hadn't been before. I mean, you've got people, for
• 1:11:59
  example, a, a, a guy I had on my show, Lawrence Bender, who's an
• 1:12:02
  Academy Award nominated producer, produced Inglourious
• 1:12:04
  Basterds, Pulp Fiction, Goodwill Hunting, and just went to Israel
• 1:12:08
  to produce an October 7th fictionalized series that's now
• 1:12:12
  on Paramount Plus called Red Alert.
• 1:12:15
  Because it was important for him to do and he wanted to be a part
• 1:12:18
  of making that happen. So you have people like that who
• 1:12:21
  are like really engaged as never before.
• 1:12:25
  But that's not the majority of technically of Jews.
• 1:12:29
  I mean, the majority of Jews in America are unaffiliated Jews.
• 1:12:32
  It's sort of the biggest think it's something like 40% are are
• 1:12:36
  unaffiliated altogether. The rest of us make 60%.
• 1:12:38
  So the engaged Jews are bigger than the unaffiliated.
• 1:12:41
  But if you split it up into like unaffiliated Reform,
• 1:12:44
  Conservative Orthodox, like the biggest single slice is
• 1:12:47
  unaffiliated Jews. And so that holds true for
• 1:12:50
  within Hollywood. So that's that piece.
• 1:12:52
  In terms of the, you know, the Robert De Niro's or the
• 1:12:55
  whoever's I'll I'll say two things.
• 1:12:57
  One is I generally can separate the art from the artist
• 1:13:00
  personally. Like the only person that, and
• 1:13:05
  this is just a me thing, like Miss Rachel is sort of the only
• 1:13:07
  one that I've cancelled. Do you guys know who Miss Rachel
• 1:13:10
  is? Miss Rachel.
• 1:13:11
  Yeah, amazing. So Miss Rachel has, you know.
• 1:13:15
  Could you pull it up? Steph, Who's Mr. I think she's
• 1:13:17
  got, you know, 18,000,000 YouTube subscribers.
• 1:13:20
  She's the biggest children's entertainer in the world.
• 1:13:23
  You know her. Her show on Netflix was the
• 1:13:24
  biggest Netflix debut ever. I have a lot of friends that
• 1:13:27
  that of course, it's a natural babysitter for the kids.
• 1:13:29
  Exactly. Yeah, I've.
• 1:13:30
  Yeah. You know that.
• 1:13:31
  There she is. Yeah, She's, you know, the,
• 1:13:33
  she's the, the, the Barney of the, of the generation.
• 1:13:37
  Barney, whatever. And is like super anti Israel
• 1:13:40
  and uses her platform to to literally have, you know, Hamas
• 1:13:44
  supporters on her show. Yeah.
• 1:13:46
  So she's she's the only one who I've been like because her show
• 1:13:48
  is her. So I could that's an easy one.
• 1:13:51
  There's no separation for me there.
• 1:13:52
  But like, will I still watch a Robert De Niro movie?
• 1:13:54
  Sure. There's there's a store called
• 1:13:55
  Lush, There's this chain of stores.
• 1:13:57
  They do like bath bombs and soaps and whatever, very anti
• 1:14:01
  Israel ownership. But we just went there yesterday
• 1:14:03
  and bought some great bath bombs and soap and stuff.
• 1:14:05
  You know, I still want the soap. And so I'm able to separate in
• 1:14:08
  that way. Everybody has their own lines.
• 1:14:10
  That's there's no judgement there for me.
• 1:14:12
  That's how it is. That makes sense.
• 1:14:14
  I'm going to adapt. That I like that yeah.
• 1:14:15
  You know I. Still have a Swiss army knife,
• 1:14:17
  I'm saying. Yeah, like, you know, Kanye West
• 1:14:19
  is 1 where like, I'm not going to put on Kanye West's music on
• 1:14:23
  my own, but if I hear it in a restaurant, I'm not going to
• 1:14:26
  like walk out of the restaurant. And if it's like one of the good
• 1:14:29
  songs, I'll probably like be bopping my head.
• 1:14:31
  I still have them. OK, so there you go.
• 1:14:33
  You know that he was just at a rabbi for asking forgiveness,
• 1:14:35
  you heard. About.
• 1:14:36
  Yeah, that seems so weird. I just wonder if you know, I
• 1:14:39
  saw. That video, it seems so strange.
• 1:14:41
  That didn't do a whole lot. No, I'm.
• 1:14:43
  Not he's. He's he's, he's.
• 1:14:46
  So there are times that you can separate the art with the
• 1:14:48
  artist. And an example I always give is
• 1:14:50
  Michael Jackson. It's like that guy was having
• 1:14:52
  sleepovers with little kids in his bed.
• 1:14:54
  And I'll still listen to any Michael Jackson song.
• 1:14:56
  Thank you. Right.
• 1:14:57
  I have a few friends that despise the fact that I listen
• 1:14:59
  to Michael Jackson. You know.
• 1:15:00
  I will always listen to. Yeah, it's great music and I can
• 1:15:03
  say, and the guy was a creep with little kids, you know, You
• 1:15:06
  know. They're making it in 2026.
• 1:15:08
  The first movie about him, Michael.
• 1:15:10
  It's a big. They've been marketing it for
• 1:15:12
  like a year. Or more that's used to be, you
• 1:15:14
  know, I'll look forward tell all type, you know, oh.
• 1:15:17
  Boy, So yes, so there's that piece and then, you know, like,
• 1:15:21
  why are all these actors like popping off about this stuff?
• 1:15:25
  It's it's propaganda as a very powerful tool.
