On a bridge to a new reality

Lio: Okay.

Person in Street 1: Your name is The Jew Function, okay.

Lio: Yes.

Person in Street 1: So you are saying that the Jews, that we as the Jews, are not doing enough to unify the people?

Lio: 25,000 people showed up, and it felt like people were just marching to the camps. I could not, I mean, that's how it felt. Such ignorance, such... I got such... every three hours, something happened. Like, if I go into it right now, I'm sure that there's something, there's some Jew-hating antisemitism, anti-Jewism happening right now.

Person in Street 2: I don't think that telling somebody that you don't approve of them hating you will cause them to stop hating you. So, probably not. Wrote books, anti-Semites...

Lio: Wrote books, and the interesting thing is that in those books that were all dedicated to like bashing the Jews, there are gems of, you know, insights into what they really feel towards this group of people. It wasn't just, you know, not just bad things towards...

Seth: No, no, that's what I'm saying. It wasn't just like kill all Jews, it was actually like some perspective, there was like a reason, they were trying to get to the bottom of the...

Seth: Jew saw them all, beat them all, and is now what he always was. All things are mortal, but the Jew. All other forces pass, but he remains. What is the secret of his immortality?

Lio: Okay, listen, listen, enough of that. This is a podcast, and we're not gonna try to find, we're gonna find the solution to antisemitism. Okay, we're gonna stop that right here, right now. From this stinking basement, when we get to the bottom of this, we're gonna read from this mystery book, which you're not gonna find out about until the end of the series. And we're gonna really entertain every perspective. We're not gonna say, oh, you can't say this, you can't say that. No, we're gonna say everything because if we're not gonna be able to talk about it, we're not gonna be able to solve it. We're gonna really grab you in the kishkes and we're gonna squeeze until we get something, right? Either a bowel movement or a freaking solution. We want to know what happened 3,500 years ago in Babylon that started this whole mess, and we want to finish it here in 2020. That's it.

Lio: Welcome, everyone, to The Jew Function podcast. It's the first podcast of its kind, actually. The only pod that I know of that's trying to get to the bottom, the root cause of antisemitism. What is at the heart of this persistent phenomenon, and what might be a solution to this annoying problem. It's certainly annoying to us Jews and to everyone else who hates Jews. I think nobody likes this issue. And I hope that we're going to get to the bottom of this. The Jew Function has been exploring that issue from many different perspectives. We’re trying not to get too much into the symptoms, the what's happening, even though a lot is happening. Nowadays, there have been attacks, demonstrations, you name it. But it's not new. It's like the oldest hatred. So we're trying not to get too much into the expressions of antisemitism or the politicizing of antisemitism, but really get to the bottom of this. So that's what we're going to try to do here. You may have seen some of our stuff online. There's a full experience video, all you know, texts that tackle the problem from the perspective of network science and big data. Fascinating stuff. There's also the YouTube channel, The Jew Function, with some really in-depth, hard-hitting conversations with Jews and non-Jews talking with Dr. Leicht from the perspective of Kabbalah and some ancient Jewish texts. And we also have our Twitter account where we keep it more up-to-date than the Facebook page. So we're really all over the place. With me today is a fellow Jew, first-time author, poet, and all-around great guy, really, single, by the way. His name is Seth. And he's with me today. I'm so happy to do this with him because when we do it together, it's always better. And he wrote a book. What was...

Seth: The book? Thank you, Lio. The book is appropriately called Jew. Jew...

Lio: Catchy, catchy.

Seth: It's a Jew, an antidote to antisemitism. Very happy to be here with you. Yeah, I was never expecting to write a book about antisemitism, but like you, searching for meaning in life, searching for what's going on here, we ended up kind of history and imagination and everything kind of coalesced into one grand movie that we found ourselves in the middle of, and I wish it was imaginary.