• 1:15:28
  They have been ideologically captured just like a lot of the
• 1:15:32
  people who are the most quote UN quote progressive and left in
• 1:15:36
  our society. Obviously Hollywood is about as
• 1:15:38
  left as you can go as far as industries, all of the arts
• 1:15:42
  industries. And they are the they are the
• 1:15:45
  prime target of this propaganda because all of the anti Israel
• 1:15:50
  stuff is shrouded in the, the, the religion of today.
• 1:15:53
  That is social justice. And you know, you've got the,
• 1:15:56
  the apartheid and the colonizer and the supremacy and all of the
• 1:16:00
  the words. And these people are not
• 1:16:05
  educated in this topics. They're not deep thinkers about
• 1:16:07
  these topics. Robert De Niro is not spending
• 1:16:10
  six hours of his day reading Israeli newspapers and and
• 1:16:14
  authors and listening to podcasts.
• 1:16:16
  He hears some news story. He hears all his friends are
• 1:16:18
  saying this thing. All the, the the publications he
• 1:16:22
  does read are saying this thing. The UN is saying this thing.
• 1:16:26
  That must be the thing. That's the narrative, you know,
• 1:16:28
  And it's just, it's not deeper than that, unfortunately.
• 1:16:30
  So you've just got a lot of non critical, non deep thinkers who
• 1:16:36
  are very easily ideologically captured and going with the
• 1:16:39
  group. I I love the way you broke that
• 1:16:42
  down and I appreciate it. One thing that I feel like you
• 1:16:44
  missed in terms of my my thoughts were where have you
• 1:16:48
  experienced it? Me personally only, never in
• 1:16:52
  real life. I've only felt it on social
• 1:16:55
  media, which to be abundantly clear, is not real life.
• 1:17:00
  I don't. A lot of people you know have
• 1:17:02
  forgotten that and they think social media is life.
• 1:17:05
  If I didn't open my phone like I would not know there was
• 1:17:09
  anti-Semitism around right? It's like it's only in the
• 1:17:11
  articles that I read and in comments I see and in videos I
• 1:17:15
  see. Thank God.
• 1:17:17
  I mean if I lived in Paris it would be a different story.
• 1:17:20
  If I lived in Naples it would be a different story.
• 1:17:22
  But in America today, in most places, you walk down the street
• 1:17:27
  and you and you're fine and you don't know that these things are
• 1:17:29
  going on. But I have to disagree a little
• 1:17:31
  bit. I think it is real on social
• 1:17:33
  media. I think that's the reason why
• 1:17:35
  it's so rampant today, the anti-Semitism, because it's more
• 1:17:38
  visible in today's digital age. We're actually able to see what
• 1:17:42
  somebody 1000 miles away thinks about a Jewish person.
• 1:17:47
  And this is the casual average person just anywhere in the
• 1:17:51
  world. And there's an abundance of
• 1:17:52
  them. It's almost like a majority of
• 1:17:55
  them it just seems like. It's not it's not a majority.
• 1:17:58
  That's that's the that's the trap of social media is that we,
• 1:18:02
  we incorrectly correspond volume of videos to actual volume of
• 1:18:09
  humans in the world who espouse a certain point of view.
• 1:18:14
  The the algorithm is specifically built to piss you
• 1:18:18
  off. Where I feel this the most,
• 1:18:20
  There's an I don't know if you guys are on threads.
• 1:18:21
  You're not obviously, I don't know.
• 1:18:23
  Threads is Instagram's version of Twitter.
• 1:18:26
  I go on to threads and it is, it immediately pushes in my face a
• 1:18:31
  bunch of anti semites and I and I, I, if I didn't know better
• 1:18:35
  and didn't see, you know, understand the, the code through
• 1:18:38
  the matrix, I would jump right in and start rage tweeting at
• 1:18:42
  these people. And it would keep me on the app
• 1:18:44
  and the app would make more money from their advertisers
• 1:18:46
  could be spending more time on there.
• 1:18:48
  But I understand that that's what it's doing to me.
• 1:18:50
  It's not that every person on threads is an anti Semite.
• 1:18:53
  It's just it's finding all the ones that are the anti semites
• 1:18:55
  and shoving them in my face to make me angry and it makes it
• 1:18:58
  feel like everyone's an anti semite.
• 1:19:00
  Such a great point, by the way. They're, they're, they're
• 1:19:02
  creating a business out of pissing you off.
• 1:19:04
  I like that. 100%, that's, that is how that algorithm functions,
• 1:19:07
  that the outrage is the the most likely emotional trigger to get
• 1:19:12
  you to engage with the app. Yeah.
• 1:19:14
  So they it's, they don't want to show you nuance.
• 1:19:16
  They don't want to show you. Is it crazy, you know?
• 1:19:18
  Column money. Everything comes down to the
• 1:19:20
  money. It's unbelievable.
• 1:19:21
  That does for sure. I mean.
• 1:19:22
  People will do the craziest stuff.
• 1:19:23
  People will start wars, right? People will have people killed.
• 1:19:26
  People will do it like things like this, all for money, all
• 1:19:29
  for they can another dollar in their pocket.
• 1:19:31
  Yeah, it's just unbelievable. You've, you've been to Israel,
• 1:19:34
  right? 7 * 7 times yes.
• 1:19:36
  Wow. That's more than a lot of my
• 1:19:38
  friends, by the way. I'm that's.
• 1:19:39
  More than me and it's not enough.
• 1:19:40
  I'm like, I'm like. Do you want to get back there?
• 1:19:43
  I can't wait to go back I. Wasn't the last time you were
• 1:19:45
  there I guess. I was there October 7th, 2024.
• 1:19:48
  I went for the one year anniversary.
• 1:19:49
  That was the last time I was there.
• 1:19:50
  Wow. Yeah.
• 1:19:51
  Which was very powerful. I I did a podcast episode from
• 1:19:55
  there and spoke all about what that experience was like being
• 1:19:58
  there at that time. It was incredible.