Lio: Yeah, at a certain point, you kind of feel like you know, history happened, the future will, you know, will happen at some point, and we're just kind of cruising through the middle, and all of a sudden, like, both of those things. Things in that scene in Star Wars where the walls close in. Yeah, like the trash thing with the walls. It's funny you mentioned that because just the other day, I found a little clipping about Pascal, the French mathematician. He's also a thinker, really, of the good kind. Anyway, he was talking about the Jews also. Interestingly, a lot of people talk about the Jews. He said, The Jewish people is the most ancient in the world, the only one keeping its faith. And he says that the Jewish people grabs his attention because of all the amazing sides and because, and this is the point that I liked, it's a nation compiled entirely of brothers. It's kind of interesting for this French mathematician. But that's not why I brought him up. I brought him up because he talks about being one of the fathers of existentialism. And he says that the nothingness of man is his main characteristic, and he is faced with two infinities. He's in the middle between everything and nothing. That's what he says, right, Pascal. Anyway, that was just a little segue because he made me remember. So what are we doing today? Actually, this whole podcast is uh dedicated specifically we're going to be reading from a new book. Now we're not going to tell you the name of the book. You have to stick to the last chapter to hear the name of the book. But it is an amazing new book. Which tries to look at the problem from a different perspective. After all, Jews have been around for many years. This is like a scientific experiment, a 4,000-year scientific experiment. So a lot of facts are available. And if you look at those facts and start to connect the dots, you'll see patterns. That's how we learn about nature, really. And so this book cites close to six hundred different references, historic references to anything and everything, really. You know, from texts of Flavius Josephus from ancient times all the way to modern times, microfilm, archival materials, news clippings, you name it.

Seth: Fascinating, fascinating things inside this book.

Lio: Right? It's amazing. I can't wait. So we're going to be reading this book, talk about it, maybe we'll bring some guests.

Seth: It may be worthwhile to touch on for a second, so that we're all on the same page. Maybe, who are the Jewish people, so to speak?

Lio: Oh, hell, I don't know, man. We're gonna find out. I hope. What I was feeling was to open it up a little bit because it's, you know, when I look at you and me, when I think about who we are and where we came from in our life, the fact that we're sitting here doing a podcast about antisemitism may feel like the niche of a niche of a niche of a niche somewhere. But really, it's such a big story. We're just starting to even comprehend how intergalactic this story really is. I think that's what we're going to open up here. I think inter is the right word. Intergalactic, yeah. It might be worthwhile. Maybe we can just throw in a little flavor from time to time, a little spices on top and say, for example, that humanity was, you know, it climbed down from trees, was cruising along. And listen, this is the big issue right now, if not the biggest issue. And I think what we're finding, what I'm seeing, and I think people are starting to see it, is that it's connected to everything, like the way humanity relates to the Jews affects every aspect in reality. I grew up in Israel, you grew up here, but nevertheless, we could see how somehow this 0.2% of humanity is plugged into everything, is talked about by everyone. So clearly this is an unusual issue. This is not... you know, this is not something you can chalk off as, oh, there's just, you know, there's hate towards everyone. Yes, there is, but this has been going on for too long. So, we want to read into it a little bit more. We're going to open up the narrative that we grew up on because I feel like there are so many sides to this that people are just not aware of. And I'm talking especially about Jews, and I hope that everyone will learn something. We'll also, I hope down the line, get questions, we'll get guests. Alright, let's read a little bit.

Seth: Introduction: Lessons from our past. When we think of antisemitism, the first words that come to mind are Nazism and the Holocaust. But where does Nazism come from? Why did it happen specifically in Germany, the birthplace of so many treasures of Western culture, and the breeding ground of so many noble ideas and works of art and science? Could a Jewish genocide happen elsewhere? Could it happen in America? At first glance, this seems like such an unlikely notion that it should be brushed off and ignored as a momentary lapse of reason. But history tells us that we must not be complacent. Throughout history, Jews have been singled out for condemnation. They have been persecuted, expelled, and exterminated wherever they went. It is with good reason that antisemitism is called the oldest hatred. Moreover, not only have Jews always been singled out for abuse but the most devastating mistreatments came to them at the hands of the most developed and civilized nations. Egypt, Babylon, Rome, Spain, and Germany were the most scientifically, culturally, and for the most part economically advanced nations of their time. Yet the most painful adversities came to the Jews specifically at their hands. The fact that today's America is the leader of the developed world in almost every aspect should certainly make us at the very least vigilant with regard to the Jews as far as the socio-political processes that are unfolding in what is supposedly the land of the free. There is more to be concerned about. Today's antisemitism is hitting Jews from all directions, from every circle in the social and political arena, and in every country around the world. In America, today's alt-right and the antisemites that emerged from there could get our full attention. Since the October 2018 massacre at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, it has become clear that white supremacists and neo-Nazis in America can easily become genocidal. If one of them becomes president, who knows what might ensue. At the same time, the twentieth century has proven that the left is also not immune to antisemitism and of the worst kind. Joseph Stalin and Hitler both emerged from the left. He had harbored profoundly antisemitic feelings and acted on them in the most demonic manner. The bottom line is that when Jew hatred emerges, it will cloak itself in any ideology or pretext to express itself. Today, when it is re-emerging after a hiatus that lasted through the second half of the twentieth century, we should take its re-emergence very, very seriously. Before the turn of the century, Harvard Law Professor Emeritus Alan Dershowitz was certain that we had reached the end of institutional antisemitism, the end of Jewish persecution, and the end of Jewish victimization. He stated that those who do not see, quote, the reality of declining antisemitism, end quote, are suffering from a perception gap. These days, it seems that Mr. Dershowitz sees a very different picture. On April 24, 2019, for instance, he published an op-ed in The Hill where he decried the increasing tolerance of antisemitic tropes, images, and stereotypes. The bottom line is that today American Jews must open their eyes to the growing antisemitism all over the country and not focus solely on one side of the political map or on one segment of American society. The situation is not beyond repair yet, but it is quickly getting there. If, for example, the economy takes a sharp turn for the worse, who knows what it might set off towards the Jews. We have already seen how leaders readily make Jews their scapegoats when matters turn for the worse. What guarantee do we have that an American President, Democratic or Republican, will not do the same? From the right and from the left, the Jews are in the crosshairs of both. As I see it, the reactionary motion has already started. The regression is here. But it has not taken over yet. There is a rapidly closing window of opportunity for the Jews to reverse the trend, but time is running out. I know that my warnings are unpleasant and I expect them to stir anger and reproof. I expect people to deride, belittle, and scorn me for my predictions. But I admit I care too much about my people and I worry too much to mince words. It is my hope that. After reading this book, you too will be convinced that my concern has merit and that the time to act in unison above all our many differences is now.

Lio: End of the introduction. I mean, should we pack and leave? Or wait a little bit, see how it plays out. What do you think?

Seth: Well, not ready to leave everybody. I don't think people really understand what's happening yet. I'm sure. I'm sure that people aren't understanding what's happening yet. So I'm not ready to pack yet. I am ready to unpack this concept here because when you were on the bridge last weekend, two weekends with you.

Lio: Alright, we're live again here. This is where the bridge is. This is where we're trying to get to. This very narrow bridge, and we're slowly, slowly moving towards the bridge. Hello. Hey guys, why are you here?

Person in Street 3: Because why wouldn't we be here?

Lio: Alright, good, good conversation. Come back. Why do you think there's antisemitism? Why does it exist? Especially today, after people should be seemingly more educated, more cultured, more informed, more aware. Jews have done so much for the world. Why are people still hating us? What's going on?

Person in Street 3: Well, Jewish people have always been an easy target.

Lio: Okay, but why is the question? Why, yeah?

Person in Street 3: Because I think people are basically unhappy and they left after some...

Lio: Gruesome shooting in Jersey City, and some terrible stabbing in Monsey, and really a slew of things. Literally, if you go on Twitter, every three hours something happens. If I go into it right now, I'm sure there's some Jew-hating antisemitism happening right now somewhere. I don't know. I'll just scroll. Maybe our producer will send me something. But the point is, after all these things happening, finally, people said, well, enough is enough. We've got to do something, which is already a big step because, for years, people said there's no antisemitism in America.