• 1:20:00
  Wow. Yeah.
• 1:20:00
  What a guest. I yes, I interviewed a woman
• 1:20:03
  named Flour Hassan Nahum, who was the former deputy mayor of
• 1:20:07
  Jerusalem. Oh wow.
• 1:20:09
  Yeah. And is a is a an awesome sort of
• 1:20:13
  public speaker now and and pundit and.
• 1:20:15
  One of the former deputy mayors of Jerusalem is my neighbor in
• 1:20:18
  Jerusalem. That's random.
• 1:20:20
  Yeah, that's funny when, you know, next time you go there,
• 1:20:23
  let's coordinate and we'll do some podcasting together.
• 1:20:25
  That'd be fun. That would be fun.
• 1:20:26
  Yeah. Yeah.
• 1:20:26
  He just had, he was in Israel like four months ago and he had
• 1:20:30
  Jonathan Pollard on. Jonathan Pollard.
• 1:20:32
  Pollard. Who's that?
• 1:20:33
  The one that was in prison for 30 years as a spy and he was
• 1:20:37
  released? Prison.
• 1:20:38
  Yeah. Who's prison?
• 1:20:40
  Yeah, from, from American prison, Yeah, and.
• 1:20:43
  He was a an Israeli spot. He passed intelligence from
• 1:20:47
  within the American. There he is on the on on the
• 1:20:51
  screen. Yeah, but.
• 1:20:53
  He passed that now I. Didn't know Israel was spying on
• 1:20:55
  America. That happened a long time ago.
• 1:20:57
  Spying on everybody. Yeah, that's fair.
• 1:20:59
  I mean they need to be well positioned and prepared.
• 1:21:01
  For I mean, everybody, everybody's spying on.
• 1:21:02
  Everybody that's being clear on. Everybody's exactly, exactly.
• 1:21:06
  Yes, but there there are interesting people out there who
• 1:21:08
  who's the one that you want to get next?
• 1:21:10
  What's I'm curious about your what's in your trajectory?
• 1:21:13
  What's in your head? What's for my guests?
• 1:21:15
  A for your guests, B for the Jewish people as a whole.
• 1:21:19
  Let's just take it from there, yeah?
• 1:21:21
  In terms of guests, you know, I'm trying to get more of the
• 1:21:24
  same, but at a even higher caliber.
• 1:21:27
  So like for an example, somebody I, I would really love to have
• 1:21:29
  on his Mark Cuban. Mark Cuban, huge platform.
• 1:21:32
  Everybody knows him and is Jewish and has spoken about
• 1:21:36
  being connected to his Judaism. Yeah.
• 1:21:38
  But he, he, it, it matters to him.
• 1:21:41
  And I would love to give him the opportunity to talk about that
• 1:21:45
  and maybe make it matter to him a little bit more and to let
• 1:21:48
  people here, some people probably didn't even know that
• 1:21:50
  Mark Cuban was Jewish. No, I didn't.
• 1:21:52
  Know until recently, but. Yeah.
• 1:21:53
  So I feel like that's very powerful.
• 1:21:55
  So guys like that. And then in terms of for, for
• 1:21:58
  the Jewish people, it's really, I guess the, the, the things I'm
• 1:22:02
  trying to do with my pod are what I want us to be doing on a,
• 1:22:06
  on at, at large as a community. And you'd like to be a part of
• 1:22:09
  it? What is that?
• 1:22:09
  That's so kind one is leaning more into Jewish identity.
• 1:22:15
  So I mean, for you actually, it's like thinking about really
• 1:22:18
  with intentionality, like what kind of Jew do I want to be?
• 1:22:21
  And not just sort of what was handed to me that that that's
• 1:22:24
  already there, but really thinking about, you know, who
• 1:22:27
  you are as a Jew. And for the less observant of us
• 1:22:31
  thinking or the less engaged even how do I get more engaged
• 1:22:35
  as a Jew? What it gives me meaning, what
• 1:22:36
  can I be doing more of? And as a Jewish collective, we
• 1:22:42
  need to be so much more louder and and and visible and have
• 1:22:48
  much more dignity and self respect as a Jewish community
• 1:22:51
  and totally eliminate the head down, hide the mezuzah like
• 1:22:57
  don't say anything, don't rock the boat kind of mentality that
• 1:23:00
  you know, history is screaming at us that that doesn't work.
• 1:23:04
  It just doesn't work. It doesn't make because any
• 1:23:06
  safer. It might feel safer in the
• 1:23:09
  moment but certainly it it doesn't it it doesn't push back
• 1:23:13
  against anti Jew hate. The only way to push back is is
• 1:23:16
  self respect. Give me some ideas, give me some
• 1:23:19
  concepts as a, as a listener, you know, OK, I'm Jewish, you
• 1:23:22
  know, I have a mezuzah, you know, I, I, I, I act with
• 1:23:26
  respect and dignity and so on. But what can I practically?
• 1:23:29
  Do yeah. So you have to think of
• 1:23:31
  everybody's answer is different. There's not like A1 size fits
• 1:23:33
  all, but the, the, the way to think about it is, OK, what,
• 1:23:36
  what am I passionate about within the Jewish world that
• 1:23:40
  might be taking care of Holocaust survivors.
• 1:23:43
  It might be the environment, it might be, I don't know.
• 1:23:45
  It can be anything. Might be my, my kids day school,
• 1:23:48
  whatever. It is something you're
• 1:23:49
  passionate about. What is your skill set?
• 1:23:52
  You know, what do you do well or what do you like to do and pick
• 1:23:55
  one little corner and and and overlap the passion with this
• 1:23:59
  skill set in that corner. Start with the man in the
• 1:24:01
  mirror, right? Sure.
• 1:24:03
  Start with the man in the mirror and everybody does a little
• 1:24:05
  small act of kindness and well. That's about like changing your
• 1:24:09
  ways, the man in the mirror, right?
• 1:24:12
  But this is about, it's about, you know, here's an example.
• 1:24:15
  Like there's a, a, a woman who listens to my podcast who let me
• 1:24:18
  know. She said, I've, I've moved to
• 1:24:20
  Dallas and I've been wanting to have some sort of Jewish book
• 1:24:22
  club and there isn't 1. And I was inspired by your show.
• 1:24:26
  So I started one and now there's a, a Dallas Jewish moms book
• 1:24:29
  club. Look at that.
• 1:24:30
  You know, exactly. It's just that's it, that's it.
• 1:24:32
  Like things like that. If everybody was doing something
• 1:24:35
  like that, we'd be, we'd be slowly moving the needle.
• 1:24:37
  But it, it can't be, you know, just 5% of us doing that and 95%
• 1:24:42
  being I'm going to let those 5% do it.
• 1:24:45
  It's 100% of everybody can't do the same things, right?
• 1:24:48
  Everybody has different talents, different strengths.
• 1:24:50
  We just right now have let's say 5% like Jonah here and others
• 1:24:54
  that are that are basically, you know, taking the lead, taking
• 1:24:56
  the reins. And we need more of that.
• 1:24:58
  I think that's what it is. We need more people being
• 1:25:00
  audible. We need more people, you know,
• 1:25:02
  more resources thrown at this. We need to have a collection of
• 1:25:06
  people come together and organize, organize a little bit
• 1:25:08
  better so we have a better PR, right?
• 1:25:11
  Because it is important you're not agreeing.
• 1:25:15
  Again, like, I don't think better PR is going to change
• 1:25:20
  things for us. I think it will help for sure.
• 1:25:22
  Like for sure we need better PR, but I don't think that's like
• 1:25:25
  the silver bullet. I don't think there's a silver
• 1:25:26
  bullet is what I'm trying to say.
• 1:25:28
  Like I think we need to be hitting this at every single
• 1:25:31
  possible level. We need to be hitting it from
• 1:25:33
  PR. We need to be hitting it in
• 1:25:35
  academia. We need to be hitting it in
• 1:25:37
  entertainment. If you're a lawyer, you need to
• 1:25:39
  be litigating. If you're a teacher, you need to
• 1:25:41
  be teaching. If you're an actor, you need to
• 1:25:43
  be creating like everybody has to be pushing this boulder up
• 1:25:47
  the hill of Jewish visibility and Jewish self respect and
• 1:25:53
  Jewish pride. You see that, But here's the
• 1:25:55
  thing. There's going to be a lot of
• 1:25:56
  people that are going to disagree.
• 1:25:58
  There be a lot of people that are going to say that that is
• 1:26:00
  not our place. Like we're in exile, allegedly,
• 1:26:02
  right? That's the, and we're not
• 1:26:04
  supposed to be on top of the hill.
• 1:26:05
  Like it almost sounds like we're trying to, you know, take over,
• 1:26:08
  like we're trying to take our, our, our position at the world
• 1:26:10
  stage. And I I agree, I'm totally on
• 1:26:13
  board with you and I think Michael does too.
• 1:26:14
  So then let me clarify, like definitely not about taking
• 1:26:16
  over. It's about saying I mean, to me
• 1:26:19
  like my, my model is, is the black American community.
• 1:26:23
  They have been, you know, lynched, segregated, enslaved,
• 1:26:27
  redlined. And they are like the dominant
• 1:26:30
  culture in America right now. I mean, they, they have given so
• 1:26:33
  much to language, music, humor, literature, the conscience of
• 1:26:38
  America because they didn't wait for America to love them before
• 1:26:43
  they love themselves. I mean, they didn't ask for
• 1:26:45
  permission to claim their space in this country.
• 1:26:48
  They said, we're claiming it and you're going to catch up when
• 1:26:51
  you catch up. And Jews are the opposite.
• 1:26:53
  Jews are like, is it okay if we take up this?
• 1:26:55
  Because in the history, they don't want us to get too out
• 1:26:58
  there. And as soon as we do, they come.
• 1:27:00
  They come for us and they knock us down.
• 1:27:02
  But they come for us anyway, right?
• 1:27:04
  They're coming for us now. While we're like this, people
• 1:27:07
  listening, covering ourselves up, we might as well, you know?
• 1:27:11
  Stand up history is trying to find that medium of leave us
• 1:27:15
  alone, right? Leave us alone where we're not
• 1:27:16
  going to get too too big. We're not going to.
• 1:27:19
  They don't like us when we're too small.
• 1:27:20
  They don't like us when we're too big.
• 1:27:21
  So we might as well be big as I guess is my.
• 1:27:23
  Point of view and if. Haters are going to hate, right?
• 1:27:26
  So you have to be you. You might as well just be you
• 1:27:28
  anyways. OK.
• 1:27:29
  I love that. I like that that meant and
• 1:27:31
  that's what he's promoting and that's.
• 1:27:33
  What I'm all about, And that's not even a Jewish thing.
• 1:27:35
  I mean, that's like a life thing.
• 1:27:36
  Like, especially today, in today's climate, whoever you
• 1:27:39
  are, whatever you do, 50% of the people are gonna are gonna hate
• 1:27:43
  on you for it for whatever reason, just because there are
• 1:27:45
  haters out there who want to bring you down and hate on you.
• 1:27:47
  And you can't make everybody happy.
• 1:27:48
  So you might as well be your authentic self.
• 1:27:50
  Yeah, Yeah. You know, and make it better
• 1:27:52
  lives for ourselves. Yeah.
• 1:27:53
  And remember, you remember. When when we had Nari on and
• 1:27:55
  Nari said that we should, you know, get like a Super Bowl.