Lio: Are you

Lio: condemning antisemitism enough to uproot this

Person in street 3: Problem? Never. It will never be enough. We have to make it socially unacceptable. The rules can say anything, but society itself has to stand up and say it's not okay.

Lio: Brilliant. What about the feelings people have?

Person in street 3: I don't care. If people have antisemitic feelings, that's simply not okay. Hate speech isn't free speech.

Person in street 4: I think it's a fear of something that someone doesn't know so well, and that's the root of a lot of racism and misunderstanding.

Person in street 5: Also, past stigmatization and stuff have definitely stayed in a lot of people's minds, I think. And also, the people that are in power right now are definitely portraying certain things and have certain views that could be influencing a lot of people in our country.

Lio: We all think, oh, the Romans, they burned the temple. By the time the Romans marched into the city, the Jews were killing each other so nicely for them; they didn't need to do anything. So I really think it has to do with this solidarity that we don't practice and we don't disseminate. We don't...

Person in street 6: I think that one of the most amazing and one of the most difficult parts of being Jewish is the divisiveness within our traditions. But we also need to understand that there is some sense of connectivity underlying it all. We...

Seth: We are our own worst enemies, Jews and the Gal. Right? We get it on the right, we get it on the left, and we don't know how to shut our traps. We lack unity, and that's it.

Person in street 7: Well, I think antisemitism and hate have been around for a long time, but the root cause right now, I think, it's been triggered by leadership from the top, which promotes hate. And I think that needs to change.

Lio: Why do you think that is happening? Do you think there's a reason for it? Like an actual reason, you know, is my question.

Person in street 3: I don't think there is. I think Jews have been scapegoated throughout time, and I don't think there's any practical reason.

Seth: Yeah, for the march, I couldn't believe what people were saying. You know, it's Trump's fault, it's this one's fault.

Lio: And I'm thinking...

Seth: Now, I'm thinking now about our listeners who are saying, what do you mean? They think it's not Trump's fault? It's so much bigger than any puppet. What struck me is first...

Lio: What struck me is, first of all, how actually few people showed up, only about twenty-five thousand Jews out of what you reported was half a million. Yes, well, I was trying to make it look bigger, but twenty-five thousand people showed up, and it felt like people were just marching to the camps. I could not—I mean, that's how it felt. Such ignorance. People were saying, oh, people are ignorant about the Jews, they don't know what a Jew is. Like, you can't go to Google and find all the Jews in the world and at least form an opinion. I mean, it's amazing how much people just buy into the narrative. And I don't blame them. You know, I also kind of bought into the narrative. I grew up, they told me in school we're just kind of minding our own business, and you know, people keep trying to kill us for some reason.

Seth: It was so clear, like, watching Holocaust movies and things like Schindler's List. I remember crying during Schindler's List and things like this, like, you know, this kind of righteous indignation that, you know, they're wrong and there's some kind of evil and we are oppressed, right. What we've discovered in the last few years through this study and what we're going to read here is something... it's you can't—I guess a person can't know it unless they're exposed to it consciously somehow. It wouldn't just pop into probably, unless you were a scientist who's really digging into...

Lio: I talk to scientists. They also tend to be stubborn and so...

Seth: What I saw on the bridge though was, there was not a... Well, something unique about Jews. There were so many different kinds of people. I mean, there was LGBT, there was Orthodox. There were maybe not so many. But...

Lio: Different secular forms, different conservatives.

Seth: Yeah, Lower East Side, all different kinds. Lower East Side, yo. But there was definitely not... I imagine that when Martin Luther King made his "I Have a Dream" speech, everyone felt the magic in the air, and everyone there felt some kind of common movement towards something, some spirit in the air. I didn't sense any...

Lio: No, you don't think so? No, maybe you're right. I wasn't... Let's put it this way, I'm an optimist, but it really felt like people are kind of clueless. And I hope that's what we're going to take care of, you know, on the podcast?

Person in street 8: We're not good public relations people. We need to do a better job with PR. Many people think that Jews come in one shape and size, and they don't realize how many variations of Jews there are. And that would eliminate a lot of the stereotypes, I think.