• 1:27:58
  Commercial, yeah, for that, yeah.
• 1:28:00
  Put a Super Bowl commercial. On.
• 1:28:01
  Yeah. Have like somebody lighting
• 1:28:03
  Shabbos candles right? Showing what Shabbos could be.
• 1:28:07
  And that's addressing the PR part.
• 1:28:08
  That PR part, yeah. But at the same time it's like.
• 1:28:11
  We, we, we, we do need scale. I mean, I, I think Hollywood
• 1:28:16
  definitely has a role to play in that regard of we need to be
• 1:28:19
  seeing humanizing contemporary, fully 3 dimensional stories that
• 1:28:24
  are super entertaining and happen to be about Jews and give
• 1:28:27
  you this, this light into who Jews are as people that were
• 1:28:31
  were just like everybody else. We have the same, but a lot of
• 1:28:33
  people and infighting and joy and whatever.
• 1:28:35
  Portrayed us as victims, and a lot of them.
• 1:28:38
  So that's it's an issue like we. We need that work a little bit
• 1:28:40
  over it already. Like, you know, OK, we get it.
• 1:28:42
  Look at you today. You're thriving, and you're
• 1:28:44
  still complaining about what happened to you 100 years ago.
• 1:28:47
  Well, meanwhile, yeah, we did that.
• 1:28:48
  Like, we have to pick ourselves back up.
• 1:28:50
  It wasn't easy, right? But we're portraying,
• 1:28:52
  unfortunately, and we also Hollywood that way.
• 1:28:54
  We 100% right and we don't tell the story of how we got from
• 1:28:57
  there to there exactly. You never see that, you know
• 1:28:59
  it's. Good that we did in order to
• 1:29:01
  reach this point, right? We're all the involvement we had
• 1:29:03
  with each other. We picked each other up.
• 1:29:05
  You know, when we, we, we and, you know, and the kind of
• 1:29:08
  charity that goes on amongst Jewish people and, and our
• 1:29:11
  culture and all of this is not something people see, they're
• 1:29:15
  seeing the other side of. It people don't think of the
• 1:29:17
  American Jewish story as like an incredible immigrant success
• 1:29:21
  story, and it should be. It is.
• 1:29:22
  It should be studied. It's exactly what a nationality,
• 1:29:25
  you know, that has been persecuted this many times, this
• 1:29:28
  continuously over this period of time and still is around.
• 1:29:31
  Forget about being here. The way we're around, that
• 1:29:33
  we're, you know, we're thriving in a lot of ways.
• 1:29:35
  We're still around. Everybody else is extinct.
• 1:29:37
  Every empire that ever existed, every major national that ever
• 1:29:41
  existed, They're no longer here. Yeah, we're still here.
• 1:29:44
  And people don't learn. They're still trying to come
• 1:29:46
  after us and take us down. It's AI mean these anti Israel.
• 1:29:50
  They're just one of the latest people to do what's been the
• 1:29:52
  oldest tale of time. It's the oldest tale of time.
• 1:29:56
  Nothing has changed. And I and I think a big thing
• 1:29:59
  that it sort of goes back to like my thesis is there are too
• 1:30:02
  many Jews who have internalized that story as we are the most
• 1:30:07
  persecuted people ever and not we are the most resilient,
• 1:30:10
  defiant people ever. Matter of how you phrase that,
• 1:30:13
  you do. That that's the most mindset.
• 1:30:15
  Or the most resilient because both are true at the same time,
• 1:30:18
  but it's one side of the coin. And how do you position it?
• 1:30:21
  And that's what people hear. Right.
• 1:30:22
  And we need to, we need to today, in 2025, be looking at
• 1:30:26
  ourselves as look how resilient we are, look at the amazing
• 1:30:30
  things we've done. Look how we should be
• 1:30:31
  celebrating Jewish excellence and not let's downplay to make
• 1:30:35
  people who hate us comfortable. I am really happy that you are
• 1:30:38
  on our side. I am really happy that we got to
• 1:30:40
  know you. And you know we have a few
• 1:30:42
  minutes left based on our schedule.
• 1:30:44
  So I just want to ask you, do you have any questions for us?
• 1:30:47
  Oh gosh. What if we were on your Path
• 1:30:50
  podcast? What would you be asking us?
• 1:30:52
  OK. In your community, in the Modern
• 1:30:55
  Orthodox community, is there conversation about, you know,
• 1:31:00
  needing to connect with the, the wider Conservative reform Jewish
• 1:31:05
  world or, or, or do that, does that feel like a separate thing?
• 1:31:09
  Totally separate. That's terrible.
• 1:31:11
  Totally separate. Yeah, it's a shame.
• 1:31:13
  But in our like amongst the mainstream, no, it's not
• 1:31:16
  something that we're, you know, addressing talking about
• 1:31:18
  regularly. But there is certain
• 1:31:20
  organizations, you know, that is catering exactly towards this
• 1:31:24
  and they're funded by, you know, a lot of people in the
• 1:31:26
  communities because, you know, it's a worthy cause.
• 1:31:28
  But no, the average person is not consumed.
• 1:31:30
  By that at all. And I think that's a that's a
• 1:31:33
  huge misstep for our community, right?
• 1:31:36
  I mean, from a pure strategic numerical standpoint, there's a
• 1:31:39
  lot more Reform and conservative Jews than there are Orthodox
• 1:31:42
  Jews, like massively bigger. So it for all intents and
• 1:31:46
  purposes, like the mainstream American Jewish identity,
• 1:31:49
  identity is a reform one. Like that is who the meat of
• 1:31:54
  Jewish America is. And so I think we are making a a
• 1:31:58
  huge strategic misjudgment to discredit that group or to not
• 1:32:06
  focus on that group as being central to whatever we're going
• 1:32:10
  to accomplish as a Jewish community.
• 1:32:11
  I want. To clarify, we're not
• 1:32:12
  discrediting it, it's just not part of our daily conversation.
• 1:32:15
  But I want to explain why it's, it's almost by design in a way.
• 1:32:19
  They're very protective, you know, from the, the religious
• 1:32:21
  standpoint of what they have. And they don't want to lose it,
• 1:32:24
  right? They just send out anybody, just
• 1:32:26
  go out, you know, hey, and start spreading the word and start
• 1:32:28
  talking to, you know, they can easily, you know, fall into the
• 1:32:31
  other side. It's very, it's very, they're
• 1:32:32
  susceptible to it. Everything going on in the
• 1:32:33
  world. If you're living an
• 1:32:35
  Americanized, you know, Western civilized type of lifestyle,
• 1:32:38
  it's very appealing. It's extremely appealing.
• 1:32:40
  And, and there's a lot of parts in the religion that's
• 1:32:41
  difficult. It's, it's, it's, it's hard,
• 1:32:44
  right? And, and that's why we fall.
• 1:32:45
  Sometimes we got, you know, we got to do better, but it's very
• 1:32:48
  hard. This is the professionals.
• 1:32:49
  We got to leave it to people who know what they're doing and know
• 1:32:52
  how to speak the language. You know, there is, like I said,
• 1:32:56
  a a lot of organizations that do do this.
• 1:32:58
  But I don't agree with that because I'm saying, is that what
• 1:33:01
  I was? I'm admitting to the challenge,
• 1:33:03
  but I'm saying the organizations need to be us and needs to be
• 1:33:06
  within us to. It's got to be people to people.
• 1:33:08
  Yeah. I mean it's.
• 1:33:09
  It is with enough you know our people from our community.
• 1:33:11
  I get it, but that you you're wrong.
• 1:33:12
  It's not. Your community, you use the word
• 1:33:15
  Modern Orthodox. OK, now you and Michael and
• 1:33:19
  let's just say, even put myself in that box.
• 1:33:21
  We're not in the modern Orthodox world fully, okay.
• 1:33:24
  But it's the same thing but. No, it's not the same thing
• 1:33:25
  because you have CS Y and you have 1,000,001 organizations in
• 1:33:29
  the modern Orthodox world, not in our religious ultra yeah
• 1:33:33
  shivish world that Jew do programs like that that's.
• 1:33:37
  Exactly what I'm saying. Every single day, but you're not
• 1:33:39
  used to it. Because I just want to stress
• 1:33:41
  that like, it's not that in the modern Orthodox world they are
• 1:33:44
  doing it. That's what I'm saying.
• 1:33:46
  I'm putting the modern orthodox and ortho.
• 1:33:48
  I'm not separating it that extremely.
• 1:33:49
  I'm just, you know, pretty much putting everybody above this
• 1:33:52
  line in the same and there is a lot of like NCSY is a great
• 1:33:55
  example. So I was saying that it's not
• 1:33:57
  like it's being disregarded or it's right.
• 1:33:58
  You know, it's being it's being handled.
• 1:34:00
  The outreach is very important and you know, we have to have
• 1:34:03
  that line of communication. I'm just saying the regular
• 1:34:05
  average Ishiva guy, it's not something on their radar.
• 1:34:08
  It's not something that. And I think that's that's bad.
• 1:34:10
  And I think it's bad from both sides.
• 1:34:13
  I mean, and I hate that I'm even using the word sides, right.
• 1:34:15
  Like we are all one Jewish community just sitting on a
• 1:34:19
  different parts. Of the spectrum.
• 1:34:20
  It's a powerful question. That's why I asked you the first
• 1:34:22
  question. What is your perception sort of
• 1:34:24
  of guys like me, Like what do? What do you think?
• 1:34:26
  Of I feel well positioned. It's like almost like sometimes
• 1:34:29
  a different religion, which is crazy because it's not.
• 1:34:33
  It's the same exact. One, totally.
• 1:34:34
  And I, I, I have been so exposed to all parts of the spectrum
• 1:34:38
  that I feel very comfortable in all of the spaces.
• 1:34:41
  So I'm able to sort of see from the middle how people on one end
• 1:34:45
  of the spectrum feel alienated and uncomfortable with people on
• 1:34:48
  the other and vice versa. And so we've got to find ways to
• 1:34:51
  to all come together and just talk to each other.
• 1:34:54
  It could be that that's they both sort of feel alienated from
• 1:34:57
  the other side, for sure. I think the timidness is that
• 1:34:59
  sort of who's making that first step, the first approach like
• 1:35:01
  that's, you know. I think, I think on the on the
• 1:35:04
  less observant side, it's those people are going to judge me.
• 1:35:07
  They're alienating. They're like they're weird.
• 1:35:11
  And on the other side, it's sort of, I mean, when you were
• 1:35:13
  describing it, it's not like you were talking about heroin.
• 1:35:16
  Like I can't go try that thing. I might fall off the Cliff.
• 1:35:18
  Like, you know, it's going to suck me in, you know?
• 1:35:21
  And it's, and they're like, dude, it's just like, it's just
• 1:35:23
  a cheeseburger. It's like, you know, want to eat
• 1:35:24
  it, don't eat it Exactly. So I, I think we just, we have a
• 1:35:28
  lot to learn from each other and, and we'll be just so much
• 1:35:30
  stronger together than we are siloed.
• 1:35:33
  And that's why I love the question that you asked.
• 1:35:35
  And this is a this is a podcast in of itself, you know?
• 1:35:37
  Yeah, literally. This really is of this
• 1:35:39
  discussion. And a much necessary a lot of
• 1:35:42
  big time. I really do.