Person in street 9: You know what? Could be it, uh, jealousy, jealousy, uh, you know, ignorance, ignorance also. I'm not buying the ignorance ticket, you, it's everybody else. And so if you're in a society where most everybody is Christian, then Jews are going to stand out. And if in that society people who are standing out...

Lio: I'm sure you grew up with something. You have a friend, Lawrence, he grew up telling me like, oh, there's always something about the Jews. So it's in it, it's like it's in the air, it never went away. But it was maybe more under wraps. It was not socially acceptable to, you know, to talk about it. It's like when I went to Jamaica for the first time and this guy took us in a van from the airport and we asked him, so what's the policy on smoking weed? And he said, well, it's illegal, but it's socially acceptable. So I think here it's the reverse, like it was legal for people to express their opinions. It is legal here, but it was kind of socially unacceptable. And now it's getting more and more acceptable. I think that's the change. That's the change that's scaring a lot of people. That it used to be that, oh, you know, two years ago after Pittsburgh, there was great solidarity. Now maybe there's not such a great solidarity. And if in fact you see some clips on, you know, some stuff on Twitter, you see people getting harassed...

Seth: On the train, people are not so quick to intervene. It's like, alright, some... the feeling I feel in the air is people are like, you know, maybe it is a Jew's fault. You know, when I...

Lio: See that, but you can't say that's it. Can't say that.

Seth: No, what I'm saying is when I see on the train, when I see these videos popping up in my social media feed of people shouting at Jews on the train. You know, some Jewish guy is standing on a train. He's got a yarmulke on. And someone starts shouting at him, my landlord's Jewish. He's like, you know, you guys are like. All of a sudden like all my friends, I can just pick on a Jew like...

Lio: You're saying...

Seth: It may like people on the train, people on the street are thinking, yeah, maybe it is his fault.

Lio: Maybe everything...

Seth: That people have been saying all these years is right about them.

Lio: Well, that's the thing. I've had one of the talks, one of the last talks was with Professor Shah Mag, a great guy. We were just talking. So one of the last ones was with Professor Magid, and he was saying, well, I'm not so concerned about... yeah, there is antisemitism, but I'm not as concerned because the people are kind of are on our side. There's solidarity that we're together. And we were saying how quickly it can—I snap of a finger, it could just flip, people can just all turn against you. It kind of seems weird, but when you think of Germany, when you think of other places, it is not so weird. Just to finish just to put the close the chapter on the bridge thing, so after all these things, there was some awakening that there is a problem, which is a great thing, I think, to recognize there is a problem. And some people organized the walk. And it was maybe the first time in many, or maybe forever, I guess, that Jews had to march on a bridge in, you know, in New York, in America, maybe, to kind of defend their rights. I think this is like a weird moment in time, right? Jews felt at home here after the war. But we'll get to some more interest perspectives on...

Seth: ...also the Jews here in the war. And let's also say we're not here to just circle around this. We're driving this towards a real... we're driving this towards—I mean, us here now are driving this towards a life of peace, a life for all humanity. That's where we're going. We're not just talking about social commentary. No, that's not it.

Lio: We want answers. Absolutely. We want answers. We're going to get to the bottom of the root. So we're going to hear some things that are going to make people cringe a little bit, make people feel uncomfortable. I go on Twitter, I see a lot of people saying, well, you can't, you know, no one can say Jews carry any blame in antisemitism. Barry Weiss says Jews are not to blame for antisemitism. A lot of people say it, and I appreciate the sentiment, but I want to take control of my destiny. If I'm going to say that everyone else is guilty, and what's my part in it, then what am I? Just trying to run for my life, make laws against it. No, I want to find out what it is, like every phenomenon in nature, for every action there's a reaction. I want to find out what is the action that begat that...

Seth: Just to save people from hating you, though, let's not make it about what you...

Lio: Think.

Seth: Yeah.

Lio: No, that's...

Seth: ...the value of this book is to save...

Lio: Right, right, no, absolutely. Again, so...