• 1:35:43
  Yeah. I think, you know, it's, it's
• 1:35:44
  within our own infrastructure. We have some holes like we have
• 1:35:49
  some, you know, some, some lapses that we have to fill
• 1:35:51
  those those gaps and do a better job at it.
• 1:35:53
  I want to wish you a lot of success on thank you.
• 1:35:55
  And you know you are making an impact and you're making an
• 1:35:58
  impact on one person. Of course it's enough, but it's
• 1:36:01
  nice to see when the impact is growing and for sure that's
• 1:36:04
  really what it's about. I've seen your grow, your growth
• 1:36:07
  and it's, it's really just an amazing thing to be part of that
• 1:36:11
  journey. Like, you know, we're, we're
• 1:36:13
  podcasting together. Yeah.
• 1:36:14
  We're doing something good in this world.
• 1:36:16
  And we're, we're living by what we're trying to do, which is,
• 1:36:19
  you know, connect ourselves. That's why I really like that
• 1:36:22
  you're here. We're connecting ourselves.
• 1:36:23
  Me too, me too. Thank you for inviting me into
• 1:36:25
  your space. Yeah.
• 1:36:26
  Any other questions before we ask you our final question?
• 1:36:30
  No, I'm ready for it. Our final question is, who would
• 1:36:33
  you recommend would be a good guest sitting in your seat?
• 1:36:36
  He's hoping you say Brad Pitt. By the way, I'm hoping you're
• 1:36:40
  going to say Jerry Seinfeld. I'd like him on my show if you
• 1:36:43
  haven't. He would be.
• 1:36:44
  Good for you. Oh my God, I wish.
• 1:36:46
  If I have to relinquish him to you, I think it's the right
• 1:36:47
  thing. Appreciate it.
• 1:36:48
  You would do way better with him than we would.
• 1:36:50
  And I'd probably just sit in and grovel at his feet the whole
• 1:36:53
  time. So, like, it wouldn't be
• 1:36:54
  productive. But I think that he is perfect
• 1:36:57
  for your show. Yeah, I agree.
• 1:36:59
  Why do you not have him yet? And how do you get him?
• 1:37:01
  He's, you know, he's Jerry Seinfeld.
• 1:37:03
  Yeah, but you have to connection.
• 1:37:04
  I'm I'm working on let's. Find that third door.
• 1:37:06
  You know somebody, Jason Alexander.
• 1:37:08
  Last time I checked, they ran a pretty big show together for
• 1:37:10
  many many. Years.
• 1:37:10
  Yeah. It's.
• 1:37:11
  You can't ask that. Yeah, that's.
• 1:37:12
  That's a weird one. I gotta find somebody closer to
• 1:37:14
  him, so I'm close. I'm we're going to understand it
• 1:37:17
  was. Close.
• 1:37:18
  When was the last time they were even in a room together?
• 1:37:20
  You. Know they don't.
• 1:37:20
  They don't hang out anymore. Well, Jerry's in New York,
• 1:37:23
  Jason's in LA and you know, think about it just 'cause you
• 1:37:26
  just, you do hang out with your best friend from high school
• 1:37:28
  every day. Jason sends Jerry a text.
• 1:37:31
  You don't think he's responding? To this he might respond, but
• 1:37:33
  not saying, OK, I'm gonna fly out scheduling and so on.
• 1:37:36
  I don't know who's the person that you're going after now.
• 1:37:38
  Is there anyone specific? I'm going after all kinds of
• 1:37:39
  people all the time. I mean I have a long list and I
• 1:37:42
  I try to use every friend and and love avenue I have.
• 1:37:45
  The full cubit is a big one. It's a full time sales job.
• 1:37:48
  Yeah, for sure. And I, I book all my guests
• 1:37:51
  myself it, it tends to work out that way.
• 1:37:54
  And in terms of for, for you guys, I would love to see you
• 1:37:57
  have, you know, a Reform Jew on your show who is really engaged
• 1:38:04
  and, you know, the pride of the community, but is, is less
• 1:38:08
  observant and, and see what kind of conversation you all have
• 1:38:10
  together. Anyone you have in mind?
• 1:38:11
  Could be so many people. I mean you can have.
• 1:38:13
  We spoke earlier about that, the kind bar person that.
• 1:38:16
  Lubetzky, I don't know what his observance level is.
• 1:38:19
  And if you, I mean, if you can get Daniel Lubetzky, it's like a
• 1:38:22
  huge get anyways. Yeah.
• 1:38:23
  I mean, I mean, he's a, he's a major, major figure, yes.
• 1:38:25
  You've hung out with him, though, haven't.
• 1:38:26
  You. I have.
• 1:38:27
  So I, I, he, he and I are circling each other.
• 1:38:30
  He's just like one of the busiest dudes on planet Earth.
• 1:38:32
  And he also, no, he lives in Austin, which makes it even
• 1:38:35
  harder. OK, so he's popping in and out
• 1:38:36
  of everywhere all the time. I thinking New York for us, you
• 1:38:39
  know? Yeah, make it easier.
• 1:38:41
  I like, well, he's not Reform, but you know, Rabbi Elliot Cos
• 1:38:45
  Grove of Park Ave. Synagogue.
• 1:38:46
  He's conservative, but he is a major Jewish leader.
• 1:38:50
  He actually is in the news today for going, being at this
• 1:38:53
  conference and saying, you know, we as an American Jewish
• 1:38:56
  community need to be able to speak openly and critically of
• 1:38:59
  Israel without, you know, turning on each other and
• 1:39:03
  ostracizing each other. And he, he's, I think he's
• 1:39:07
  fantastic. You guys would have a great
• 1:39:08
  conversation with him. I like your frame of mind.
• 1:39:10
  I, I, I like what you're saying. In other words, just reach out
• 1:39:13
  to people that you normally wouldn't think of that are
• 1:39:15
  Jewish. Yeah, that are Jewish.
• 1:39:16
  That are. And our and our leaders and are
• 1:39:19
  just in a different sphere. Way more up Michael's Alley.
• 1:39:21
  You know, for me, I'm just trying to live day by day.
• 1:39:24
  And, you know, I got a lot of things to work on on my own.
• 1:39:27
  Like I, I, I I'm not like so compelled like with like.
• 1:39:30
  Who do you typically have on what kind of guests?
• 1:39:32
  So it's really all walks of life.
• 1:39:34
  So I'm I'm personally enjoying what you're suggesting.
• 1:39:36
  Yeah. He wants to go back to
• 1:39:37
  Hollywood. Let let's take him there for a.
• 1:39:40
  Minute my own religious. Who's a Jewish person?
• 1:39:42
  Try to figure it out myself. Maybe who's a Jewish person?
• 1:39:44
  What? About what?
• 1:39:44
  About Rappaport. Yeah, OK.
• 1:39:47
  I don't know him well enough. We're having a conversation back
• 1:39:49
  and forth. There you go.
• 1:39:50
  So a couple more, it's filling photos and maybe then maybe
• 1:39:53
  you're in. How?
• 1:39:53
  About we put me a bone, throw me a bone.
• 1:39:55
  Somebody, you know, in, in the, in the Hollywood market,
• 1:39:58
  somebody, somebody that's rubbed shoulders with, you know, the
• 1:40:02
  elites, you know, somebody like that.
• 1:40:03
  That you should have honor, that I know.
• 1:40:05
  Yeah, you've, you've become too, you know, you become too
• 1:40:09
  righteous, like you're becoming a, you're like already a better
• 1:40:12
  person than you know, me and my inner circle and and you, you
• 1:40:15
  know, I need somebody that's on this path, somebody that's
• 1:40:17
  really, you know, pursuing this and is very passionate about
• 1:40:20
  this. I want to know the inner
• 1:40:21
  workings, you know, how things go.
• 1:40:23
  You know, if somebody wants to start out, what do they do?
• 1:40:25
  What's their first step? You know, you got an agent.
• 1:40:27
  You just show up in LA. You can say hi, I'm here.
• 1:40:29
  I want to be in the movies. You know, how does it work?
• 1:40:31
  I want to get the the. You want to understand the
• 1:40:33
  business and the growth side of financial struggles and
• 1:40:37
  challenges of Hollywood, sort of.
• 1:40:39
  Stuff. So you need to get, you need to
• 1:40:40
  get somebody on the business side, you need to get it.
• 1:40:42
  You need to get a studio exec or agent or manager or or somebody
• 1:40:47
  who works in production. You happen to go somebody by the
• 1:40:49
  name of Mark? Yeah.
• 1:40:52
  Good luck. Really.
• 1:40:53
  It's like that. Oh, no, just he's, I mean, like
• 1:40:55
  he's, he's one of the busiest students on planet Earth.
• 1:40:58
  Also, yeah, I never know where he is.
• 1:41:00
  And. He's and he's in California.
• 1:41:01
  And he's only been on one podcast, and it's mine.
• 1:41:04
  Oh, nice. Oh, you had it.
• 1:41:06
  Oh. Actually all that I think he
• 1:41:08
  actually just did another one because he was doing press for
• 1:41:10
  the Wicked movie. But yes, he he has been on he's
• 1:41:13
  been on mine. My mom has been on mine and my
• 1:41:14
  wife has been on mine. What about?
• 1:41:15
  From the production of the Wicked, I mean, who's who's
• 1:41:18
  there that you would know? That might be a good guess.
• 1:41:21
  Maybe like in terms of on the performance side or on the
• 1:41:26
  business side? Someone that you think would be?
• 1:41:28
  You know, on the business side, you know, David Stone is, is the
• 1:41:32
  one of the producers of Wicked the the musical is he sort of
• 1:41:35
  the day in day out producer Jewish guy.
• 1:41:38
  And then there have been a lot of Jewish actors, of course, who
• 1:41:41
  have come in through that show. The, the, the one that's top of
• 1:41:44
  mind for me is a, a woman named Alexandra Socha who converted to
• 1:41:48
  Judaism, married an Israeli American guy, played Glinda on,
• 1:41:52
  on on Broadway, and is, you know, super engaged and
• 1:41:55
  activated as a Jew. She's got an interesting point
• 1:41:58
  of view. Too, Stefan is whispering Gal
• 1:42:00
  Gadot. Oh.
• 1:42:01
  Yeah, good luck. Yeah, I've been working on her
• 1:42:03
  for a long. Time.
• 1:42:04
  I actually like that suggestion that you just gave Alexandra.
• 1:42:07
  Yeah. But it's just fun to have
• 1:42:08
  conversations with people that understand our culture and our,
• 1:42:11
  you know, background and really the integration and the society
• 1:42:14
  and the crossing paths and so on.
• 1:42:16
  So I like all your suggestions. I might take you up on one or
• 1:42:19
  more of them. Great.
• 1:42:20
  Knowing that, I think we're going to make you call right
• 1:42:22
  now, so you know we're not going to put you in that position, but
• 1:42:25
  we really appreciate you being here and we thank you so much
• 1:42:27
  for taking the time and coming out here.
• 1:42:29
  Thank you to our subscribers, our listeners to the Prime
• 1:42:31
  Source production team. We are sponsored by Prime
• 1:42:34
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• 1:42:36
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• 1:42:38
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• 1:42:42
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• 1:42:45
  Thank you again for being here. It was a pleasure.
• 1:42:47
  That's a wrap. That's a wrap.
• 1:42:49
  Thanks guys. Appreciate it.