Lio: The heart of this show is gonna be this book. It's gonna be other places for other opinions, but I have to say, Seth, I kind of sort of am starting to form an opinion. So it will bleed into this. I'm already letting everyone know. It will get into it. But it's, you know, I think it's a very mature kind of idea, one that, again, just tries to take responsibility for the life, the destiny of this people, look at the facts, and see what can stop this, what can prevent another Holocaust. Honestly, we're kind of getting close to the end soon here. So I want to read just maybe just get a little sneak into chapter one, just so people...

Lio: Can...

Lio: Yeah, so I think a lot of people don't know or underestimate what antisemites say about Jews. I think we got a little sidetracked by a lot of this street antisemitism lately. So we kind of lost track of the big picture. But over the years, a lot of think, influencers, people really thought of or tried to write about the essence of that thing. I mean, there used to be a time where people actually spent thinking about something, writing it. People wrote books, antisemites wrote books. And the interesting thing is that in those books that were all dedicated to bashing the Jews, they're like gems of insights into what they really feel towards this group of people. It wasn't just...

Seth: ...bad things about...

Lio: No, no, what I'm saying is it wasn't just like kill all Jews. It was actually like some perspective. They were trying to get to the bottom of this. It wasn't just a reaction.

Seth: When these people behave the way that they're intended to behave, it's good for everyone. But when they don't, they're the worst of the worst, and that's why I hate them. I think that's the sentiment...

Lio: That's okay. That's okay.

Lio: That's okay. We're going to forget it into podcasts. So, chapter one: Who were the Jews, and why is there Jew hatred? It's a good question, I want to find out. And there's a great quote. You want to read the quote maybe? Yes, should we say...

Seth: ...who this quote's from?

Lio: Don't stop at the spoilers. Just read the quote.

Seth: If statistics are right, the Jews constitute but one percent of the human race. It suggests a nebulous dim puff of a star lost in the blaze of the Milky Way. Properly, the Jew ought hardly to be heard of, but he is heard of, has always been heard of. The Egyptian, the Babylonian, and the Persian rose, filled the planet with sound and splendor, then faded to dream stuff and passed away. The Greek and the Roman followed and made a vast noise, and they're gone. Other people have sprung up, held their torch high for a time, but it burned out, and they sit in twilight now or have vanished. The Jew saw them all, beat them all, and is now what he always was. All things are mortal but the Jew; all other forces pass, but he remains. What is the secret of his immortality? Mark Twain concerning the Jews.

Lio: Mark Twain. Yeah. So, you know, people really gave their mind to this problem. People always thought about it. We tend to think about it as something isolated to an event here or there. You know, there was the Holocaust, there was this, there was that. But no, this is a perennial issue. It's there. It's always there. It's always in the background somehow. And that's why I don't think we can just write it off with some, oh, it's the President. Oh, they're the scapegoats, people envy this, people don't know that. No, there's got to be something deeper. Yes, I think we'll have to close here. And I want to thank Seth for being here.

Seth: Thank you, Lio, for making this happen. I don't think there is a conversation like this about this topic and the things that we're about to open up, discuss, and spread out there. If this whole movement is popping up, with people like us doing things like this all around the world, and now we're connected to them, we could really see a real change. Like how the phone came and changed things, in consciousness, we could get to a totally different level of what it means to be humans.

Lio: I think it holds the key to a lot of great things. So in the next episode of The Jew Function podcast, we're going to get into it. We're going to really ask the question: Who are the Jews? Who is the Jewish nation? Where was it born? Why? Under which circumstances? And you know, where did they go from there? We will actually hear from Jews and from non-Jews trying to make sense of the meaning of Jewishness. It will be quite interesting because it's founded on a radical idea, and it's that radical idea that we believe is at the heart of antisemitism—the problem and the solution. So, come by, check it out. We're gonna go deep, deep back in time, 3,500 years ago, Babylon. Stick with us. This is The Jew Function podcast. Check out The Jew for a complete experience on the root of antisemitism according to network science and big data. Check out our YouTube, the J Fun, for some great playlists and some really mind-bending conversations about the topic. Follow us on Twitter and on Facebook at The Jew Fun. We'll see you here next week. Bring your khal and your kish and whatever it is you need in order to get on with the program.